Rivers end boxset volume.., p.11
River's End Boxset Volume 3, page 11
He grabbed her hand and brought her stiff body close to his. He nuzzled her neck. “Don’t leave, Iris. Give me another chance. More time. I can be who I was in River’s End. I can be that here. The thing is, I never even knew that person until I met you. I want to be him. That’s why I’m so clumsy at being us… but I want to keep trying.”
Her mouth twisted. Finally it eased into a half smile. “You are clumsy with me. Us. I’m never sure what’s going on.”
He leaned his forehead on hers again, staring into her knowing, soulful, caring, unsure gaze. “Everything’s going on. I don’t know how to do it either. So don’t leave. Let me keep trying. Come see the rest of my home. Come see my bed. That’s worth the trip, right?” He tried to tease her, hoping to gain an annoyed, but amused smile from her.
“I don’t know yet. But I want to believe you aren’t playing a game with me and giving me the Quinn you think I want to see.”
He snorted. “Oh, because you want me as is?”
Her head tilted. “Yes. Is that what scares you so much?”
Damn it. Yeah. It was. No one wanted him like that. “Fine. Yeah. It scares me.”
“Then why did you ask me here knowing I’d see all this? You so different? You not knowing your own bodyguards’ names? You being too lazy to ask?”
“Because… I miss you all the time. I think about you all the time. If you’d come here more often, we could know each other better.”
Her eyes squinted as if she were looking for more meaning. “That’s it? That’s your reason?”
“Yes. All of it.”
That made her smile. She really liked his honesty. Even crappy honesty or honesty that didn’t make him shine in the best light. He tugged her to him and kissed her.
“Stay.”
She nodded. He pulled her towards the large picture window of the penthouse. They stared out towards snow-capped mountains and the far off hills and houses with trees filling in all the gaps. Tall buildings and rooftops obscured the view closer to his penthouse. The windows flooded the space in natural light that lit up the wood floors and accents.
She sucked a breath in. “Wow. This is just… wow.”
“You like it?”
“It’s gorgeous. It’s…”
“Yours. Use it as I use your place. Okay? It’s no different than me crashing with you and Rose.”
“It’s so different I can’t even find the syllables to describe how much it is.”
He couldn’t resist laughing. Closer now, he grabbed her and tucked her against him in a long, tight hug. “Thank you. And I’m so glad you came.”
She responded to his hug, resting against him quietly without moving. It made him bite his lip and restrain a soft laugh, not at her, but the setting. Only this could manage to make Iris Rydell docile and quiet. She was a ceaseless source of movement and energy all the time. But being out of her element, her small town, changed that. Being a big fish in a small pond made Iris confident, sure and cocky with boundless, gung-ho energy. But as a small fish in a big pond? She was totally different.
He let her go. “Let’s throw your stuff in my room. Then maybe we can grab some dinner? I love this place down the street. It has the best fish and chips ever. That sound good?”
She nodded as she followed him towards his bedroom. “Uh… this is your bedroom?”
It was so big, it had its own sitting room. King-sized bed beneath an ornate canopy atop Persian rugs over wood floors.
Glancing back at him, she shook her head and asked, “Get laid much?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Does it look like a brothel? Come on, it’s manly. Sophisticated.”
“Yes, and I suppose it would impress most any woman.”
She leaned down to set her duffel bag down, which no woman he’d ever been with before would have put their clothes into. Oh, but not Iris. She didn’t need much: jeans, t-shirts, and maybe a sweatshirt.
Quinn couldn’t keep his hands off her. Walking up behind her, he pulled her up against him. “The only woman I care about impressing is you.”
She pretended to elbow him in the stomach, and he started laughing harder as he spun her around towards him. “Don’t fall for pretty lines, huh?”
“No. If you had tried those on me at home, I’d have laughed your ass right out of town.”
“Ah, but you didn’t, little Iris. No, you followed me back home here.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t make me regret it already.”
He slid his hand down to touch hers. “You’re not going to regret anything. I’ll see to that. Besides, you haven’t seen the damn city, have you? Gotta expand those horizons. It’ll be fun. I swear.”
“Educating me, huh? Sounds pretty sexy, Quinn. No wonder you need a magical bedroom.”
He leaned in and kissed her mouth. “Careful, or I’ll have to tie you to the bed and keep you here for the rest of the weekend. Would you prefer that?”
She smiled under his lips. “I might. You never asked me before.”
He leaned back. “If I asked you that, I have no doubt you’d punch me or kick me… so I’ll save my balls and suggest dinner…”
She grinned. “Dinner could save your balls.”
And Quinn’s balls did survive. Quinn took Iris to dinner, as well as every single touristy activity and place he could think of over the next few days.
He took her into downtown Seattle and they had a Ferris wheel ride on the waterfront, which suspended them over the city. Iris gasped and pointed at things. But there were other moments, when she didn’t handle the city well. The crowds and constant traffic made her act as if she had fleas trapped in her pants. Restless and annoyed, she seemed to feel boxed in by the confines of the city. This city was definitely not her style and Iris needed space, lots of land and space.
He learned to tell what she loved and what she merely tolerated, what she feared and what brought out her kick-ass attitude. He also saw how well she clearly fit River’s End and the surrounding area. In the city, she was unsure, docile, and almost hiding behind him. It was disconcerting. She was not the Iris he knew. She was not sure, confident, or kick-ass. The city atmosphere seemed to intimidate Iris, something he would have never guessed of the woman who personally towed his car and repaired it.
Quinn had some meetings he couldn’t postpone or get out of. He took Monday off, but on Tuesday, he had to go in. They were in the middle of closing a new client. The morning had him up at five and getting ready. He always worked out on the weekdays from five to six in the complex’s private gym. He came back at seven to shower, shave and put a suit on.
“Quinn?” Iris’s voice was deep and gravelly behind him. He walked towards where she was curled up in his bed. God, he liked seeing her there. Her gaze swept over him.
“Damn… you clean up pretty well.”
He chuckled as he stared down at her. “Thank you. Why don’t you come in at noon? I texted you the address. We can have lunch.” He leaned down and kissed her lips. She appeared so small in his huge bed, not even taking up a fourth of it. She blinked, trying to focus. He bent lower to kiss her again and it lasted several minutes. He finally lifted his face off hers and stared down at her. “I have to go. But hold that thought… okay?”
She tugged the covers over her shoulders, nodding as she easily seemed to slip back into sleep. He loved her guilelessness. Her ease. Her confidence in him and herself. He liked her, period, a new sensation to feel for any woman who shared his bed. Usually, he kicked them out before morning. If not, he was overly eager for them to leave. He was cold, rude, disinterested, and passively mean if he had to be. But never with Iris.
He finished up the meeting with Sofia Chakter. She was a former ballet dancer who invented a type of ballet-point shoe insert to ease some of the notorious toe cramping and bleeding dancers suffered. It appealed to a small niche of customers, but promised to be a powerful one according to the early market studies. He was working out the last details of the contract with her and her lawyers.
Quinn had a penchant for losing all sense of time when he was working a deal. He lived for that stuff, the wheeling and dealing was a way to outsmart the competition. That was about all that revved up his usually apathetic attitude toward life. Dealing and negotiating got his heart pumping.
He glanced up and found Iris standing inside his office. She seemed like she’d been waiting a while for him to notice her.
“Hey.” Jumping to his feet, he walked around his desk. She tilted her chin towards him as he took her hand and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “I didn’t realize it was already lunch time.”
“I’d be surprised if you could hear a fire alarm go off. You always concentrate like that?”
He nodded. “Before you came along, it was about the only thing in my life that held my interest and kept me from dying of boredom.”
“Quinn, being obscenely wealthy is kind of lost on you. You don’t need to work. Why don’t you travel? Go on weird, exotic vacations. Drive a dune buggy in a desert in the Middle East? Or swim with sharks off some unknown island in the Caribbean?”
Shaking his head, he laughed. “Iris, who would I have done any of that with? Myself? An entourage itemizing everything with their expense accounts? I was a shitty friend to people and naturally, I only cultivated shitty friends. Now that I’m much nicer, maybe I could do better. But, yeah, this lifestyle is wasted on me. It’s so fucking boring. The manners and formalities and dull stereotypes… none of it interests me. Including the women that come with it.”
“So I was just different enough. Wait until the shiny newness wears off and you’ll realize how provincial and unoriginal I am.”
He laughed out loud. “Iris, you might be a lot of things but dull, ordinary and provincial aren’t it. Trust me, I will never get bored of you. Now let me show you around and your extraordinary qualities can shock everyone who sees you.”
She shot him a dirty look, but it was the truth. When he introduced Iris to his staff, from the seniors to the newest hires at the bottom rung on the corporate ladder, there were several second glances and arched eyebrows in response. Quinn believed Iris made them think twice about him because she was so far from what they expected. And yet, she was also nice and polite. Well-mannered and quiet. She held out her hand to greet everyone, no matter who it was. She didn’t hesitate to shake hands and introduce herself, while exchanging small talk on innocuous subjects. Things Quinn never attempted to do.
He didn’t care about his employees’ feelings or their families, much less, how their damn day was going. But Iris changed all of that and he learned more about the people in his entourage and staff with her than he had in all the years of working with them.
As they left his office to eat, he tugged her to his chest. “Well, they liked you far better than me.”
She tilted her head back so she could see his face. He had to repress the amused smile that flagged at her disapproving look when she said, “You’re not the nicest boss. You seem too abrupt and unreasonable in your demands. You could try to be a little more courteous, polite and respectful. You barge into their offices and crowd their space without any worry of interrupting a conversation they might be having or the work they might be doing. I don’t know… why don’t you try knocking first? Ask to see them. Try to be civil.”
“You didn’t like me?” he teased. He was well aware that he came across as disinterested, heavy-handed, and a general asshole at work. And nope, he never cared before. He didn’t really even now. He knew Iris liked him when he was out of this environment. She didn’t have to work with him or for him.
“I would be terrified if you were my boss. I’d be overanxious and less productive out of fear of your disapproval, which seems totally arbitrary. I don’t think it boosts your overall morale or does your productivity any good. If you were a smidgeon less aggressive, they might want to do the extras that you insist on and demand. And you might inspire a loyalty you can’t buy. Inspire them and they’ll reward you with their allegiance. Demand and insist and ignore their requests and be an asshole and they’ll put in their weekly hours but hate you. They won’t want to do anything extra for you. At least, that’s my take on it.” She tilted her head. “Have you ever worked for someone outside of your own family?”
His gaze narrowed on her. Having never been asked that, he had to consider his reply. “No. Not like you mean. Not where there were real consequences if I screwed up or had a shitty attitude or talked back to a superior.”
“Well, I can tell you, asshole bosses are the bane of our existence. They can motivate people to produce low quality work or even make them sabotage the people who are performing at their best. It sucks to be bossed around, Quinn. Duh. Think about it.”
“Well… when you put it that way…”
Her eyebrows sprang upwards. “I’m right?”
“Yeah. Damn it.” He sighed. “Fine, I’ll start knocking on their office doors and being nicer when I request their time or delegate work. I mean, it wouldn’t kill me to see what happens. I’ll admit there isn’t the best vibe in there.”
“Not at all. Money has no feelings. You have too much of it. Don’t let it spoil you or make you inhumane.”
They started out of the office building to the sidewalk. “Well… duh, that’s already happened.”
She grabbed his hand and squeezed it at his huffy tone. “Yes, but it’s pretty easy to undo. And if I like you, you can’t be too far gone. You can still learn. We can work with that.”
And just like that, he was grinning like an idiot in the middle of the city. He eyed the small, tomboy woman next to him. “What are you doing? Molding me in your form?”
She squinted and nodded. “Maybe a little bit.”
She kept his interest like no else. Even a simple conversation with someone else became grueling. The next day, however, he asked Maddy, his office manager, how her day was going and that was strictly due to Iris’s suggestion. Maddy was bug-eyed at the inquiry but she politely replied, fine.
Not the most effective, life-changing reaction, but perhaps with a little more effort and consistency and time, he could raise the lackluster morale and productivity of his office.
And damn, if Iris wouldn’t end up being right: changing his attitude might actually change everyone else’s.
She waited all day to see him, and he came home with more work. She rolled her eyes. “You’re a workaholic. How did you ever find the time to send me all the random crap and links that you do?”
He laughed as he kissed the side of her neck when he passed her. They had dinner delivered and they were hunting for plates and utensils. They sat on his couch, sharing it all and for the first time in his life, he talked about what he did that day. As did Iris. But the big change here was, no one had ever asked him. Never. Not his parents. Nor his endless parade of caregivers and nannies. Nor the friends he had in Chicago, nor the acquaintances he had here. Oh, he was well known and popular and invited to parties and dinners and concerts and plays. Before Iris, he was always out doing stuff with a string of women at his beck and call. He slept with them as well. But not one ever asked or listened to how his day went.
Iris did.
And he actually wanted to share it with her.
She simply expected it. And in return, he listened to all she did and whatever she wanted to share with him. She didn’t realize how unusual it was. But he liked it. With her.
After they cleaned up, he kissed her mouth once. “Okay, I have maybe an hour… then we can figure out something to do.” He smirked as he spun and disappeared into his home office. He reached inside his briefcase to bring out the bundle of papers he brought home as well as his laptop. Opening the document, he started reading over a preliminary contract. Lost in his work almost at once, he found errors and spotted all the details he needed to further negotiate.
Suddenly a hand grabbed his shoulder. He was startled so he glanced up. Of course, it was Iris, wearing one of his button-up, white shirts. The hem nearly reached her knees. She knew there might not be anything sexier. She smiled at him. “It’s been two hours.”
He winced and glanced at the clock. “Shit. So it has. I’m sorry, I got distracted…”
She leaned over and brushed his hair. “I know. I get distracted too when I’m trying to solve a particular problem or a complicated rebuild.”
He scooted back from the desk and started to rise but she pushed him into the chair and straddled him. Sliding her shirt up, she showed him she was wearing nothing else. He smiled. “Okay… break time?”
She didn’t answer but lifted herself up high enough to capture his mouth in hers. She had to rise on her knees outside his legs. He ran a hand along the exposed, silky, slim thighs that now bracketed his own. She opened her mouth wider and whimpered as his hand rose from her knee towards her exposed seam. Her thighs trembled and her tongue plunged deeply and aggressively into his mouth. She lowered herself on him and he felt her wet heat on his legs even through the material. He groaned and kissed her.
Holding her around her waist, he gently set her on his desk. She let out a surprised, little scream. Then her legs parted far enough that he could glimpse the pink, fleshy center of her. He sucked in a breath as she scooted backwards… and all of the papers went with her. He should have taken her into the bedroom but he couldn’t stop. Leaning forward, he put his mouth on her glistening prize, right in front of his gaze. She bucked and startled at the unexpected advance. He mouthed her, sucked her, and licked her. She was blazing hot on top of his desk, wearing his shirt. His Iris. She surrendered, lying back and planting her feet on the edge of his desk to allow him easier access to the feast she wanted him to devour.
Her hands gripped whatever lay on his desk. The papers crinkled as the stapler fell to the floor, followed by the hole punch. Pens scattered everywhere. She wiggled under his ministrations and the crinkling papers provided the background ambience. He just kept exciting her until she suddenly swept her arms and crash! His laptop landed on the floor. He would have preferred to buy twenty brand new ones rather than stop what he was doing to Iris on his desk.
