Page 27 of Twist of Fate

She nodded. He had to admit this was going better than he might have thought. Now, to make her believe and accept, if not embrace her new reality and her future with him.

CHAPTER13

QUINN

What the hell was he talking about? Confusion seemed to swirl all around her. Quinn could make no sense at all of him or her feelings for him. He’d carried her off that steamboat for what she thought would be an amazing one-night stand or maybe even a weekend. Truth to tell, she probably would have tried to spy on him and then spin what she’d done as a way to get into his house.

He’d just spanked her ass. The flesh he’d smacked had become warm and sensitized, but the strike had also sparked arousal and heated her blood as it coursed through her system. Quinn had never admitted to anyone that her Kindle had more than one book with D/s or spanking themes. She found the idea intriguing and exciting but had never even considered indulging, let alone allowing someone to actually do it. But then again, Bodie hadn’t asked, he’d just done it. So why had she felt each strike of his hand against her backside deep inside her pussy? Again, confusing.

Then the sonofabitch bit her, and not just some little nip, but a full-on savage bite. But how? She’d examined the wounds using a handheld mirror to look at them in the mirror over the vanity in the bath. There appeared to be four puncture wounds—two on each side of her neck. From what she could see and feel, they were deep and looked as if some kind of predatory beast—a wolf or large cat—had made them. Bodie didn’t have teeth like that. So, what the hell had happened?

Confusion.

All of her thoughts swirled with arousal, pain, and heat, and she felt herself wobble. Bodie caught her.

“Easy, Quinn. I’ve got you.” He wrapped his arm around her and helped her over to the large reading chair, where he sat down and pulled her into his lap.

She didn’t want to lean on his strength and really didn’t want tolike leaningon his strength, but she needed to, and she did. She curled into his lap like it had been made for her and she had been doing it for years. It felt soothing and right. When she let her defenses down, everything about Bodie felt right, and as if this was the one place she truly belonged.

“I’m sorry. I’m not usually woozy like that.”

“It’s all right. You’ve been through a lot, but you’re here now with me, and I promise you everything will be all right.”

“But you don’t know that…”

“But I do,” he purred.

It wasn’t so much that she could hear him, but she could feel a kind of soothing rumble coming from his chest that seemed to surround her like a comforting shawl made out of spun silk. Her breathing evened out, and equilibrium was restored. Quinn knew she should try to move away from him, but it was so peaceful just sitting in his lap with her head resting on his shoulder.

“It will be all right, Quinn; I promise you.”

She said nothing, but snuggled closer to him, letting his heat and reassuring presence surround her in a protective cocoon.

“I’m sorry. I’m not usually so moody. I mean, I have a bad temper, but I don’t normally just want to curl up in some gangster’s lap.”

He chuckled, the sound skittering along her skin, tickling it so that she couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s good to know. I’d hate to have to go out and kill all the other gangsters who have given you comfort and solace over the years.”

“Does the bite have anything to do with the waves of dizziness that have bothered me all day?”

“Yes, but as I said, you need to let me explain to you what happened.”

“I know what happened, you bit me.”

“Yes, I did.”

“How did you do that? I looked at that bite mark and it looks like it came from some large predator and not a man. I’m pretty damn sure I would have noticed if you weren’t a man.”

“You’d be surprised what you might have missed in the heat of passion. And you, my mate, were most definitely caught up in passion.”

Quinn could feel the color rising in her cheeks. Sitting in Bodie’s lap, even being with him, was something she hadn’t done in a long, long time. There had been no sex with a partner in quite a while, and before that, it had been mostly a string of one-night stands after she left New York.

“That was pretty intense in a very good way. So how did you bite me?” she lifted his upper lip to reveal a set of clean, white, even teeth. “I know everyone has canine teeth, but you sure as hell don’t have fangs.”

Before he could answer, there was a knock on the door, and it cracked open. “Alpha?” said Maurice.

“Maurice, come on in. Why don’t you set our lunch out on the balcony?”

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