Page 36 of Sultry Nights

"You have beautiful hair, Hanna. Actually, everything you have is beautiful."

She smiled. Her cheeks heated slightly. Good thing the room was still a little dark. Nothing illuminated it but the moon shining in the window.

"You're beautiful yourself, Quinn."

He chuckled. "I've never been called beautiful."

"Well, now you have."

His hands smoothed down her back. "What were you thinking about?"

She swallowed and twisted slightly in the bed to face him. "I think I need to tell you what's been going on in my life. If we're, I mean, I don't want to assume, but we, well, you know," her hand moved back and forth between them. "I mean, are we in a relationship? I mean, I don't do one-night stands. Kind of late for me to tell you that now. But are we, I mean, I don't want to assume, but do we…"

He laughed. And it was beautiful and melodic. And she could have listened to his laugh all day.

"If you're worried about whether or not I only wanted you for a one-night stand, please put your mind to rest. I want so much more than one night with you, Hanna. As far as are we in a relationship? Do you want to be in a relationship with me?"

She stared into his dark eyes for a while. The realization that she could stare into them for a long time crept forward in her mind.

She licked her lips. "Yeah, I do."

His smile widened. "Good. I do, too."

She nodded her head. "Then I need to tell you about some things going on in my life. Because I think you need to protect yourself."

He leaned up on his elbows and looked at her. "Protect myself from who or what?"

She swallowed again, dread filling her chest as she knew that she had to talk about her ex. What an icky subject to have after such a beautiful moment they'd just shared.

"My ex is a, well, let me say this, he's a criminal. He does criminal things. The trouble is he's not really gotten caught. And, actually, I didn't even know he was a criminal until recently."

And then she told him about all the things that had been going on and all the things that Isaac had done over the years. She saw his face turn to stone, his jaw clenched, and she could tell he didn't like Isaac any more than she did right now.

And she thought that was saying a lot because she didn't like Isaac at all anymore.

"Hanna, I'm so sorry that you've had to deal with anything like that. No one, especially someone as beautiful as you, should have to do that. But I'm glad you told me. And don't worry, that fucker isn't going to hurt me in any way. Or my kids."

She nodded, swallowed that giant lump that had grown in her throat, inhaled deeply, and then let it out in a whoosh.

"If you… if this changes your mind in any way, I understand." She softly said.

He sat up, slid his hands under her arms, and pulled her tightly to him as he laid back down. She lay on top of him, staring down into his beautiful face. She would call him beautiful all the time. Because he was. He was so handsome. And right now, his understanding meant so much to her.

He smoothed the hair back from her face, holding it softly back.

He kissed her lips, softly at first. His tongue swept out and slid across her bottom lip. She opened her mouth, wanting his tongue inside of her mouth.

She loved the way he kissed. His lips were full and soft and sensual. They covered hers and they made her feel like he truly, truly wanted to kiss her. It almost brought her to tears to think about how many times she had wanted this in her life and had to wait till she was forty-five years old to get it. I guess life happened in its own good time.

After they'd kissed for a while, she lifted her head. She looked down into his eyes.

He grinned slightly. "Something that someone else has done to you isn't going to make me change my mind. It's not as if you've done that. You are not a criminal. You've done nothing wrong. He has. Your only fault, if anything, is caring too much and not wanting to give up soon enough. And that's admirable. And I'm sure there's many times that you'd wished that you'd given up a lot sooner. But you have to admit that somebody who’s willing to continually put themselves out there in the face of what you've had to endure over and over again says an awful lot about what kind of person you are. And that's a good quality person, Hanna. I'd never fault you for something someone else did. And anybody that would, isn't worth a salt."

She felt tears well up into her eyes and one dropped down onto Quinn's cheek before she could stop it.

His thumb swiped under her eyes softly to stop her tears from flowing.

"Please tell me that's the last tear you'll ever shed over that son of a bitch."

---