Start Me Up by Victoria Dahl Page B

his mouth all the way down her neck to press his teeth to her collarbone.
    “Oh! We need to go somewhere. Not here. We need…” Her body stiffened enough that even in his haze of pleasure, Quinn registered it. “Wait, what did you say?” she asked.
    He shook his head. He’d been too busy relishing the texture of her skin against his tongue to say a word. Raising a hand, he cupped the soft mound of her breast, then licked up her neck to her jawline.
    Her fingers dug into his back as her knees opened farther.
    Yes. That was better. He was cradled by her thighs now, her sex the perfect concavity to hold his hardness.
    “Quinn.”
    “Yes,” he answered. Yes, yes, yes. She shivered and began to arch her neck back, but that shock of tension raced through her again, and she sat up straight. He felt the tight hold of her fingers in his hair just before she pulled him back. When he opened his heavy eyes, Lori was staring him down with a surprising lack of warmth.
    “Did you say we weren’t going to have sex tonight?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Why would you say something like that?”
    The world began to lose its smoky haze, and Quinn suddenly registered that he was halfway to having sex with Lori right here. In public. On top of a car.
    He smoothed her skirt back down toward her knees. “I’m sorry, what were we talking about?”
    Lori crossed her arms and glared, but he got distracted from her anger by the way her arms pushed her breasts up. The lacy edge of a black bra peeked above the linen.
    “Quinn Jennings!” She slid off the car and forced him back.
    “I’m sorry. What…? Um, right. No sex.”
    “You’re telling me we’re not having sex?”
    “Yes.”
    “First of all, you’re not the one to decide whether or not we have sex. Secondly—”
    Quinn shook his head. “Sorry, darlin’, but you hired me for this project, and I need to do all the research before we get started.”
    “I… You …” she sputtered. “I did not hire you!”
    God, she was adorable. “You’re too easy to tease, Lori.”
    Her lips tightened until they nearly disappeared. “I may be unarmed right now, but I want you to be very aware that I have access to lots—” she poked his chest “—and lots—” another poke “—of heavy machinery.”
    He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into his arms. “Don’t be mad. I want to have sex with you. Tonight. Now. In that dark alley right there while un-suspecting people walk past. I want to push up your dress and pull down your panties…Are you wearing panties, by the way?”
    “Yes!”
    “Good, because I want to tug them off and slip my fingers inside you while you try to keep from screaming. And while you—”
    “Yes,” she insisted. “Now.”
    “No.” He tried to keep the sorrow from his voice. “you wanted a—”
    “Look, buddy, this is what I hired you for, so let’s get to it.”
    Quinn laughed, though he kept a close eye on her fisted hands as he chuckled. “No, the deal is that you get a torrid affair. Not a one-night quickie.”
    “So we’ll do it again tomorrow.” Her jaw inched out in frustration when he only shook his head. “I am not going to beg you.”
    Quinn grabbed the book from his jacket and tapped the cover. “Depends what I read in here.”
    She finally hit him then. Her knuckles bit into his shoulder with surprising force. “Ow!”
    She muttered, “Sorry,” without much enthusiasm.
    “Okay, all joking aside…You said yourself that you want something more than what you’ve had before. That’s a lot to put on one man, especially a man who doesn’t get out much. So the least you can do is trust me on this. It’ll be better if you wait.”
    “If I wait?”
    Stubborn girl. “We’re talking about you here. What you want. What you need.”
    She stared him down as if she was searching for a sign of truth in his eyes. As the seconds passed, her face lost a bit of its frustration. “You really wanted to do it, too? Just now?”
    “Hell,