Fated Love (31 page)

Unfortunately, she looked at Quinn for just a second too long, and a few other parts of her anatomy grew disturbingly warm. She left in search of a phone before she could become any more distracted.

It was closer to fifteen minutes before Honor made her way back through the heavy throngs of visitors toward the screened-in expanse of tall grass, trees, and man-made climbing devices that composed the outdoor extension of the monkey house. Her daughter and Quinn were nowhere in sight. With just the slightest sense of unease, she turned slowly, scanning the people lined up along the railing that separated the paved pathway from the animal habitat. Then she heard, above the cacophony of the crowd, the sound of one child laughing. Unerringly, she pivoted toward the voice, and her gaze fell directly on Arly and Quinn.

Arly stood on the bottom rung of the metal railing that edged the moat surrounding the monkey house. She leaned as far over the railing as she possibly could with her camera at eye level, a posture which, Honor was certain, was frowned upon by zoo officials. Ordinarily, she would have been too anxious to allow Arly to climb up on the barrier. However, Quinn stood immediately beside Arly with her fingers curled around the waistband at the back of the child's shorts. Honor had not the slightest doubt that Quinn would keep Arly safe.

As she watched, she saw Quinn point to two monkeys frolicking on a wooden scaffolding and caught a glimpse of Arly's thrilled expression as she aimed her new camera toward them. The sight of her daughter's pleasure and the easy, tender way that Quinn related to her brought Honor a surge of joy. Smiling, she joined them and rested her hand in the center of Quinn's back, stroking gently up and down.

"Hi," Honor said softly.

"Everything okay?"

"Mmm. Just an insurance snafu with an ER transfer." She kept her hand lightly resting on the small of Quinn's back. "You two look like you're having fun."

"We are." Quinn continued her hold on Arly and, while the child was occupied taking another picture, leaned over and kissed Honor quickly. "Missed you."

Honor's lips parted in surprise and pleasure. Her stomach did a quick roll and she suddenly felt far more than warm. Quinn's muscles tightened beneath Honor's fingers and she saw her blue eyes darken with desire. That was all it took. She wanted to jump her. "God."

Quinn raised an eyebrow, laughter and arousal warring in her expression. "Are you talking to me?"

"Definitely not." Laughing, Honor wrapped her arm around Quinn's waist and leaned into her. "What's next, Captain Quinn?"

Grinning, Quinn turned to Arly. "Where to, navigator?"

Arly finally looked away from the primate enclosure. "What's a navigator?"

"The person who's in charge of directions," Quinn explained.

"Where's the map?"

Quinn retrieved it from her back pocket and held it out. Arly climbed down from the railing and studied it, then looked around. With a frown that was a replica of her mother's, she held out the map to Honor.

"I can't tell where I am."

Honor knelt down and looked at the simplistic diagram of the zoo. She pointed to an image that was presumably the monkey house.

"This is where we are. See? There are the monkeys." She drew her finger to another image. "What about this?"

"It's a lion." Arly turned in a circle and gestured triumphantly toward the stone statue to their right. "There! Right?"

"Very good." Honor stood and handed the map back to Quinn. With a salute, she declared exuberantly, "To the lion house."

Quinn was about to reply when Arly slid a small hand into hers. She glanced down to see that the child had taken Honor's hand, too, linking the three of them. It seemed so completely natural and right that for an instant, Quinn had the sensation of always having been with them. Then, just as quickly, she realized that had fate and circumstance been less fickle, less cruel, someone else would have been standing there with the woman she loved and her child. She experienced a sudden surge of sadness, but it was quickly replaced by the certain knowledge that the past, with all its tragedy and heartbreak, was truly behind them. Fate, it appeared, was not fixed, but fluid, and Honor and Arly were her destiny. She knew it as certainly as she had ever known anything, to the depths of her soul.

"Lead on." Voice husky, Quinn smiled into Honor's eyes and was rewarded by a long sultry look that was both tender and hungry. "I'll follow."

"For a little while." Honor let her eyes drift down over Quinn's body and then slowly rise once again to meet her gaze. She was pleased to see the flicker of arousal in Quinn's eyes. "I like it— sometimes—when you're in charge."

Quinn's stomach clenched
Sweet Jesus.

Arly tugged their hands and forged ahead, dragging the adults behind her. "Come on. We don't want to miss anything."

Laughing, Honor and Quinn hurried to keep up.

* * * * *

"Quinn?" Arly asked. "Can you stay and read with me after my bath?"

After the zoo, they'd had an impromptu barbecue in Honor's backyard, just the three of them and a happy Pooch, who had had his fill of dropped morsels. Now it was nearing nine, and Honor had just announced that it was time for Arly to get ready for bed. Quinn looked questioningly over Arly's head to Honor.

Smiling, Honor nodded.

"Sure," Quinn replied. "I'll pick up down here while you go with your mom."

When Quinn had covered the grill, carried in the dishes, and stowed away the condiments, she went upstairs to Arly's room. A pajama-clad Arly sat up in bed the covers drawn up to her waist and an enormous book propped on her knees.

"Harry Potter, huh?" Quinn remarked as she crossed to the bed.

Honor stuck her head in the door. "Don't make her read the entire thing tonight, okay, honey?"

"Mom."
Arly giggled. "It's hundreds and hundreds of pages."

"Well then, no more than half." Honor gave Quinn an amused look. "If you can handle the storytelling duties, I'm going to take care of a few things downstairs."

Quinn kicked off her Nikes, propped a pillow against the headboard, and settled onto the bed next to Arly. "You go ahead. We're fine."

Honor was ambushed by a sudden swell of affection and blinked away an unexpected wash of tears. The picture before her was not the one she had imagined night after night, standing alone in this doorway. It was not the picture she had longed for, ached for, wept for. To her astonishment and confusion, she felt nothing but happiness now. Unable to speak, she merely nodded and slipped away.

"Okay," Quinn said briskly. "What's the drill here?"

Arly gave her a perplexed look. "You're supposed to read the story to me."

"How come you're not going to read it to me?"

"Because
some
of it is too hard for me." Arly's tone suggested that Quinn should know that.

"Oh. Okay." Quinn leaned closer and held one side of the book open as Arly held the other and began to read.

"Quinn," Arly interrupted after a few minutes.

"Huh?" Quinn had quickly become engrossed in the story.

"Do you like my mom a lot?"

Uh-oh.
Quinn stiffened. "Yes, I do."

"Do you like my mom like Linda and Robin like each other?"

Oh, man. Where's Honor?
Quinn cleared her throat, cursing herself for not having seen this coming. "I don't know. How do you mean?"

Arly closed the book and shifted on the bed to regard Quinn seriously. "Linda and Robin like each other more than anybody else in the world, and that's why they live together."

"Well, I like your mom more than anybody else. And you, too." Honesty seemed the only course, and Quinn desperately hoped it was the correct one. She took a long breath. "But living together is very special, and it's something that you have to think about very hard before you do it."

"Are you thinking about it?"

God, she s single-minded. She's going to be a surgeon some day. Or president
Quinn forced herself not to fidget. "Well, right now, your mom and I are just finding out if we like each other the way Linda and Robin do."

"Oh," Arly replied, sounding sleepy. "When will you know?"

"Don't worry." Smiling, Quinn rescued the book from where it was about to fall onto the floor and eased to the side of the bed. She tucked the covers around Arly and leaned over to kiss her on the forehead. "We'll let you know first thing."

As Quinn moved quietly toward the door, Honor appeared outside in the hall.

"Everything okay?"

Quinn hurriedly took Honor's arm and led her further down the hall.

"She's asleep." Quinn leaned against the wall. "She asked me about us ."

Honor struggled not to smile at the hint of panic in Quinn's voice. She'd rarely seen Quinn show nerves over anything. "What about us?"

"If we
liked
each other." Quinn's voice was a desperate whisper. "You know.
Like
liked."

"What did you tell her?" Honor bit her bottom lip, but the laugh was about to erupt despite her best attempts to contain it. Quinn looked adorably flummoxed.

Quinn ran a hand through her hair. She felt like pulling it out. "I told her I liked you a lot but that we're not ready to live together yet."

"Live together?" Honor's voice rose along with her eyebrows. "That's a leap."

"You had to have been there."

"I'm sure." Honor took Quinn's hand and drew her to the door of her bedroom. "So, you wanna have a sleepover?"

"I do, except..." Desire leapt like a living thing into Quinn's throat. "I'm not really tired yet."

Honor slid her fingers under the waistband of Quinn's jeans. "Good. Neither am I."

Then she tugged Quinn into her bedroom, reached around her to lock the door, and then laced her arms around Quinn's neck. Sighing at the first touch of their bodies, she nuzzled her face in the curve of Quinn's neck. "I had a wonderful time today. I wouldn't change a thing about it."

Quinn encircled Honor's waist and spread her hands over Honor's hips, snugging her closer still. With her lips against Honor's forehead, she murmured, "But?"

"But," Honor replied indolently, her mouth brushing over Quinn's lips, her hips rocking gently, "I thought I was going to die if I couldn't touch you soon."

"Mmm." Quinn moved her mouth along the edge of Honor's jaw in quick, feathery kisses, then caught an earlobe between her teeth and nipped, drawing a sharp gasp from the woman in her arms. "You can touch me now."

"I'm going to make you pay for that," Honor warned breathlessly, tugging the T-shirt from Quinn's jeans.

"Promise?"

In lieu of an answer, Honor kissed her, darting her tongue between Quinn's lips until Quinn groaned. With the kiss unbroken, they stumbled their way toward the bed and tumbled onto it. Then they drew apart, laughing quietly. Honor slid her hand under Quinn's T-shirt and over her breasts, teasing her nipples into hard points of desire. Breathing rapidly, Quinn worked the button loose on Honor's shorts with one hand and then dipped her fingers inside. Honor stiffened and caught her breath sharply.

"Quinn, darling...that's not exactly my idea of punishment." With a swift lift of her hips, she dislodged Quinn's hand and rolled over on top of her, straddling her hips. Laughing at the look of consternation on Quinn's face, she pulled her shirt and bra off over her head and dropped them behind her onto the floor. She arched her back and gave a low contented sigh, drawing both hands up her abdomen to stop with her fingers'splayed over her breasts. When Quinn raised her shoulders to reach for her, Honor shook her head.

"No, I don't think so." She cupped her breasts, squeezed gently. "You can look, but not touch."

Quinn's eyes grew round with surprise at the same time as her pulse skyrocketed. Her throat went dry and arousal poured through her like quicksilver, hot and slick. She groaned. "Do you know what that will do to me?"

Honor cocked her head and smiled, a slow teasing smile. She flicked one of her hard nipples with a fingertip and barely managed to hold back a moan. Breathless, she said, "Let's find out."

The muscles in Quinn's legs were so tight she thought she'd cramp as she watched Honor push her shorts down over her hips, shifting quickly back and forth until she kicked free of the restraining material.

"Hands on the bed, now," Honor murmured as she unzipped Quinn's jeans and worked them off.

When Honor settled back down, a leg on either side of Quinn's body, she was nude, and Quinn was desperate with the scent and sight of her.

"I like the way you look at me," Honor whispered, trailing the fingers of her right hand between her breasts and then down over her belly. She fixed on Quinn's eyes as they followed the movement of her fingers, and it was almost as if it were Quinn touching her. Honor's excitement escalated and she pulled her lip between her teeth, biting down to hold her focus. She was wet, throbbing, and she wanted Quinn's hands on her. "You look a little wild. A little dangerous."

"I
am
dangerous. I want you." Quinn dared to touch her then, because she couldn't bear not to any longer. Still, she only rested her palms against the outside of Honor's thighs, needing to feel the heat of her skin. "All of you." She smoothed her hands up Honor's sides and then down to clasp her hips. "I want to be inside of you like you're inside of me."

Honor rested her fingertips on the insides of her spread legs and drew her hands upward until she framed the center of her desire, then brushed her fingers lightly over herself. Someone groaned. She thought it was Quinn. It might have been her. Her lids closed as the pleasure settled in the pit of her stomach, and she heard Quinn panting softly as her hips jerked between Honor's thighs. She held her fingers still then, afraid that her control would snap. "Do you know how ready I am for you?"

"Honor," Quinn pleaded, cupping Honor's hips and urging her upward. "Let me have you. Please."

Unable to hold back, Honor leaned forward and braced her arms on the headboard, letting Quinn guide her to her mouth. She cried out softly as warm lips enclosed her, her head dropping between her arms, her thighs trembling. "Oh," she moaned, "oh God, Quinn."