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"What are you doing?"
"Staring at my hot new husband?" she says tentatively.
I anchor my hands on my hips. I’m a hundred times calmer than I was before we came in here, but she’s up to something. "Before that?"
My phone sits on the end table, and the only other things in here are the clothes. Good thing I threw out that scrap of paper that came with the flowers. Would've freaked her the hell out.
"You have that look on your face you get when you're trying to snoop."
"Do you blame me? You're treating me as if I'm some kind of celebrity that always needs a detailed bodyguard. And, while I am fully aware of my charming qualities, I am no Taylor Swift. So sue me if I'm a little curious about all the high security."
Fair enough. From her perspective, I get it, I’m being way over-the-top. "I get a little overprotective."
Propping herself up on her elbow, delightfully naked, she tips her head to the side. "Can I get that in writing?"
“Seven to ten business days.” I join her on the bed, arrange her on my lap, and make her hold her hands in her lap like a good little girl as I feed her. Of course, she playfully nips my fingers and not-so-playfully laps pastry cream from them in a way that makes me want to lay her down all over again.
I haven't had many things I’ve treasured in my life. And while a part of me knows that I'm only requiring Quinn to stay with me for six months, she's beginning to break down my defenses.
She is free to go at the end of this once we know she's safe, and I know that her wings are already ready to fly. Quinn isn’t a girl who will be held back by commitments. If she were, she’d lose a little part of what makes her who she is.
So, I'm going to enjoy myself while I can.
"Have you regained feeling in your limbs?" I ask, stifling the need to chuckle. Yeah, I fucking like it when I make her happy.
She sits up eagerly, almost bouncing on the bed. "I have. Why?"
I give her a stern look and turn her around. "Look at the time, please."
When she looks down at her new phone, she practically claps her hands. "Time for my first lesson? Do I get to hold a gun? What about a knife? I think I would be super good with nun chucks. I might be small and petite and everything, but that makes me lower to the ground, so I think I'd be mad skilled with those. Or did you have something else in mind?"
"You could say that."
* * *
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
“WAX ON, WAX OFF”
Quinn
“This is all well and good,”I protest, trying in vain to stay polite and not flip him off, but I’m getting pissed. “But when do I get to really do anything?”
“Wait, so toe-curling sex on a beach in Maine and in the club don’t qualify as doing anything?” Adriano gives me a look with challenge in his eyes. “You have higher expectations than I thought.”
“You know what I mean, Adriano,” I say chidingly. “You know!” We are once more in a private room in the club and I’m waiting not so patiently for my lesson. He’s honestly being a bit humble at the moment, if I’m being totally honest. There’s been a lot more than toe-curling sex on the beach; the stripes along my ass, the chafing on my wrists, and the delicious euphoric afterglow of a night of kinky sex still have me a little woozy.
I wanted to get straight to the fancy weapons, which I am oh-so-aware that he owns in spades, but Mr. Safety Pants decided the best thing to do was for me to memorize a list of emergency numbers and trusted contacts, drive me around Boston to show me the best places to disappear, and teach me ways to recognize danger.
“Wax on, wax off,” he says cryptically.
“Wax what off? What kind of kinky shit do you have up your sleeve now?” Still, I’m curious and the phrase sounds vaguely familiar.
“Jesus Christ,” he mutters. “Do you mean to tell me you don’t knowThe Karate Kid?”
I screw my face up, trying to remember. It’s there somewhere. “Remember, I’m younger than you are!” We discovered the other day that I’m nine years his junior. Some days it feels like nine hours, some days it feels like a lifetime.
“Fuck,” he growls in that way of his that makes me wet. “I’m itching to spank your ass just for your ignorance alone.”
