I TRIED.

I really tried to have a goddamn conversation with Quinn about what was going on while keeping my shit together. I tried to restrain myself, keep my hands off her, focus on the important things, like that she got food in her stomach.

But she just kept saying things.

Things like she cared about me more than her job.

Things that made me realize maybe she was just as lost to this—to us—as I was.

Things that made me lose my goddamn mind, made the need I have for her grow until I couldn't help but kiss her.

And now that my lips were on hers, I wasn't sure if I could ever break away.

"August," she groaned against my lips, making it well known that she wanted more. Especially when she added, "Please."

"Please what, baby?" I rasped, wanting to hear her say it.

"Please fuck me," she whined. "I need it."

Shit.

I dragged my lips away from her lips and down her neck, sucking on a sensitive spot by her collarbone. Meanwhile, my hands were all over her—smoothing over her curves and squeezing every bit of her I could find.

"What do you need?"

"You." Quinn gasped, tipping her head back as she let me feast on her. "I need you. I need to feel you."

I smiled against her neck. I was just so damn happy to have her in my arms again because there had been a moment there when I wasn't sure I'd see her again, and that fucking destroyed me. "You can't feel me right now?"

Quinn slid her fingers up my neck, curling them into my hair and yanking in annoyance. "Inside me," she panted. "I need to feel you inside me."

My lips grazed her skin, traveling lower. When her button-up top halted my progress, I grabbed each side of the shirt and ripped, not giving a damn about the buttons that went flying. All I cared about was finding more of Quinn's skin. She wore a lacy bra that had my mouth watering, and I cupped her breast over it before yanking it down so I could see her the way I wanted. She was unbelievable. Fucking unbelievable.

"Your sweet little pussy needs me, doesn't it?" I groaned right before I captured her nipple in my mouth.

"Yes," she cried, tightening her grip on my hair. "Yes."

I swirled my tongue over her nipple, appreciating the way it hardened in my mouth. Then I nipped the tip, making a sharp gasp fly from Quinn's mouth.

"What makes you think you deserve to get what you want after your little stunt this morning?" I released one nipple to hunt for the other. My hand covered her free breast, cupping it in my palm and swallowing another groan from how fucking good she felt. "Only good girls get fucked, Quinn baby. And you've been naughty."

"I'm sorry." Her apology was a broken plea. "August, I'm so sorry."

I pulled back, reveling in Quinn's despaired whimper when my lips left her skin. Glancing down at her, half-naked and half-laying over the countertop, I raised a brow. "How are you going to make it up to me?"

Her eyes widened and then turned a shade of wicked, trailing over me until they landed on the tent in my pants. Her hand followed the same path her eyes had just made, releasing my hair and dragging down my chest to the waistband of my shorts.

I grabbed her wrist before she could rip my shorts off. "That's not what I want."

Quinn raised both brows. "You don't want my mouth on your cock, Fletcher? You could have fooled me with the way you've come in it before."

I closed my eyes momentarily, taking a deep breath to keep from losing it after hearing her say those words in that seductive fucking voice. My body pulsed, begging me to let her do exactly what she just said. Pretty girl was so goddamn good with her mouth, and she knew it.

"Of course I want it," I said hoarsely. "But there's something I want more."

She cocked her head to the side, considering me with those gorgeous eyes. "What?"

"I want you to promise to never run away like that again. Even if you're trying to help."

Walking out to the kitchen this morning and realizing she was gone had nearly done me in. The whole way over here, I had my heart in my throat, terrified that I'd miss her and have to wait god knows how long before getting her in my arms again.

"I promise," she said, her voice growing soft. "I promise, August."

Thank god.

I nodded, believing her. "Now I want you to promise me something else."

"Anything," she breathed, her naked chest heaving as she hung on my words. I trailed my finger up her body, dragging it between her breasts and along the column of her neck until I had her face cupped in my palm, tipping it up so our gazes met.

"If you insist on quitting your job because of me..." I said, speaking as clearly as possible with the desire thick in my throat. "Then I'm paying your rent until you figure out what you want to do next. You're not packing up your stuff. You're not finding a cheaper apartment. If you really want to move, then there are only two possible places you're moving to, Castle."

Her eyes were round, but she didn't look away from me, and she didn't argue. I could tell she was still processing my words, logic warring with arousal. "Two?"

"Two," I confirmed, knowing I was about to say shit that would probably scare her but not fucking caring. She needed to understand that I was so goddamn serious about her. About this. About us, our situation. "Either you let me buy you an apartment that doesn't have any fucking mice, or if you won't let me do that, then...I guess you'll have to move in with me. You can pick. My New York penthouse or the Evergreen beach house."

If Quinn's eyes were round before, they were saucers now. 

"August..." she gasped. "You don't mean that."

"The hell I don't," I growled, leaning down so that both my hands landed on the countertop beside her hips. Her breathing picked up with my proximity, and I could tell her brain was swaying away from logic. So I tried to make it as straightforward as possible. "If you want to stay in New York, you can stay in New York, Quinn. I can't make you stay here if you don't want to. But you are not going into financial hardship because of this, got it? And we're getting rid of the fucking mice."

"Got it." She swallowed before nodding slowly, looking dazed. "That sounds...good. That sounds..."

Her words trailed away as her eyes shifted, searching my face for something. Fuck, this was all too much all at once, wasn't it? I lifted a hand, cupping her face and smoothing my thumb along her jawline.

"Quinn." I softened my voice. "Quinn, baby."

"Yeah?" Her wandering eyes stilled, settling on mine.

"I'm going to take care of you," I promised, brushing my lips over hers. "That's all I want you to promise me. Promise me you'll let me take care of you."

Her eyes fluttered shut as she melted into my touch. "I've never had a man take care of me before. Not like you do."

"I haven't even started taking care of you the way I want to, Castle. Let me?"

The things I would do for this woman if she allowed it. The way I would fucking cherish her if I got to care for her the way I desperately wanted to.

Quinn captured my lips in response, sinking into the kiss as I circled my arms around her and hoisted her onto the countertop. She immediately wrapped her legs around my hips, crushing me against her. My erection pressed between her legs, sliding right into place, and fuck me.  

"Okay, Fletcher." Breaking the kiss with a gasp, Quinn breathed, "How about you start now?"

I chuckled against her lips. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Her lips curved deliciously as she grinned up at me.

"I think I know how you want to be taken care of," I muttered, smoothing my hands down her sides until I had my fingers hooked in her shorts. "But you gotta unwind those pretty legs of yours so I can strip you down, Castle."

Her legs immediately fell from around my waist, and she lifted her ass, eager to help me strip her shorts and underwear off. Next, I pushed her ripped shirt over her shoulders and unclasped her bra, tossing it all to the floor because fuck if I wanted nothing to do with her clothes right now.

Before I even had a chance to appreciate how she looked sitting on my countertop naked, Quinn greedily grabbed at my shirt, tugging it up. "Your turn," she panted, and I smirked, letting her strip me down, too. This time when she went for my shorts, I didn't stop her, letting her shuck them to the ground and wrap her fingers around my cock.

"Fuck," I groaned as I pulsed in her hand. She stroked me up and down, and I closed my eyes, letting myself get lost in the feel of her for a second. Nothing in this world would ever compare to how she made me feel. "Baby, I thought I was taking care of you."

"I thought maybe we could take turns?" she asked adorably, sheepishly, like she wasn't confidently stroking my cock.

I nodded, swallowing as I tried to get a grip. "I want to go first." I dropped to the ground before she could argue, crouching at exactly the right level to see Quinn's pussy glisten as I spread her legs wide. "I've been fucking starving for you all morning."

Quinn watched me with sparkling eyes, urging me on as she leaned back on her hands, giving me permission to continue.

So I did, kissing a path up her inner thighs before burying my face between her legs and flicking my tongue over her clit. Quinn made a breathy noise of pleasure, but it wasn't loud enough for me, so I dove in deeper, my tongue gliding through her warm, wet pussy.

"Oh my god, August," she groaned, grabbing me by the hair. Her hips lifted, seeking more, and fuck, I gave it to her.

I gave it to her until she was crying my name, pumping her hips against my face as I sucked her clit into my mouth with just the right amount of pressure that I knew she loved. And when she came apart into a million shudders, I didn't want to stop. I'd happily stay between Quinn Castle's legs all day long. I'd dreamed of being here, and now that I was, I didn't want to leave. Not ever.

But Quinn's cries turned desperate, her body more sensitive, and I only got a few more licks in before she pushed me away, begging me to stop.

I stood with a grin, dragging a hand over my mouth. "I told you I was going to eat later."

She rolled her eyes but was too busy trying to catch her breath to manage a comeback.

I was obsessed with the way I could make her speechless.

I dragged my gaze over her, sprawled out and panting on the countertop. Beneath us, the boat rocked gently, but it was nothing to what it might be doing in a bit once I got my hands on her.

Raising a brow, I asked, "Can you handle more, pretty girl?"

"Always," she breathed, immediately swallowing and trying to straighten herself to prove she could take it. "Always for you."

Fuck, and to think I was pissed at her this morning. And now, here she was, laying it all on the line for me. Sacrificing everything for me.

I didn't deserve her, not even one ounce of her, but if she let me have her, I'd give her everything that I had.

I grabbed her hips and pulled her closer to the edge of the countertop. "You promise to be a good girl for me from now on, Castle?"

She nodded, her eyes wild and desperate as she bit down on her lip. "I'll be your good girl for as long as you want, August."

"As long as I want?" I repeated, groaning. I lined the tip of my cock up with her dripping entrance, feeling shaky with the desire racing through my veins. "Prepare to be mine for a long fucking time, then."

Quinn licked her lips, arching her back to try to get more of me inside her. I gave in, nudging into her pussy and watching her eyes widen, her lips part. She was so gorgeous, and I was so lost to how good she felt, squeezing all around me. Fuck.

"Sounds good to me," she said breathily. "Sounds perfect, actually."

"You're perfect," I moaned, sliding deeper and deeper until I was buried to the hilt, and Quinn's pretty lashes were fluttering. "You're so fucking perfect when you take me like this. You know that, right?"

Quinn answered noncommittally, making satisfied noises that would bring me to my knees if I weren't trapped in her hot cunt.

"More," she gasped. "Please."

"I'll give you more," I grunted, pulling back and thrusting inside her again, hard enough that Quinn's whole body shook, his tits bouncing beautifully. "I'll give you everything. You just tell me if it's too much."

She shook her head. "Never too much."

God, what did I do to deserve her?

With a groan, I drove into her again, trying to give her what she wanted and also keep myself in control. Because I could already feel the heat burning through my veins, I could already feel the tingling at the base of my spine.

"Don't hold back," Quinn encouraged, reading my mind. "I'm just as ready to come as you are."

Oh, hell.

"Already, Castle?" I moaned, fucking her harder, keeping her hips pinned in place so I could begin driving into her relentlessly.

"It's just—" She paused, gasping as she took the force of my thrusts. "—so good."

"Yes."

So good. She was so, so good. Her inner walls fluttered around my cock, and I threw my head back with a cry, knowing I was going to lose it any second.

"Look at me," Quinn pleaded. "Look at me, August."

It was impossible not to obey her, so I tipped my head back down. Our eyes met, and miraculously, that was what did it. I sank into her deep gaze, and then I sank deeper into her body and let go.

Quinn's face transformed at the same moment, and then we were both falling, gasping, crying out as an overwhelming orgasm crashed over both of us.

Never. I'd never been in sync with a woman like I was with her.

It was electrifying. And terrifying.

But a little less so than it had been yesterday.

Because I had a feeling that Quinn Castle wasn't going anywhere.

And that was the best feeling in the whole goddamn world.

☀️

a/n:

Well, that's settled. Now Let's see how the Warriors handle the news 🤭

xoxo Amelie