Chapter 9
Quinn
I’m holding onto my composure by my fingertips. What the hell just happened?
I’d sneaked out of the house not long after Ilya’s goons had shown up. The first I’d known about their arrival was when the guard at the gate asked if they should be allowed in. Barrett hadn’t known we were about to get a visit, but he didn’t seem particularly bothered when I called to tell him.
My boss has lost all interest in the estate. Almost all the rooms are furnished now, but they’ve been swathed in dust sheets. It’s as if he’s preparing to hand it all over to Ilya. And why not? The Russian is already treating the place like his own.
I’m not complaining. The current arrangements are better than I could have hoped. But they’re also much worse than I feared. There are obvious advantages to becoming Ilya’s first point of contact at the estate, but I’m not just closer to him. I’m isolated.
I can’t count on Jason to back me. My new roomie is oblivious to what’s going on, and spends most of his free time in his room, playing video games and pining over Tandy and Clara’s hasty departure – mostly Clara’s.
She was never going to reciprocate his feelings, and from what she’s said, her job in Connecticut is a dream.
She and Tandy are looking after a beautiful, but empty house.
They’ll see even less of Barrett than I will.
But of all the men fucking up my life, Reid Griffin is the complication I don’t know how to handle. His face is so close that I can see the beads of sweat gathering in the furrows of his brow. His breath warms my skin.
“Please,” he begs me, his voice cracking with emotion. “Don’t make me leave you here.”
I twist against his hold, the tree bark catching on my sweater as Reid keeps me pressed against it.
The flashlight I’d dropped on the ground provides just enough light to see the red mark on his cheek where I punched him.
I want to punch him again. I want to punch him so damn hard.
I want to tear off his stupid bulletproof jacket and hammer my fist into his chest. Except the vest isn’t stupid. He almost died right in front of me.
“I was the one who saved you, remember?” I say, choking the words out. “I don’t need your protection.”
“Fuck you!” Reid hisses, and it takes a moment for me to figure out that the flash of anger isn’t being directed at me. He presses a finger to his earpiece. “Over and out, Mace.”
“What did he say?”
I don’t think Reid’s going to tell me, but there’s amusement in his eyes. “The asshole might have been agreeing with you,” he replies, pulling out the earpiece and shoving it into the back pocket of his jeans.
“Maybe I’ve fallen for the wrong Griffin.”
I’m goading him, but when he smiles his stupid smile, I realize what I’ve just said.
“By that, I mean–”
“I know exactly what you meant,” Reid says. He brushes his nose against mine. “Admit it, Quinn. You like me.”
“No, Reid. I don’t like you. And I don’t need you.” They’re strong words, but my voice doesn’t carry them nearly as well as I’d hoped.
“I’m not so sure the girl who’s fallen for me would agree. She definitely wants me,” he insists.
I’m about to deny it when he presses his hips against my body, and not just his hips.
I fight the urge to arch my back and grind against his hard length. I hate the effect he has on me, so I try to deflect. “Do you ever not have an erection?”
“Not when I’m with you.”
When he moves against me, desire pulses at my core.
I keep reminding myself that I’ve just killed a man.
I’m in shock. But I feel so alive. And Reid…
He’s alive too. And he nearly wasn’t. My gaze flicks to his parted lips.
His tongue pokes at the corner of his mouth.
It’s the same tongue that’s invaded my dreams on more nights than I care to count.
Still holding my wrists, Reid presses my hands to his chest. My fingers curl into fists as he angles his head one way, and I tilt mine the other. I breathe him in. He breathes in me. He waits. I wait some more.
“Say it,” he demands.
“I can’t. We shouldn’t.”
He rolls his hips and I arch my body into him before I can stop myself. Heat pools where it shouldn’t, and I might combust if there’s no release soon. “Fine! I want you.”
I press my mouth to his, but to my annoyance, Reid keeps his lips pursed. This man is so damn frustrating, but if he wants me to make the first move, fine! I don’t expect his resistance to last long as my tongue glides over his closed mouth. He tastes of coffee and midnight, and I want more.
When I apply a little more pressure, his lips part. The tip of my tongue finds his, and we play a little dance as we tentatively explore each other’s mouths. The kiss is soft and tender, and intensely erotic. The thrill of anticipation has my heart pounding.
A moan vibrates deep within my chest, and the sound flips a switch in Reid.
He plunges his tongue deeper in my mouth, claiming me at the same time he lets go of my hands.
I hear the snap as he releases the straps on his vest. He breaks our kiss to pull his vest off, and as it drops to the ground, he pauses.
He’d released me, and I hadn’t tried to escape.
I want to be here. In this moment. Amidst the danger already at my door. I’m risking everything for my sister even though she might already be doomed to spend eternity in an unmarked grave. I shouldn’t let guilt deny me this last moment of pleasure.
Reid watches me. Reads me. “Take what you want, Quinn.”
I remind myself that Mace and Jake are dragging corpses through the woods. Two of Ilya’s men are dead, but more of his soldiers could be on their way. We don’t have time.
But what if this is all we have?
“Damn you,” I say as I snag the zipper of his jacket and pull.
Our hands move fast as we seek out each other’s body. Reid’s jacket lands in a heap on the ground, and my sweater follows. I pull at his t-shirt while he unhooks my bra. It’s a cold night and my nipples tingle as he brushes his thumbs over them. When I groan, he steals my breath with a hungry kiss.
Reid sucks my lower lip into his mouth while I explore the contours of his arms and chest. Every inch of him is hard muscle that tenses at my touch. And I want to touch every part of him.
I move lower, but when my hand finds his gun, he pulls away. A smile tugs at the corners of his mouth as he unfastens the holster and throws the gun a safe distance away.
“You still think I’m going to shoot you?”
“I don’t overly care, as long as I get to fuck you first.”
If Reid’s still intent on forcing me to leave, it might just come to that.
But not yet. “I’d rather you fucked me first too,” I say as I grab his hand and press it to where I need him most. His fingers slide between my legs and although I’m still wearing my black leggings, he must surely feel how I’m dripping for him.
Fresh urgency takes over, and as Reid kisses my neck, I unbutton his jeans and pull on the zipper. My cold fingers find the gap in his boxers, and then I’m touching him. The heat from his cock burns my fingertips as I explore the ridges of his rock-hard shaft, and the slickness of his smooth crown.
“Fuck,” Reid moans as he twitches at my touch.
He takes a pebbled nipple in his mouth and sucks on it while his hand slips beneath the waistband of my leggings. He taps my foot with his boot and as his hand moves lower, I widen my stance.
As his fingers glide along the seam of my pussy, I punch my hips forward, demanding more pressure, more friction, more him.
He rubs a figure of eight around my clit, sending pulses of pleasure through my core, while his teeth tug at my nipple.
I cry out as pleasure pulls and I’m coiled tight with desire.
I can’t take any more. There’s an emptiness that only Reid can fill.
My fist wraps around his cock. “I need you now,” I gasp.
“I know you do,” Reid says as he plunges a finger inside me. On his next thrust he adds another finger. “But I’ve been waiting to taste you for too fucking long.”
As he withdraws his hand, he pulls away from my grasp and drops to his knees. I kick off my sneakers and help him as he tugs down my leggings and my panties. When I’m completely naked, I rest my back against the tree and open myself to him.
His eyes lock on mine as he licks along my center, applying just enough pressure to dip into my heat. “This pussy is mine,” he whispers, just before he seals his mouth around my clit.
I cry out and fist his hair as he strums the sensitive bud. My body vibrates with the pleasure he’s inflicting, and he must feel my legs are trembling, but he doesn’t let up. He swipes his flattened tongue along the length of me, lapping me up before pushing the tip of his tongue into my entrance.
“I could live off this, Quinn,” he says as he continues to feast on me.
My fingers claw at his scalp, and I pull his head away. “Taste me later,” I demand. “You promised to fuck me.”
There’s a glint in his eye as he settles back on his heels, his lips glistening. “Then get down here.”
Reid’s strong arms hold me as I twist and drop to a patch of ground carpeted by our discarded clothes. It’s still cold against my back and I yelp as I lie down.
“Is that a complaint?” he asks as he kneels between my legs.
“Not so far,” I say as I trail my gaze down his perfectly toned and sculpted body.
He isn’t covered in tattoos, but what there are, blend with the shadows. I can just make out what look like a lion’s back paws digging into the flesh at his side, while the creature’s feathered wings spread across his torso. An eagle’s head rests on his chest, and I feel the griffin’s eyes on me.
Reid Griffin is looking at me too as he pulls down his jeans and boxers. His cock is thick and hard, it’s crown glistening as he strokes himself. “Tell me again what you want,” he says as if he can’t quite believe I’ve let him get this far.
I smile. “Fuck me, Reid,” I command.