Page 12 of Wicked S.O.B.

He doesn’t smile. Or blink. Or move. His eyes pin me into place. “It doesn’t count because you don’t love it enoughnotto take it off if you want me to fuck you.”

I chew on the inside of my cheek for a moment. “Okay, you got me there. I love you. I want to claim you completely. Does that count for something?”

His fingers sink viciously into the thick sofa fabric, and his eyes blaze with a fierce light I’m momentarily terrified will consume me. “Something? Tryevery fucking thing.”

Then why am I standing in the middle of a war zone?I want to scream.

He senses the silent question because his gaze returns to the broken space that was a beautifully appointed room when I left for Vancouver on Friday morning. A look crosses his face, as if he’s steeling himself to make a move he doesn’t want to. I hope with everything inside me that it’snotthe need to brush this incident under the carpet and pretend it’s not happening the way he’s done before. The moment passes, and he’s once again under control. Once again the Quinn Blackwood in complete charge of his broken kingdom. In that moment, I decide to take matters into my own hands.

Dr. Freeman needs to start seeing both of us again. We can’t go on like this much longer, especially with the other problem looming over my head. Decision made, I breathe easier.

“So is that a promise that we’re staying put?” I press.

He doesn’t reply immediately. When he holds out his hand to me, I don’t even think of refusing. He guides me around the sofa, pulls me into his arms, and spears his fingers into my hair. Our lips meet in a hungry, thorough greeting. Then he nibbles at the corner of my mouth, my cheek, my jaw to my ear. “I’ll think about not moving us if you agree to spend the day with me.”

I frown and plead with my melting brain to function. “It’s Monday, Quinn.”

One hand trails down my body to squeeze my ass in silent rebuke. “I know what day it is. I’m taking the day off.”

My jaw drops to the floor, and I jerk back to look into his eyes. “No way.”

“Shut your gorgeous mouth before I put my cock in it. I’m buying you breakfast; then I’m buying you another piano. Then we’re spending the rest of the day being slobs.”

He starts to drag me toward the kitchen and the sound of the hissing coffee machine.

I hide my grimace before he can spot it. He won’t like what I’m about to say anyway. I wait until he pours two cups of coffee, passes one to me, and has taken his first caffeine hit before I say, “I can come to breakfast but I can’t go shopping. I have school today.”

His coffee cup freezes midair and then he returns it to the counter and his jaw clenches. “School was Friday.”

“I rescheduled it because of the trip.”

His gaze sweeps down, and he doesn’t speak for a full minute. Then he swallows. “I want to spend the day with you. Forget school today. Play hooky. For me.”

A request, not a command. My brain screams at me that something is happening here. But I can’t tell what it is.

Everything inside me wants to screamyes. But I’ve gone from not believing I’d get a chance at a real life while on the run to having the opportunity to make something of myself. As much as I want to be with Quinn every second of every day, I’m determined to be something more than Quinn Blackwood’s girlfriend. The real estate license I’m studying for is it.

“I want to. You know I do—”

“Don’t say no to me, Elyse.” His deep, low voice vibrates across mine.

“Then don’t ask me to cut school for you. You know how important it is to me. I’ll only be gone for a few hours.”

He watches me in silence for another minute, and then he pushes his mug away. “Fine. We’ll go to breakfast; then I’ll take you to your class and wait for you to be done. Then we go shopping.” His eyes dare me to refuse.

I have no choice but to refuse, on account of the other thing I need to do today. I’ve put it off for long enough. I don’t want to have my fears confirmed, but I can’t bury my head in the sand any longer. “No, Quinn. You’ll prowl the halls, and I won’t be able to concentrate.”

He stalks over to the sink and dumps his barely touched coffee down the drain. “For fuck’s sake, Elyse. I still don’t understand why you have to travel across town for a course you could’ve done online!”

“So I don’t go stir crazy whenyou’renot here? Besides, if I want to be any good at selling real estate, I need to know my way around the city, at least, dontcha think?”

“Not at the cost of losing time with you. That doesn’t work for me.”

The man I love is used to having his way. On everything. I knew that going in. That ruthless streak is the reason he’s so wildly successful. But he’s not unreasonable when it counts. He just needs handling with care.

I abandon my own coffee and walk over to him. His tension hits me from three paces away but I’m not daunted. I slide my arms around his bare waist and place a soft kiss between his shoulder blades. A deep shudder rolls through him, and his abs clench beneath my touch. Quinn may own me, but I’m not displeased with the power I have over him. I trail more kisses along his spine. “I have an idea.”

“If it doesn’t involve a serious compromise on the hours you’re proposing to spend away from me, I don’t want to hear it,” he grumbles.

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