Fireline Read online

  Daniel stopped, looking from the empty spot beside Ellie to the one beside Quinn. He was obviously deciding which spot was less awkward. Or maybe he was choosing sides? He seemed confused, Ellie taking the moment to smile.

  ‘There’s a spot here, Daniel,’ she said.

  I took the opportunity to stand. ‘Actually, take my seat. I’m sure you want to be closer to your father.’

  ‘No, no,’ Daniel said, shaking his head. ‘It’s fine, I’ll just... take the seat by Quinlan.’

  I sat back down, smiling to Mister Brody. Two points for Team Quinn!

  Taking the spot beside Quinn, he nodded. ‘Quinlan.’

  ‘Brody,’ Quinn replied, nodding.

  ‘So, what did I miss?’ Daniel asked as a plate was put before him.

  ‘We were just speaking of Quinlan’s vacation away from the desk,’ Donald said.

  ‘Oh,’ Daniel said. ‘I thought you didn’t like to talk about work, Dad?’

  ‘It was my fault,’ Mister Brody said. ‘I started it by asking.’

  ‘Change of subject, then?’ Daniel asked.

  Mister Brody nodded. ‘Any you have in mind?’

  Daniel took a moment before looking to me. ‘Miss Fournier, how are you this evening?’

  ‘I’m very well, thank you. And yourself?’

  ‘I’m OK,’ he said.

  I looked to Ellie, who wasn’t impressed, either because Daniel had chosen to sit beside Quinn or because it seemed that Daniel was ignoring her.

  It went a little quiet, awkwardly so. Everyone picked at their plates, save for Quinn, who sat silently.

  ‘So,’ I said, ‘Mister Brody, where’s your wife this evening?’

  ‘Bridge night with the girls,’ he said with a smile.

  ‘I’m starting to think she’s some kind of ghost: I have yet to meet her,’ I said.

  ‘Yes, Mrs. Brody isn’t too fond of these little get-togethers, but I’m sure you’ll meet her at Quinlan’s family’s ball at the end of the month,’ he said.

  ‘Oh, you’re going to be there?’ I asked.

  ‘And Junior,’ he said. ‘We received our invitations about three weeks ago.’

  ‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Have you been to their ball before?’

  He shook his head. ‘No, this will be a first.’

  ‘Me too,’ I said.

  ‘But there will be many more,’ Mister Brody said. ‘Right, Quinlan?’

  ‘Many, many more,’ Quinn said, giving a glance to Ellie.

  Mister Brody leaned into me. ‘I hope you’re ready to cheat a little tonight.’

  My eyes widened. ‘I’m sorry?’

  ‘We’re having chocolate cake for dessert,’ he said with a mischievous grin.

  I laughed. ‘Oh. I would normally decline, but I’ve been going to the gym lately so I can work it off.’

  ‘Good!’ he said, sitting back. ‘Wonderful. We shall all enjoy it, then.’

  ‘You don’t eat cake?’ Ellie asked.

  ‘I don’t eat bread,’ I said.

  ‘None,’ she said, ‘none at all?’

  I shook my head. ‘None at all. For about five years now.’

  ‘Wow,’ Daniel said. ‘You’ve got willpower.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘It’s actually really hard, but I’d rather be skinny than fat again.’

  ‘Again?’ Ellie asked, trying not to laugh. ‘You used to be fat. How does that not surprise me?’

  I wanted to spit at her. ‘Yes, I used to have a weight problem.’

  ‘You were still beautiful,’ Quinn said.

  ‘I thought you’d only known Miss Fournier since January?’ Mister Brody asked.

  ‘I have; I saw pictures when I visited her family home,’ he said.

  ‘You went to her family’s home?’ Ellie asked, surprised and a little... jealous.

  Quinn nodded. ‘Her family had a barbeque; I met her brothers and their families.’

  ‘Ah,’ Mister Brody said. ‘You have siblings.’

  ‘I do, terrible creatures,’ I said playfully.

  ‘I agree,’ Mister Brody said with a wink.

  The servers came in a few moments later with the chocolate cake, which was just as orgasmic as the piece I’d had at Mister Brody’s last dinner party. I enjoyed every mouthful of it, but knew it was going to be a little fling as I was going to have to work it off when I had Dani over to work out on Tuesday.

  We moved our party to the salon, which was as big as the dining room. The floors were polished wood, the walls covered with a silver wallpaper, a few taxidermy animals here and there.

  We all scattered about the room; Quinn and I standing by the fireplace, Donald, Ellie, Mister Brody, and Daniel convening around the sofa.

  ‘This is going well,’ I said.

  He smirked. ‘It could be worse.’

  ‘I guess that’s true,’ I said, stopping as Ellie walked up to us.

  ‘Can I steal Quinlan away for a moment? Private matter,’ she said.

  Quinn wasn’t too pleased, but nodded. ‘All right. I’ll be back,’ he said, kissing me on the cheek.

  I watched as they walked off, Daniel approaching.

  ‘Hey,’ he said.

  ‘Hey,’ I replied, smiling. ‘Great party, huh?’

  He laughed a little. ‘Yeah, great. How is Quinlan?’

  My brow furrowed. ‘How would he be?’

  ‘I mean, after leaving for so long, how is he doing?’ he asked.

  I nodded. ‘All right. It’s taking him a bit to catch up on work, which frustrates him, but otherwise he’s all right. Why?’

  ‘I heard some things,’ he said, lowering his voice. ‘Word is going around that he went to rehab.’

  My eyes widened. ‘What?’

  ‘It’s making the rounds of the rumour mill. It’s not true, is it?’

  I thought about it, probably for too long. ‘No, of course not.’

  ‘We know about his previous stint in rehab,’ he said. ‘It’d be understandable if he needed time to deal with it again.’

  ‘Understandable? What does that mean?’

  ‘Well, he’s...’ he stopped, looking to me. ‘It sounds bad, but he’s a little more human since being with you. It’s understandable that he would slip a little. He is human, after all.’

  I blinked a few times, shaking my head. ‘He didn’t go to rehab.’

  ‘OK,’ he said, nodding.

  ‘Why are you suddenly being nice to him?’ I asked. ‘Because you think he’s fragile or something?’

  ‘Well, honestly, yeah. I’ve been a jerk to him these past few months,’ he said. ‘I’d hate to have contributed to his leave of absence.’

  ‘You didn’t,’ I said. ‘And he’s not fragile. You can go back to slinging insults and being a jerk to him.’

  He glanced over to his father, who was talking with Donald. ‘What do you know about Vandermeer?’

  ‘Just that he’s a jerk,’ I said. ‘And he’s putting a bid in with your father.’

  He nodded. ‘I thought so.’

  ‘You didn’t know?’ I asked.

  He shook his head. ‘My father has been leaving me out of the loop since the gala.’

  ‘Ah, punishment for being an ass?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I provoked Quinlan, so it was my fault for making a scene.’

  ‘You know he didn’t beat his ex, right?’ I asked, remembering that was his comment at the gala. ‘She was addicted to drugs.’

  He stared at me for a moment. ‘He hasn’t hurt you, has he?’

  ‘Never. He would never,’ I said. ‘You don’t know Quinn like I do. You don’t know the man behind the suit. I’m not saying he’s entirely different when we’re alone, but he’s not the same hardened business man when it comes to being with his girlfriend.’

  ‘I know,’ he said. ‘I just worry, that’s all.’

  I smiled. ‘Worried about me? I didn’t know you cared.’

  ‘No woman should be beaten,’ he said. ‘I guess I
should apologize for jumping to that conclusion when I saw the cut on your head. I heard about your car accident.’

  ‘See? Told you,’ I said.

  Quinn walked over, putting his hand on my back. ‘I hope I’m not interrupting.’

  Daniel shook his head. ‘No, I was just giving my father a few minutes with Mister Vandermeer. I see he’s no longer indisposed, so excuse me.’

  He walked off. ‘What was that about?’ Quinn asked.

  ‘I ask you the same,’ I said, glancing towards Ellie. ‘I thought you’d had enough of her.’

  ‘I have,’ he said, ‘but she apologized and I’m keen on remaining civil.’

  ‘I see,’ I said, frowning. ‘It’s going around that you were in rehab.’

  He nodded. ‘I know.’

  ‘What do we do about it?’

  ‘Did Daniel ask?’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said.

  ‘What did you tell him?’ he asked.

  ‘I said you didn’t.’

  ‘Good,’ he said, ‘that’s what we’ll stick to.’

  ‘So where do we say you were? Or are we keeping it private?’

  ‘Keeping it private. That way we don’t need to remember a detailed lie,’ he said, looking towards Mister Brody and Donald.

  ‘Are you worried he’ll take Donald’s offer?’ I asked.

  ‘I’m unsure. I don’t know if he will, if Mister Brody will give up months of talks to start more months of talks for a new deal. He liked my most recent contract, so I guess it’s up in the air.’

  ‘Hmm,’ I said. ‘Want to get out of here?’

  ‘You want to?’ he asked.

  I nodded. ‘Yeah, these heels are killing me.’

  ‘All right,’ he said, taking my hand in his, leading us to Mister Brody. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt but Stephanie has a headache, so we’re going to head out.’

  ‘Aw, too bad,’ Ellie said, walking up behind Donald.

  ‘All that chocolate,’ I said to Mister Brody, who laughed.

  ‘All right, then. Quinlan, see you Monday,’ he said, shaking Quinn’s hand.

  ‘Yes sir,’ Quinn replied, turning to Donald and nodding. ‘Donald. Ellie.’

  I smiled, following Quinn as we left.

  He slid into the driver’s seat, starting up the car. ‘That wasn’t so bad.’

  I shook my head. ‘It wasn’t. I thought Donald was going to try something worse. Do you think Ellie told him about you going to rehab?’

  He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. It’s possible.’

  ‘She’s now found a new partner in crime,’ I said, sighing. ‘I don’t like that they’re hanging out now.’

  ‘Her and Donald?’ he asked.

  I nodded. ‘Yeah. Aren’t you a little suspicious?’

  ‘Not really, I know they’re talking,’ he said. ‘I know what they’re probably talking about.’

  ‘It doesn’t bother you?’

  He shook his head. ‘Not really. Donald can say what he wants; I can always deny it.’

  ‘I guess,’ I said, unsure. ‘I don’t like him.’

  He smirked. ‘Of course you don’t.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Donald is my rival,’ he said, ‘and you’re not on that team.’

  I didn’t even need to think about it. How many points did he have? More than Donald, that’s for sure.

  We arrived home close to ten. I put my clutch on the bar, taking out my cell phone and checking my messages. I secretly hoped that Anita had left a message canceling our lunch, but it was just the usual from Dani and Michelle, and a few e-mails.

  Quinn walked up behind me, putting his arms around my waist. ‘How about we get you out of that dress?’

  I smiled, putting the phone down before I turned to him. ‘How about we get you out of that suit?’

  ‘I’m for it,’ he said, his hands moving to my butt.

  ‘You’re probably pretty pleased with yourself, taking Donald head on,’ I said, running my hands up his chest.

  ‘I am,’ he said.

  ‘Then we should celebrate your victory,’ I said, grabbing hold of his tie and kissing him.

  He pulled away. ‘Bedroom?’

  I nodded. ‘Yeah,’ I said breathlessly. ‘Wait.’ I bent down, taking off my heels, instantly dwarfing in size. ‘OK.’

  He leaned down to me, kissing me as we began to back up towards the bedroom. We had to stop a few times, Quinn pushing me against the wall before we continued on to the bedroom.

  He unzipped my dress so I could shimmy my way out, letting it drop to the floor. I then took off my panties and bra, his hands all over me the minute he saw bare skin.

  I sat down on the end of the bed, undoing his pants, pulling his briefs down and exposing his hard on, which was pretty much ready to go; I wasn’t going to do too much work to get him warmed up.

  I grabbed hold of him, doing my signature lick from the base to the tip, which always made him shudder. I loved the feeling of his muscles tensing, so I didn’t hesitate putting him in my mouth, swirling my tongue around the head.

  At this point, I was already throbbing, making me painfully aware how much I wanted him.

  ‘Are you ready?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said, nodding eagerly.

  I let go of him, letting him step out of his pants and briefs. I was about to scoot back on the bed, but he stopped me.

  ‘I want to try something,’ he said.

  ‘Ooh, something new,’ I said, waiting for his instructions.

  ‘Lie back,’ he said, giving himself a few strokes to keep him exceptionally hard. ‘Put your legs up, put them on my shoulder.’

  I did as he asked, raising my legs up. He leaned over me; my legs resting on his shoulders as he entered me, instantly feeling deep and full. He stayed standing, pushing my legs to my chest, his arms on either side of me and starting to thrust.

  ‘Oh God,’ I gasped.

  ‘Good?’ he asked.

  I nodded. ‘Oh yeah.’

  He kept going at a slow pace, then suddenly pushed all the way in, making me moan loudly. He sped up, our bodies slapping together.

  ‘Shit,’ he said breathlessly. ‘I’m going to come; we should switch.’

  ‘Doggy?’ I asked.

  He nodded, pulling out of me. I turned over, getting on my hands and knees. I grabbed one of the pillows, leaning down so my butt was high in the air.

  ‘Jesus, you have no idea how sexy this view is,’ he said.

  ‘I doubt I’d find my own butt sexy,’ I said with a laugh.

  ‘You would,’ he said.

  He lined himself up, pushing into me. He repeated what he had done before, slowly pushing all the way in.

  He then picked up the pace, throwing in that one move every so often because he knew how much I liked it. I was surprised he remembered, but it must have felt good to him as well.

  ‘Are you close?’ he asked.

  I nodded into the pillow. ‘Yeah.’

  He sped up, really going hard, making my whole body ache with pleasure. I felt the build-up come on strong; it only took a few quick thrusts from Quinn for it to peak, my head jerking as my body tensed up.

  Quinn was going so fast I couldn’t keep up, another orgasm building quickly before the first could even ebb away, but he let out a loud grunt as his own body jerked, going slow as he came.

  He pulled out, collapsing on the bed.

  ‘I say that was a successful victory lap,’ he said.

  I laughed. ‘Very successful. I almost came twice in a row.’

  ‘Damn,’ he said, ‘I should have held on longer.’

  ‘I probably would have passed out,’ I said, throwing the pillow under my head and cuddling into it. ‘Now to sleep.’

  ‘You have a big day tomorrow,’ he said.

  I closed my eyes sleepily. ‘Yeah. Too bad you can’t come with me.’

  ‘Maybe next time,’ he said.

  ‘Yeah,’ I said, feeling his hand on my hip as he pulled me
towards him. I ditched the pillow, snuggling up into him and falling asleep.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Joseph’s is a nice place. Anita would be dressed nice. I had to look good.

  I knew a cocktail dress was too much, but jeans weren’t enough. I decided to wear the same dress that I had worn to Mister Brody’s the night before since it wasn’t too dressy, but still a little formal. It was a happy medium.

  Quinn had dropped me off at ten to one, giving me enough time to sit at the front of the restaurant and wait. I ran my hand through my ponytail nervously, knowing this was going to be my first time alone with the woman.

  It was five after one when Anita finally arrived, wearing all black; a simple cocktail dress that was probably too formal for the occasion. I wasn’t going to say anything.

  ‘Mrs. Quinlan,’ I said with a smile as she approached me.

  ‘Miss Fournier,’ she replied, giving a nod. She wasn’t smiling, but she wasn’t looking entirely too put off either. Point for Stephanie?

  The hostess led us to our two-seater on the raised level. She then put down our menus and offered to take our drink orders.

  ‘Chardonnay,’ Anita said.

  The hostess looked to me.

  ‘Water is fine,’ I said.

  The hostess smiled and walked off. She left us alone; the silence instantly becoming awkward.

  I cleared my throat. ‘So, uh, how is your husband?’

  ‘He’s fine,’ she said.

  ‘And yourself? How are you today?’ I asked.

  ‘Fine,’ she replied.

  I pursed my lips. ‘OK, uh, so I wanted to apologize. I think we got off on the wrong foot and –’

  I stopped, seeing her take something out of her purse. She put it on the table and pushed it towards me. I picked up the envelope, looking inside and seeing a check – for $1.5 million dollars.

  ‘What the hell is this?’ I asked, putting the envelope back on the table.

  ‘Not enough?’ she asked, seriously. ‘What will it take?’

  ‘For what?’ I asked, disgusted.

  ‘For you to leave Robert,’ she said. ‘I could easily bump up the number.’

  ‘I don’t want your money,’ I said. ‘I’m not leaving Quinn.’

  ‘Of course not, more money when you’re with him,’ she said under her breath, putting the check in her purse.

  ‘Excuse me?’ I asked. ‘Look, I haven’t done anything wrong. Is it so crazy that your nephew wants to be with me because I make him happy?’