Page 20 of Hard Hitter

Quinn turned slowly toward her, giving her a look as if to say “oh really?”

Her mouth hung open as she tried to force her smile back and she gasped, “You traitor!”

“Yeah, Rae,” Jett said, taking a swig of Labatt Blue as he plopped down on the last beach towel. “You are still in thedoubledigits, right?”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Rae said, just as Harry dropped the slobbery tennis ball in front of her. She picked it up and threw it at Jett. “I havenotslept with a hundred guys. That’s gross.”

“Oh, what are you at then? Ninety...eight?” Jett laughed, whipping the tennis ball down the shoreline.

“No.We’re not having this discussion,” Rae said. “I’m surprised you’d even want to bring it up seeing as how embarrassing it is for you, Flower.”

Quinn wanted to laugh at the jab toward Jett but was caught off guard by the sick churning feeling in his stomach at the thought of her being with other guys. Let alonea lotof other guys apparently. He reminded himself he had absolutely no right to feel that way. She was completely right about the one-nighters and probably any other impression she’d made of him, so he couldn’t reasonably feel upset by what he was hearing.

But that was the thing about his lifelong attraction to Rae- it wasn’t entirelyreasonable.It wasn’t reasonable that he’d always felt like she was his when he’d never done anything to make it so, and it wasn’t reasonable to think that she’d been pining after him all this time like he had for her.

“Okay, I don’t know where this bullshit about me being a virgin started, but you guys all know I have sex,” Jett snapped, angling his beer toward them. “As a matter of fact, I hooked up with a woman less than a week ago, thank you.”

“Sure you did, Flower,” Rae said with a wink. She turned and grabbed a bottle of tanning lotion out of her bag and started lathering it all over her arms and chest, working her way down to her-yes, we’ve already established this- notably stunning legs.

Quinn was reminded then of a memory much like this one, only he’d been seventeen, nearly eighteen, and had teenage boy hormones running rampant throughout his body. It was the first time he’d ever felt like he was actually going to make a move on his best friend before he was swiftly interrupted. The fact that he was now twenty-nine should have meant that he’d have better control over his impulses, but he just knew if she were to ask for his help rubbing the lotion into her back, he’d likely be even more of a horny, dick-brained mess than he’d been all those years ago.

He barely had time to complete that particular train of thought when Rae passed him the bottle of coconut-scented lotion, “Could you get my back?”

He had no choice but to nod and take the bottle of lotion from her. He spread his legs and patted the space on the towel between them, “Your throne, Princess. I am but a lowly servant.”

Shaking her head with a sigh, “I’m going to have to come up with a new consequence for that game I won forever ago. Clearly you’re never going to stop calling me that.”

“I lost on purpose, Rae. Now that you know that I think I need to call you Princess to make up for lost time,” said Quinn, as Rae settledherself between his legs with her back to him. He swallowed hard again, taking in the sight of her sleek, toned muscles, the dimples on the small of her back, and the amount of asscheek visible with her cinched bikini bottoms. His cock began to stiffen as Rae lifted her hair up, piling it into a messy bun on top of her head and tying it up with a scrunchie. Her back bowed slightly with the motion and his pulse kicked up a notch.Yeah...I’m fucked.

With tanning lotion on his left palm, he realized he would have to awkwardly bend his right arm with the splint to be able to feel her with both hands. It was worth it. If he was reliving this fantasy, he was going to rub her down with both hands. He wanted to feel her soft, warm skin as much as possible.

He massaged the lotion into her shoulders, then smoothed his way down. Mischief tugged at his lips when he imagined untying the back of her swimsuit top accidentally-on-purpose. Maybe if it was just him here he would tease and pretend to do it, but he couldn’t see that going well with the other guys watching. Now onto her lower back he pressed each thumb on either side of her spine and massaged outward. Rae’s back arched and he repeated the motion.

A pleasured moan escaped Rae’s mouth and Quinn could have fallen to pieces. Just that one little sound from her and he was done. Hehadto hear that again.

Rae had gone suddenly still. Quinn could feel the tension in her muscles as she paused, breathing halted. He would’ve given anything to see her face. To try and get an idea of what she was thinking.

“You okay?” Quinn asked, voice low.

A nervous laugh brought on an exhale and her body relaxed slightly under his touch. “Sorry, this is the closest I’ve gotten to sex in a while. I forgot what a man’s hands felt like.”

“I didn’t mind,” Quinn replied, smiling. His heart leapt at the thought that she hadn’t been with another guy recently. Of course, based on what Chris and Jett were saying about her sex life, teasing or not, he was curious, “What’s...a while?”

She laughed nervously again, “Well, let’s just say that walking in on the man you think you’re going to be with forever while he’s balls deep inside another woman is sort of a headshot to the confidence. And self-esteem. And the will to even have a sex life.”

Quinn’s hands stopped, simply resting on her waist as her words sunk in. “But didn’t that happen like…?”

“About fourteen months ago? Yeah,” Rae said, and he could hear the tightness in her voice that clearly stated her discomfort with the topic.

“Oh…” Quinn was at a loss for words. He suddenly felt even more sleazy having just hooked up with some random woman whose name he couldn’t rememberless than a week ago!He also felt the urge to knock Rae’s ex-fiance in the jaw for making her question herself. The girl was a twelve out of ten, easily. For someone to be able to destroy her confidence...it didn’t sit well with Quinn.

Sensing the need for a lighter mood Rae joked, “So just keep doing your thing. Just be aware I’m like a land mine. I guess if I go off, that’s just a bonus for both of us.”

“You’re saying you might have an orgasm from just this?” Quinn asked, kneading his hands into her lower back again. Her back bowed again and she groaned softly, making his cock harden even more.

“I’m saying put your hands to work, Case, and we’ll see what happens.” The smirk was audible in her voice, and when she turned her head to peak over her shoulder, he had to bite his lip to keep his own groans caged in.

“Yes, your highness,” Quinn replied smoothly, and he continued working his hands across her back, her shoulders, her arms. He wanted so badly to reach around and feel the small mounds of her breasts and run his thumbs over her top where he knew her nipples were.

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