Burn (7 page)

Get a grip, lady
; I mutter to myself.

“OK, you can
look
now,” He says sarcastically. I turn and find myself almost
disappointed
that he’s actually wearing shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt; “Listen, you know Peyton will probably treat you better if you let her know you can stand up to her.”

“I didn’t come here to play power-games.” I sneer.

“Can I be honest?” He says with that infuriating grin on his face. I shoot him a look, and he rolls his eyes; “Fine, I’m gonna take that as a yes. You’re a pushover, Quinn.”

“I am
not
!” I huff at him, feeling the heat bloom up through my chest.

“Yes you are!” His eyes flash at me and his voice is booming, and I find myself taking a step back from him.

“
Fine
; whatever.”

He smirks at me; “See?”

My lip curls as I glare at him; “Did you just fucking
yell
at me to make a point?”

Logan nods his head at me; “Look, I’m just saying you should stick up for yourself more often; put up more of a fight.”

“You know what,
Logan?
” I sneer out; “Don’t think for one second that just because we- just because of
what happened
, that you know
anything
about me.”

“What, like that you were up for that team leader position at the hospital and you got pushed out by someone far less qualified than you?” I narrow my eyes at him and he grins; “Yeah, I heard that story.”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,
Logan
.”

“Ok, so she sucked his dick for the job; yeah, heard that story too. Look I’m just saying you should be more assertive.”

“What, like I should have blown him too?”

A dark look flashes across his face and his jaw tightens for a second; “Fuck no, I’m saying if you just stood up for yourself a bit more, that shit never would’ve happened to begin with.”

“Says the guy keeping secrets from his best friends and fighting in weird underground boxing matches?”

“Not everything is what it looks like on the outside, you know.”

I force out a harsh laugh; “That’s my Dad’s line, not yours.”

He rolls his eyes; “At some point, you
are
going to get bored of this whole ‘fuck you, Logan’ thing, right? I mean there’s no way it’s healthy to be this much of a bitch all the time, Quinn.”

I narrow my eyes at him, my fists clenching; “You want to see how healthy it is for
you
to call me a bitch again?”

Logan hoots; “Archer! Damn, looks like you
do
have a little fire in you, darlin.”

I huff my breath out and go to push past him, when he grabs me by the wrists and spins me around, and I gasp as I fall against his chest, my heart hammering in my veins. His smell and the heat of his body just
invade
my senses, as well as any sense of keeping my wall up as I find myself speechless and staring up into his eyes with my breath caught on my lips.

“A little fire suits you pretty well, you know.” He growls, his eyes flashing at me.

“You don’t know
what
suits me.” I whisper, swallowing heavily as I find myself unable to look away from those deep eyes of his.

“Well we’ve got that jet to D.C. tomorrow for the meeting,” He says quietly, his voice thick and low; “How about I show you
exactly
what would suit you at 30,000 feet?”

My breath hitches at the thought of Logan Dempsey “showing me exactly what would suit me”, and I’m suddenly slowly leaning forward into him.

“What do you say, darlin,” He winks; “Think we should join the mile high club?”

And just like that, the spell shatters, and I realize it’s not some dream guy I’m inches away from kissing right here in his office.

It’s Logan fucking Dempsey; the polar
opposite
of my dream guy.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

But I’m shoving the voice in my head aside and then pushing away from Logan; my wide, doe-eyed stare turning to a scowl as I realize I close I came to just making the mistake all over again.

“Looks like some things are
exactly
what they look like on the outside,
Logan
.” I hiss, yanking my hand away from him. I turn sharply on my heel and storm away before he can even open his mouth.

In a perfect world, it’d just be me and Quinn sitting on this plane tonight. Ok, in a
perfect
world we’d be doing a whole lot more than
sitting
, but I digress. In any case, a perfect world this is not, so instead I’m also stuck on my jet with two guys from our finance team and Peyton.

Quinn’s turned away from me and looking out the window, and as I catch myself staring at her, I also find myself weighing out the risks of what’s going on here. Whatever the nature of our, well,
whatever
this little train wreck of two people is, her even being around me is dangerous; because of the fights, because of my past, and because of
who I am
. I’m like a fuckin magnate for violence, and it should go without saying that being around Quinn isn’t a good idea.

Of course, neither is
sleeping
with her, for that matter.

She clears her throat across the cabin from me, and I suddenly focus and realize I’ve just been staring at her and she’s busted me for it. There’s a hint of a grin on her face, as if she’s amused that she’s caught me like that, but then she rolls her eyes and looks away. Peyton is talking to me about God knows what, and I frown as I realize her hand is on my arm just about the same time Quinn catches the gesture and scowls at it. I excuse myself as politely as I can, leaving Quinn, Peyton, and the finance guys to continue going over some of the finer points of the contract.

As amusing as it is seeing Quinn Archer get all jealous and angsty - and it
really
it - I need to clear my head, and it's tough going while cooped on a plane with her.

*****

I step out of the bathroom in the back of the jet
directly
into Quinn. I freeze at the contact, feeling her body pressed against mine in the tight confines of the galley space by the back of the plane, and I can see her eyes go wide and her face go flushed as her breath catches in her throat.

She clears her throat; “Let me get by.”

“Relax, I’m trying.” But I’m not; at least, not that hard. I’m enjoying being this close to her too much, and I’m definitely enjoying the way I can see her pupils get wider and the way that adorable pink flushes across her cheeks.

Her mouth is half open, and she closes it with a snap as her eyes narrow at me; “Your little
games
aren’t cute, Logan.”

“What games?” I say as innocently as possible, trying and failing to hold back the grin on my face.

“Trying to
rile me up
;
those
games.” She hisses, her eyes darting toward the front of the plane where the others are sitting with their backs to us, as if she’s worried how this might look with us being pressed together in the tight confines of the hallway.

“Listen, cute stuff, if I wanted to rile you up, you’d know it.”

She
almost
smiles as she rolls her eyes; “Oh
please.
”

“Is that a request?” I shrug; “OK.”

She gasps as I push her hard against the door to the galley kitchen behind her, letting my body press flat against her curves. I’m calling her bluff; daring her to back down here, and I think she knows it even if she won’t play the game back. Her eyes flare with a fire in them and her chest hitches with her breath. Just that simple sound of her quiet gasp suddenly has me rock-hard in my pants, and that I
know
she knows about.

She shakes her head slowly; “I’m not falling for this kind of bullshit, Logan. Your little games aren’t working.”

I smirk as I let my eyes drop to the front of her shirt, seeing the telling outlines of her hard nipples poking beneath the fabric there; “Oh aren't they?”

She blushes bright red; “I’m not falling for that again.” She says quietly.

“Falling for what?” I growl lowly, leaning into her.

“That charm.”

“Oh so you
do
think I’m charming.”

I’m leaning even closer when she lets her breath out and rolls her eyes again, like the moment just faltered; “I think you’re delusional, and I told you, that isn't happening again.”

I move back from her; “Who said I want it to? You’re the one getting all hot and bothered around me.”

Her eyes blaze and she opens her mouth as if she’s about to scream at me before she snaps those pouty lips shut and turns her head to look away. And I want to kiss her so fucking badly in that moment; kiss her and so much more. I want to take her right here in the back of my plane, the pilot, and the finance guys, and Peyton up front be damned.

But I don’t, obviously. And then the moment passes as soon as we hear one of the pilots come over the intercom about our decent into Dulles.
 

“Logan, let me go.” I look back at Quinn, looking at me with those big eyes. and all I can think about is the way she looked that night, when she took me in and took care of me. It’s lust I feel, immediately at least, but fuck it’s something else too. It’s the way she took in a stranger who looked like I did and made me whole.

I shake my head to clear it. Fuck, what am I doing? This is
William's daughter
for fuck’s sake; this is
the
definition of off-limits.
 

And then the moment is gone entirely as she pushes me back and slips away from me back towards the others.