Page 47 of A Convenient Ring to Claim Her

“Yasmine thought that was a lot to put on both of you.” Quinn’s voice was rueful. She knew exactly where Eden’s best qualities tipped toward impossible to live up to. She touched his sleeve. “It’s completely up to you, but I have to wonder if the prospect of meeting her will hang over both your heads until it’s done. I could go with you,” she offered gently.

“To Paris?”

“Or somewhere else. What’s halfway between Vienna and—Oh. Switzerland.” She lifted her brows in discovery. “The great bastion of neutrality.”

He twisted his mouth, but he didn’t hate the idea. At least it would give him something different to brood about that wasn’t Quinn.

“Yes.” Even as he nodded, his mind skipped ahead to all the arrangements he’d been contemplating where Yasmine was concerned. “Set it up.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

QUINNFEAREDSHEwas prodding Micah onto a plank of some kind.

He became very remote as she and Yasmine took a few days to firm things up. He left for meetings and accepted calls at odd hours and, even though they continued to sleep together, he came to bed late and rose before she woke. He asked about her museum research a couple of times, but she could tell he was only half listening.

Desperate to reach him in some small way, she joined him in the shower the morning they were heading to Zurich. She was allowed to remove her sling for bathing now and had begun some rehabilitation exercises, mostly to ensure the rest of her arm didn’t atrophy while her shoulder finished healing.

His whole body went tense as he raked his gaze down her naked form, but he waited until she touched him, pressing her cool body up against his hot, wet one. Then he fell on her like a starving wolf, consuming her lips and pressing her to the tiled wall before he dropped to his knees and pleasured her with his mouth.

She was still weak and dazed from a powerful climax when she realized he was using his fist to take care of his own orgasm, groaning into the spray as he did so.

“Micah.” She tried to catch at his shoulder.

“Thank you for that, but—” He cupped her cheek and pressed one hard, wet kiss across her mouth. His eyes didn’t meet hers. He looked to be in pain of some sort, but he only said, “We should get on the road. Traffic might be heavy this morning.”

With a huff of disbelief, she finished showering alone.

Doubts were firmly entrenched in her by the time they landed in Zurich. Yasmine had suggested a picturesque village not far from the city. It only had cable cars, no real ones. One would carry them up the mountain to a restaurant built into the cliffs.

It had sounded like a pleasant setting that would give them something to talk about so they wouldn’t feel pressured to dig through difficult emotions, but Micah had become the most aloof, impossible-to-read version of himself.

Quinn feared Yasmine would take that as dislike or rebuff. Her own palms were sweating, but as the cable car gently swayed on its way up the mountainside, she reached to hold his hand.

For a moment, he didn’t react to her touch on the back of his. Then he turned his head to ask distantly, “Why did you come?”

“What do you mean? I said I would.”

“But why? To see Yasmine?”

A small sob of helplessness left her. “Why did you come to the hospital even though we’d had a huge fight?”

He grumbled out a noise, but his hand turned to grasp hers. He didn’t let go as they took the short walk from the cable car terminus to the restaurant.

Yasmine was seated under a big red patio umbrella on the terrace. She waved and stood, smiling nervously. Her outfit was vaguely safari inspired, but turquoise with bright yellow palm fronds painted across the fabric. Her makeup was toned down from her usual, but still shimmery and colorful.

“This place is amazing,” Quinn said as they briefly embraced. “I’m so glad you recommended it.”

“I didn’t know how to dress. Am I going for lunch? Are we hiking?” Yasmine turned her heavy boot, then thrust out her hand to Micah. It was visibly trembling. Her dark brown eyes were wary, yet seeking. “Hi. I’m Yasmine.”

Quinn held her breath.

“Micah.” He took her hand and shook it. Gently. His voice wasn’t quite steady and some of his frost melted away so fast, he seemed to flinch at the sting. “It’s good to meet you.”

In that moment, Quinn knew she was in love with him. Completely, utterly, “tumble all the way to the bottom of the valley” in love.

Micah couldn’t have done this without Quinn here.

She made Yasmine laugh and kept the conversation moving. Occasionally, Yasmine asked him a direct question, mostly innocuous things about travel and whether his company did this or that. Twice she uncannily did exactly as he did, once by ordering the same sandwich without cheese—sacrilege in this corner of the world, but like him, she didn’t care for it. Then, after lunch, she chose the same hiking trail he preferred.

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