A Broken Soul(53)

His cock was hard, the pressure of it pressing again me oh-so perfectly that another - more wanton - groan escaped. "Quinn," I breathed as his head lowered and he kissed a scorching trail down my jaw and neck.

"Christ," he grunted, pushing himself harder against me. "Want you so fucking bad." Tiny bombs detonated between my thighs. I was so wet. So ready.

I'd just started contemplating ways to get us both naked and in his bed when a tiny voice called out, "Daddy? Can I have a glass of water?"

Everything stopped. The heat instantly disappeared like a tub full of ice water had just been dumped on us. "Shit," he hissed, dropping his forehead to my shoulder. "Shit, shit, fucking shit."

I gave his shoulders a little push and tried not to giggle at the murderous look on his face as he called out, "Yeah, Angel. Be right there."

At that, I lost hold of my giggle. Quinn's eyes lowered once more to my dimple and his eyes grew hooded. "I'm really sorry about that," he said quietly.

I reached up and did what I'd been wanting to do since the first time he walked into my dance school, I ran my fingers through that mass of sandy blond hair, letting them trail down over the stubble on his square jaw. "Don't be sorry. It's hot watching you be a good dad."

One of his brows quirked up as he mumbled, "I'll have to keep that in mind."

"You do that," I grinned, unlocking my ankles so he could step back and I could hop down. "I should probably go."

"Yeah," he nodded, then leaned in and gave me a soft kiss. "But we're picking this up again as soon as possible."

"Oh, I'm counting on that. Go get Little Miss her glass of water. I'll talk to you later?"

"I'll call you." I stood on my tip-toes and landed one last kiss on his lush lips. Then I turned and headed for the door, smiling the whole way.



       
         
       
        

Sure, it had only been two days, but this whole dating thing was going pretty damn good so far.





Quinn



LILLY AND I had been seeing each other for close to a month. We kept it casual, no expectations; we just enjoyed spending time together. We didn't flaunt the fact we were sleeping together in public. As far as our families, the townspeople, and my daughter were concerned, we were good friends.

It worked for us. Or at least that's what I was constantly telling myself. Lilly hadn't given me any reason to think she wasn't happy with our arrangement, and I didn't want to consider that she might want more.

I was giving her all I had, all that was left of me. I hoped it was enough.

It had to be.

For the first time in years, I woke up without the suffocating weight of knowing it was just another emotionless, bleak day where I simply walked through life instead of leaving it resting on my chest. I could breathe knowing what was waiting for me. I could smile and almost feel it to my soul. Almost.

So yeah, it had to be enough. Because with Lilly in my life now, I felt better. I was content; which was more than I could have hoped for. Happiness for a guy like me - a guy who was the blame for tearing his family apart - wasn't in the cards. I could settle for contentment. That was the most I deserved, after all.

I should have known that something would dredge up from the dreary, bottomless pits of my despair to try and cast darkness on the goodness that was settling over me. But somehow, a month with that constant acute ache suddenly dulled, I'd let my guard down, so when the call came, I hadn't been properly prepared. Stupidly, I'd let my guard down.

I'd just dropped Sophia off at a sleepover with some of her friends from dance class. It seemed the older she got, the more she spent nights at other people's houses instead of ours. I wasn't sure if I was ready for my baby girl to grow up yet, but she was intent on doing it whether I liked it or not.

Taking advantage of the free time, I'd called Lilly and made plans to meet at The Moose, Pembrooke's local watering hole, for dinner and a few drinks before going back to her place for the night.

My cellphone rang from the cup holder in the center console and, not taking my eyes off the road, I picked it up, engaged the call, and brought it to my ear.

"Yeah."

"Quinn?"

The sound of Garrett Benson's voice coming through my phone set my entire body on edge. We never talked. If Addy's parents needed to talk to me about something specific, or even when it was just one of their regularly scheduled calls to Sophia, it had always been Janice. In the past three and a half years, we probably hadn't said more than five sentences to each other. And most of those weren't all that pleasant since they consisted of a pissed-off Garrett cussing me out when he found out I was taking Sophia and moving back to Pembrooke.