Page 175 of Beautiful Liar

I shake my head. “Was in a hurry to get to the airport.”

He lifts one brow. I step out of my panties and rinse the transferred suds off my body. When I’m done he follows me out. The towel I intend to pass him stays clutched in my fist as I look him over. His body is still drop-jaw magnificent, but it’s suffered changes.

He catches me watching him, and a twinge of emotion passes over his face. “I couldn’t…didn’t want to live. Not without…” Wary eyes meet mine. “Elyse…”

“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to take the pills. You’re going to eat. You’re going to get better. Then we’ll talk. No guarantees, but I agree to talk. Do you want that?”

His nostrils quiver as he takes in a huge breath. “More than I want my next heartbeat.”

My lips purse. My eyes drop to his elbow, the almost invisible scars I noticed when I washed him. “Wanting your next heartbeat is kinda required for the talking, so maybe let’s not take that off the table just yet?”

He frowns for a sec. “Okay.”

“What does that mean, okay?”

His eyes sizzle where they’re riveted on my chest. “It means let’s get the fuck out of this bathroom and get some clothes on before this hard-on kills me.”

My eyes drop to the killer erection he’s sporting and shocked laughter bursts out of me.

Okay, so Alpha Quinn isn’t quite down and out.

I hand him the towel. His movements are a little slow, but he dries himself off just fine. He takes the pills I pass him and we head to his dressing room. He pulls on shorts and hands me one of his T-shirts.

We fall back into our bed arrangement, and he’s asleep in minutes. I take the time he’s sleeping to check messages and call Vancouver to let them know I’ve arrived safely and might be staying for longer than the planned twenty-four hours. In the kitchen, I find boxed up ready meals in the fridge that I missed before in my agitation. I heat up pasta and sauce, grate Parmesan over it and set out the meal on a tray.

Quinn is up, staring at the screen when I return to the bedroom. He turns it off when I walk in, but his gaze searches mine.

“What?” I ask as I set the tray on his lap.

He nods to the TV. “You saw what I was watching.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you mad?” he asks warily.

“That depends.”

“On?”

“Why were you watching it?”

He catches hold of my wrist and rubs his thumb across my pulse. “I want to see you. All the time,” he whispers fervidly. “You probably want me to get rid of it, but I…can’t.”

I swallow, allowing just a little hope to build. “Why?”

“Because it helps…it keeps me…here. Because without that connection, I don’t think I can go on. I need it, Elyse. I need you.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“That’s all I have right now, Quinn.”

A wave of pain breaks across his face, and the eyes that meet mine are oceans of desolation. “Don’t ask me to destroy them. Please.”

I shake my head. “You can keep them.”

“I can?” His voice is rough with hope.

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