Chasing Temptation: Forbidden Series #7, page 7
Her head falls back as I continue to tease and pinch her sensitive peaks. Her hips writhe as she tries to find some friction, and I can’t hold back any longer.
Dropping to my knees, I ignore the pain radiating from my surgery and focus everything on Quinn and giving her exactly what she needs.
My eyes run over the marks he left on her stomach before they drop to her thighs. What I find has my movements halting and something wild exploding inside me. Pushing her legs wider, I find the rest of his handprints that are bruised into the soft skin of her inner thighs.
Everything around me fades as I stare at those marks. Images play out in my head of her lying on that cold, hard wooden floor as he...as he...
“Fuck,” I roar, unable to keep a lid on my emotions. My hands tremble, my stomach twists, and my head spins as I sit there under the torrent of water, staring at what he did to my girl. My girl. I’m the only one who should be touching her. I should be the only one able to be in this position. “Quinn?” I ask, my voice weak and shaky as I try to prepare to hear the words I know that are to come. “D-did he…” I trail off, not even able to ask the question.
I can feel her stare burning into my top of my head as I focus on his fingerprints.
“Quinn, I need to know if—” My words are cut off when her fingers twist into my wet hair. She tugs slightly and I’m powerless but to look up at her.
Her eyes are full of unshed tears, her face pale and terrified. It’s all I need for her to confirm my worst suspicions. She swallows, the muscles in her neck quivering with her uncertainty. She thinks I’m about to back away. She thinks I can’t handle this. But everything I said to her earlier was true. Nothing about him or what happened will change how I feel about her. It won’t change us. I refuse to allow it to.
She opens her mouth to say something. Knowing her, it’s probably to apologise for something she had no fucking control over. Before a word passes her lips, I force her legs wider, part her, and lick up the length of her pussy.
If she needs to forget, then I’ll damn well give her everything she fucking needs.
“Joe,” she cries, but I don’t react other than to up my tempo. Her fingers tighten in my hair and the pain is a welcome relief to the insistent one in my abdomen that won’t abate.
“Oh god.” Her hips flex, allowing me more access, and I thrust my tongue inside her as her legs tremble with the strength it takes her to stay upright.
She needs a distraction? Fuck if I’m not going to give her one.
I replace my tongue with two fingers and thrust them deep inside her, bending them so I know they’ll hit the exact spot she needs. Her cries and mewls for more get louder and louder, encouraging me to push her higher.
Her body twitches and pulsates with the impending release, but I don’t let her fall, not yet. I slow the pace, circle her clit with the tip of my tongue, and her entrance with my fingertip as she pants and demands more.
“You want more?” I ask, my voice deep and husky, showing my own hunger for her.
“More. Everything. Please, Joe, please.”
Sliding two fingers back inside her, I lift my other hand and begin teasing her arse. She tenses for the briefest of seconds. I’ve no idea if this is what she had in mind when she said everything, but I trust her to tell me to stop if she doesn’t want it.
But she never does. The water running down her back is enough to allow me to push my finger inside her, and she howls with pleasure as I stretch her open.
She’s unbelievably tight, her muscles clamping down on my finger as my cock weeps to feel that kind of pressure. I suck her clit into my mouth, grazing it with my teeth, and with her full of me, her hips buck violently as she screams out my name, her pleasure racing through her body, making her legs go weak. Her fingers grip once more as she tries to stay upright as she rides out the pleasure.
Watching her come apart above me, even as broken as she is right now, is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. My heart damn near burst out of my chest for this incredible, brave woman before me.
Once she’s ridden out every wave of pleasure, I pull my fingers from her and sit back on my heels. My cock’s trying to rip through my boxers as I watch her chest heave as she tries to catch her breath.
Without thinking, I press my hand to my side, where the dressing is coming undone with the amount of water that’s soaking into it.
“Shit, you shouldn’t be getting that wet.”
“I don’t give a fuck. You needed me. I’m here.” I climb to my feet and take her face in my hands. I want to say it’s smooth, but the reality is anything but.
“But—”
“No buts.”
“Okay, but I really think you should go and lie down.” I want to argue and tell her that I’m fine, but I think we’d both know that would be a lie. “I’ll order us some breakfast and we can see what’s on the TV.” It’s her way of putting off the conversation from last night that we need to continue. Although our impromptu shower has answered quite a few questions I had about what happened while she was locked up in that bedroom, I won’t be happy guessing based on her injuries. I need her to tell me. At least that way it’ll stop my imagination going wild.
With Quinn’s help, I drop my sopping wet boxers to the tiled floor and wrap a fluffy white towel around my waist. I want to stay and make sure she’s okay after everything that just happened, but I’m struggling to hold myself upright.
Using the wall for support, I make my way to the living room and lie back on the sofa to the sounds of her faffing around in the bathroom.
Ignoring the TV for now, I focus on the scenery outside. I love London; it’s the only home I’ve ever known, but I can’t imagine wanting to move there after living somewhere as beautiful as here. I always thought I’d be a Londoner forever, but just my short time here is giving me ideas about my future that have never been there before. Suddenly I’m seeing a life in a house in the country with Quinn and a couple of kids. My heart races, but it’s not with the panic I thought it would be with the images that are playing out so clearly in my mind.
I’ve always said point blank that I’ve never wanted to settle down. Never wanted to have kids and subject them to even an element of what I’ve had to suffer during my life, but suddenly none of that matters because I know that, with Quinn by my side, I’d never need to worry about our children suffering because they’d have the most incredibly supportive mother. We’ve both been screwed over by bad parents, and I can’t help but wonder as I lie here with the winter sun streaming in through the huge windows if all of that bullshit was just preparing us for our future as parents ourselves. We’ve both experienced how bad it can be; we know exactly what not to do.
“What’s put that smile on your face? I thought you’d be frustrated with blue balls,” she says with a laugh. My heart drops slightly when I see she’s totally covered up again in those damn leggings and what I’ve realised is Lauren’s hoodie.
“Just thinking about our future,” I admit.
“Our future, huh?” She comes to sit on the free bit of sofa beside me and places her hand on my chest.
“Yep. Wondering what our kids might look like.”
Her eyes widen in shock, but she doesn't look totally opposed to the idea. “You’re not serious?”
“Deadly. I thought I’d lost you, Quinn. When I turned up to class and found Eddie standing at the front of your classroom, I thought that was it for us.”
“I’m sorry.” She looks away as if she’s ashamed of everything that’s happened.
“Hey, don’t do that.” Lifting my hand, I cup her cheek and turn her back towards me. “Don’t apologise for anything you didn’t have control over. The only thing I wish was different is that you’d told me what kind of danger you were in. I’d have done anything in my power to protect you.”
“I didn’t want to drag you into all this.”
“How’d that work out for you?” Her eyes fill with tears.
“You’re not the only one who thought they’d lost something. I’ll never forget that moment as I watched him slide that blade into your stomach.”
“I’m fine.”
“Just—”
“Ah, come on, babe. It’ll take more than a little knife wound to kill me off.”
“Little? You saw the size of that thing, right?” Of course I had, I was the one who grabbed it from the kitchen to free her from her restraints. “I need to change this dressing,” she says. Clearly her previous question was rhetorical.
She’s up off the sofa and at the other side of the room, rummaging through the bag of stuff we left the hospital with, before I have a chance to blink.
She lines everything up on the coffee table in front of us before turning back to me, ready to start picking off the wet bandage that’s still attached to my stomach. She starts scratching at the corner, trying to lift the sticky stuff, but it hardly budges now it’s dried.
When she does eventually manage to get enough up to grab, she pulls it and I cry out.
She damn near jumps a mile, her wide, panicked eyes turning to me. She’s totally horrified that she hurt me.
“Shit, I’m sorry. I was trying to be gentle.”
I try to stop my lips twitching, but I lose the fight and a wide smile tugs at my mouth.
“You little shit.” She swats my shoulder gently as she realises that I’m having her on. Okay, it hurt a little where it caught my hair, but it wasn’t a pain worth crying about. Who am I kidding? She’s got her hands on my bare skin. I’m not going to do anything to put an end to that.
She goes back to the task at hand and gently pulls the bandage from my skin. I’m fascinated by the sight of her delicate fingers touching me so softly.
“It looks like it’s healing well.”
“Good.” I don’t look at my wound. Instead my eyes lift to her as she works. Her dark, wet hair is falling like a curtain around her face as she studies my stomach. Every time her skin connects with mine, my muscles twitch, but at no point does it distract from how beautiful she is.
My cock stirs once again behind the towel, and she doesn’t miss it. Her eyes drop lower and a small smile curls at her lips.
“I’m pretty sure you should be focusing all your efforts on getting better,” she whispers.
“Not possible when you’re touching me.”
“Even after—”
My fingers circle her wrists, stopping any more movement and cutting off her words.
“I meant what I said. I’m in love with you, Quinn. What you went through and what he did doesn’t affect that. I want to kill that motherfucker with my bare hands for ever thinking it’s okay to lay a finger on you, but it’ll never stop me wanting you.”
Her eyes hold mine. It’s as if she’s waiting for me to tell her that I’m lying, but she’s going to be waiting a long time if that’s the case. My heart pounds against my ribs as I wait for her to do something, my cock pressing against the towel, hoping to get some action.
“You need to rest.”
Tugging on her wrist, I pull her so she’s hovering over me. “What I need is you.” Her eyes bounce between mine as she tries to figure out what to do for the best.
“If it hurts, at all, tell me and I’ll stop.” Her face is totally serious, and I find myself agreeing even though I already know that once she touches me, nothing will make me stop her.
She finishes reapplying my fresh bandage before dropping her lips to my abs. She kisses along the indentations until she finds the top of the towel. My eyes follow her every movement, my body desperate for her to unwrap the fabric and touch me after being away from her for so long.
My fingers dig into the sofa as I attempt to fight my need to flip her over and fuck her six ways from Sunday. I need to give her the space to do this at her own pace. I’ve no real idea where her head’s at right now. I don’t want her to feel like I’m pushing her into anything.
She glances up, wraps her fingers around the fabric at my waist, and smiles. It’s wicked and full of promises, and excitement explodes in my belly. After everything, my Quinn’s still in there somewhere. I can’t deny that it’s not a relief to see that little sparkle in her eyes.
Slowly, painfully fucking slowly, she pulls the towel from around my waist and allows it to fall to the sofa. Her eyes burn a trail down my torso before she finds my cock. She bites down on her bottom lip as she watches it twitch with need.
I wait. It’s hard as fuck—pun intended—but I’ll wait forever if I have to.
Her eyes flick to mine, but unlike what I’m expecting, there’s no hesitation in them. Finally, she reaches for me and wraps her slender fingers around my solid length. My hips buck from the sofa and I groan. It’s a mixture of delight and pain, but thankfully from the way her eyes shine with achievement, she only hears the lust.
“Fuck, Quinn,” I moan as she slowly moves her hand up and down. I’ve not come since we were in Stratford. I was fucking desperate after we were interrupted by Erica, but I told myself that the next time I got off, it would be at her hands because I was determined to ensure that things were far from over between us—whatever it took—when I saw her again. I just never could have imagined the situation that was about to unfold.
“So fucking good.”
She leans forward and licks the tip of my cock. I damn near come on the spot.
“Jesus.”
Running her tongue around the top, she then lowers her mouth down my length. Threading my fingers into her hair, I help to guide her. My balls draw up all too soon and tingles erupt in the base of my spine.
“Quinn, I’m gonna—” I don’t get a chance to finish my warning because she takes me right to the back of her throat and I explode.
My chest heaves, my body tingling with the aftershocks of my release, but as it begins to fade, the pain begins to make itself known once again.
My hand moves to rest on top of my fresh bandage. Quinn follows its movement and the blood drains from her face.
“Shit, did I hurt you?”
“It was so worth it.”
“Fuck.” She jumps up from her spot perched on the edge of the sofa and backs away like being close to me might be causing me pain. “Have you had your meds yet?”
“No. How about I take them, we wait an hour, and we can crack on with round two?” I lift a brow in the hope she agrees, but when hers pull together I know it’s not going to happen. Shame, I could really do with being inside her right about now.
She rushes over to the bag she got the bandage from and pops out the pills I need before bringing them over with a fresh glass of water.
“What do you fancy for breakfast?” I open my mouth to respond, but I don’t get a chance to say anything. “Don’t say me. It’s not happening. Not until you’re healed.”
“Spoil sport.” I sulk.
Chapter Eight
We end up staying in our little lodge for five days before Quinn decides I’m allowed out into the world again. As much as I’d like to re-join real life, I’m also a little sad to leave our haven behind…although I’m hoping that getting back to London and putting some distance between Quinn and this place might help with her nightmares that seem to haunt her each night. I’d do anything to take away her pain, her memories, but I’m powerless to do anything but hold her as she cries. It’s been incredible just being the two of us, finding out all the little things about each other that we’d not had a chance to do until this point.
Quinn opened up more about her previous life. Although she was understandably reluctant to tell me some of the darker parts, she managed it. I think she was worried about my opinion, but after telling her for the millionth time that the stuff that’s happened in the past doesn’t bother me, I think she’s starting to believe me.
She makes me sit on the edge of the bed while she packs up the small amount of stuff we have. Seeing as she was brought here against her will and I arrived in a bit of a panic, all we have is what Quinn ordered for us when we first got here.
Thankfully, her bruises have almost completely faded now. I can see her confidence come back a little more each day, and it’s incredible to witness. She’s becoming the Quinn I fell for again and somehow managing to put him behind her.
“I can help, you know. I’m not completely useless.”
“Just chill out. We’ve got a long journey.”
“We’re going to London, not Australia. I’ll be fine.”
“You say that now; you’ve not experienced my motorway driving.”
I laugh at her but stay put as she carries the bags to the front door.
“I’m not sure I’m ready to leave this place in favour of that damp studio flat in London.”
Stepping up behind her, I wrap my arm around her waist, drop my head to her neck and breathe her in.
“Move in with me?”
She tenses but doesn’t immediately say no. “Don’t you live in your friend’s flat? I can’t imagine she wants me there.” Her voice is flat, and it gives me a little hope that she might actually be up for this.
“I’ve actually moved into her boyfriend’s place upstairs so they can be together and there are no more accidental interruptions. Trey said I can stay there as long as I’d like, but if you’re up for it, I’d really love to get a place of our own sometime soon.”
Turning in my arms, she looks up at me, an unreadable expression on her face. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Deadly. I don’t want our time together to be over.”
“But I’ll be there every day. It won’t be like it’s been here. We’ll have to work and—”
“I’m aware that I'm not asking you on a long-term holiday, Quinn. I know we’re going to have responsibilities and that at times, it’s going to be stressful. I’ve never done it before, but I want it all with you. I want the nights cuddled on the sofa, the lazy Sunday mornings. I want the heated arguments and the hot make-up sex afterwards. I want a future, Quinn, and that’s something I’d never thought I’d say.”
