About Last Night

As she pulled the item out of the bag, I replied, “A vibrator.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Mia

I didn’t think; I just reacted.

I threw it.

I threw the vibrator.

I threw it across the room then squeaked, my cheeks flaming. Embarrassment tightened my chest.

Oh God. You’re pathetic!

Both Quinn and I watched the vibrator bounce once, twice, three times, and, of course, it did this in painful sluggishness. Once the pink jelly vibrator landed in the middle of the hotel room, we stared down at the offending item.

I opened my mouth to apologize, but Quinn reacted before I could. Tipping his head back, he let out an unrestrained laugh. Biting my lip, I winced as he laughed loudly. He clutched at his stomach and wiped at his eyes. “Jesus, Maya, I said vibrator, not venomous snake.” Then he laughed all over again.

The longer Quinn laughed, the funnier the situation became. Soon, I found myself chuckling quietly. When I covered my eyes with my hand and murmured, “It scared me,” Quinn laughed harder.

I laughed softly then looked up at him. He smiled down at me, chuckling and shaking his head. The ice had officially been broken.

Opening his arms wide, he uttered, “Come here.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. I needed contact. I needed comfort. This situation was strange and unsettling. It was nice to go through this with a friend.

Rushing to him, I wrapped my arms around him, my cheek planted firmly on his chest. His strong arms settled around me, holding me close, as the fingers of one hand trailed up and down my back. I breathed him in and he settled his chin atop my head. He almost completely enveloped me. I was cocooned. And I loved it.

My arms tightened around him. I was so appreciative of this setting being what it was and not a cold and clinical scene. Pulling back, I looked up into his eyes. “Hey.”

His crooked smile made my belly flip. He settled his hands loosely at the base of my neck, running his fingers over my collarbone. “Hey, dumpling.” I sniffed a laugh. His hands rose, lightly brushing up the sensitive flesh at my neck. “Maya?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m just going to get this out of the way, okay?”

I had no idea what he was talking about. All I could do was look into his eyes and nod my permission.

His smile softened. Leaning down, his lips ascended. Before I could register what was happening, his warm, full lips were on mine. My eyes snapped open in stunned disbelief. His fingers held me gently at the sides of my neck as he deepened the kiss.

Holy…wow! So this was what it was like to kiss Matt Quinn.

My eyes fluttered closed and my body slumped against him. Reaching up, I gripped the front of his shirt for fear of falling, but something told me Quinn would catch me if I did.

His lips moved away from mine and I warned myself not to whimper out loud. Placing a gentle kiss on my cheek, he asked a rough, “How was that?”

I answered with the first thing that came into my head. “It was nice.”

His brow furrowed. “Nice? Just nice?” He looked disgusted, and I tried hard to curb the bubbling laughter in my throat. His eyes narrowed at my twitching lips and he warned, “Don’t you say a thing, Maya. Not unless it’s something sexy-like.”

In an attempt at playfulness, I pulled my body into his and uttered a husky, “Is that a PEZ dispenser in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”

Eyes still narrowed, he slowly reached into his pocket, and in a most calculated way, pulled out an item.

It was a fucking PEZ dispenser. A Snoopy PEZ dispenser. Lifting it to his mouth, he grinned, then popped a piece of candy into his mouth.

I choked on my mirth. Taking his hand, I shook it urgently and uttered a laughing, “Well, it was nice meeting you, Quinn. I’ll just be finding a hole to crawl into now,” then turned and walked toward the door, on the verge of exploding with hilarity.

Before I could get to the door, strong arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me back into a firm body. Laughter burst out of me and I was glad to find Quinn joining in. He turned me and admitted, “I have a lighter in the other pocket. Somehow I just knew you’d ask me one of those lame questions.” He smirked, “See how prepared I am, babe?”

Babe. I loved when he called me babe. But I loved it in a stupid way. I knew it was affectionate, but meant in a friendly way.

Oh, Quinn. What am I going to do with you?

He sobered a little. “Come on. We need to talk.”

Me being me, I needed to insert humor where I could. Humor was easy; serious was not. I pasted a perturbed look on my face. “Are you breaking up with me?”

Quinn laughed again. “Stop being funny. We really need to talk about this. I need your undivided attention for ten minutes, and then you can be as funny as you like.”

His large hand enveloped mine and my heart stuttered. He was treating me almost like a girlfriend. I was sure he treated every woman this way, but still, it was nice. It was settling.

He pulled me toward the bed and sat, but this time pulled me down onto his lap, wrapping his arms around my waist. With nowhere else to place my hands, I sat them on my lap. My fingers brushed his. When I bunched my nose at him, he smirked and kissed it. “I seriously can’t get over how little you are. I just want to put you in my pocket and carry you around with me.”

I blushed at that. Had he no idea what his words were doing to me?

Of course he did. He was an escort. His words and unadulterated affection were why women rebooked with him. This was why he was likely a gajillionaire.

I huffed then mumbled, “I’m not that small.”

“Next to me, you are.”

I returned, “But that’s only because you’re ginormous!”

He winked. “You better believe it, babe.”

My blush was so intense that it started to burn my skin. I was saved from saying something stupid when asked softly, “Do you still want to do this?”

Turning on his lap, I faced him and mouthed, Yes. I followed this by nodding enthusiastically.

A small smile played at his mouth. Tightening one arm around me, he removed the other to take my hand in his. I prayed to God he didn’t feel just how sweaty my palms were. He began, “Okay. What do you want to go through tonight? I know technically we only have an hour, but I’m not watching the clock, and neither should you. We should only do this if it feels good to you. The moment you feel uncertain about something, just yell out ‘hold’ and I will hold. We’ll talk about what you’re unsure about then move on.”

Again, I mouthed, Okay.

He chuckled, “You lost your voice, babe?”

I cleared my throat. “I guess I’m a lot more nervous than I expected to be.”

He pulled me close till we were back to chest. He placed his cheek by mine, turning to kiss it. “I will only do what you want me to do. That’s it. You’re running this show. You’re the boss. I take orders from you.”

My brows narrowed. Was that it? Was that why I was so nervous?

“What if I don’t want to be in charge?” I faced him, hyperaware that our lips were only a hair’s breadth away from each other. “What if I wanted you to be the boss?”

***

Quinn

Did she really just ask me that?

This was new. I had never had a client ask me to take the reins. Normally, women who wanted that kind of thing went to see Marcus. He loved that kind of shit, fed off it. Me? I wasn’t sure I was up to the task. I could very easily ruin sex for Maya for life. One bad experience was all it took.

But this was my job, and if she wanted this from me, I would handle myself in the best way I could. For her, I’d do it.

Her face close to mine, I glanced down at her lightly parted lips while licking my own. “You sure about that?”

Removing her hand from her lap, she placed it on mine, a soft look in her eye. “Yeah. I trust you.”

Oh,

Lord. Don’t say things like that, little girl.

Then she added with a grin, “Shit. You couldn’t be any worse than my previous experiences.”

I pursed my lips. I hated knowing she had let a couple selfish assholes touch her precious body. But I would fix that. “Okay. Anytime you want to stop, what are you going to say?”

She smiled gently. “Hold.”