Quinn II (Undaunted Men #2) (7 page)

He shows no mercy as he thrusts his tongue into my mouth, mimicking his movements with his hips as if he were inside me. I’m so dizzy with lust I can’t open my eyes. He’s recreating my need for him, and knowing what the magic feels like when he's inside me, it's making me cave in. I simply become putty in his hands, because right now, he owns my every emotion, despite the secrets he’s keeping.

Suddenly, I
want to touch him. I want to go animal on him and rake my nails down his sexy, muscular back. I try to break my wrists free, but he’s still holding me strong, not willing to let me go.
 

“Quinn,” I whimper.

He bites my neck, and I moan. “You owe me the truth, Alexis.” His tone is low and guttural, and he’s fighting dirty, making me a wanton mess, which makes me angry. I need to focus on the anger. He has a hidden agenda, and finding out about it after I had given him my heart brings forth a fiery rage like I've never experienced before.
 

The turbulent thought of my t-shirt being concealed in his backpack has my body shivering in a fit of fury. In a split-second I decide to go crazy on him, because he has no right to be irate with me.
He wants the truth? Fine...he can certainly have it, along with my temper.

“I was running scared, Quinn,” I spew, feeling all kinds of bitter. “You freaked me the fuck out, and that's the truth. I'm scared on so many levels, and about so many different things, I didn't know what to do, so I ran.”

“You're scared of me?” he asks in a high-pitched tone full of bewilderment.

“Hell yes! I'm petrified of you.” I squirm, trying to yank my hands free, but can't.
 

“Why?” The lines in his forehead are creased as he searches my face. I rage inside, the amount of audacity it must take for him to act like me running away came as a surprise.
 

“Are you fucking for real right now? Don't you dare patronize me! You've got my favorite t-shirt sitting nice and snug at the bottom of your backpack for reasons I don't know. That shirt was at my house, folded neatly in my dresser drawer, and behind locked doors. What I want to know is who are you, because for all I know, you're some weirdo stalker, or worse, working for one of my dad's enemies.” I pause to steal a quivery, uncontrolled breath, my entire body trembling between both opposite ends of the spectrum; outrage and shit-my-pants fear. “I believe it's time for you to come clean with me for a change, Quinn,” I snarl at him, baring my teeth. “I want to know what you're doing with my t-shirt, and more importantly, what are you doing with my heart?!”

I’ve taken him by surprise, and his head jerks back as if I’ve slapped him in the face. He shakes himself of the stunned expression, and then tightens his grip on my wrists to the point of pain. “It’s not what you think,” he hisses between clenched teeth, his voice coming out low and hard.
 

“It's not what I think?!” I yell. “How stupid do you think I am, Asshole? Don't insult my intelligence. I know how these games work.
I grew up with it, and I came clean with you on everything! Everything!”
 

Enraged, I let out a pained, sharp cry. “There’s not a damn thing you don’t know about me. So, I’d say you owe
me
the truth.” My breathing comes out labored and heavy, and I hate what comes next, because I feel weak and feeble. My eyes start filling with tears – tears full of hurt and betrayal.
 

He’s silent for a moment, assessing my change in emotion, and that serves to piss me off. My emotions are all over the fucking place, but I’d rather be pissed off instead of crying like a baby, showing weakness. “You know what? I don’t need to know. Just let me go. If you have to think about how to cover up a lie with a lie, just like you did with the phone call, I don’t want or need you in my life.” I ball my hands into fists and try to break free, but as usual, he’s too strong. “Let me go!” I scream out in frustration, trying to twist away.

“Stop it,” he hisses in my face, pushing my body back into the brick wall. “If you must know, yes, okay? You started out as a job.”

“Oh, God,” I expel on a breath, slinking back into the wall as if I were sucker punched, willing myself to disappear. I close my eyes, not wanting to look at him. I knew I wouldn’t like the truth.

“Look at me, Alexis,” he sternly commands. I shake my head, willing him to go away. “Dammit, Lexi, open your eyes.” I slowly do so, but I don’t want to hear the rest of what he has to say. I grit my teeth, wishing I could shut my ears off. “It was your dad who hired me. He hired me to find you, and protect you. I was supposed to help get you back home in one piece, but obviously I decided to change those plans when we both discovered you were being tracked.” He lets go of my wrists and holds my jaw firmly in place as he searches my eyes. “Can’t you see how much I truly want you, Lexi? My feelings for you weren’t supposed to be a part of the plan.” His last words are a faint whisper as he brushes his lips over mine. “I’d go so far as to say I think I’m falling in love with you.”
 

“Oh,” I breathe out, my heart skipping a beat.
 

“Yeah,
oh,
” he mimics. He takes a deep breath, and then calmly states, “I need to know how you feel about me, because you keep running away from me, and quite frankly, I can’t take the whiplash anymore.”
             

“I’m scared, Quinn,” I admit. “I’m scared to give you my heart and soul, but I’m not sure I have any control over the matter anymore.” I don’t think my heart ever gave me a say; this man owns me. “But you're breaking my heart,” I croak out, choking up.
 

“Never,” he growls as he nips at my lower lip, “I’ll never break your heart.” He hikes my leg back over his hip, the lust in his eyes thick. “I could never hurt you,” he avows, gripping my ass with both hands. I lock both legs around his waist then wrap my arms around his neck. He searches my eyes, analyzing me for a moment. “You need to be okay with everything I just told you.”
 

I nervously lick my lips, his bright blues staring at me with dogged determination. It looks as if he's not going to budge or let me go until I acknowledge him. He's waiting for everything to sink in, willing me to understand just how much he truly cares for me. “Who are you, Quinn?” I whisper.

“I'm a man who has fallen hard, and as much as I've tried to resist, I can't ignore what I feel any longer.”

“Stop it, you know what I mean.”

He gives me a playful smirk and says, “I knew what you were asking. I'm a private contractor, the kind that can be somebody's worst nightmare. After a few close friends and I got out of the military we went into business for ourselves. We've done all kinds of work, from private investigations to covert operations, even going undercover for the government.”

My eyes go wide as I digest his words.
Governmental covert operations? Wow.
No wonder he's been so fearless in the face of danger and overly skilled while handling a gun. He's just kicked up my definition of alpha male, sexy tenfold.
 

“Talk to me.” He interrupts my thoughts, concerned about how I'm taking the news.

“I think I feel very special right about now,” I confess. “My dad being so smart and intuitive, and then being able to hire a bad ass, sexy man to come rescue me...”

 
I lean forward to kiss him, but he pulls back, his lips twitching. “I’m sexy, and bad ass, huh?” He fails to hold back an arrogant grin. I can tell he's happy I've accepted his explanation, but I’m curious as to one thing… “Why did you keep that a secret from me?”

He closes his eyes and sighs. “It started out as me needing time to asses you, and figure out what you were really on the run from. After some time had passed, we grew comfortable together, and then I found out the hard way you like to run when the shit gets real instead of confronting it. I didn’t want to throw more change your way. Plus, I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about the truth, whether or not you’d believe what I want with you goes far beyond the arrangement I made with your father.”
 

“I guess you are a say-what-you-mean, and mean-what-you-say kind of guy. I believe you, and knowing your background now, I know you wouldn't have played me to this extent if what you're feeling for me wasn't real. Besides, I know my dad; he'd deliver some serious wrath if you hurt his little girl’s heart.” I grin back at him, knowing this to be true, because I've witnessed my dad's actions over me being mistreated by men who had not-so-good intentions.

“Ain't that the fucking truth,” he expels a breath, agreeing with me. “I've already been forewarned, especially when I told your dad I was taking you home with me.”

“You've been talking to him?” I ask, surprised.

“Of course,” he replies as if my question was a no brainer. I guess it would only make perfect sense. “It's one of the reasons why I couldn't give you your phone back. I couldn't have you compromising my mission.”

“But I was only calling...”

He interrupts me by pressing his lips to mine, and then mumbles over them, “It's how I roll.” He nips at my lip, shutting down the conversation. When his tongue collides into mine, I whimper, kissing him back with everything I have. It feels good to be armed with the knowledge that he truly cares for me. Having all his secrets unveiled, I'm finally at peace in my heart. I'm good with who he is and what he's doing. I believe his intentions toward me are pure and true.

He breaks our kiss, bending down while I stay locked around him like a monkey, and he picks up my heavy backpack with one hand. I cling tightly, burrowing my face into his neck as he then carries me around to the front of the bathhouse. Kimber is at his heels, and just before he takes me into the women’s side of the facility, he tells Kimber to stay and stand guard.
 

He takes me into the shower stall I had previously turned on and left running. Each shower partition has its own separate dressing room, and somehow he works both of us through the dilapidated wooden door. He drops my backpack on the floor, since the bench is now gone. With my legs still straddled around his waist, he kisses me as he presses my back against the wall.

“I want to fuck you so damn hard you won’t be able to walk straight for days,” he confesses in a rich, husky voice. “Is that what I need to do to you in order for you to feel my true intentions? I need to fuck some sense into you?” He rolls his hips into me, forcing me to gasp for a breath I don’t have.
 

“It’s not fair what you do to me.” My voice catches. “Every time you’re around, you cloud my thinking.”

He smirks at my admission, his eyes displaying feral lust as he discloses, “Now you know exactly how I feel. That might be the first thing we both can agree on without having an argument. You’ve managed to fuck up all my reasoning skills since the second I laid eyes on you.”
 

I swallow hard at his confession, not sure what to say. He sets me down on shaky legs, backs up a step, and reaches into the shower stall to adjust the water temperature. I stand here in a stunned silence, watching him. He turns back to look at me with stormy eyes, and coarsely demands, “Strip, woman.”
 

My pulse quickens. He’s never been this way with me before,
so commanding. It’s hot as hell. The air around us is sexually charged, his body radiating with animalistic desire.

Slowly, I do as he asks and remove my clothing, my heart pounding the entire time. I stand before him, naked and breathing heavily. I take pause as I wait for his next move. His eyes heatedly rake over my body, giving me goose bumps.

“Now, take off my clothes,” he orders, full of authority. His stance is domineering as he towers over me, fiercely intent on calling all the shots.

I step forward and with jittery hands lift the hem of his shirt, allowing my fingertips to graze over his muscular abs. He hisses on contact, his reaction giving me confidence. I lift his shirt while slowly running my bare hands up his defined chest. He raises his muscular arms, bends at the waist, allowing me to slip his shirt over his head. I drop it to the floor, and then lean in to press my lips over his sexy, broad chest while running my nails down his sides.
   

“Pants,” he rasps. He fists his hands at his sides as if he’s practicing self-restraint. I keep my gaze on his, a challenge in my eye as I unbuckle his belt, then undo his button. I slowly inch down his zipper. The tension in the fabric stretched taught from his erection, forcing me to pull harder on the zipper to get it over his bulge.
 

I watch for his reaction as I graze my hand over his cock. He remains stoic, although, his eyes are swirling with lust.

I place my hands on the inside of his pants, touching his bare hips, and then hook my thumbs on the outside of his belt. I slowly slip his pants off while wearing a seductive smile. I slide around to the globes of his firm ass, and squeeze them, pulling his hips forward so I can feel his erection against my bare skin.

Looking down at me, he arches a brow at my brazen move. “Do you really think you’re the one in control here?” he huskily asks.

I shake my head, admitting, “I have no control over anything when it comes to you.” He quickly bends down to take off his boots then stands up to step out of his pants. He kicks them aside then presses his hard body against mine. He slowly backs me into the corner of the shower stall like an animal stalking its prey. All coherent thoughts are gone the second his hot, throbbing cock presses against me from the front as warm water assaults me from the back. He then sets me under its glorious spray. The heated water sends shivers down my spine. I close my eyes and moan. It’s been so long since I’ve had a shower I had almost forgotten what one felt like.

His lips crash over mine, and right away, he's possessing my body. I no longer feel the water sluicing over me. I feel nothing but Quinn and the unquenchable craving I have for him.

When he breaks our kiss, he holds onto my shoulders, knowing I’ve just been kissed dizzy. Without a word, he steps back into the small dressing area, and then I hear him rummaging around in my backpack. “The soap’s in the blue pouch,” I call out, and then I turn my face into the warm spray. I close my eyes, allowing the water to cascade over my face and down my body.