Quinn (The Beck Brothers #3) (9 page)

“No thanks,” Christian murmured, giving Blake an apologetic
look.

Blake pouted. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

Blake sighed. “Alright. I’ll be hanging around for a little
while in case you change your mind.”

He nodded and Blake got up and walked away.

“Did you just get hit on?” Shea snorted in disbelief.

Christian turned to find him smirking with an amused twinkle
in his eye.

“Yes,” Christian muttered.

“Well, what the hell man, why don’t you hit that? He was
kinda okay-looking,” Shea said, giving Christian a nudge with his elbow.

Christian shook his head. “No, he’s not my type.” Which was
true, but he also had other reasons. Reasons like the fact that he was in love
with Shea. He just couldn’t bring himself to sleep with anyone else yet. He knew
that he was going to have to get over that if he ever wanted to have sex again,
but at the moment, he couldn’t do it.

“You have a type?” Shea asked, dumbfounded.

Christian sent him an incredulous look. “What the fuck is
that supposed to mean?” he snapped. That comment really rubbed him the wrong
way. Shea had no filter sometimes.

Shea opened and closed his mouth a few times before he
answered. “Sorry, that came out wrong. I’ve just never seen you with a dude, so
I don’t know what kind of guys you like.”

It was true; Christian never introduced Shea to any of his
previous boyfriends. Not that he really ever had all that many but he still
kept his love life hidden from Shea. He really didn’t know why he did it. Maybe
he didn’t want Shea to get weirded-out or something. He shook his head to
himself. It was just one more pound to add to the weight already on his
shoulders.

Shea was silent for a moment, and then turned on his stool
to face Christian. “So what kind of guys do you like?” he asked curiously.

Christian narrowed his eyes at him. “You seriously want to
know?” he asked dubiously.

Shea grinned. “Yeah, I want to know.”

“I like the tall, dark and handsome type, nice body, about
my height, sexy smile, and funny.” Christian shrugged.

Shea’s dark eyes shimmered with humor. “You know you just
described me, right?”

Christian flushed and dropped his eyes to his beer bottle.
Shea chuckled and put his hand on Christian’s shoulder.

“I’m just fuckin’ with ya, Chris. Don’t get all bent out of
shape.” Shea laughed, giving Christian’s shoulder a squeeze.

Christian’s stomach flipped from both Shea’s comment and his
touch. God, what he would give to be in his arms in an entirely different way.

“If it makes you feel any better, bro, you’re the only guy
I’ve ever thought is hot, so we’re even.” Shea grinned and winked at Christian
before taking a sip of his beer.

Christian rolled his eyes. Shea - always the kidder. If he
only knew how those words were like a knife to Christian’s heart. Maybe he
could pretend that Shea meant the words he just spoke. Just for a little while
before reality crashed back down on him. Christian really loathed his life
sometimes, and hated himself for being such a pussy about everything.

Chapter
5

Margot hobbled out of the elevator on her crutches. She and
Quinn caught the first flight back to the States, and Peter insisted that they
take the rest of the week off after the trip from Hell. Margot also went to the
doctor when she got home. Quinn took her since she could not drive and she
really had no one else, all her family and friends were in Paris. She
occasionally hung out with a few of the other women in the office; they were
not friends she could call on, though. The doctor concluded that she did have a
serious sprain and needed to keep off it for a couple of weeks. Insert
crutches.

Quinn has been acting strange since they returned. He was
very subdued and introverted. Okay, Quinn was always like that, but it was more
than what was normal for him. He has maybe said all of ten words to her since
they got back home, and more than half of them were ‘Yeah, I can take you to
the doctor.’ Margot was starting to worry about him.

Quinn stepped out of the elevator behind her. He drove her
into work and said that he would do so until her ankle was better. It would
have been really sweet of him if Margot did not felt like he was doing it out
of guilt for some reason. She caught the guilt in his eyes a few times when he
looked at her. He tried to cover it up quickly, but he was not fast enough.

Quinn stayed close as they walked to their office. A couple
of coworkers stopped them to ask what happened. She just gave them a smile and
dismissive wave, telling them that she tripped and sprained her ankle. She did
not need the whole office gossiping about her, and that would definitely happen
if she told them what really happened. As they passed Peter’s office, he rushed
out from behind his desk and stepped out into the hall.

“Quinn, can I speak with you in my office for a moment?”
Peter asked.

Quinn glanced back at him. Margot could see his whole body
tense. “Let me get Margot settled in first,” he said.

Margot glanced at Peter who was frowning hard at Quinn’s
back. She wondered what Peter wanted to speak about with Quinn. She would try
to ask him afterwards. Once in their office, Margot went to sit at her desk.
She leaned her crutches against the wall next to her desk and turned on her
computer. Quinn took her empty trashcan, flipped it upside down, and stuck it
under her desk.

“Put your foot up,” Quinn murmured. “Do you need anything
else before I go talk to Peter?”

Margot propped her foot up on the trashcan then lifted her
gaze to Quinn, who was standing beside her. She gave him a small smile and
shook her head. He hesitated a moment before cupping her face with one of his
big hands. He ran his thumb over her bottom lip as he bent down and lightly
replaced his thumb with his lips. Margot’s eyes slid closed and her pulse sped
up. She hated to admit that she has been missing his kiss. She only kissed him
while they were making love, but he ruined other men for her. She doubted she
would find another man who kissed her the way Quinn kissed her. Then there was
this...this tender, gentle kiss filled with emotion. She did not understand it,
but loved it just the same.

Quinn pulled back much too soon in Margot’s opinion. He did
not go far, only backing up enough that he could look into her eyes. His hand
still cupped her face and his thumb repeatedly stroked her cheekbone.

“I’m sorry,” Quinn whispered, his dark chocolate eyes
swirling with emotion.

Margot frowned in confusion. “For what, Quinn?” she asked
gently. Margot tentatively brought her hand up to cover his. When he did not
pull away, she settled her hand more firmly over his.

Quinn swallowed hard. “Everything in London. I feel like it
was my fault,” he rasped. “I acted like a complete ass and I couldn’t even come
up with the courage to apologize to you until now.”

Margot sighed heavily before grabbing the back of his neck
and pulling him down for another, more thorough kiss. He moaned low in his
throat when their tongues met, and her whole body responded to the noise and
the kiss. She couldn’t help it; Quinn just turned her on...
big time
.

Quinn once again pulled back first, giving her a couple of
smaller pecks at the corner of her mouth before straightening up. She grabbed
the hand that was falling away from her face, kissing his knuckles, and then
looked up at him.

“You do not need to apologize, Quinn. Nothing was your
fault,” Margot said.

He rolled his lips in and nodded. Margot was not sure if he
believed her or not, but at least he was not arguing. “I’ll be back.”

Margot nodded and let him go, and he walked out of their
office without a backwards glance. What was Margot supposed to think now? What
did that kiss mean, if anything?
 
Did he want to be with her? That was the kind of kiss Margot would
expect a man to give to a woman he cared about. Could Quinn possibly care about
her? She hoped so because she was really starting to care about him.

~~~~~

Quinn walked into Peter’s office and shut the door behind
him. Peter motioned toward the chair sitting in front of his desk. Quinn took a
seat and waited. Peter watched him for a moment from behind his black framed
glasses, steepling his fingers in front of his mouth.

“You doing alright, Quinn?” Peter asked cautiously.

“Never better,” he replied dryly. Peter knew damn well he
wasn’t alright.
What an ass
.

“Do you know why I wanted to talk to you?” Peter asked.

Quinn just gave him a bored look. He had a few ideas.

Peter sighed. “Quinn, the way you yelled at me on the phone
when you got to London is unacceptable, especially since you did it in front of
Margot.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow. “What does Margot have to do with
it?”

“Well, I don’t want her to think that it’s okay to talk to
me like that, because it’s not,” Peter said giving Quinn a pointed look. “And
between you and me, I want to ask her out, so I don’t want her to think I’m a
jerk.”

Quinn fought the urge to assert his dominance and tell Peter
to stay away from his woman, but it wasn’t his place to say anything. Margot
and he were not together, even though they had sex - that was none of Peter’s
business. It was also none of Quinn’s business if Peter wanted to ask Margot
out, he wouldn’t stop him. He knew that Margot would most likely say no, but he
wasn’t going to tell Peter that.

“I didn’t know you liked her,” Quinn muttered, hopefully
giving off the vibe that he didn’t really give a shit.

“Yeah, I mean she’s gorgeous and smart and funny, what’s not
to like?” Peter smirked.

Quinn hummed and nodded. He couldn’t agree more.
Do not
assert dominance, do not assert dominance...

“I was thinking about taking her to La Veranda. Something a
little upscale and romantic. I think she would like it,” Peter said
thoughtfully.

“That’s great, are we done here?” he asked shortly and
stood.

“Oh, yeah, right. I forgot that you don’t like Margot,”
Peter said with a dismissive wave.
Oh, if he only knew
. “Anyway, I’m giving you a warning,
Quinn, next time you step out of line I’m going to be forced to let you go.”

Quinn held his temper in check. There were so many things
that he wanted to say to Peter at that moment, but he just got a warning, and
would definitely be fired if he opened his mouth. So, Quinn gave Peter a nod
before walking out and back to his office where Margot sat waiting.

“Is everything okay?” she asked anxiously when he walked
into the office.

“Everything is fine,” Quinn answered and went to his
drafting table.

“What did Peter want to talk to you about?” she asked, her
eyebrows furrowed in worry.

“Nothing really, don’t worry about it,” he said, giving her
a tight smile.

“Quinn...”

“Margot, really, don’t worry about it,” he said, cutting her
off.

Margot sighed and nodded before turning back to her computer
to do some work. Quinn watched her for a moment. She was definitely stealing
his heart and he had no way of stopping it. She was so beautiful sitting there,
tapping her damn pencil as she poked at her keyboard with one finger. Quinn
scrubbed his hand over his mouth to hide his smile. He still couldn’t believe
after all of the annoying shit he’s dealt with from her, that he slept with
her, and is now having feelings for her. He
must
be going insane.