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“I know you didn’t kiss Evan,” I told her flatly. “You were lying about that.”
Quinn stood up. I couldn’t help but stare as she pulled her shorts back up over her shapely hips. A huge part of me was sorry to see them go.
“Oh?” she protested. “And how do you—”
“I could tell,” I told her. “It was in your eyes. In your voice, too.”
She didn’t look convinced.
“It was also in his expression,” I said. “When you claimed to have kissed him, Evan looked like he saw a ghost. You made it up. Tried pitting us against each other.”
Her pretty mouth went tight. “Fine. I was angry at the time.”
“Quinn, weknoweach other. We’re closer than any three people on the planet have ever been. And on top of that, we made a pact. A hands-off pact, when it comes to the beautiful woman who is carrying our child.”
Yeah sure, I added beautiful in there. But so what? Shewasbeautiful. The most incredible woman on earth, maybe.
Or maybe it was just my tortured libido kicking my virtuous ass.
“Our word is our bond,” I told her softly. “Always has been. I mean, as much as I’d like to be with you tonight…” I paused, fumbling for the right words. “As much as I want to…”
I let my hand drop. My hard-on was still there in all its glory, stretching straight out against the thin cotton fabric. Wondering what the fuck was wrong with me.
“And I reallyreallywant to,” I confessed, adding a weak smile.
“But you can’t,” she sighed, sinking back onto the bed. “Because…”
“Because if one of us were to have you, the others would be left out,” I finished for her. “We shareeverything, Quinn. That’s why we’re sharing fatherhood.”
Partial recognition dawned on her gorgeous, porcelain face. She still looked miserable, though. Like I’d taken away her favorite toy.
“I won’t be responsible for that kind of jealousy,” I added. “We can’t have that kind of resentment between us.”
God, I could still taste her lips! I could still feel the curve of her body, surging beneath my hands. The impossible warmth of her skin, beneath the covers. Her wetness, at the tips of my fingers…
“Okay.”
Quinn sighed heavily, slumping her shoulders. Her expression softened.
“Go on, then,” she ordered. “Get out of here while the two of us are still half sane.”
I nodded, willing my feet in the direction of the door. For a second or two they wouldn’t obey.
You’re an asshole, Joshua. You know that? A crazy asshole.
When they finally did, I left with a cold knot in my stomach where the warm feeling of righteousness should’ve been.
Seventeen
QUINN
To say the next two days were frustrating would’ve been a gross understatement. They were utterly miserable. Wholly insufferable. Filled with an irritation beyond any level I’d ever experienced before.
And that was before I even went towork.
The restaurant itself was a complete shitshow, replete with missing staff, incomplete prep-work, and customers who thought it trendy and cool to send their dishes back to be re-fired or re-seasoned. I wore such a grim expression of total ferocity that even Trey knew not to start in with me, and starting in with me was Trey’s number-one favorite thing in the universe.
Each night I came home exhausted, only to wake early the next morning. In school I had zero focus. In my cooking classes, no patience. I was a complete asshole to anyone and everyone, including myself, which only made me more furious by the time I fell into bed.
