Page 8 of Steamy Diamond
The only picture she missed was the one of him. Now that picture was one she wished he would return to her. A Nick and Ella picture? Meh. But Quinn on her bed with those pants unzipped? She missed that photo.
Her eyes briefly fell to his belt buckle before she quickly composed herself, her eyes snapping back up to his. They were the same piercing blue that she remembered, and he had one of his eyebrows up, waiting for her answer to his question.
"I guess I didn't really want these photos," she said. "I mean, I appreciate you bringing them back, but it's just pictures of me and my ex. You probably don't want to remember Jaclyn, and I don't really want to remember him."
Quinn gave her a devilish grin, like he had a secret that he desperately wanted to tell her. He walked towards Ella, stopping so close that her hand was almost brushing the darkgreen t-shirt he was wearing that matched the color of the pinstripes on his pants.
He slowly reached over and pulled the envelope out of her hands.
"These aren't just pictures of you and your ex." He pulled the photos out and put the envelope down on her kitchen table. "I mean, there's this one and this one."
He dropped two Polaroids down on the table as if he barely wanted to touch them, like they were garbage he wanted to burn.
"But then there's this one."
He held up the picture of her skinny dipping in Virginia. It was one of her favorite pictures anyone had taken of her. The sun setting behind her, the water barely covering her breasts, her hair wet and slicked back as she stared into the camera. She was free and felt wanted in that moment.
"Who took that photo, Ella?"
She gave Quinn a small sad smile. "My ex-boyfriend," she said softly. "I forgot I left it in there."
Quinn gave her a mischievous grin. "Oh, I didn't forget."
He took a step closer, his eyes still on her. This wasn't quite the same Quinn she met two weeks ago. Had her photo changed him? His eyes were wanting, his lips slightly parted. He was looking at her with that gaze from his photo that she couldn't get out of her mind.
"I found it in the box the night I met you and haven't stopped thinking about it since then. I hope you don't mind."
Thinking about it how? Ella didn't really need an answer. The way he was looking at her told her everything. But the idea that he had been using her photo the way she had used his sent a shiver up her spine. She could feel her pulse speed up and her chest tighten as she tried to take a deep breath to control herself.
"I don't mind."
"Good," he said with a deliciously sexy smile. "Because that would be hypocritical, wouldn't it?"
"How?"
There was one more photo in his hand that he held up for her to see.Thephoto.Hisphoto.
Ella couldn't hold back her small gasp seeing it again in person. She remembered that photo and how it made her feel when she first found it. It still had the same impact on her and it was amazing.
"Jaclyn grabbed my phone one night and took that photo for fun. Foreplay if you will." He shrugged. "I made a print of it for her, thinking it would be something she would like to have around. For inspiration maybe."
Quinn gave Ella a grin that made it very clear that he knew what she had done with his photo. He gently slid it in her hand on top of the other photo she was holding and she couldn't help but notice her hand shaking slightly.
"Can you believe that Jaclyn didn't like it?"
Ella instinctively shook her head, her mouth too dry to actually say anything.
"I can't believe it either," he said mischievously. "But Jaclyn said that she was playing around when she took it, and I watched her drop it in her box so no one would see it."
He sounded a little bitter about that part, and Ella couldn't blame him. It was a damn good photo of him and one that should have been enjoyed by a woman -- at least Ella certainly enjoyed it.
He took another step closer, his t-shirt so close that she could easily put her palm against him if she wanted to. "I was quite surprised when I opened that box and saw this photo sitting there. I thought Jaclyn buried it on the bottom underticket stubs and keychains. So I had to wonder how it ended up right on top."
He took a breath, a deep one, trying to steady himself. Ella could tell she wasn't the only one who was getting turned on by this conversation. Quinn was trying to control himself, but he wasn't fooling her. It wouldn't take much -- one moment, one movement -- for them to set this whole place on fire.
"Ella." His voice was desperate and pleading now. "Tell me how that photo got to the top of the pile."
She couldn't stop the teasing smile that was pulling at her lips. "I put it there."
