Quinn (The Beck Brothers #3) (3 page)

“Good boy.”

The big hand patted him on the head, gave his rear end a
sharp smack, and then was gone. Quinn waited. He had no idea how long. As soon
as he felt it was safe, he sat up. He winced at the pain that shot up his back
and felt something wet. Quinn reached behind him to touch the raw sensitive
skin. He let out a little cry of pain before he brought his hand back around to
look at it. Blood and white stuff. Quinn barely made it to the bathroom before
throwing up.

Quinn spent the next hour cleaning his puke off the floor
and toilet. He then went back to his room, yanked the sheets off his bed and
changed his underwear before putting both in a bag and tossing them outside in
the trash can. No one ever found out. No. One.

He hasn’t thought about that day in a few months. This new
incident, though, brought it roaring back into the front of his mind. Jesus,
that was twenty years ago, only ten at the time.

Quinn started when a soft hand touched his left arm. His
eyes flew open and his heart pounded as he whipped his head around to see who
was touching him. A flight attendant was standing next to him with the drink
cart.

“Would you like a drink, sir?” she asked with a pleasant
smile.

Quinn cleared his throat. “Just water, thanks.”

“And you, Miss?”

“Water, also,” Margot answered.

The woman handed them each a bottle of water and Margot
handed her money before Quinn could even dig his wallet out. The woman smiled
and moved on. He looked over at Margot for the first time since the strip
search. She gave him a hesitant smile.

“Thanks,” Quinn muttered and opened his water.

Margot shrugged nonchalantly and took a sip of her water.
Quinn took a sip of his water, still looking at her over the end of the bottle.
She was holding a Nook in her lap, and he looked down at what she was reading.
As he started reading a paragraph, he almost choked on his water, slapping a
hand over his mouth before he spit it all over the place. Margot looked at him,
startled.

“Are you alright?” she asked, concerned.

Quinn nodded. “Fine,” he wheezed. “What the hell are you
reading?”

Margot grinned. “It is a romance novel,” she said,
completely unashamed.

“A romance novel has graphic sex in it?” he asked,
bewildered.

Margot laughed. “Some of them do.”
 
She shrugged.

He frowned. “Why are you reading that?”

“It is a good book.” She grinned and wagged her eyebrows at
him.

Quinn’s lips twitched.
Dammit
. He didn’t want to laugh, but she was
seriously cute when she wagged her eyebrows at him.

“Would you like me to read some to you?” she asked in a low
sultry voice, while giving him a suggestive little wink.

Quinn swallowed hard. “No. That’s okay,” he croaked. If she
read that book to him in her sexy French accent, he would be sporting a tent,
and he doubted the rest of the people on the plane would appreciate that.

“No? The woman in it is very sexy,” Margot purred, giving
him a naughty smirk.

Quinn narrowed his eyes at her. Was she trying to get him
worked up? Well, two could play that game. He leaned in closer to her so that
his lips brushed the shell of her ear when he spoke.

“Unless you want to take care of the hard-on that I will soon
be sporting, I suggest you stop talking about your naughty little book,” he
whispered huskily.

Margot gasped and turned her head to look at him. Their lips
brushed and their noses bumped with how close she was. Quinn’s heart skipped a
beat. Screw the ‘will soon be’ comment. He now
was
sporting a hard-on. Her hazel eyes were
wide as she stared into his. He never realized how good she smelled. Whatever
perfume she had on, he liked it - a lot.
Jesus Christ!
He was seriously tempted to kiss this
shit out of her. The fact that she wasn’t moving away made him think that she
wanted him to kiss her, too.

Quinn forced himself to back up. It wasn’t the time or place
to kiss her. He kept his eyes locked on hers as he moved away. Disappointment
flashed across her face before she covered it up. Ah, so she
did
want him to kiss her.
Interesting.
He didn’t know she was attracted to him
that way. Quinn reached down and shifted his cock in his jeans to get some
much-needed relief. Her eyes flicked down to watch him as he did it. She sucked
in a sharp breath and flipped her eyes back up to his.
Fuuuuck.
They were now dark with desire.

“Margot,” he warned hoarsely. He could see in her face that
she was thinking about kissing him, as her eyes kept dropping to his mouth.

Never in a million years did he think he would be in this
position with her. Yeah, he was attracted to her. What warm-blooded man
wouldn’t be attracted to a beautiful woman? He thought that the annoyance he
felt for her would void out the attraction. Apparently, not. He was ready to
join the Mile High Club with her in one of those tiny bathrooms. With
everything he has been through today, he could use the release.
God dammit!

Quinn cursed under his breath and got up. “I’ll be back,” he
grunted and started down the aisle toward the bathroom.

He needed to get away from her. He needed to calm down.
Quinn shut himself in the tiny bathroom and leaned his palms against the tiny
sink. He willed his erection to go away. These next five days were going to be
torture. He hung his head. They had to share a hotel room! Fuck him! He was
never going to make it. Quinn would kill Peter for this! He couldn’t wait to
land so he could call that fucker up and rip him a new one!

~~~~~

They made it to the hotel at around 8:00 pm London time. It has
been a long day and Margot was really tired and really hungry. They checked
into the hotel and headed right up to their room. Quinn carried their bags up.
She opened the door to their room and walked in, holding the door open for
Quinn. He walked past her with their bags. She flipped the lights on and ended
up bumping into his back since he stopped dead right in front of her.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Quinn muttered dryly.

Margot peeked around Quinn to see what he was talking about.
She had to stifle a laugh when she saw what he was looking at. Quinn dropped
their bags and yanked his phone out of his back pocket. He hit a few things on
it then put it to his ear.

“I am so kicking your ass when I get home!” Quinn snarled into
the phone. “First - I get fucking strip searched at the airport.
Strip-searched, Peter! Now, I get to the hotel room and there is one
queen-sized bed in it! ONE! Oh, that’s all they had? Fuck you, Peter!” Quinn
practically shouted and hung up on Peter.

Margot rolled her lips in to try to stop herself from
laughing; she really found this whole thing amusing. No doubt, Quinn did not
see the humor. He just cursed out their boss for goodness sake. He spun around
to look at her, and she quickly schooled her features so he would not see her
laughing.

“I’m gonna go see if they have a room with two beds,” he
muttered.

“It is really not that big of a deal, Quinn. I’m sure we
will both fit fine in the bed,” Margot said, hoping to diffuse a little bit of
his anger.

Quinn stared at her for a minute. She wished she knew what
was going on in his head but his face was blank, as usual. “You’re gonna try to
take advantage of me, aren’t you?”
 

Margot’s mouth dropped open. Before she knew it, she was
laughing hysterically. Quinn just cracked a joke! It was incredible! Margot
covered her mouth with one hand and slapped his chest with the other. Quinn
chuckled low. The small smile curling his lips changed his whole face. He was
breathtaking, so handsome when he smiled. She loved the way the corners of his
eyes crinkled. His teeth were straight and white. Even though he had a short,
neatly trimmed beard and mustache, she could still see the creases that framed
his mouth. Gorgeous. He was just...gorgeous.

“Are you sure?” Quinn asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

Margot nodded. “It is fine.”

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay. Do you
want to go grab something to eat then?”

“Oui, I am starving,” Margot said, placing a hand to her
stomach.

Quinn agreed and suggested they go downstairs to ask the
front desk where a good place to eat was. They ended up walking a block and a
half to a small intimate restaurant that was supposed to have fantastic food.
They were seated right away at a small two-seater table by the front window.
Margot could not help but notice how romantic the whole scene was. The lighting
was dimmed, there was a candle burning in a votive on the red and white
checkered tablecloth, and there was soft music playing in the background. She
wondered if Quinn noticed. The girl at the front desk must have thought they
were a couple to send them to a place like this. Margot snuck a glance at Quinn
to find him looking at the wine list.

“Do you prefer red or white wine?” he asked quietly.

“Red,” Margot answered.

Quinn just nodded as he continued to peruse the list. When
the waiter came, Quinn ordered them a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Margot
smiled.

“What?” he asked her when the waiter walked away.

“That is my favorite wine,” she said with a shrug.

“Me, too,” he said softly before picking up his menu.

Margot wondered what other things they had in common. Then
she remembered that she wanted to ask him about his tattoo. “Quinn, I have a
question,” Margot said, setting her menu down, she knew what she was getting
already.

Quinn lifted his eyes from the menu to look at her. He
raised an eyebrow in question. Her heart fluttered and her stomach flipped
whenever he looked at her like that. There was something so provocative and
suggestive about the way he cocked one eyebrow sometimes.

“You have a tattoo on your back...what does it mean?” Margot
asked.

Quinn pursed his lips and looked back down at his menu. She
thought he was going to ignore her question, but he eventually took a deep
breath and said, “It’s the Chinese symbol for ‘Strength,’” he murmured quietly.

Margot studied him for a moment. She was very surprised that
he told her. She also noticed the way he stiffened when she asked, and he was
still tense even after answering. This must be something very personal to him.
It made her even more curious.

“It means something to you?” she asked.

Quinn pressed his lips together and nodded. He was still
looking down at the menu.

“Will you tell me about it?” she asked softly.

He smiled bitterly and lifted his dark eyes to pin her with
an intense gaze. “No, and don’t ever ask again,” he said sharply.

Margot flinched. “I am sorry.”

Quinn shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Shit. No...I am. I didn’t mean to snap. It’s just really personal,” he
grumbled.

Margot frowned and nodded. “Okay. I will not ask again,” she
said sincerely.

He swallowed hard and nodded. They sat in silence until the
waiter returned with the wine. He poured them each a glass and took their
orders. Margot watched Quinn sip his wine. She really had a hard time taking
her eyes off him, period. Everything from the stray strand of dark hair that
hung down over his forehead that he kept smoothing back into place, to the way
he sat with his knees wide but his big body poised in his chair. He was all
Alpha male and he fascinated Margot.