“I told you. My hearing’s almost all the way back,” she grumbled.
He held up both hands with a grin. “Don’t shoot the messenger. Cain said to check you out, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
She rolled her eyes, but let Sawyer get on with it.
“How is she?” Cain’s deep voice skittered down her spine, and she turned to find him leaning against the side of the truck.
“Fit for duty, sir.” She gave him a sassy salute.
He ignored her, gaze on Sawyer.
“She’ll be fine. No permanent damage.”
“She’s right here.” Quinn waved her arms.
Cain ignored her and gave Sawyer a curt nod, then jerked his head. Sawyer gathered up his gear and left them alone, giving Quinn a wink as he left.
Cain moved around the truck to stand in front of her.
“So…” She raised her eyebrows. “What now?”
“Delilah’s other teams will handle things from here. But we got them.”
Relief and a heady sensation from the knowledge she’d helped save a lot of people swept through her, and Quinn smiled.
Her breathing hitched at Cain’s answering grin. “You did good today.”
She sobered. Now the bad guys were history, she had to face facts—knowledge sunk like a lead weight to the pit of her stomach. This might be the last time I ever see Daniel Cain.
“It doesn’t have to be.”
What? Oh, holy crap, she’d done it again. Spoken her thoughts out loud. Then his response finally penetrated her mortification at that particular flub. “What do you mean?”
He moved closer, hands on either side of her hips, taking up all her space. She inhaled the spicy scent of him.
“I wanted to talk to you about something.”
After only a few weeks in Daniel Cain’s constant presence, Quinn sensed his hesitation. Though how, when his expression gave nothing away, she didn’t know. If she had to put money on it, she’d bet Cain was nervous. Why?
“We’d like to offer you a position on the team.”
Quinn sucked in a breath. She hadn’t seen that one coming. Everything in her screamed yes, but she had one tiny problem. “I’m flattered, but I don’t think that will work out.”
“Why not?”
She sighed, but held his gaze with her own, heart thundering away. “I’m falling in love with you.”
There, she’d said it. Now he could shut down and walk away.
His lips flattened. He stepped back, out of her space and away from her body, and her heart cracked at the obvious signs of rejection. “You remembered, didn’t you? That I’m the one who got you out of the hellhole in Alaska?”
Confusion joined her heartache. What did that have to do with it? She nodded slowly. “The night they put you in my cell on the boat.”
He ran a hand over his beard, his blue eyes flinty. “I see.”
Confusion swirled through her. What did he see exactly? “I’m not harboring a hero crush if that’s what you’re thinking. Didn’t I prove I could take care of myself?”
A hint of a smile made his mustache twitch. “You certainly did that.”
“But you don’t believe I’m in love with you.” This had to be the strangest conversation she’d ever had. She’d expected him to be cold or spooked. She certainly hadn’t expected to have to argue about the true state of her feelings with the man.
“I believe you think you are.” The heaviness in his eyes sparked a glimmer of hope inside her. Did he want her to be in love with him?
She hopped off the tailgate and stepped up to him, right in his space, though she had to tip her chin to look up at him. “Kiss me.”
Shock widened his eyes. “What?”
“Put those amazing psychometric powers to use. Kiss me and see exactly what my emotions are.”
He stared at her a long moment, and she could see the debate in his eyes. So she took the decision out of his hands. Quinn went up on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down to hers. Tenderly, she lay her lips over his in the sweetest of kisses. Desire flamed within her, but she banked her need. Desire could come later. This was about connection. She allowed her emotions to flow freely and hoped like hell his gift would kick in. He needed to know.
The second his unyielding lips softened, she pulled back. His blue eyes blazed at her, almost sizzling her with the heat of desire within.
“Do you believe me now?”
“Quinn—” He groaned the word.
“No?” She grabbed his hand and dragged him back into the building.
“Where are we going?” She ignored the amusement in his voice.
Finally, she found the rest of the team still in the cells where the demons had held their prisoners before sale. Purpose in every step, she marched up to the brawny man who was Cain’s second-in-command. “Max, I need you to kiss me.”
Cain stopped cold and jerked her around, yanking her into his arms. “Like hell.” He took her lips in a possessive kiss that left no one in the room, least of all Quinn, in doubt. Daniel Cain claimed her for his own.
A wolf whistle sounded somewhere in the background of her pleasure. Probably Shaw. She ignored it, ignored everything and everyone, in favor of the pleasure this man could bring with such a simple touch.
Only the need for oxygen stopped them. He pulled back to lean his forehead against hers, both of their chests heaving as they gasped for air. “I think I’ve loved you since the first time you kissed me.”
“Oh? Maybe I trigger a savior complex in you,” she teased. How she could go from having no clue as to his feelings to trusting in his love in the span of moments, she had no idea. But the glow of contentment, and safety, and pure joy told her, in no uncertain terms, she could trust him, trust them together.
He chuckled. “I couldn’t get you out of my head for six years. No other woman stood a chance.”
Satisfaction swelled inside her. “Good.”
“So about joining the team…”
Quinn grinned. “I could use a job anyway. I’m sure I’ve been fired from my current one.”
Kamry’s Hope
by Crystal G. Smith
Kamry stood and gasped for air as her body came down from the high she always got from working out. God, she was definitely out of shape and had no idea what she was doing, but one way or another, she was going to make sure that no man would ever be able to get the best of her the way Steven had.
She hated him. She had only been married to him for a little over a year, but had been with him for four. She hated that the minute ‘I do’ was said, everything changed.
In his eyes, she never did anything right. They would argue and scream. He would throw insults just as quickly as the last one registered in her brain. He would make her feel completely worthless. Then she had decided that when he wanted to yell and scream, she would ignore him and move on.
Then one day, it happened. He was screaming and telling her what a complete loser she was. She took a deep breath and kept cutting the carrots she was preparing for supper. Wrong move.
Before she knew what happened, she was on the floor. She remembered her head and the floor connecting, and then she was waking up. Of course, Steven was standing over her, asking her if she was okay and telling her how sorry he was. She fell for it.
The next time, he didn’t shove her. He straight up close-fisted her face. It escalated until he was no longer even apologizing for it. She couldn’t take it. She packed up and left while he was at work, never looking back. With help of her family, she filed for divorce.