Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
D ays passed with Quinley having apparently made it her mission to drive him insane.
Ever since she’d kissed him, Elias hadn’t been able to think of much else. His efforts to work had left him frustrated, and his sleep and the dreams that had plagued him left him grumpier than usual.
He should have sent her away, he thought as his feet pounded the asphalt in a steady gait. Her presence kept him from accomplishing his goals for the week, and despite the fact her life had imploded, she seemed to be recovering well. A little too well, he mused, thinking about the way she leaned into his personal space every chance she got.
Then he thought of the kiss she’d instigated, the feelings that had rolled over him as a result, and pushed himself into a punishing sprint.
He’d had his fair share of relationships with women, women who knew the score and knew they would never be more to him than a companion for a night or a short period of time.
But that kiss— her kiss—had made him think of more. His mind had shattered, fractured, images flashing through his brain and teasing him with potential before he could shut them down. Shut them out.
He’d lost control. Kissed her back when he should have shoved her away. Held onto those images and onto her for much longer than he should have because he hadn’t been able to pull away or deny himself the feel of her. The taste of her.
And even though he believed she’d kissed him as a distraction or for reasons he didn’t understand, she’d forced him to acknowledge the awareness of her he’d felt from the moment she’d physically tossed herself into the limo and he’d gotten his first look at her.
Quinley was beautiful, but she was…more. So much more. She intrigued him in ways no other woman ever had—thought they never would—which is why he had to get her back to Carolina Cove and out of his life as soon as possible. Before she could dig her four-inch heels in and upend his life the way she had Rhys Lachlan’s.
Plus, Quinley was Ana’s best friend, practically her sister, and thus off limits to any form of relationship other than as a friend.
A friend without benefits, due to the fact Quinley was right in that their futures were tied by familial connections already.
Elias ran until his pulse threatened to burst out of his skin, and he slowed to a cooldown walk as he made it back to the driveway leading up to the cabin. Halfway up, he passed the black SUV. It sat empty, and he knew the men typically inside were out making the rounds along the property to check for any signs of encroachment by people who shouldn’t be there.
He’d encountered Axel and the other guards a time or two while he was out of the cabin for a run or a hike, and while the guys gave off a few Men in Black vibes, all seemed decent enough that Elias reminded himself that they performed a job like any other.
Elias made it back to the cabin and entered, head down and thoughts as convoluted as before he’d left. He neared the island on his way for a drink when he realized Quinley stood in one corner of the small kitchen, forearm deep in a bag of chips, wearing booty shorts, a sports bra and—sweat.
She wore that best, he decided, her body glistening like she’d just finished a hard workout herself.
“Like what you see?”
The throaty murmur set his blood to boiling before he had a chance to brace himself against the storm of her presence. But when he met her gaze, he knew she’d caught him in the act of a full-scale body scan, taking in every single detail of her lush, feminine form.
He frowned as his hands fisted at the memory of kissing her and how he’d never wanted to stop—and pointed to the chips. “That junk is going to kill you.”
“Mmm, still moody after your run?”
“Stop.”
“Stop what?”
His nostrils flared as he took a breath, bombarded by mental images brought on by her tone, images he had no desire to picture where she was concerned because of the havoc she’d wreak on him. “Stop baiting me.”
“Is that what I’m doing?”
“Isn’t it?”
Her perfect, full lips quirked up. “Maybe I am. What are you going to do about it?”
Her eyes flashed and twinkled with amusement at his expense. The last bit was said in a low, raspy voice that sounded more like a dare and a challenge than anything else.
Lightning fast, he snatched the bagged chips out of her hand and carried them to the trash, dumping them out of the bag atop the rest of the garbage inside where they belonged before dropping the bag on top and crunching the mass of it down.
“That’s just wasteful. Why did you buy them if you weren’t going to allow me to eat them?”
“I made a mistake.” He shut the top by removing his foot from the lever and turned to glare at her. “You’re fighting a losing battle by exercising when you’re refilling it with that crap.”
“I’ll have you know I exercise just so I can eat that crap. It’s a yin and yang kind of thing. Like us,” she said, her lips widening into a smile that made him want to kiss it off her.
His body stilled at the thought. At that image. He couldn’t think like that about her. Of her. Brat though she was.
Walking chaos. Obvious trouble. Rebound city. You do not want to mess with her.
He didn’t. If she were any other woman, maybe he’d take the bait but not Quinley. Not when having her meant disrupting his carefully balanced life on every level to an extent that could destroy him and all he’d worked so hard to achieve.
Quinley stepped closer until his every breath held the sweet, salty scent of her. Her body had started to cool, the glistening sweat not as apparent now as when he’d first walked in. But she smelled of vanilla and citrus, maybe a bit of jasmine from the soaps provided by the cabin, and he swallowed a growl because he wanted a taste. Just one…lick.
She took another step, this one leaving her black-clad chest a half inch from his, and a glance down at her cleavage with her so close…
He swallowed hard and barely managed to bite back a groan. “What are you doing, Quinley?”
Her beautiful eyes sparkled as they held his, the challenge in them daring him to—what? Come and get it? Get her ?
“You took my food.”
He narrowed his gaze on hers and the ridiculousness of her statement. “That wasn’t food.”
“Agree to disagree,” she mused softly, still looking up at him with those gorgeous eyes of hers.
The soft green made him think of new grass or the Atlantic on certain days when the sun hit the water just right, luring him to dive in. “I bought it. I’m allowed to toss it.”
It was a poor excuse, but he used it because he had nothing else to fight her with. Nothing left as his defenses fell faster than he could shore them up.
She made a tsking sound with her tongue, and his gaze followed the movement, and then held there, watching, waiting, to see if she’d be bold enough to kiss him again.
Did he want her to? He could—he would—control himself where she was concerned and not make a move on her, he vowed.
But if she kissed him again…
She took another step forward, pressing her entire body flush against his as she braced her hand on the countertop at his hip where he now leaned.
Quinley blinked up at him, innocent and—predatory at the same time. A heady combination for a man who liked a woman who knew her mind yet liked to play. And at the moment, it seemed as though Quinley was both.
This woman was a far cry from the one who’d clutched his shoulders and wept for an hour, broken on her bedroom floor. This woman was just the right amount of strength and softness, aggressiveness and brat he ached to get his hands on.
She lifted her face, her lips parting as she continued to stare up at him. He had a good six inches on her height which was above average at five-seven or eight.
He watched her, waiting, barely daring to breathe because of the things the scent of her did to his already white-knuckled control.
With a small sound like a sassy ha, she snatched something from behind him then shot him a satisfied smirk over her shoulder as she raced for the other side of the island, carrying a new bag of junk food with her as she went.
She turned and taunted him by waving the bag in the air and giving him a smile that dared him to do something about it.
The urge to give chase filled him, and he fought it with everything he had inside of him. She wasn’t for him. Forbidden. Would be a huge mistake.
She would not shatter his control and make him want things he couldn’t have. Didn’t want. He ran two businesses, already had a family the size of several families combined, and he didn’t— He knew better than to give himself over to the pain and chaos she could cause. “ Don’t open that.”
She ripped the top wide with a grin that fired his blood. “You need real food for breakfast, Quinley. Don’t eat another??—”
Crunch.
Lightning zapped through him. A tripwire that fired off something unnamed but powerful, uncontrollable. He moved without thinking. Took two steps before he bolted over the island, clearing the surface as if it were a pummel horse.
Her eyes widened as she watched him, and then she let out a shriek and laughed loudly as she stumbled back in surprise and ran, bag in hand waving like a challenging enemy flag, shrieking like a banshee. All the while, he gave into the primal urge to chase.
She circled the couch, threaded between the space between the coffee table and around one of the oversized chairs at the side while he stalked her every step.
Huffing giggles interspersed the shrieks as she clutched the bag and avoided him, the mouse in their cat-and-mouse game. “Hand it over, Quinley.”
She lifted her chin to a haughty angle and smirked.
“Make me,” she said, squealing again when he lunged for her.
She raced the opposite way, and he allowed her to squeak by, liking the way she laughed and flushed and giggled and thought she was actually going to win this game. He liked this version of her much better than the broken one he’d held.
He saw her gaze dart to her room, revealing her next move, and he bided his time until she feinted one way before quickly twisting the opposite way like an agile dancer and then sped off again.
He hopped the coffee table this time and wrapped his arms around her slim waist as she screamed out a loud noooo . He tackled her toward the couch, careful to twist until she was atop him in order to keep his full weight off of her as they landed lengthwise across the cushions.
Time stopped the moment he felt her against him. His gaze locked with hers, every molecule in his body aware of her on levels and in ways he hadn’t known existed. Her panting, gasping breaths in the sports bra banding her chest, her slim body laying atop his like a prize he hadn’t known how desperately he wanted to win.
His right hand had locked over the wrist of her bag-holding hand in the tackling, and he now held it above his head in victory even though he was the one flat on his back. His other hand splayed on the bare skin of her lower back, holding her in place to keep her from sliding off the couch. Off of him.
She leaned over him, her eyes sparkling with fire and something he refused to put a name to as her lashes lowered and her gaze shifted toward his lips. Then she pressed her mouth to his again, awarding him the chips and herself in a single, heart-pounding kiss that left both of them surging closer.
A loud crash erupted as the cabin’s front door slammed into the wall, the explosion of sound ripping through the structure like a dynamite blast.
Quinley yanked her lips from his, her eyes flaring wide as Axel and his companion guard barreled inside and then stumbled to awkward stops when they took in the sight of them.
“We heard screaming,” Axel said with a dark glare at them both.
Apparently Elias had either forgotten to lock the door when he’d returned from his run, or the bodyguard had kicked in the door in their bid to get to Quinley. To protect her from the danger making her scream and shriek.
Like she finally realized she still lay atop him, Quinley awkwardly attempted to get up. Elias released her, chips and all, because the process meant Quinley basically straddling him for a brief second before planting a foot on the floor beside the couch and swinging her other leg and body off.
The bag crinkled loudly as she moved and straightened, and he watched as she shifted away to give him room to stand.
“We were just— He’s the food police, ” she said to the guards. “I-I wanted chips.”
Axel remained silent, his gaze carefully blank yet knowing, confirming that the men had seen Quinley kissing him in the split second before she’d pulled away. With his hands on her wrist and waist, it was obvious who’d done the kissing.
“Axel,” she drawled softly, shaking her head slowly from side to side. “I don’t suppose you won’t…mention this to Rhys?”
Axel didn’t blink, and Elias noted the way the other guard shifted his gaze to the back of Axel’s head to avoid looking at either of them.
Quinley sighed, and Elias watched as her shoulders slumped and tightened at the same time.
“Of course you will. Even though it’ll hurt him, and we’re not— It’s not like that.”
Elias ground his teeth, her words confirming what he already knew. He was a distraction for her, a game. A thing to keep herself occupied so she didn’t have to think about the chaos she’d left behind.
Under normal circumstances, that would’ve been fine. He could handle her putting him in the same mental boxes she’d accused him of using. But knowing he’d see her again back in Carolina Cove? That she’d be involved in Ana’s and Cole’s lives and therefore his?
Axel’s gaze shifted to Elias and held before sliding back to her. “We’ll be outside,” the man said.
The door closed behind the guards with a soft snick of sound, indicating the lock and door were still usable. Which meant Elias had forgotten to slide the lock into place upon his return. The fact was neglectful and stupid, considering the threats that had been made. He should’ve done better in his small role of protecting her, but because of his distraction and thoughts of her, he hadn’t.
His cell phone began to ring, and a glance at the face resulted in yet another soft swear.
“What? Who is it?”
“The owner,” he said, sliding the button to answer the call. The man’s voice filled his ears with demands to know what was going on and why the camera had shown the Incredible Hulk bursting through his door. “It’s fine. He was…a friend, and the wind caught the door and caused a ruckus.”
The owner continued ranting.
“No, I’m sure he didn’t break it. I’m sorry it alarmed you. The door is fine.”
The older man grumbled about Elias being responsible for any damages, and Elias immediately agreed to cover any costs in an effort to get off the phone, promising pictures of the door and wall to prove nothing was harmed.
That seemed to satisfy the man who abruptly ended the call, muttering about people who abuse other people’s property.
He stared down at the phone, at the barely perceptible tremor in his hands there as a result of Quinley laying atop him, kissing him, and frowned. “I’m going to go shower.”
He needed to separate himself from what had happened. From her and the way she’d gotten under his skin. This was supposed to be a relaxing vacation, yet from the moment he’d met her, nothing had been relaxed . She’d disrupted his vacation, his life, even his business to a certain degree. How much more was he going to allow?
Quinley held up the bag. “Aren’t you going to take this? You did win it.”
Elias ignored the offending chips and tried to process the…attraction he felt toward her. It had to be proximity, right? Her beauty? Her body? Nothing more. She was no different than any other woman. He’d feel this way toward any woman stuck here in this small cabin. “You should treat yourself better,” was all he said as he stalked to his room.