Stroke of Luck

Quinn watched her beautiful face, her cheeks flushing a dark rose, her eyes glowing with delight, as Austin kept filling her. Then his friend groaned and pinned her to the bed, his cock deep inside her, and shuddered.

A moment later, he rolled back, taking her with him. April giggled, and Austin chuckled along with her.

“What’s so funny?” Quinn asked with a smile, his hand gliding along the graceful curve of her hip, then over her round ass.

“I just can’t believe how lucky I am winding up in bed with both of you,” she said.

She snuggled against Austin, who was holding her tightly.

Quinn moved closer, needing to feel her body against him again. He slid his arm around her stomach and kissed the back of her head.

“Running into you again was definitely a stroke of luck for all of us,” he murmured.

* * *

April’s eyes opened, and she blinked. Moonlight streamed across the bed, and she felt warm and snug. After she’d fallen asleep, she’d rolled away from Austin’s solid chest, but both men were pressed to her sides in a cozy arrangement.

She turned her head to face Quinn and was startled to see that his eyes were open and he was watching

her.

“Oh, hi,” she whispered, not wanting to wake Austin.

Quinn smiled. “Hi.”

“Are you having trouble sleeping?”

“Not really. I just couldn’t help watching your beautiful face as you sleep.”

He stroked a tendril of hair from her face. The gentle touch sent shimmers of heat through her.

“I’m really glad I ran into you last weekend,” he said. “This time together has made me realize something.”

Her heart clenched, and she grasped his hand and moved it from her cheek. After the flash of memory she’d had this morning, she did not want to hear any more.

“Quinn, I don’t know where you’re going with this, but I don’t want to discuss what our relationship is or where it’s going. We both know this is a temporary thing. Let’s leave it at that.”

“But that’s just it. I don’t want it to be temporary. I know things have gotten all twisted up and backward with us being married already, but I want to turn that around.”

She didn’t like where this was going.

“When I thought you might go back to Maurice,” he continued, “I had to face the fact that I’d be losing you. Again. I knew I couldn’t let that happen.”

He leaned in and kissed her, and the tenderness of that kiss took her breath away. Then when he drew back, and she saw the depth of emotion in his midnight eyes, her heart ached with the desire to have something she knew she couldn’t.

“Sweetheart, I love you.” He took her left hand and pressed it to his lips. “And I want our marriage to be real.”

Her breath locked in her lungs as she fought back the swell of tears that threatened. Tears that should be happy ones, since she’d dreamed of having this chance with him for so long. But these tears came from a desolation that was rooted deep inside her soul.

“I’ll do whatever I can to make it special,” he said. “Of course we can have a big, fairy-tale wedding. And if you want, we can even annul our current marriage and date for a while leading up to a romantic proposal. Anything you want, I’ll do it.”

She shook her head, desperately pushing back the bitter pain swelling through her.

“It won’t work.”

She pushed herself up and wiggled out from under the covers, then dodged off the end of the bed. As soon as her feet hit the floor, she hurried to the nearest shirt sprawled on the carpet and snatched it up as she strode from the room.

25