Releasing Me (24 page)

He kissed me before walking back to his office.
“
Never
underestimate me,
”
he playfully shouted back.

It was almost more than one woman deserved. Latin sex god with a silky accent and a brilliant finance guy by day meets extreme sports jock with a to-die-for body who dons a tool belt on the weekends.
Panty sizzling.

We ate dinner by candlelight. It was casual yet romantic. Our bubble was perfect. It may have been the calm before the storm, but I cherished every minute that didn’t involve my past, or his future as a father to another woman’s child.

“
What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?
”
he asked while I methodically stirred my soup with a chunk of bread.

“
You.
”
I smiled as I glanced across the table at him.

“
Mmm, clothed or naked?
”
he asked with raised eyebrows.

I replied with a soft chuckle,
“
Naked of course. You’re my all-time favorite sculpture, a modern day Michelangelo.
”

“
Are you going to leave me if I turn fat and ugly someday?
”

“
Absolutely. Men don’t grow babies or battle menopause. There’s no good reason for you to be anything but eye candy.
”

“
Eye candy, huh?
”

Taking a sip of soup, I let the spoon linger at my lips and winked at him.
“
Speaking of … I can’t believe we’ve been home alone this long and I’m still waiting for you to have your way with me. Are you not feeling
up
to it?
”

His sexy, crooked smirk taunted me almost as much as the rest of his sinful body.
“
Baby, I’m always
up
for you. I just like you so hot and bothered that you damn near self-combust from my slightest touch.
”

Squinting my eyes at him, I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest.
“
Why must we always see who can hold out the longest? Maybe we should see who can
go
the longest, see who has the most stamina.
”

“
You don’t like it when I play hard to get?
”
he asked, looking all too confident with a gleam in his eyes and a teasing grin.

“
Puh-lease …
”
I blurted out as I stood up. After tossing my napkin on the table, I slipped off my leggings then removed my sweater in one swift motion.

“
Sweet Jesus … what are you doing?
”
he asked as his eyes greedily drank me in.

My
nice
comfy clothes were hiding my
naughty
lingerie, which consisted of a red see-through floral lace shelf bra with a white bow in the middle and matching thong panties. I straddled his lap then grazed my tongue along his jaw to his ear.
“
I’m just seeing if you like playing hard to get when I’m playing Santa’s naughty helper.
”
I unbuttoned his pants and rubbed the bulge straining against his briefs.

His breath hitched as he closed his eyes.
“
Addy …
”

“
Quinn,
”
I whispered over his mouth before I sucked in his bottom lip and teased it with my teeth.

He arched his back and dropped his head back.
“
Addy, I wanted to do something first.
”
The higher pitch to his voice sounded like a desperate plea.

With his head still tilted back, I kissed his throat as my hand stroked his erection.
“
What could you possibly want…
”
I continued to suck and nibble at his neck.
“
…to do before
this
?
”

His phone on the counter rang with the worst timing ever.

“
Ugh! I hate your stupid phone … don’t get it,
”
I pleaded as my hand slipped under the waistband of his briefs. The deep moan from his throat fed my craving for more. Pushing his briefs down past his erection, I scooted up his body until my entrance rested at his moist tip. Pressing my mouth to his, I pulled the strap of my thong to the side and sank onto him, savoring the intensity of the fullness.

Surrendering, he thrust his tongue into my mouth and grabbed my ass. Then his phone rang again.

He ignored it, focusing solely on me. Our mouths and hands were reckless, but our rhythm was seductively slow. His phone rang again. We both wanted to ignore it, but the loud ring was too distracting. The caller was relentless which was unusual and therefore concerning on Christmas Eve. The romantic mood was starting to spoil.

He growled in frustration as I crawled off his lap so he could answer his phone.

“
Don’t go anywhere,
”
he demanded as he stood up and stumbled to the counter while tucking himself back into his briefs.

“
This better be important,
”
he answered in a clipped firm voice. He was silent for several moments while he listened to whoever was on the other end of the line.
“
Okay, I’ll be there soon.
”

He zipped his pants without a word or even a glance in my direction. His serious demeanor was nerve-racking. I was afraid to ask who called. Without hesitation, I slipped my clothes back on, and he made no attempt to stop me. Clearly distracted, he headed for the door and grabbed his keys and jacket. I couldn’t wait any longer.

“
Quinn?
”
I said with a soft hesitation.

He stilled, as if the sound of my voice startled him. Our eyes met for a brief moment.
“
I have to go.
”

His lack of explanation prevented me from asking anything else. We were about fifteen feet away from each other, but in that moment it felt like an ocean between us.

“
Okay,
”
was all I said. He was out the door. I was stunned. In such a short amount of time we went from sharing everything to sharing nothing. As I turned to blow out the candles on the table, I heard the door open.

Waving the trail of smoke away, I looked to the entry where Quinn was standing again.

“
Come with me.
”

Nodding, I grabbed my purse, shoved my feet into my boots, and slipped my arms in the jacket he was holding open for me. He held my hand, lacing our fingers, while he led me out the door and to the parking garage. Always the gentleman, he opened my door and waited for me to buckle in, then he leaned in and kissed me.

“
I love you,
”
he said with a wrinkle of concern etched on his face. Before I could muster a response, he shut the door.

As we pulled out of the parking garage I found my voice.
“
Where are we going?
”

“
Hospital.
”

His lack of elaboration left a knot in my gut.

“
What’s going on Quinn?
”

Keeping his eyes on the road, he rubbed his forehead to ease some tension.
“
Olivia was having some cramping and bleeding.
”

We rode the rest of the way in silence. The storm of emotions that surged through me was overwhelming. Quinn was too quiet. I couldn’t read him. Was he angry? Was he sad? Then there was my awkward presence. The girlfriend showing up at the hospital where the mother of his child was possibly miscarrying his baby. I could only be insult to her injury. My racing mind couldn’t sort out why he brought me, unless it was for his emotional support … but he wasn’t saying anything. He parked and jumped out. I remained still, but not because I was waiting for him to be chivalrous, I was having second thoughts about being there.

He opened the door, but I just sat there.

“
Come on, baby,
”
he said in a hurried voice.

“
Quinn … I don’t think this is a good idea.
”

“
Addy––
”
He blew out a long breath.
“
It’s cold and snowing. You’re not going to wait in the car.
”

“
You shouldn’t have brought me.
”

He reached in and unfastened my seatbelt.
“
Well, I did because leaving you at home alone with your thoughts was not an option. Now let’s go.
”

I wanted to scream at him. He didn’t trust me but it wasn’t the time or place to have that discussion so I hopped out. He grabbed my hand and led me to the entrance. When we reached the maternity floor, Quinn checked in at the nurses’ station while I stayed back a few feet. One of the nurses gave him an update and offered to take him to see Olivia. Their voices were soft, but I heard her say they were monitoring Olivia and waiting for the doctor. As the nurse started walking down the corridor, Quinn looked back at me.

I shook my head.
“
Go, I’ll wait out here.
”

He hesitated then offered me a weak smile and a nod before following the nurse. I was committed to our relationship. It wasn’t going to be easy. The time had come to hunker down and wait out the storm. Quinn sitting beside her bed holding her hand as they waited to find out the fate of their child ate at me like acid. I couldn’t bear to see it, yet I was going crazy wondering what was happening. He refused to leave me at home with my thoughts and by then I knew why. The mind was a powerful weapon. Imagination left to itself was more destructive than reality.

There were a few people in the waiting room, mostly older people such as grandparents waiting for news of their new grandchildren. Grabbing a gossip magazine, I plopped down in a chair and absentmindedly thumbed through the pages. An hour later, I’d skimmed through every magazine and still no word. My patience had worn off. After shooting off a text to Quinn, I rode the elevator down.

I needed fresh air, even if it was cold and snowy outside. The frigid air stung my face as the automatic entrance doors slid open. Reaching in my pockets, I felt around for my gloves, but they weren’t there. I could not remember if I had them when we went inside. Quinn had the key to the Range Rover, but I decided to peek in the window to see if I’d left them on the seat. There was no need to go back inside to look for them if I never carried them in. Shoving my hands in my pockets, I ducked my head and hunched my shoulders trying to shield my skin from the biting wind. When I reached the Range Rover, I used the sleeve of my coat to dust the snow off the window then cupped my hands over my eyes to see inside.

That was all I remembered.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Quinn

Worst fucking Christmas
Eve ever! The day started out perfect with a good workout and then home to be with Addy. I had a one-track mind most days: get all my shit done and get home to Addy. She was stronger than any addiction I could have ever had. Work became work and play was no longer fun without her. I was undoubtedly the best possible version of myself around her, some days almost too much. I still had my man card, but it was tainted, like she somehow sprayed her jasmine oil on it and hid it in her goddamn pussy. The only time I knew for sure that I still had it was when I was buried balls deep inside her.

I had special plans for us that night. When she gave me the sketch of my mother something in our relationship shifted. I’d stood atop the summit of Everest, visited the pyramids of Egypt, climbed the Great Wall of China, and scuba dived the Great Blue Hole in Belize. None of those sights even came close to the beauty captured in the sketch of my mother. Addy gave me the last peaceful moment in my mother’s life … the essence of her being. The picture was so lifelike, every detail was immaculate and perfect. The tears came. I felt like a pathetic pussy. That woman was hell-bent on bringing me to my knees every single day, and the fucking crazy part about it was she had no idea what she did to me.

Dinner was amazing; Addy was Da Vinci in the kitchen. Then, without warning, she transformed into my every fantasy when she stripped down to some red hot, ball busting, cock-hardening lingerie. My plans were slipping away. I had a goal for the night, and while it included her screaming my name in ecstasy, it wasn’t everything. But she had her own agenda, and once again I was sidetracked searching for my man card buried deep in her pussy. Deciding to go with the flow, and what a fucking amazing flow it was, I’d resigned to keep my surprise until later that night.

That’s when the night turned into my own personal horror film. Fate stretched its vengeful hand from the sky and repeatedly stabbed a jagged blade into my happiness. Olivia called in a desperate panic on her way to the hospital. She was crying and totally losing it as she hysterically went on about painful cramping and bleeding. I couldn’t think. My thoughts were as jumbled as Olivia’s words. It wasn’t until I was out the door that I realized leaving Addy alone with her thoughts and insecurities about my relationship with Olivia was the worst possible thing I could do. Taking her to the hospital was a close second, but I had no other option. The whole way there I fought back the urge to tell Addy everything. I wanted to tell her what was going through my mind, but I couldn’t. She had been a mother, she loved all life … hell, she nearly cried every time she saw me crack open a damn egg. Flies were shooed and spiders were gently escorted out the window with Addy around. But damn, for some reason unbeknownst to myself, her quirkiness made me love her just that much more.

I didn’t know what I really expected when we arrived at the hospital. Asking her to come with me to Olivia’s room wasn’t fair to either her or Olivia, but I felt like a total ass for leaving her behind. Olivia was curled on her side in the bed. A nurse was looking at a monitor that beeped with different numbers and lines on it. Olivia, although in a hospital gown, was in full makeup without a single hair out of place. The truth was she needed it. With it she looked like a tall thin model, without it she looked like a lanky, pale woman with pointy hip bones and sunken eyes. She wasn’t Addy. The love of my life was naturally beautiful. She stole my breath just the same with no makeup and six in the morning messy hair as she did in heels, makeup, and an all too revealing evening gown.

Olivia was silent at first. The nurse told me my
“
wife
”
was doing fine, but the baby was being monitored. Much to Olivia’s displeasure, as was evident by the scowl on her face, I corrected the nurse by telling her I was the father, not the husband. When I sat in the chair by the bed, she reached for my hand. Reluctantly, I offered mine. She had tears in her eyes, but I had no words. There was nothing to say to the woman who was a recurrent mistake in my life. She represented the shallow, cold, man that existed before Addy. I did not miss that person. In fact, all I really wanted was for every reminder of him to vanish.

My cell phone vibrated and it was a text from Chase. It was officially Christmas in Spain and he was wishing us a Merry Christmas. The nurse caught me looking at my phone and told me I had to go to the waiting room with it or shut it off. As I went to stand, Olivia tightened her grip on my hand and begged me to stay. Grinding my teeth … into my fucking tongue, I shut off my phone and sat back down.

Eventually, Olivia drifted off to sleep. The nurse told me they would continue to monitor the baby overnight. She was in the beginning stages of a miscarriage and normally they would send her home to be on bed rest, but since she lived alone they agreed to keep her overnight. AKA, the guy who knocked her up is a complete prick to leave her pregnant and alone over Christmas. The fate of the baby was uncertain. The nurse told me the doctor said it had about a fifty-fifty chance.

I seized the opportunity to check on Addy, but when I got to the waiting room she wasn’t there. Remembering I had turned off my phone, I powered it back up to check for missed calls or messages. There was a missed text from her about a half hour earlier. She said she needed some air and was going to take a walk around the building. It was cold outside, and I couldn’t believe she was still out there. I texted her back to see where she was then waited. After ten minutes with no reply, I tried calling her. It went straight to her voicemail as if she had her phone shut off. Taking the elevator to the lower level, I tried her phone again. I searched the cafeteria, but she wasn’t there. After impatiently pounding the elevator button without it descending to the lower level, I hurried to the stairs. Taking them two and three at a time, I sprinted to the entrance of the hospital. My coat was in Olivia’s room, but I didn’t care. I ran around the parameter of the hospital in an eager search for Addy. By the time I made it all the way around, I was breathless and frantic. The only thing I could think of was her taking a cab home. She wanted to leave; being there and waiting for me was too much. I’d hurt her again. I had to get home to her and make things right. Jogging toward the Range Rover, I stopped as though my body had run into a wall. I realized my fucking key was in my coat pocket back in the room. The room where Olivia was most likely awake again. Fate’s wrath was raining down on me.

Just as I started to turn, I saw something in the distance, specifically next to my vehicle a few rows straight ahead. The snow was obscuring my view as I squinted. One cautious step at a time, I walked ahead trying to figure out what I was seeing, but as the image came into focus, I found myself in a full-out sprint.

“
ADDY!
”
I yelled.