Page 39 of What Love Can Do
Moments later, pretty legs in a jean skirt came around the corner. Legs he loved and rarely got to see, since she was usually wearing jeans.
“Thought I might find you here.” Beautiful, radiant, gorgeous with her golden hair back in a messy knot. She looked like she’d just plucked off her apron and decided to go for a stroll as well.
“Lilly,” he said, his heart and brain cells taking flight upon seeing her. “You found my secret spot.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Her smile was mischievous and peace-imparting. “My town is full of secret spots.”
“Well, you’ll have to show me a few of them.” He smiled back, but then it dampened when he thought about how she wouldn’t be here much longer, and he may not be either. She may never show him all of Green Valley’s secrets, and the thought depressed the shit out of him.
She crossed her legs and sat next to him, holding onto the ropes. “It’s about to rain,” she said, glancing up at the darkening skies. “Are you okay?”
Stomach a ball of jumbled nerves, he slid his hand over the planks and risked taking her hand. Her fingers intertwined with his. “As good as I can be given our argument last night. I’m sorry for that. It was a surprise, what you told me, and I’ve been struggling with it. Struggling with the knowledge that many in this area, the area where I believe we should spread her ashes, consider my mam to be a pariah.”
She caressed his fingers, the warm touch sending shivers though his body. “Not everyone. Just a few select people who are hurting. And quite frankly, who need to get over it.”
Startled, he laughed. “Is that so?”
“It is. And I’m sorry if I communicated a different message last night.”
“It’s okay. Communication has been a bit of an issue for us all along, hasn’t it?”
She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I was a bastard for implying nothing was meant to happen between us because we haven’t made it happen. Love’s more complicated than that.”
“We’re in love?” she said softly, raising an eyebrow.
He drew in his legs and swiveled to face her bright blue eyes. “Aren’t we?”
Lil blinked then turned away, blinking some more, trying to hide, Quinn realized, the fact that tears had filled her eyes. Reaching out, Quinn cupped her chin and turned her head until she was looking at him.
“I know nothing’s changed between us. That we’re still walking on separate roads. That we’ve only known each other a week. But this is me, Lil, walking my own path but looking at you and telling you, I love you. And no matter what happens, I’ll never regret it.”
The tears in her eyes brimmed over.
“I love you, too, Quinn. No matter what.”
They didn’t kiss, they didn’t move, they barely even breathed, not wanting to disrupt the power in the words they’d exchanged. An eternity seemed to pass while they looked into each other’s eyes. Finally, the clouds overhead moved in with the wind, making strands of Lillian’s hair dance in the breeze around her face, and she blinked. Quinn stroked his fingers along her jawline, and she closed her eyes to soak in his touch. The first few drops of rain were cold but seemed to shock them out of the solemnity of the moment. They both laughed and jumped to their feet.
Quinn was about to run back to the car, but Lilly grabbed his hand and ran in the opposite direction just as the sky opened, and the rain began to pour. “Where we going?” he cried.
“You wanted secrets, right?” she yelled, tugging him along, running down the footpath into a thicket of trees and around a bend. Hidden in the woods was an old shed, nothing out of this world, just a worn, faded red wooden structure. She tugged at the side door, and it easily gave way, banging against the side from her adrenaline rush.
The inside smelled musty, of old ropes and sawdust, both scents that Quinn loved. They reminded him of his grandfather’s boat shed back in Killiney with the views of Bray Head and the Great Sugar Loaf. He shook off the rain from his jacket and hair, stumbling over an old barrel oak against the siding. “Fancy meeting you here. Come here often?”
Lilly laughed and stumbled with him, falling against his warm body into a pile of sandbags. “No,” she spoke in a deliberate teasing tone. “But I have a feeling if things go as I suspect, this just might become one of my new favorite secret spots.” Her warm breaths puffed against his cheek, and suddenly, without any thought or expectation, they were kissing like it was what they were meant to do all along.
Feck rules, feck boundaries and consequences. Sometimes life just threw lemons at you, and you had to know what to do with them—make lemon meringue pie. Quinn pressed his lips against her hard, drinking in her moist soft mouth. His body ached, focused on the moment she’d hinted she wanted to come, and he couldn’t wait to get her there. Their arms worked in effortless motions to slide off jackets and shirts, while his fingers slid beneath her bra straps, and his lips sucked up inches of her skin along her neck and collarbone, working their way down. She pressed one hand to her bra, keeping the cups close to her heaving chest.
Don’t rush, slow down, mate, his heart shouted to himself, but his groin was giving all the orders now. When his lips reached the upper curves of her tits, she released her loose bra. Quinn marveled at the deep blush around her nipple. He brought his lips up close, but paused barely a hair’s width away. He exhaled slow with his warm breath, waiting for just that right moment when the chasm between tease and torment collided.
She moaned when his mouth finally closed over one nipple, and he sucked, feeling the ridges of her areola harden over his tongue. Her hands guided his head, her fingers slid back and forth through his hair, as one of his hands found its way into the back of her skirt to cup her ass, and the other lifted her breast higher to his mouth. Suddenly, it dawned on him why she’d worn a skirt, and he laughed deep within his chest. No panties. Her intentions were clear, all barriers removed. He dragged his hand from her smooth ass, gliding his fingers between her cheeks, closer to her wet lower lips, running two fingers across them. Her head fell backward, and her body gave in.
Rolling her over, laying her back against the sandbags, he sat up and gazed at the wonder before him. Her beauty was amplified by the pummeling of the rain on the thin structure. Her shimmering eyes stared back at him, wanting, needing him.
Her knees spread like a flower blossoming, but it was her sapphire eyes beaming up at him, her chest heaving with anticipation that made him want her like nothing he’d ever known. Reaching up the length of her legs, his fingertips caressed her creamy skin from her thighs to her ankles.
“What are you going to do?” she panted through a quivering smile.