Stop Thinking, Just Feel

After my last confession, I'd stripped her physically bare again, needing to expose her flesh to me, even as she tried to hide her inner thoughts from me. There was a stillness between us after my final words, a fragile quiet that felt like the air right before a breach in the storm, that fleeting, potent pause when nothing can be undone. I held her close—our breaths tangling with how little distance there was between us now. Her lips parted slightly, uncertain, eyes wide but unwavering.

She was thinking. Calculating. The Quinn Pearce I’d come to know would search for solid footing here—the next intelligent question, the rational choice. But there was nothing rational about us, not now, not anymore. I had told her something most people would beg to die without knowing. And yet, she hadn’t run. Not yet.

Her hands, delicate, tentative, rested on my chest. “You’re not going to get everything,” she murmured, but her voice wavered, unsure.

I leaned forward slightly, just close enough that her scent—jasmine, salt, a hint of sweat—enveloped me. Her fingers trembled against my lips as I raised them to my mouth, and I knew then that I already had more of her than she realized.

“Ah, leannan, you don’t even know what you’ve already given me.”

Quinn bit her lower lip just as a shudder passed through her. She wanted to protest, but her legs gave away her surrender. Giving me her trust came with a steep cost, one she was still scrutinizing in that bright, inquisitive mind of hers. Only, trust wasn’t the full price, not yet. It would be so much more.

Her lips brushed against my jaw, tentative. Was she curious? Reassuring herself that this truth hadn’t darkened the passion between us? I wasn’t sure. I could feel the heat of her body pressed into mine, the delicious friction and warmth already pulling us into the inevitable.

"My Quinn," I murmured, threading my fingers gently through her hair. "Let me take care of you tonight."

She hesitated at first but nodded—a movement so slight, I might have missed it if I weren’t fixated on the quickening pulse at her throat. I needed to erase the remnants of the past half hour, the confession that had lingered too heavy, too raw in the air between us. The darkness that now threaded itself through her perception of me. Yes, I needed to bury that—beneath her pleasure, beneath this crushing desire. For tonight, I needed her to forget Caleb. Needed her to forget how deep my darkness went.

I let my fingers slide down, tangling slowly in her hair before tugging gently, tilting her head back to meet my gaze. Her wide eyes met mine with that powerful mix of curiosity and unease, but also—also that desire, that craving. I could feel it thrumming between us, threatening to swallow us whole. God, she was so close to slipping into the abyss willingly.

Without another word, I guided her from the study, quietly, purposefully. The sound of birds settling for the night outside was distant, soft. The world had quieted, something peaceful blanketing the island now that the storm had passed. But neither of us paid any attention to the familiar sights or sounds. My focus was on the steps ahead, each one bringing Quinn closer to a sanctuary she wasn’t yet aware she needed.

Once inside my private suite, I flicked on the subdued lighting, letting the room reveal itself in golden hues and shadows. The king-sized bed loomed at the center, but I took my time.

I stepped behind her, trailing my fingertips up her arms, bring them to rest just below her shoulders, brushing the thin bones resting there. “Let’s get you comfortable,” I murmured against her ear, savoring the faint hitch in her breath as I slowly glided my hands down her body. Her skin was warm and flushed, goosebumps rising under the gentle assault of the cool air in the room. It wasn’t just the air, though—it was the anticipation.

As I traced the swell of her hips, I turned her to face me, my hand cupping her chin. “Tonight, you’re going to let go, Quinn. No questions. No fears.”

Her lips parted, a protest catching in her throat, but I silenced it with my mouth, savoring the way her body leaned into me, the way her resolve threatened to crumble beneath the weight of desire. She may have thought she needed to stay independent, autonomous, rational—but in moments like these, it was her body that betrayed her.

I kissed her deeply, my hand sliding up to tangle in her hair again, pulling her closer, deeper into me. She responded with breathless enthusiasm, her fingers sliding to grasp the nape of my neck, her trembling boldness flaring into need.

When I finally pulled away, it was with a groan of frustration—I was only pausing for the briefest of moments, to lay her onto the bed beneath me. Her eyes followed me, heavy-lidded with desire and exhaustion as I undid the buttons of my shirt, throwing it to the side. I leaned over her, brushing a thumb over her bottom lip to make sure her attention stayed on me. She still looked at me through those wide eyes like she was trying to figure out my angle, and I needed her to stop thinking tonight.

“It’s time to stop calculating, mo chridhe. Just feel."

She exhaled a soft, needy breath as I laid beside her, pulling her naked form to rest against my chest, her head tucked sweetly under my chin. Her delicate body was warm, flushed with the heat of the fire we had stoked between us, even now sizzling beneath the surface. My arm wrapped tight around her, cocooning her in my hold, and her breath fell in rhythmic sighs against my skin, each an unspoken surrender that I savored. This was the Quinn I craved—the woman who, despite her fierce independence, had given herself over to me entirely.

I traced slow, deliberate lines down her spine, each movement calculated, tactical—possessive. My hand splayed out, covering the small of her back as I gripped her closer to me, pressing her lithe body flush against my chest. The softness of her curves melding into the hardness of me. My lips found the crown of her head, pressing a lingering kiss there, breathing her in as my nose glided through the soft strands of her hair. She fit so perfectly in my arms, like she had been made for me.

“Lachlan…” she whispered faintly, the breath of my name leaking from her lips as if it were too much for her to contain. Even her voice trembled, caught in the thick fog of her desire, her body still twisting in the memory of release.

I hummed gently, a low sound vibrating in the back of my throat as my fingers trailed lower, slipping dangerously close to the top of her ass. I pressed my lips to her temple as I waited for her to stir more, waited for the unspoken ache to build inside her again. She was so warm, so pliant now, so perfectly tuned to me. I had her precisely where I needed her. She’d already yielded once tonight, screamed her pleasure into the shadows, but I wasn’t done with her. Not even close.

“Mo chridhe, you were perfect,” I murmured against her skin, drawing her tighter into the crook of my arm, listening as her breath hitched slightly, like my praise was something she simultaneously craved and feared. “So perfect.”

Her eyelids fluttered but remained closed, her body heavy and relaxed against mine. But I could feel the tension building between us again—the coiled wire just beneath her surface, the anticipation quietly humming through that beautiful body of hers. She knew where this was leading, even if she was too sated to admit it yet.

“Tell me what you feel,” I coaxed, my voice a rumble in her ear. My hand drifted further down her back, fingers ghosting along the sensitive spots I’d already mapped out. I knew Quinn’s body now better than my own, knew precisely where to touch, where to tease—to make her writhe in that delicious combination of pain and pleasure. And I was already itching to touch more.

“I… I feel...” She broke off, her words shaky, breathless. Her hips shifted slightly against the sheets, her skin brushing mine in a friction that made my cock twitch with need. Beautiful. She didn’t even want to acknowledge how badly she was craving me already, how her body was instinctively responding before her mind was even fully ready.

"Words, sweetheart," I pressed, letting my hand dip low, grazing the curve of her hip, teasing the seam of her thigh. Her breath caught audibly in her throat, and she instinctively arched her back, presenting those perfect curves for another touch. “Or do you need reminding how to ask for what you want?”

A soft whimper slipped from her lips. *There", I thought. "There it is, my pretty little Quinn."

My fingers trailed up her inner thigh, forcing her legs to part ever so slightly, just enough for my knuckles to brush against the slick heat of her core. A jolt shot through her like lightning, and she shivered against me, a choked gasp caught between her teeth.

“Do you feel that?” I whispered darkly into her hair, my lips brushing her ear as my fingers grazed her swollen folds, tantalizingly slow. “How you’re already wet for me again? Even after everything.”

She nodded into my chest, her lips parted as needy little breaths slipped free, her body starting to respond to every well-crafted touch, every carefully placed word. Slowly, I pulled back just enough to force her onto her back, pinning her beneath me. Her eyes fluttered open to meet mine, pupils blown wide with lust, confusion bleeding through the haze—wondering how I could still keep her on this precipice after she had already given me everything once tonight.

But that was Quinn—so wonderfully complex, so determined to control her world, yet irresistibly drawn to letting herself be dominated in the dark corners of mine.