Knock Me Off My Feet (17 page)

He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "What else did he tell you?"

"That he thought you were eventually going to marry her, but she left you and moved to
Miami
. That's all he told me."

Quinn nodded slowly. "Mmm. Well, she did move to
Miami
, but as far as marrying her
…
no. I don't think so." Quinn's eyes stayed on Audie for several long seconds, and she saw him weighing something in his mind.

"In fact, Laura got very pissed when I said I wasn't ready to settle down with her. So she started seeing Timmy Burke on the side, for several months at least. I don't know all the details. I don't want to know them. But the juicy part is she knew all about my history with Timmy when she did it—kind of the ultimate kick in the nuts."

"Good God. When was this?"

Quinn's eyes looked so tired. He looked so defeated. "Last spring. I found out in April."

Audie stared at him and felt her face go hot. Then she hissed in disgust. "April? I was seeing Tim then."

He nodded a little and smiled grimly. "Small world, huh?"

"Wow." She felt sick to her stomach. "But we never
…
uh…"
  
Audie shook her head. "Look. We weren't—you know—involved. He took me to dinner quite a few times and I went to a lot of functions with him, but I
…
"
Why did she feel she needed to explain herself to Quinn? "I didn't like him much. I asked him not to call me anymore. And I was hoping that would be the end of it."

"He told me the other day that he was in love with you."

Audie's eyes went wide. "Oh, hell."

"He told me you went down on him in the car."

"What!?"
She jolted to her feet in the narrow space between them, and Quinn was suddenly staring at her belly button and a narrow strip of exposed skin above her shorts.

"Audie. Sit down." He pulled her next to him on the table. She was shaking with anger.

"I'm sorry, but I thought you should know what he was saying."

"My God. The guy is absolute scum."

"I didn't believe him, though."

She stared at him openmouthed. "Well, thanks a million."

"He also said you were 'coming around' and that you two were getting back together."

"Like hell!" She tried to stand up again, but Quinn grabbed her wrists and pulled her down in his lap.

"So that's the story with Timmy Burke."

"God, Quinn." Her mind cleared and she remembered how this whole conversation had begun—with his little brother dying.

She placed her hand
against
Quinn's upturned face. "I'm so sorry about John." Her fingers brushed against his cheek. "I'm so sorry that happened. I don't know what to say."

Though his eyes were shadowed by old grief, it did nothing to dull the power there, the intensity, and Audie felt herself shiver in his gaze.

"Just say that from now on you'll tell me anything that might pertain to your case—about Timmy or anyone else—OK?"

She nodded, allowing herself to see things through Quinn's eyes. Maybe Tim Burke was more than just an annoyance. Maybe he was an honest-to-God stalker.

"I refuse to let anything happen to you, Audie."

She nodded again, helpless in his stare and burning up because she was touching him, because the backs of her thighs were pressed down into the hard muscle of his legs.

"Even if it's not Burke, it's somebody. But I'll keep you safe."

The hell he would. Audie was perfectly aware that she'd never be safe around Stacey Quinn—not when he made her heart pound and her blood throb and when he smelled so good and felt so hot against her skin.

Maybe safety was highly overrated.

She dipped her mouth to his because she just couldn't fight it anymore, and his response was serious and sure and Audie felt him moan deep in his chest as his hands cupped her bottom and he pulled her tighter.

Audie devoured him. She grabbed on to his shoulders and kissed the man like the world was coming to an end and this was the last kiss she'd ever be able to give him, her last chance to convince Quinn that it was good to be alive.

Her tongue slid into his warm, wet mouth, and she brought her teeth down on his lips and he tasted like hot wine and hot man. She could feel him begin to smile under her kisses, and she felt his hand slide over the contours of her hips.

Then his hands were up the back of her tank top and his touch seared her skin, and suddenly she sensed that she was moving up and coming to rest on the couch, Quinn now on top of her, Quinn now covering her with his hard weight and his clean smell. His hands were roaming up the front of her shirt, and when his fingers touched the sensitive tips of her breasts she groaned with relief.

"Oh, God, woman," he whispered. "Do you have any idea how sexy you are?"

"Medium sexy?" she mumbled.

"Wrong. Very, very wrong."

Quinn put his mouth on her throat and she leaned her head back so he'd have more room to do whatever it was he was doing with his tongue and teeth and lips.

"I have a confession to make," Audie whispered between hard breaths, her head lolling to the side.

"Confessions cleanse the soul."

"This is not a clean confession."

"Those are the best kind."

"You are the sexiest man I've ever known in my entire life, Stacey Quinn." She grabbed his butt and pulled him against her, arching under him to feel how hard he was.

"You're a pushy little Protestant thing, aren't you?" He reached behind him and pulled her hands from his ass and pushed them over her head, pinning them to the armrest with one hand.

"Do you like to play rough, Audie?" He laughed when her eyes flashed wide beneath him, and he thought it was time he let the tip of his tongue take that long, hot slide up her throat

When he did, all she could do was gasp.

Quinn raised up and used his other hand to shove the soft cotton top up under her chin. No bra, just Audie, and she was displayed beneath him and he could hardly believe he wasn't dreaming.

He brushed his palm over one fabulous, golden, round breast, then the other, enjoying how her toffee-pink nipples peaked with the barest friction.

"What are we doing this time, Audie?"

"You're giving me another foot massage."

"Wow." Quinn dipped his head and nibbled on a nipple. "Then I should have been a podiatrist," he whispered.

The sound of her low, throaty chuckle made him close his eyes in pleasure. When he reopened them, he saw her sweet laughing face, those dark eyes and darker lashes, her plump mouth. She was beauty and softness and sex beneath him, and he'd never wanted a woman so much in his life.

"Would you kiss me again, Quinn?"

A wave of exquisite heat rolled through his groin.

"If you'd kiss me back."

The instant his lips touched hers, Audie lost whatever bit of control she thought she had. Her response was beyond control, beyond reason. She knew she wasn't ready for this, that this would likely end just as badly as every other relationship, but her body gave her no choice in the matter. At that moment, all she wanted was to give to him, take from him, die in the heat of him. It was exhilarating. It was scary and intense and it was building and building.

He dragged his lips down her throat, over the clump of tank top, and then down to her breasts. His tongue was hot and his teeth were gentle and skilled, and she began to writhe beneath him, her wrists still pinned above her head.

"You're very spicy, Audie." His voice was scratchy and low. "I've been wondering how you would taste and you taste spicy."

"But my spices aren't alphabetized."

"I don't give a fuck."

Her giggle turned to a moan when he bit down on a nipple, then caressed it with his tongue.

"Oh, God."

He released her hands and let his mouth travel down her smooth stomach. Her hands rippled along his shoulders and neck as he kissed her belly button and pressed his lips against the front of her shorts. Then he raised his head to see her stretched out on the couch, reaching for him, half-naked and all his.

"Come here to me, Audie," Quinn said, and he cupped his hands under her bottom and pulled down on her shorts and underwear, until a mound of dark curls appeared before him.

He stopped to stare. He could hardly breathe. She was perfectly formed, opening with desire, dark and lush.

"Come here to me," he said again, as he yanked the clothing from her feet and reached for her hands to pull her to a sitting position.

"Quinn, what are you
…
?"

"Relax, Homey. I'm going to take real good care of you."

Audie let her head fall back against the couch, telling herself this wasn't really happening. This had to be some kind of extremely wanton sexual fantasy. In all likelihood, Quinn had just excused himself to go to the bathroom and she was sitting on the couch, alone, making all this up in her head because she was so sexually frustrated. She should be ashamed of herself.

Because there was no way she was really sprawled on the couch with her shirt up around her neck like this. Stacey Quinn couldn't be bending her legs and spreading her apart like this. His fingers were not slipping into her and she was certainly not squirming against his hand like this or making these sounds in her throat.

He was not kneeling in front of her with his sun-streaked head between her thighs like this, like he worshipped her, smiling up at her with his green eyes and doing things with his mouth that made her want to believe in God.

This could not be happening.

But then his tongue licked into her so long and slow and thorough that she heard herself cry out and she started to pant. When he licked her again, two things became very clear in Audie's befuddled brain—Quinn was, in fact, kneeling in front of her with his tongue and fingers hot inside her. And he would, in fact, take really, really good care of her. He already was.

Then a third thing occurred to her—the phone was ring
ing."

She stopped squirming under him.

"Don't get it, Audie," he breathed into her, not lifting his head. "Let the answering machine get it." He nibbled along the swollen rim of her.

"I don't have an answering machine anymore!" she cried out, panicked. "Oh, God, I don't have an answering machine!"

"I'll buy you one tomorrow. They're a lot more affordable than they used to be." His tongue landed hot and sharp on her erect little clitoris and she grabbed on to his shoulders to pull him closer, then push him away, right as she teetered on the brink of a sharp orgasm.

"Oh, God, yes! Yes! Wait! Stop! Crap! Oh, hell!"

Audie forced herself to breathe and forced herself to think. She wormed her way out from beneath him and lunged for the phone on the side table.

"Russell?"

Quinn watched in horror as Audie pulled the tank top down over those luscious breasts that he hadn't sucked on near enough and he thought he'd cry when she bent over to find her shorts and underwear and
…
suddenly she was gone. All of that soft, wet flesh was put away.

He could hear Russell screaming.

"Why haven't you called me? Why did you cancel your trip? It's going to totally fuck up your publicity schedule!"

Quinn collapsed face-first into the couch cushions.

"Why haven't you messengered the contract over to me? What the hell is wrong with you, Audie? Now we've got less than a week to agree to the terms!"

"Then get me an extension, because I'm not ready to sign anything yet!" she screamed. "And don't call me at home at
…
what the hell time is it anyway?"

"Ten-thirty," Quinn offered helpfully, lifting his head and turning as he plopped down on the floor.

Audie whipped around to look at him, startled by his appearance. He looked all scruffy and shell-shocked and his mouth was red and wet and he was leaning against the front of the couch like he'd been shot.

She'd just attacked the man again! And he'd just
…
"Oh, boy," she whispered.

"Audie?"

"What, Russell? Get me an extension and leave me alone—can I be any more direct than that? Jeesh! What is with people? It's like they don't take me seriously!"

Quinn stood up just then, and it was obvious that he took her quite seriously, because Audie's eyes were drawn to his nylon shorts, now straining around a rather impressive erection.

"My God, you're huge," she whispered involuntarily.

"What did you just say
to
me?" Russell screamed.

"Oh, crap. Hell." Audie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Work it out, Russell. And don't call me again."

She slammed down the phone and turned to Quinn, who was slowly advancing toward her, his eyes hot and green and serious. She brought up her arm, bracing it out straight, palm out, and she felt like Diana Ross doing "Stop in the Name of Love."