Across The Hall (20 page)

over his chest. He sucked a breath in and pul ed his arm away and raised his head to look at me. His eyes were heavy lidded as he gazed at me.

He opened his mouth but al that came out was, “Sylvia.” His voice was so low. I realized the ice was gone, but I was stil running my hands in soft,

slow circles over his chest and stomach.

I stopped and started to pul away when Quinn’s hand came over the top of mine. He held my hand and continued to use it to trail against his

body. His eyes never left mine as he pul ed my hand down lower. I hesitated when I felt the soft waistband of his pants. I looked into his eyes,

questioning him. I wanted to make sure he was aware of what he was doing. I was damn sure of what was happening, yet I felt powerless to stop it.

Quinn made a whimpered choking sound. “Sylvia, I don’t have the strength to fight this anymore.”

He tugged my hand lower, placing it right over his length. This, too, was burning, just like the rest of his body. I gasped. “Quinn, you have a fever.

This is not something we should be doing right now.”
Or ever.
He groaned, and dropped his head back. Then he moved, flipping me back on to the

mattress, much quicker than someone with a fever should be able to.

“Sylvia, it’s more than just the fever that has me burning.” His face was over mine, just inches from my mouth. I could feel his hot breath over my

lips. I knew it was wrong. I knew I should not be there. I should not even have been considering this. But at that moment, nothing was going to stop

me from kissing Quinn Lobato.

I reached my free hand up to the scruff of his neck and pul ed him to me. His lips were hot against mine, yet they were so soft. He barely touched

mine. I parted mine slightly to encourage him. He deepened the kiss but stil kept it soft. I felt his fire pour through that kiss onto my lips and into my

mouth. Slowly it crept on, burning me as it went. His hands joined in, sliding up under my shirt. They seared me as they moved up my side. I was

burning with him, for him.

His tongue sought out mine, twining around mine, not battling mine for control but dancing with it. I moaned against him and he pul ed back a little,

not taking his lips off me but just moving them to my jaw. He shifted slightly, al owing his hand room to slide from my side to gently cup my breast.

His move freed my hand that had been trapped between us. I moved it up from his waist, over his hip and up his back. The feel of his muscles al

hot and hard under my hand had me groaning and raising my hips to his.

He slipped a leg between mine and glided the hand that had been lightly massaging me back down my stomach and over my hip, stopping once

he reached my thigh. He wrapped his long fingers around it and hitched my leg up, bringing his leg closer against me. He stroked my thigh and hip

as I arched into him. I needed to feel the heat and the friction of him against me. I could feel him, so hard, pressed against my hip.

His mouth was at my ear. He took a smal slow swipe around the outer edge, causing me to shudder. I felt his hot breath as he whispered, “I’ve

wanted this, Sylvia. I’ve dreamt of this. I don’t even know if I can trust that you’re real y here.” He slid his teeth over my earlobe and pul ed it gently.

“Quinn, this is real. I’m here.”
Oh, I’m most definitely here
, I thought as his lips came back to mine. His hand came back up to my shirt this time,

trying to push it off. He forgot about the flannel over the top. I moved my hands off his back to tear at the outer shirt. He realized what I was trying to

do and brought his hands up over my col arbone and to my shoulders, pushing it off for me. One hand he tangled into my hair and the other he ran

down my arm to my hand. He used my hand as his own again. Together we pul ed the tank top up over my head. He disentangled his hand from my

hair and cupped my face. I just wanted to nuzzle into his hand.

His thumb brushed over my lips, and I had to taste him. I opened my mouth and slowly ran my tongue over his thumb. I could feel the ridges of his

fingertips under my tongue. I could taste the salt of him. I wanted to taste more of him. I sucked his thumb into my mouth, closing my lips around it,

curling my tongue around it. Quinn let out a little hiss that had my insides tightening. I slid my mouth off his thumb and licked at the next finger. I

started at the base and dragged my tongue up the entire length of his long, long fingers. I sucked that one in, just like the last.

“God, Sylvia,” Quinn practical y growled.

He brought his mouth down to my chest. He didn’t even wait to take my bra off. Just settled his open mouth over the ice blue satin covering my tip.

It wasn’t long before he was pul ing at it with little nips. He pul ed his wonderful fingers from my mouth when I opened them to let out a sigh. He

traced his finger along the exposed skin under my bra before pushing up under it. Those magic fingers went to work on me, pinching and kneading,

twisting and flicking. He pul ed the straps off my shoulders and bared me to him. I felt more than heard the rumble from his chest. “Sylvia, you are so

beautiful.” He brought his mouth down to me and rubbed his jaw against my skin. I loved the feel of his stubble as it brushed across me. It was rough

and slightly scratchy, but it sent little tingles shooting through me.

I arched my back and reached back to unhook my bra. He hooked a finger around it and pul ed it off and dropped it somewhere beside the bed.

By then I was losing myself to him. I was writhing against him so hard; I could feel the heat of him. I wanted to wrap my hand around him. I pushed at

his pants, getting them off his hips and as far down as I could. Quinn raised his hips to assist me in the effort. I took the opportunity to wrap my hand

around him. I tightened my grasp and slid it up. His pants were stil around his thigh, but I managed to snag them with my foot and pul them the rest

of the way off.

I continued to pump my hand around him. He was so impossibly hot. His skin was so smooth. I wanted to feel that heat against me, in me. As if

he read my mind, he moved his hands down to my pants. I curved against him as he pushed them off my hips. He moved away from me as he

pul ed them off. He trailed his hands al the way back up, from the arch of my foot, around my calf, behind my knees, and up the insides of my thighs.

I was yearning for him. I needed him. I burned for him.

Final y, he made his way to where I most wanted his touch. He lazily ran one finger over me. I arched into him, begging for more. He made a

second pass, adding a second finger. Both just traced over me, barely touching me. I shivered at the feel of his fingers ghosting over the satin of my

panties. His husky voice was pure sex as he groaned out, “Sylvia, you are so wet for me. I just want these off you and feel your skin against mine.”

With that, he tugged my panties down and I wiggled my legs, sliding them off.

Quinn leaned in for a kiss as he curved his fingers around me. His lips took mine deeper this time, yet just as sweet. The kiss was hot but the fire

didn’t need to travel through me this time. I was already a raging inferno. He used one finger to slide in between my lips and stroked up and down

along my slit. After a few passes, he stopped right on my clit. He rubbed slow circles around it, and I was dying for more. I thrust my hips to him, but

he continued to torture me with the slow circles and easy kisses. It may have been torture, but it was a sweet torture. He was building me up, and I

knew that when I released it was going to be huge.

Everything started to tighten. My hand was back around him, my grip tight around him as I felt it approaching. Quinn knew my body so wel . It was

like he hadn’t forgotten anything. He slid two fingers in, hooking them against me as he thrust them in and out. My breath matched the pace of his

fingers. When his thumb came down pressing on my clit, I was lost. I cal ed out his name as I tightened al around him. He slowed his strokes as he

brought me back down.

I was stil slightly panting as I looked him in the eye, tel ing him that I stil needed more. I needed him inside me. Even though it was fairly dark in

the room, there was stil enough light for me to see his eyes. They were a mix of lust and something else. I wasn’t sure what, but I was sure they

were tel ing me how much he wanted me too.

I looked away and hated the fact that he had to reach over to get a condom out of his nightstand. I had always been on birth control so we never

worried about them. I heard the rip of the package and felt the bed move. Quinn positioned himself between my legs. He cupped my face and

turned me to look at him.

“Sylvia?” He breathed the question. I knew he would stop if I said so. But I was too far gone. I wanted him at that moment more than I’d wanted

him at any point in my life.

“Yes.” It was al the answer he needed. With one smooth thrust, he was in and it felt like home. Al my senses were alive. I could smel our scent

mixed together when I took a deep breath in. I tasted his mouth on mine, his tongue again cal ing mine out to play. I could see his eyes gazing into

mine. They were black in the dark, but stil as intense. I could feel the heat and hardness of his body against mine. My hands rubbed at his back and

clutched at his arms. He was thrusting slowly, teasing me, feeling me. And somehow, with al that consuming me I stil managed to catch the faint

strains of a guitar and a soft melodic voice breaking through my consciousness, as Deep Blue Something sang the words,
“You say that we’ve got

nothing in common. No common ground to start from and we’re falling apart. You’ll say the world has come between us. Our lives have come

between us still I know you just don’t care.”

In that moment, my heart began to cry again. I pul ed Quinn tighter to me to drown out the song. To drown out the world. Al I wanted to know and

feel right then was Quinn. I kissed along his neck, loving the taste I’d remembered a hundred times over. Our lives may have come between us, but

in that moment they were joined together, even if it was just briefly.

Quinn’s voice pushed the song from my mind. “Oh, Sylvia. I just want to stay here forever with you, in you.” He let out a smal moan and he began

to thrust faster. I was there with him. Between his hands, his mouth and the feel of him moving in me, I felt the fire building again. I met him thrust for

thrust. I was so close and I needed him. He growled my name and I went over the edge. I bit down on his shoulder as I grasped him to me. I felt

myself stil spasming around him as he pul ed back and thrust harder into me, once, twice, and yet again. He threw his head back. His brow

furrowed, causing the veins to pop out. He let out a loud groan and I felt him jerk a little and knew that the fire had consumed him, too.

He was stil breathing deeply as he bent down to kiss me. His lips were ever gentle against mine as his fingers stroked my cheek. “Sylvia,” he

sighed once, and then pul ed away from me. It felt like he pul ed the condom off and dropped it on the floor beside us. He turned on his side and

reached for me. He pul ed me to him and nuzzled his face into my hair. I felt him take a deep breath and I smiled at the thought of him breathing me

in.

We didn’t say anything as we lay there in the dark. Neither of us wanted to ruin the moment. I lay there, tangled up in his arms, and stroked his

hair. I thought about how it felt to be there with him wrapped around me, holding me so close that I not only heard his heartbeat as it slowed, but felt

it as wel . I knew he was asleep from his even relaxed breaths. I realized he wasn’t as hot anymore, that somewhere in the middle of al that his fever

had broken. I squirmed out of his embrace just long enough to pul the covers up around us. I didn’t want him to get chil s in the night as the sweat

from our bodies cooled against us. He pul ed me back to him. Even in his sleep he wanted me near. I drifted off, too, with the line,
“well that’s one

thing we got,”
echoing in my head.

I hovered in that state somewhere between waking and dreaming. My dream was so amazing that I didn’t want it to end. I fought the

consciousness that was threatening to overtake me. I tried to hold on and fal back to sleep, back to Sylvia in my dream. It was a losing battle. My

eyes opened and I stared up into the darkness. As the dream slipped away, I became aware of my surroundings. I could hear quiet breathing and

felt her smal body pressed against me. I smiled into the dark, happy that it had been more than just a dream. Sylvia was here. I pul ed her tight to

me and buried my face in her hair.

I played back the last couple days in my head as I tried to fal back to sleep. When I’d gone over to her place on Saturday morning, I’d never

expected her to actual y offer to stay and take care of me. That was my Sylvia though. She would always put her own problems away if someone

needed her. Having two ful days and two ful nights with her had been everything I could have wanted. I’d thought it would be awkward when she first

came over. I’d figured she’d stay a couple hours and be gone. The longer she stayed, the more she seemed to want to stay.

We fel in to an easy rhythm, and it was just like it use to be. I started to think that we could be friends. There were a few uncomfortable moments,

but nothing too serious. On Saturday night, she wrapped her arms around me while she was sleeping and a spark ignited in my mind. Maybe, just

maybe, Sylvia felt more for me than she let on. She was beautiful in the morning, al sleepy and smiling. I real y, real y missed her smile. Knowing