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“Quinn,” I called out, cresting, my body shattering around his.
Gripping me tighter, he thrust once, twice, three more times, then relaxed, pulling me close to him, rubbing a rough hand down my sensitive skin.
“Damn it,” I whispered into his warm chest, my mind beginning to wrap around the current situation, what had happened between us.
“Just what every guy wants to hear,” he said in a low voice, pulling back to look at me.
“No, it’s not you,” I shook my head. “It’s just that I lost fifty bucks.”
He didn’t say anything, only furrowed his brow, searching for an explanation.
“Mars bet me I couldn’t go a week before kissing you.” My cheeks flamed at the admission of the bet.
He chuckled. “Well, I’d say you owe him at least $100 then,” he said, slapping my ass and laughing.
“Guess I might as well make this worth my while.” Taking his face in my hands, I kissed him softly on the lips.
“Mmm,” he murmured. “I can definitely do that for you, Cupcake.”
After a few minutes, I broke the kiss, untangling myself from his grip, easing my way back down to solid ground. Grabbing his hand, I led him back to my bedroom.
* * *
Iwoke at dawn, weak sunlight streaming through the gauzy curtains. Stretching my arms, I rolled over, fully expecting to see Quinn, sprawling hot and naked in my bed. Instead, there was only a slight rumpling of the sheets where he’d once been.
“Damn it,” I whispered into the empty room. Deep down, I knew he’d be a love-‘em-and-leave-‘em type, but I figured he’d at least stick around until seven A.M.
With a pit in my stomach, I padded into the kitchen. Coffee would at least make this situation a tiny bit more manageable.
I was surprised to see a latte fromThe Daily Grindsitting on the small island. Next to it were the keys to my van and a note:
Delaney,
Had to go help Pops out at the store. Sorry I couldn’t stick around—would have loved an encore.
See you at 3.
Q
Clutching the note, I leaned back against the counter, relieved. Quinn McCauliffe wasn’t as much of a hardass as he pretended to be.
Somehow, though, this realization only made me feel slightly better because my life just got a whole lot more complicated. I inhaled a sharp breath.Damn it. I was catching feelings for Quinn McCauliffe. Not good. At all.
I swung down to the bakery thirty minutes later, fully anticipating a solid hour of quality alone time. Mars hated getting up early; he’d actually considered dropping out of pastry school once he realized the early hours involved. I’d somehow convinced him to power through, but mornings still weren’t any more agreeable to him.
So I was shocked to see he was already in the kitchen, rolling out dough.
There went my alone time to work out my feelings about Quinn and Holden’s bakery offer.
“What are you doing here?” I narrowed my eyes at him, suspicious.
“What areyoudoing here?” he shot back in a matching tone.
“Well, I live fifty yards away, so the commute’s pretty awesome.”
“Rub it in, why don’t ya?” he said, scoffing. “I have to hoof it all the way over here from a rental cottage on Aster Street.” He rolled his eyes at me as I laughed.
“Mars, that’s one whole block.”
