He leaned close and whispered against her ear. “I’ve missed you but I know I screwed up. Tell me today helped, that it meant something to you.”
Carly’s instincts flew in two directions at once. The first one told her she’d have some great sex if she just let herself go and the second warned her that she was too susceptible to Quint.
“I appreciate what you did today, Quint. I suspect you’ve never taken a woman around to your companies like that before.”
“No, I haven’t,” he said, moving in a little closer, his hips connecting with her buttocks. His chest covered her back and his chin rested against her head.
He slid his hands down her arms and laced his fingers with hers. Desire rippled through her and pooled between her legs. “Remember when you bit the back of my leg?” he whispered.
The night in his hotel room sped through her mind like a DVD on fast-forward. The images left her breathless. “Yes,” she whispered.
He leaned forward, placed a gentle kiss at her temple then lower to her eyebrow and lower still to the top of her cheekbone. She wanted to turn and capture his lips with her own.
“For the sake of fairness,” he said, “I need a second bite. My other leg has been demanding equal time.”
She chuckled. The trouble was she wanted to bite him again, but she really shouldn’t.
He turned her in his arms and drew her into a full, tight embrace. He kissed her hard, his tongue demanding entrance. Her mouth opened as though he’d spoken the secret password. She slung her arm around his neck.
What was she doing?
She drew back from his kiss then settled her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and held her. She took deep breaths.
What was she doing?
Was she really letting him back in? Oh, God. Her heart-rate sped up. This threshold didn’t compare with the others. She could see the progression now, in hindsight, beginning with possibilities on the Rim, to an agreement to work together on the Napa weekend, to the payment of Grace for her design services, to his PI report, to the leather pouch containing everything there was to know about Quint’s assets, to an introduction at his businesses. Each event, good and bad, had led her by the hand, seduced her heart, her mind, her body, made her willing even now to close her eyes and embrace him.
Everything had changed…again. But this time, the stakes had broadened to encompass so much more than her desire to be in Quint’s bed, to have his body cover her.
This time, he’d engaged her heart and he didn’t even know it. He’d done it by opening himself up to her. Maybe he thought of this as a mere tactic in his consuming strategy to get her winery, but she knew differently and this she knew in her bones—Quint had invited her into a relationship.
The problem was, there was nothing in his past to support him in a true sharing of lives. His foundation had been birthed in poverty, death and divorce. By his own admission, his childhood had forged his empire-building drive. There was no place for marriage in his life. How could she then hope for a happy ending with him?
She had a choice to make, to back off right now, to close him off permanently or to take a chance that he would awaken to his love for her.
She hugged him harder. If only he didn’t smell like heaven. If only his body didn’t feel so wonderful to her. If only she’d never known the pleasure of being joined to him physically, how much easier would such a decision be?
But he held her in his arms now, he nuzzled her hair, her ear, her neck. He drew back and looked into her eyes. “How about a swim?”
She put her hand on his face. Time to decide, right here, right now, if she would take a chance on Quint Barron.
Her heart raced. Her throat grew tight.
Was she really going to do this?
She remembered what Tina had said about him, that she had a feeling about Quint and she was always right.
Well, Carly had a feeling about Quint as well, but God help her if she was wrong.
She drew in a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and said, “I’d love a swim.”
Chapter Eight
As Quint flipped the lever and pushed the slider open, Carly looked down at yet another threshold. Forward, back, forward.
Here we go.
She’d made her decision, no going back now. She had to see this through to the end.
She lifted her gaze to the waiting pool beyond, ignored her trepidation and stepped onto the patio. The hot sultry July air made it hard to breathe, a circumstance that worsened when Quint crowded her from behind. He embraced her, shoved her hair aside and kissed her neck. He unbuttoned the halter and drew the front of the dress forward down to her waist. His hands covered her breasts and she moaned. His mouth kept working her neck, biting, licking and sucking. He rolled her nipples between thumbs and forefingers.
Carly leaned against him, desire sending chills over her body despite the hundred plus temperature. From behind, he stroked her with the hard ridge of his erection.
If things continued, the pool would remain in its calm state.
Carly staggered away from Quint just a few steps. She breathed in small gulps. She turned to face him but when he closed the distance, she planted her hand on his chest holding him back. “Clothes off, Quint, or we won’t even make it to the edge of the pool.”
His clothes disappeared as quick as lightning. She watched the show, her heart thudding in her chest. He was so beautiful, ripped, strong, his body a gorgeous rolling landscape. He stood in front of her naked and aroused.
She smiled at him as she unzipped the back of her sundress and let it fall around her feet.
“Another thong,” he whispered, eyelids riding low. She slowly rolled the white lace down her hips and legs.
Carly would have smiled. She might even have joked but he wore only his Rolex now and she needed her hands on him. His mouth found her lips. The pool might as well have been a mile away instead of a few feet. His hands jumped around touching this and that, unable to decide where to land.
Her hands got stuck rubbing down the front of his thighs up his groin to his hipbones then back. She loved this part of his body. He was fit and muscular. His erection rubbed between her legs.
He growled around her face and neck.
“Quint,” she whispered. “What’s wrong with us?”
At that he laughed. She looked up at him and he looked down. “I love your body,” he said, “Every inch of it.”
He kissed her. She slid her arms around his waist and forced herself to calm the hell down.
He breathed hard.
“In the pool,” she whispered.
“We’ll go together.”
She grinned. “Absolutely.” A second later, she cried, “Wait. Your watch.”
He tugged it off and dropped it onto the pile of his clothes.
He walked her to the deep end, put his arms around her and lifted her off her feet. He smiled. “You ready?”
She threw her arms around his neck. “Do it,” she cried.
He dipped his knees and launched sideways. The displaced weight of the water and the force of the fall, pulled her out of Quint’s arms. She kicked upward and broke the surface laughing and shivering. The air might have been as hot as Hades, but the water was cold.
He caught her in his arms and swam her to a place where his feet touched. He started the kissing business all over again. Her hands once more fell to explore his lower half until pretty soon, while floating in his arms, her fingers stroked him. He kissed her a lot. His tongue teased her lips just as her fingers worked his thick shaft.
“I had to wait days for this,” he said.
“Poor baby.” She thumbed the sensitive head of his cock.
He growled. “I want in.” He pushed her backward until her feet touched as well. “Put your arms on the edge of the deck and hold on.”
She spread her arms and balanced herself. The warmth of the stone was a relief on her cold arms. Her legs floated upward right around his wai
st. He caught her buttocks and positioned himself. He sheathed himself in one quick long stroke.
She threw her head back and moaned. He felt so good inside her. She wrapped her legs tight around his hips. His arms encircled her back and he set up a rhythm, one hand pinning her buttocks against his pelvis.
Carly looked up and saw the stars above, just starting to show as the sun crept behind the White Tanks in the west. He kissed her throat and suckled. She cried out. The pleasure, the water flowing over her body, even the warm stone all enhanced the feel of Quint pushing into her, hard now, demanding.
She whimpered.
“Come for me, Carly,” he whispered, his voice deep, resonant, seductive. “I want to hear you come. I want to feel you fist my cock. Come for me, baby.”
His words did her in. “I’m coming,” she murmured. The orgasm swept through her, taking her on a roller coaster ride of exquisite sensation. The sharp pleasure rocketed her into the stratosphere.
She came back to earth, but he still drove into her.
“Again,” he whispered. “I know your body, Carly. Come for me again.” He pushed into her hard now as she held tight to the edge of the pool. He had one hand planted on the deck as well. The other held her against him. She arched into him, straining. A second orgasm caught her and once more flung her into space.
“I can’t wait.” His body tensed. He grunted, twisted and thrust, faster now. A third orgasm rolled over her as he groaned his release and spent himself inside her. She threw her arms around his neck and pressed into him with all her might. He stood hip-deep, holding her fast.
After a long moment, her body relaxed. She slid further into the water and rested against his body. He dipped down and began to swim backward. She held onto him, an arm slung around his neck. Her legs trailed behind like a raft tethered to a ship. She giggled and sighed.
A few minutes later, he sat on the pool steps, held her close and kissed her. The kissing went on for a long, long time.
The night became a night of water. Quint made love to her in the pool, or sometimes half out of the pool, for hours. But once a kind of weariness made the pool more of an enemy, he carried her to his shower—more water—a vast cavern in which showerheads sprayed from a dozen different angles.
At last in bed, she fell sound asleep in his arms and didn’t wake up until sunlight burnished the room.
* * * * * * * * *
The trip back to Sedona surprised Carly. Quint talked almost the whole way. It helped that she asked questions, but for some reason he must have decided he could trust her because he spoke at length about his childhood. He’d moved more than she had, and she’d thought herself alone in that circumstance, except for Army brats, of course. But his father had enjoyed his Buds way too much and kept their small nuclear family on the hoof for the duration.
She hooked one knee in his direction, her body turned toward him, a hand on his thigh. He frequently covered that hand with his and gave a tender squeeze. She wondered what he thought. Did he suspect this might be more than just a little fling? Did he want it to be more? Or did he even give the subject a single thought? The latter was most likely the correct answer. In all the conversations she had with other women, there seemed to be a consensus that men didn’t think very often about ‘relationships’. They just got busy in their lives and if a girlfriend showed up, they took it as their rightful due.
“So how poor were you?” she asked, hoping the question didn’t offend him.
“An inch away from being homeless most of the time. We often went without running water, heat, the basics.”
She tried to imagine that level of suffering but couldn’t. On the other hand, it sure explained a lot about Quint’s drive. “Is this why you work as hard as you do, why you look for businesses to acquire, investments to make?”
He nodded, his gaze fixed to the road. He kept the speed around eighty-three but in the BMW, it felt like thirty. “With my first success I knew I had to have more and I wanted to help others build good lives.”
Carly’s heart ached and swelled. In this way, Quint was a thousand times more the man than Jeff had ever been. Jeff had only cared about himself, never others and certainly not those who suffered. But Quint cared because he’d been there. This was a lot to overcome and to achieve in a lifetime and he was so young, mid-thirties. She admired him so much.
“How did your mom handle all that?” she asked.
He didn’t answer right away. She saw the tic in his right cheek. Finally, he said, “She died just after the start of sixth grade.” He huffed a sigh. “I think she was spared a lot.”
“I’m so sorry, Quint.” After a quiet moment, she added, “Death sucks.”
He glanced at her and laughed. “Yeah, it does.” He narrowed his eyes just a little. “Your folks have been gone awhile.”
She nodded. “It’s not fun, losing them and it hurts living without them.”
“Or sometimes with them,” he added, his expression sobered. “Not my mom. She was a sweetheart, a bit of a pushover, I think, but she loved me. Now, my dad…”
When he didn’t say anything more, she asked, “Is he gone, too?”
“No,” he responded. “But he calls about every six months to ask for a loan.”
“Do you give it to him?”
“Sure. It’s never for more than a couple thousand. I can afford that. I haven’t seen him in years. He decided to stay with his fourth wife and she and I don’t get along.”
“I see.”
As the BMW headed down toward Cottonwood, into the Verde Valley, he grew very quiet. She decided to change the subject. “You know, I have to admit I’m fascinated with how you manage the sheer size of your empire.”
He smiled. He covered her hand again.
Her cell rang. “Do you mind if I get this?”
“Not at all.”
“Martin, how are you?” Martin Simms owned the property she intended to purchase about two seconds after the Napa guests left her winery house.
“Carly, if you have some time, I’ve gotten that estimate you wanted about the repairs to the back bathroom. Thought you might want to have a look yourself, but you should know I can’t afford to take on the renovation.”
Carly glanced at Quint. The winery-lease agreement had changed things for her. She could afford that repair now and a dozen others. “I understand,” she said. She smiled. “But I can assure you that won’t be a problem. I can be there in about forty minutes. Will that work for you?”
“You bet. I’ll be puttering in the garden.”
“See you then.”
She closed the phone. She’d been so consumed with either being in Quint’s bed or trying to stay out of it that she hadn’t given the widows’ board-and-care home a lot of thought. But now she could. In fact, she could go one better. “You know, Quint, I think I mentioned earlier that I wanted to own other businesses myself.”
“I remember.”
“Well, I thought you’d like to know that because of the winery lease and the generous fee you’re paying, you’ve made my first purchase a cinch.”
“Tell me,” he said. “Although I should warn you that I’m always on the look-out for a good investment opportunity so if you think I might be interested, arm yourself.”
Carly laughed. “This enterprise isn’t designed for an empire-builder. It’s a private residence for widows living on subsistence income.”
He smiled. “You’re right. Not interested. But since you are, tell me about it.”
“It’s been in the works now for the last year, ever since I came into my inheritance.” She talked about the ladies at length, that she had known them all for years. She spoke of her friend, Martin Simms, that he was retiring to Missouri since two of his three children lived there and she spoke of the various immediate repairs and improvements the home needed.
“I can’t tell you what this means to me, Quint, knowing that I’ll be helping these women. Nothing could be closer to my heart.” She paus
ed and looked up at him. “It’s right on the way. Would you like to see the place?”
“Love to,” he said.
* * * * * * * * *
Quint listened in stunned silence to the rest of Carly’s enthusiastic remarks about the Simms property, the nature of the business, even an amusing portrait of the various residents. He still couldn’t believe what had just happened. He’d discovered the key to getting her winery and she’d all but handed it to him on a silver platter.
His mind divided, however. On the one hand, he knew how to maneuver Carly through to the end of their time together in order to get what he wanted, but on the other hand his conscience kicked in. Did he really want to do this, continue on this course? He glanced at her, at the sparkle in her eyes. She gestured with her expressive hands as she spoke but he still didn’t hear a word. He hadn’t changed his goal, he meant to take her winery but something had changed between them in the past twenty-four hours. He’d shared so much with her, told her things he’d never revealed to anyone before. Damn, she even knew his net worth to the penny and…he trusted her.
He gripped the wheel as he left I-17 and began the last stretch to Sedona. What was he thinking? She didn’t deserve for him to take her life apart like this, not when she’d slept in his bed, enjoyed his body and commiserated with the harder aspects of his life.
On the other hand, he’d been honest with her from the beginning and Carly was an intelligent woman.
The empire-builder, the one born of poverty, grief and his father’s erratic life, mastered him quickly. This is just business, plain and simple. Carly knew that going in. She admired him, she shared his business principles, she understood his intentions. She was a big girl. She knew what she was doing. He had nothing to worry about. Guilt had never had a part in his life and he wouldn’t begin now.
Okay then.
He met Mr. Simms then took another half hour to walk through the board-and-care home, greeting the ladies who lived there. He watched Carly hug them and exchange gossip and listen to them talk about their latest ailments. She was kind, loving and attentive, everything he’d come to know and value about her as well.