Page 56 of As You Crave It

Quin nodded. “Yeah. And when he saw us together there, he probably figured on this ruse,” he waved at the paused video, “to separate us. He said that if I don’t provide him with rum for a low price, he would release it. I tried to call his bluff, told him to release it, but you know would never let him do that.”

“You’re actually going to make a deal with him?”

“I’m going to. I won’t let him expose you like that.”

“You can’t do it.”

“I have to. No matter what you think about us or this relationship, I need to protect you. I should have been protecting you all along in this quest to take down Jared Foster. I should have done it on my own.”

“I wouldn’t let you. This is my fight. I’m doing it for all the women he’s hurt.” She shook her head. “Quin, I’m sorry it ended this way.”

“What about us?” he asked.

“I still want to be your friend. But I don’t know how possible that will be. I know we’ve said that before, but I can’t be in a relationship with you. You have so much power to hurt me. And I don’t want to hurt you, either. I don’t know how we can go on in a relationship. There’s no way. Maybe it’ll be best if we don’t see each other anymore. Especially seeing as how we can’t stay away from each other.”

Quin nodded. He wondered if she felt as crushed as he did. “If that’s what you want.”

“It’s not what I want. But what I need.”

“I don’t know if I can just be your friend. But I want to help you ruin Jared. Once that’s done, we can part ways.”

Hearing the words, Celia knew he was right, but she didn’t want to think about a future without Quin at all. No matter how much it hurt, she nodded. “That would be smart.”

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