Page 89 of Temptation

“Fuck no!” All his irritation melted away as he jumped up and pulled her into the office, closing the door behind her. Before she had a chance to say or do anything else, he kissed her, one arm around her waist and the other around the back of her neck. He pulled back after a few minutes, resting his forehead on hers and smiling happily as he looked into her eyes. “I've missed you.”

“I've missed you too.” She smiled. “Want to go get lunch?”

“I want to bend you over my desk, but yeah, let's go get lunch.” Tenn sighed as he took in her pretty coral-coloured dress with tiny white polka dots. The flared skirt fell to her knees, and the neckline showed off her cleavage. He bet it would look even prettier pushed up to her hips.

“We could do both.” Quinn put her arms around his neck and pulled him down for another kiss.

“Fuck.” He muttered, pulling her skirt up before regretfully letting it go. “No, Viki and Frannie are out sightseeing. I thought you were them when you knocked. Let's get out of here.” He took her to El Mondonguito, a Puerto Rican restaurant near the museum, and they sat in a corner booth tucked away from everything else. “How's the menu for the party coming along?”

“Good! I went to Costco yesterday and got everything I needed for ingredients and spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening prepping things. This morning, I assembled everything, and tomorrow afternoon will be about cooking. I managed to get a loan of some warming trays from the university cafeteria since the term is over and the summer term doesn't start for a few weeks. We're great on the food and drink front. How are we doing for guests?”

“Mom, Dad, Del, Trisha, Kota, Greg, Ginny, and Kirk are all coming. So are Ron and Deedee, who are very excited to see all this happen. Said it's a first.” Tenn chuckled. “Frannie and Viki will be there too.

“Queenie, Killian, B.R., Linda, Deacon, Gladys, Billy, Quill, Chrissy, Bishop and Rilla.” She smirked. “You know, Joel's brother Billy is single and a hockey player. He is not professional or anything, but he plays in his town's league. How much fun would it be if she hooked up with him?”

“You just want trouble, don't you?”

“Yes.” She grinned. “Is that so wrong of me?” She reached across the table and took his hand. “We're almost there.”

Chapter Forty-Seven: Getting the Party Started

Tenn

When Friday finally rolled around, Tenn left work early and drove to Quinn’s, wanting to check in with her, make sure she was okay with going ahead with everything they had planned, or if she wanted to modify things and just spend some one-on-one time together before everyone showed up. The minute he stepped inside, and the door was firmly shut behind him, he pulled her into his arms and just held her, breathing her in and loving the way she snuggled into his chest with a contented sigh.

“How are you doing?” He murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“Pretty good considering my husband has been using me as emotional support following breaking up with his affair partner.” She stepped back as a timer went off in the kitchen, and he could see the sheer disbelief and disgust on her face. “He goes to work, comes home right after, and just follows me around like a lost puppy, begging for affection and apologizing endlessly for being such a terrible husband.” Gesturing for him to follow her, she went into the kitchen, took a pan of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven and put in another one. “How are you?”

“I’m good. Luckily, Frannie has seen the writing on the wall and is understanding to a degree about why things are over. She spent this week discussing things with Viki and trying to get a feel and idea about the breakdown. Viki just cries and apologizes endlessly for her behaviour and blames things on her miscarriages, which, yes, I can see and understand that it was devastating for her, but she’s not taking any responsibility for how she handled her grief. She tried to blame it all on me, that I didn’t care that we lost our children, but her mother shut her down hard.” He chuckled as he remembered Frannie’s firm rebuttal.

“What did she say?” Quinn passed him a bowl. “Stir this for me, please?”

Tenn nodded and stirred the batter for her. “She told her that was bullshit. Frannie flew up and stayed with us for a month or so after each miscarriage, and she saw firsthand that I was upset. She told Viki that I put aside my own grief to help her, and she was ashamed of her for taking advantage of me financially for as long as she did without looking into counselling. Viki tried to yell at me for bringing her mother into our personal business, and Frannie snapped at her that I was only doing what I did to look out for her because I didn’t know how to handle her erratic behaviour anymore and that she agreed with me that she should be evaluated psychiatrically, which prompted another meltdown and agreement to get professional help when her mother didn’t fall for it.

“I hope she does get the help she needs,” Quinn murmured. “It’s sad that it took her mother stepping in to make it happen.”

“Right?” Tenn handed the bowl back to her and watched as she began making crepes. “I also wanted to make sure you’re okay with what we’re planning to do or if we should modify it.”

“Honestly, I flip-flopped on it a lot this week, but I always come back to the same conclusion. This is the consequences of their actions. They were selfish, manipulative and gave no fucks about our health or feelings. This all could have been avoided if they had been honest with us about their kinks and fetishes in the beginning. By lying and hiding it, they took away our choice at the beginning of our relationships.” She flipped the crepe and looked up at him. “I never would have stuck around if I knew what he was into.”

“I really don’t think Viki knew what she was into until she met Joel. Not to get too deeply into things, but we weren’t exactly vanilla or prudes in our sexual relationship. We had the conversation about what we were into, and our hard no’s, and we explored different things; she never once brought up being a sub; I’m a switch, and I would have happily indulged her.”

Quinn raised her eyebrow with a grin. “A switch, huh?”

“Well, maybe switch is the wrong term. I’m happy to be in control, and I’m happy to let my partner be in control. As long as we both get off, it’s all good.” He shrugged and leaned forward, grabbing a cookie and taking a bite as the doorbell rang.

“Who’s that?” Quinn looked up in panic. “It’s way too early for people to get here.”

“Bishop,” Tenn stood up and started toward the front door. “He said he’d close the shop early to come to help me set up the party space. Give me a shout if you need help.”

Quinn

After Bishop poked his head in the kitchen to say hello to Quinn, he and Tenn moved all the furniture back against the walls in the living room and brought in her wicker patio furniture for extra seating and tables to set things on, pushed the long dining table against the wall opposite the bar, and moved the round table from the breakfast nook and put it in the corner for desserts. They were finishing up when Quill and Rilla arrived and pitched in, helping set up the warming trays and cooking. When everything was ready, Quill and Tenn left to get ready and pick up Chrissy, Viki, and Frannie and Rilla and Bishop piled into Quinn's room with her to get dressed and do their hair and makeup. Joel came home a half hour before the party was supposed to start and stuck his head in to say hi. He frowned when he saw Bishop stretched out on his side on the bed, watching Rilla do Quinn's hair.

“Is this appropriate?” He grumbled.

“Relax, Joel, I've seen her naked lots of times,” Bishop smirked. “Not that it gets old.” He reassured Quinn, who turned around and raised her eyebrow.