Page 25 of Hard Hitter

"College is stressful, and sometimes one dick just isn't enough," Raelyn replied, keeping her tone entirely nonchalant.

Quinn set his beer back on the table hard, it sloshed as he coughed, pounding his chest. Amira had thrown her head back with a delighted laugh while Chris and Jett stared at Raelyn, appearing both astounded and mildly impressed.

"Wow, I was sort of imagining you two, but," said Jett motioning between Raelyn and Amira. "I'm not really sure where to go from here now."

"I think I need another drink," Raelyn said, pressing her hands to the table. When she stood up she stumbled a little before finding her balance.

Up at the busy bar, she leaned and waited for an available bartender to take her drink order. She hadn’t been waiting long when she felt the light pressure of a hand on the small of her back. She’d expected to see Quinn when she turned but was instead face-to-face with a stranger.

He was handsome enough, with light brown hair and bright blue eyes, a square jaw and, from what she could see, he was physically fit. He was also young. College-age young. That explained the level of confidence it took to come up behind a stranger and touch her like they were already together.

“Hi,” he smirked, brushing his gaze down her body and back up to her face. It wasnota subtle gesture. “I’m Carter,” he said, cocky smirk still in place as he extended his hand to her.

“Raelyn,” She shook his offered hand and turned to face him so that his hand fell away from her back.

“I’ll buy this round if you come back to my table with me. You could share your life story or…” he dipped his head in what Raelyn was sure was a practiced move so that he could offer the perfect smolder. “We could skip all that and you can just come back to my place.”

It took some effort to not laugh derisively in this guy’s face, “What makes you think I need someone to buy my drinks for me?”

“Oh, I don’t,” Carter said, his eyes making another slow sweep down her body. His eyes were still down, gaze hovering over her thighs. “But I needed a reason to catch you before you went back to your table.”

Raelyn nodded slightly to one side, deciding it was a reasonable enough response. Still, there was no way she was going anywhere with this guy. She wasn’t going to let him buy her drinks either, but she couldn’t deny the unexpected male attention was nice. At least until…

“You’ve got some legs on you. I can’t help wondering what those thighs would look like wrapped around my neck.”

Before the laughter could burst out of her, a large and imposing figure had inserted himself between her and her admirer.

Quinn’s arm wrapped around her waist and he slammed a twenty dollar bill on the bar top, “I’ve got this round, babe.” His voice was low and there was an edge to it that she knew well, though she hadn’t heard it in quite some time. This was angry, protective, possessive Quinn. And it was quite possibly the sexiest thing she’d ever seen.

She would’ve given anything to see the fire in Quinn’s glare that made Carter back down and cower like a nervous puppy. Carter slunk away from the bar and Quinn watched, not taking his eyes off him until he was back at a table with a few of his bros.

Quinn looked back at Raelyn whose face was caught somewhere between amusement and arousal. “Whatcha doin’ there, Case?” she asked. “You called me babe.”

He gave a short nod, “I did.” He looked her over, and though he was also taking in her full appearance, his attention fell heavily on her lips. His gaze flicked up to her eyes and he smirked as if to tell her she knewexactlywhat he was doing. “Did you order another drink?”

“Not yet.” She suddenly felt breathless under his intense gaze.

“You’re already a little tipsy, why don’t we call it a night?” He started lightly trailing his hand up her back and over her shoulders, stoppingto push a stray piece of hair back behind her ear, then sliding his hand back down slowly.

“Amira’s in worse shape and she drove us here,” Raelyn managed to say, mesmerized by the rhythm of his strokes up and down her back.

Quinn lowered his voice, ducking so that only she could hear him, “Let me take you home.”

Staring into his golden, honey-brown eyes, it was as though they were exchanging secrets and trying to read each other's minds as well as they once had. They used to be able to read each other so well, know what the other was thinking or feeling, know how to make the most minute adjustments to make the other comfortable. It was like they had known everything about each other. Or at least she thought they had.

She searched his face for any sort of nefarious intent and, unsurprisingly, saw none. The bartender appeared in front of her and asked for her order. Raelyn considered, gaze fixed on Quinn for a moment longer before turning, "I'll take an eight ounce glass of DeRosé." She faced Quinn again, "Onemore, and you can take me home."

Chapter 10

Rae's last drink of the night turned out to be a highly potent sparkling rosé from her family's vineyard that left her a giggling, flirty, beautiful mess that Quinn had to usher out of the bar in his arms. Amira's fiance, Brody had found her and after she'd introduced them, he was helping her walk back to her car so they could get home.

Once they made it to Quinn's Bronco, he realized he was going to have to awkwardly lift Rae into the passenger seat with his left arm, avoiding the use of his splinted arm as best as he could. Rae was able to do some of the work, but it didn't stop him from having to fully grasp her ass to push her up into the seat. Tipsy as she was, she simply giggled at this and made a comment about how he'd clearly been waiting to do that all night. She wasn't wrong.

Following Rae's slurred and giggled directions to her house was easier than he'd anticipated. While the city had grown since he'd last lived here, the roads still had a familiarity that he had never felt during his time in Arizona, Georgia, or California.

He pulled into a driveway and parked in front of an attached garage. Rae's house was a dark blue ranch-style home with a walkout basement, and a wrap-around porch that turned into a balcony overlooking the lake. It was a beautifully built home, but Quinn couldn't help noticing how different it was from the massive French manor-style home she'd grown up in.

After helping her out of the lifted vehicle, ensuring she didn't sprain an ankle, she keyed in the garage passcode and he partially followed, partially carried her inside.

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