A Broken Soul(49)
My bones felt like rubber as exhaustion began to envelop me, and the last thing I remembered before sleep took over, was Quinn shifting his weight and turning us both so that his back was to my chest. And then everything went black.
WHEN I WOKE up the early morning sun was just beginning to filter through the slats in my blinds, painting my room in pale shades of gray and pink. It took several seconds for the disorientation of sleep to wear off, and once it did I realized I wasn't alone in my bed and images of the night before came flooding back. Quinn had shown up at my apartment. We fought. He kissed me. We had sex.
Shame began to seep from every pore, not because it wasn't good. It had been nothing less than amazing. But because that one act could have possibly ruined the already rocky friendship we were working so hard to maintain. I knew him well enough to know that he'd more than likely wake up with regrets … regrets that would cause him to push me away indefinitely.
Squeezing my eyes closed as pain lanced through my chest, I bent my head on the pillow and did my best to talk myself out of the inevitable freak-out I felt stirring in the pit of my stomach. Just the thought of losing him completely killed.
When I opened my eyes once more, the glint of the sun hitting something caught my attention, and my chest seized. Quinn's arm was wrapped firmly around my stomach, holding my back to his chest. Normally, waking up like that would have filled me with a riot of butterflies, but the sight of his ever-present wedding ring still on his left ring finger made my blood run cold.
Oh yeah, he was going to wake up with regrets. I was certain of it.
Needing to escape and collect my bearings for the blow I was about to face, I slowly lifted his hand and slid from the bed, keeping as quiet as possible so as not to wake him.
I crept from the room into the bathroom, refusing to allow myself to turn and look at the gorgeous man asleep in my bed. That would have just made it harder. I brushed my teeth, splashed water on my face, and slid my robe on to conceal my naked body. Then I moved to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. I was going to need it if I had any hope of getting through this morning.
Quinn
THE STRONG AROMA of coffee invaded my senses and stirred me from the deepest sleep I'd had in years. I woke in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room, but as soon as the subtle scent of Lilly's perfume on the sheets hit me, my cock started to get hard.
Christ, last night had been … phenomenal. I kept my eyes closed, taking in the lingering smell of flowers as I slid my hand across the sheets in search of the woman who'd made me come so hard the night before, I'd seen stars. My eyelids snapped open when my hand hit nothing but air. A glance around showed that Lilly wasn't even in the room.
Slipping from the bed, I snatched my jeans from the floor and slid them on, sans underwear. I didn't even bother to button them as I started from the bedroom toward the kitchen. Reaching the end of the hall, I stopped at the sight of Lilly sitting quietly at her little dinette table. I had the perfect view of her profile, elbows on the table, a cup of coffee held between her hands. She wasn't moving, just sitting perfectly still, a distant expression on her face, like she was deep in thought. There wasn't even the slightest flinch in her frame that led me to believe she'd heard me moving around.
"Hey," I spoke softly, coming up behind her and resting my hands on her shoulders. At my touch and the sound of my voice, she did a startled jump and let out a yelp as she spun in her chair, nearly dropping the coffee cup in the process. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."
Setting the mug on the table, she brought one hand up and held it against her chest as if trying to hold her heart in place. "Jeez, Quinn. Are you a ninja or something? I didn't even hear you enter the room."
I chuckled as I pulled the chair next to her out and took a seat. "Well, I wasn't really all that quiet."
She smiled, but it wasn't even enough to bring that dimple out I loved seeing so much. One long look at her face and I knew something wasn't right. I pulled the chair beside her out, and turned it so that, when I sat, I was facing her directly and my thighs were bracketing her legs. "Hey, you okay?"
I got the side of her face again when she looked away and lifted her coffee to her lips. "I'm fine," she said quietly against the rim of her cup.
My stomach dropped, because she was anything but fine. When it came to women I'd learned early on, 'fine' never meant fine. "Lilly."
She hummed, keeping her gaze diverted.