Start Me Up (27 page)

“What?” She took his hand and found herself towed toward the bathroom.
“What?”

“Look,” he said, facing her toward the mirror. He stood behind her, hands on her shoulders.

She looked…and realized she’d forgotten to put on a bra under her tank top. Not a terrible mistake, considering.

“Look here,” he whispered. He wound one of her curls around his finger. “You’re beautiful, Lori.”

She cringed a little.

Quinn shook his head. “You’re amazing. A work of art and engineering.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m not.”

“Look.” He wound her curl a little tighter. “Your hair is arabesque tracery…”

She started to shake her head.

“Falling down to hide the fragile volute of your ear.” His lips touched her ear and paused there for a moment, mouth brushing her skin in a butterfly touch.

Lori shivered.

“And here…” His hand slid down her throat to rest against her chest. “Your collarbone, a formeret, sweeping out to your shoulder. I’ve traced it in my mind…” Lowering his mouth, he pressed his lips there, following the shape of the bone with a trail of kisses.

Lori’s heart thundered and her chest tightened until she couldn’t breathe. Quinn’s words wound around her, the consonants brushing her skin. Was this really happening?

“The lancet arch under your arm—” he brushed his fingers down her bicep “—and the perfect rounded vault of your breast.”

She watched his fingers spread over her breast and curve beneath the slight weight as her knees went weak and helpless. He paused there, looking at their reflection in the mirror.

As they both stared, Quinn raised his hands and slid both thin straps off of her shoulders. Her top fell, exposing her breasts. Lori gasped and heard the gorgeous sound of Quinn sighing behind her. He slid past her and dropped to his knees.

“Here.” He breathed the words against her breast. “Your nipples are delicate rosettes, straining to be noticed. I
notice.
” Before his words had finished shivering through her, he put his hot mouth to one nipple and drew it gently into his mouth. He sucked at her until she moaned, then dragged his wet mouth lower. “Your ribs…” He nuzzled each individual line of her ribs. “Your ribs are molded struts forming the frame of your body.”

“Quinn…” she gasped, but he moved lower still.

His tongue dipped into her belly button. “Your navel is a circled niche hidden in the curve of your belly.”

When he reached for the button of her jeans, Lori let her head fall back against the cool wood of the doorjamb.

She felt him tug and heard the zipper and was afraid to open her eyes and find that she was dreaming. She’d thought of Quinn’s body every single night, even when she was furious with him. But she’d never imagined the beautiful words coming from his mouth.

Her jeans slid down her legs. Lori stepped out of them and heard them hit the far wall. “The quadripartite,” he breathed, his voice so rough she could barely hear him, “where your thighs arch up to meet at your sex. And your sex…” Both his hands touched her, his fingers slipping into her curls while his thumbs slid lower, parting her.

Lori whimpered.

“Your sex is a gothic portal molded of delicate palmettes. Something too beautiful to have been created by man. Like nothing made of stone. I know. I’ve tried to build you in my mind. I’ve lain there at night sculpting your shape behind my eyes.” His wide thumbs traced the lines of her sex, tightening her belly into coils.

“And finally…” He spread her gently and dipped his head to touch his tongue to her. “Finally, the hidden keystone of your whole body.”

When he licked her, she moaned. She couldn’t hold it back and didn’t want to. His words were flying through her, swirling around inside her chest, her head. And his tongue was pressing at just the right spot. Sobbing, she came within seconds, her body rushing to meet the pleasure he offered.

Before she’d stopped shaking, Quinn lifted her up and carried her to her new bed. He made love to her slowly. There was no roughness or dirty talk. There were no ropes and harsh words. It was just Quinn and his body on hers. Lori held him tight to her, even the thrust of his sex not close enough for what she wanted. She wrapped herself around him and took him in and cried as he reached his climax.

Quinn brushed her hair from her eyes and kissed her tears away. “I like you more than buildings, Lori Love,” he whispered, causing more tears to fall. “A lot more. I won’t tell you how much. Not now.”

“I missed you,” she choked out.

“I missed you, too. And I’ve been thinking…”

She froze beneath him. “Oh, no.”

“Seriously.” He rolled to his side, but kept her body tight against his. “Ben’s going to move in with Molly.”

Lori pulled her chin in to look at him. “She hasn’t said anything to me.”

“She was trying to be delicate, I think. You’re sitting here with a broken heart and—Oof!” He pressed a hand to his damaged ribs. “Anyway, Ben’s going to rent out his house. I thought maybe I’d lease it for a year.”

“What?” She shook her head. “That makes no sense. You can’t leave your office.”

“No, I can’t. And I wouldn’t want to. But it’s winter now. I can’t go out and visit sites, so my time is occupied with planning and drawing and meeting with clients. There’s no reason I can’t work from here for a week or two every month. And in the summer, it will be no problem. I thought maybe, if I behaved myself, you’d consider giving me another chance. Just dating. That’s all.”

His face swam in front of her. Not from tears, but just her reeling mind. “Just dating?”

“You need time. I know that. I don’t want to pressure you, but I don’t want to give you up, either. I like you
more
than buildings, Lori. And I think that deserves a chance, if you do, too.”

“You’d come here for me?”

“I would. You were right. I asked you to sacrifice everything and that was shitty.”

“Mmm.”

“But my ego can’t take more than one more rejection, so just make it quick if you never want to see me again. But you’d better sound like you mean it, because I can still feel the imprint of your fingernails on my ass.”

“Shut up!” she gasped, relieved at the chance to laugh. While she was still laughing, Quinn kissed her and didn’t stop for a long, long time. When he finally let her go, she’d melted into the covers.

Quinn took a deep breath. “Will you let me move temporarily into your town and take you out to dinner a few nights a month so you don’t forget me this winter, Lori Love?”

“Aren’t you going to get down on one knee while you ask that?”

“I didn’t want to scare you.” He punctuated his joke with a yawn. “Plus I’m really tired.”

“Yes,” she answered, “I will.” Smiling, she stroked his hair for a few minutes, thrilled that she could touch him again. “And, Quinn…? Do you think you might…Um…Will you meet me in Córdoba?”

She held her breath, waiting for an answer that didn’t come. Awkward. “Quinn?”

He didn’t answer, so Lori scooted down a little on the bed to see his face. Her studly erotica hero was dead asleep.

Lori snuggled close, pulled the comforter over both of them, and fell fast asleep. She dreamed of dancing with a handsome stranger in a café in Spain, and strangely enough, the stranger had elegant hands and a keen interest in the local buildings. And he called himself Quinto.

START ME UP

Copyright © 2009 by Victoria Dahl

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