Page 44 of Quinlan

“Okay, then.” Wayne plasters his most customer-friendly smile on and pats my shoulder. He raises his eyebrows a tiny bit, relaying a secret message. If the scary man behind me is bothering me, I’m not alone. “Have a seat. Rex took a call in the kitchen. He’ll be right out. I’m sure he’ll be pleased to see you.”

Yeah, he’ll be pleased, all right. Pleased to punch Rome in the throat for touching me.

“Thanks.” My lips are sealed as I smile back at him.

He moves to serve one of the last customers as Rome, gentle yet determined, leads me to an empty table. In the center of the café.

“Thank you,” I say when he pulls out a chair for me.

Nervous. That’s how I should feel, over the moment Rex will come out here.

The butterflies, though. They won’t let me go. Won’t stop me from staring at Rome while he lowers himself to the seat at my side.

He’s sitting in the cheap chair in Maeve’s, but nothing about Rome seems cheap. He’s regal. Filling the old, worn-out chair with his presence.

The warm lights bathe us in a soft orange glow. Not us, not really. Rome isn’t soft. He’s as hardened as he’s been for thelast fifteen minutes, except for that one second he looked at my tattoo.

“Do you take your coffee black? No cream, no sugar?”

He snaps me out of my lust haze. My heart slows and I’m cold all over, hugging my middle. “How did you know?”

“Lucky guess.” Rome raises two fingers, calling Wayne over.

This dread, this skepticism…I hate them.

I push them aside. He sees me, and it’s fucking nice. I won’t shame myself for it.

“I can go to the bar and order our drinks. What can I get you?”

“You’re not going anywhere.” He motions for Wayne again. “I’ll order. I’m paying. You’re staying here right where I can see you. Right where I can listen to you talk.”

I could’ve run a hundred miles and not be as red in the face as I am now. “I thought you wanted coffee.”

Dark blue eyes flit to mine. “I said I wanted you here too, didn’t I?”

The world closes in around me. He’s too much. The two other men I’ve bumped into were just as consuming.

Just as invasive.

The last of my self-preservation comes to my rescue. “Why me?”

“I’ll be honest, Quinlan.”

“Please do?”

“I could sit here and tell you half-truths. Say I’m interested because you’re a beautiful woman.” His confidence is glaring. He’s being blunt, and he doesn’t give a fuck. “Because you were warm and sweet in my arms. Because I like the way your name tastes on my tongue.”

His tongue. He runs it over the top row of his teeth, as if he’s making a point. Seducing me further into his depths.

It’s working. My thighs clench under the table. I’m biting the inside of my cheek to silence my heaving breaths.

“It wouldn’t be the whole truth,” he clips. “I want you to tell me everything about you because I. Fucking. Want. To. That’s it. And you’re going to give it to me. Also because I fucking want to.”

“Quinlan, your regula—” Wayne starts.

“Coffee. Two. Black.” Rome talks over him while his attention remains on me. “Thank you, Wayne.”

In my periphery, I can tell Wayne scurries away. This isn’t like him, to be so jittery. Then again, it’s not often that you have a hurricane for a customer.

---