Page 32 of Quentin
She was still shaking with her orgasm, her body trembling from the force of it when he rose above her. He yanked her T-shirt off entirely, leaving her completely naked before him. But as he moved between her thighs, Lowey decided she had other plans for him. She pressed her hands against his chest, halting him right where he was.
“I get to be in charge now,” she stated. “On your back, Darcy. I’ve got plans for you.”
A wicked grin flashed across his lips just before he kissed her senseless. But then he did as she asked, rolling onto his back and bringing her with him. Lowey rose onto her knees, straddling him with ease. Lifting herself up slightly, she closed her fingers around him and guided him to her entrance. But with just the tip inside her, she stopped. It was torture for her, but it was also torture for him, and she had a little payback toget.
“Are you gonna stop there? Really?” he asked.
She moved her hips, sinking down just a bit before retreating again. “Maybe. Just the tip…isn’t that what all the boys ask for?”
His gripped her hips tightly, his fingers digging into the soft flesh there. “I’m not a boy, now am I?”
Truer words had never been spoken, she thought. He was all man. Infuriating and maddening, but so damn sexy she couldn’t resist him. Even as she had the thought, he lifted his own hips off the bed, surging upward, filling her so completely that any thoughts of payback faded to nothing. In fact, she lost the ability to think it all. Her world reduced to the points of contact between their bodies as she took him even deeper.
Lowey circled her hips, riding him at a slow, easy pace. But there was nothing easy about it. The sensation of having him inside her, of his hands on her body, left her wrecked. She was sobbing, crying out as he surged into her again. Every thrust brought her closer to that edge until, finally, she tumbled over it again. He was there with her, holding her tight as he pressed deep one last time.
Lying there together, their limbs tangled, sweat drying on their bodies, Lowey sighed contentedly. “Okay, so that was totally worth letting you be in charge.”
He laughed softly as he stroked her back in soft lazy circles with the pad of his thumb. “Was I in charge? Seems to me you turned that table and then set it on fire.”
She smiled, her face pressed against his chest. “Maybe. But are you complaining?”
“No…never.”
“So what happens now?”
“Sleep?”
She smacked his chest. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. You asked me to move in here…but are you sure?”
He rolled her onto her back and then kissed her soundly. “Yes, I’m sure. I wouldn’t have said it otherwise.”
“I want this to work,” she said. “I don’t want either of us to regret it.”
He sighed then, pressed his forehead to hers while his hands tangled in her hair. “The only thing I’m ever going to regret is the time I wasted…I wasn’t going to say anything to you about this. I know it’s too soon for you. Hell, it’s too soon for me. But this is going to be forever, Lowey. And as soon as I can put a ring on your finger without people acting like we’re fucking nuts, I’m going to.”
“You do realize three days ago we weren’t even speaking to one another?”
“It’s been an action packed three days…if you let me go back to sleep for an hour or two, it’ll be even more action packed when I wake up.”
“Let’s just hold off on talking about marriage…not because I don’t want it, but because that’s not what you or your family needs to focus on right now. When things are more certain with Patricia, then we’ll talk about it again,” she said.
“Deal,” he said. “Now, go to sleep. ’Cause you’re gonna need it.”
Epilogue
Quentin carried the bag of ice out to the deck as Bennett fired up the grill. It was a strange thing still to see any member of the Hayes family with the run of the place. It was stranger still to see them all gathered there on the back lawn. Hayes and Darcy alike, they were all present and accounted for. Bennett was there, along with his formerly ne’er do well cousin, Carter. It seemed reform was going around, because Josie Marcum-Hayes had him walking the straight and narrow. Savannah was there as well, and even Emmitt, the hermit, had been dragged into civilization for the day. They made a motley bunch to be sure.
Sitting in her wheelchair on the porch, Patricia was looking out on all of them. She’d come so far but still seemed to be struggling to fit back into the world after being lost to it for so long. After he dumped the ice in the chest to chill the drinks, Quentin walked over and squatted down beside her.
“Bet this is something you never expected to see,” he said, gesturing toward the wary looking Hayes clan all gathered together.
“Not expected. Hoped,” she said. Her words were still halting, slow—every one of them chosen and enunciated withcare. Walking was coming back slower than talking, but that, according to the doctors and therapists, was to be expected. Even with all that Mia and the others had done to help her maintain range of motion, her muscles had atrophied.
“She’s happy,” Quentin said, looking at his sister who was glowing with it. She stood next to Lowey and Annalee as they watched Emma Grace dancing around with abandon.
“You are, too,” Patricia said knowingly.
He ducked his head and grinned. “Yes, I am. I told Lowey that we wouldn’t bring up marriage again until things with you were more settled. How settled do you feel, Mama?”
