Loving Quinn Novel by North Rose

(Quinn)

My heart feels like it is stuck in my throat after I ask her to marry me. There are tears in her eyes. However, I am seeing hesitation, something that I didn’t expect to see. I expected all kinds of ensations come from her, but I didn’t this

It really is too soon for this.

Realizing that this was a mistake, I stand up off the ground and close the velvet box. Her hand reaches out quick as a snake to grasp my arm as I start to turn around. When I turn my face back to her, there a frown on her face.

“I was too soon. I am sorry.

“Stop.”

I close my mouth and just observe her face as she gathers her thoughts,

“Yes, I will marry you, Quinn.”

Confusion goes through me. This wasn’t how I thought this to go. I imagined this in my head differently. This was a spur-of-the-moment proposal, but I never considered she would hesitate to say yes like she just did.

Now she is saying yes.

“I am sorry. I got swept up in the moment after we talked about having a baby. Just pretend this didn’t happen and I will ask again when it feels right.”

This time, I walk away from her and into the bedroom. I move straight to my closet to place the ring back the safe. When I hear her call my name as she enters the room, I turn to glance at her, the velvet bas still in my grip.

“Quinn, what are you doing?”

“You are not ready for this,”

“Stop and listen to me.”

“Your hesitation speaks volumes, Annie.”

She crosses the room quickly. Those hazel eyes of hers blazing fire as she stops in front of me. I can feel her anger like a living thing whirling around me. I am not sure why she is mad at me. It was her hesitation that told me all I needed to know.

“Will you just listen to me?”

With a sigh, I brush past her, then walk to the bed. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, I glance up at her and gesture with my hand for her to talk. I realize I am overreacting, but I can’t seem to get over the pain that her hesitation caused me.

I wish to marry you more than anything. Quinn. I want that life we dreamed of when we were eighteen. You don’t know how many times I visualized of your fare at night.”

“Now just isn’t the time.”

“No, now is the perfect time. I want all of that now, but I am scared.”

The way she stares at me before she comes to sit next to me causes me frown at her. “What are you scared of, Annie?”

“Dionne and Ethan are already after us both. One of them tried to kill me today. I know It even if we don’t have proof. Before that happened, someone called me using a voice masker and threatened Grace…”

I jump off the bed at that statement. “When? Why didn’t you call me?”

Her face shows surprise, then guilt when the anger I feel shows in my voice. I sit back clown and gently take her hand. Then I wait for her to tell me what happened.

“Whoever calles didn’t come outright and threaten Gence. They just sold it would be a shame if anything happened to her. My first instinct was to get to my child as fast as possible. I wasn’t thinking about anything else.”

Her child. Not our child. That stings. I pull my hand away but keep my eyes locked on hers as she continues to tell me what happened.

“I thought about calling you on my way to her school, but my instincts to get to Grace were in full control. Our daughter could have been hurt or worse. All I wanted was to see her safe. I am sorry that I didn’t call you or the police after I got the call.”

Her breath hitches, so I pull her into my arms. I can imagine what she was thinking and going through Lwould have done the same thing. If I had received that call instead of Annie, I would have gotten to Grace as fast as I could.

Now I feel like an a**for that knee jerk reaction. The hurt 1 feel when she refers to our daughter as her child. She has had eleven years with Grace where I have only had the last six months. Calling Grace her child is habit, Calling her our child is new,

I get it, but it still hurts

“The second I saw her walking down the hallway, the feeling of relief that swept through me was euphoric. I said nothing to her until got to the car. Then I hugged her tight, I took her to my parents like planned, then went straight to the police station.”

“What did they tell you there?”

“That I should have called them first, but they would look into it.”

“Why didn’t you call me then?”

“I wanted to tell you in person. That wasn’t a conversation for a phone call. So, I figured I would wait and just tell you at home before date night. Then I remembered date night.”

Her eyes go wide, then anger fills her eyes.

“What?”

“There is over a thousand dollars in lingerie in the backseat of my car I wanted something s**y for tonight. So, I went to the mall. I got a little carried away. Then I got a massage and a wax. I was all primed and ready for tonight. Then that b**d hit me.”

The mention of the accident has me up off the bed and pacing the room, It reminds me that this is all my fault. Maybe her hesitation is a good thing. As much as I want to move forward with her and Grace, there are threats against us that need to be resolved first.

“It is my fault that they came after you. If it is Dionne and Ethan. It is because of me and my actions that you and Grace are now in the

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Annora jumps off the bed and stops in front of me. “Look at me, Quinn.

Reluctantly, I lift my head to meet her eyes. The anger in her eyes is justified, but there is also pain, I know what we have to do now, but it will kill me to do it.

Today, when 1 feared for Grace, it crossed my mind that if I put distance between us, she would be safe, I showed that away as soon as I thought about it. We are stronger together. Grace needs solidarity. Let’s give her that.”

“I will never forgive myself if something were to happen to the two of you because of me. This is because of me. There is no doubt about

Annie cups my face in her hands. “Listen to me. We are stronger than this. We have loved each other while being oceans apart. Twelve years didn’t dampen the love we found as teenagers. Nothing that **h and her crazy a** husband can do will change how I feel about

“Yes, but what if?..”

She presses her finger to my lips.

“No. We will not let that b**h win. Do you hear me? 7 We will take every precaution with our daughter that we can. You have hired guards

for the hospital…”

“But they still hurt you.”

“I think what I did was exactly what they wanted. I fell into their trap, Quinn. That won’t happen again, I promise.”

There won’t be a second time. I will hire bodyguards for Grace and Annora. I will do everything I can to ensure their safety when they are

not with me

“Ask me again.” She says as she takes a small step back, letting go of my face as she does.

Her soft voice makes me look into her eyes. There, in those beautiful hazel depths, is all the love she has for me. Raw and vulnerable for me to do with as I please. I want to give her the world. Even though my proposal didn’t go as I imagined, if her answer is the same as thought it would be, I will ask her again.

1 hold the velvet box up and open it. Her eyes widen and fill with tears as she sees the ring. The two-carat marquise cut diamond is on a white gold band. On each side of the center diamond are three small emerald cut diamonds. It is simple in design, but it called out to me

when I saw it in the store.

“Annura Winters, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

She nods her head as tears roll down her cheeks. I slip the ring out of the velvet box, to the box over my shoulder, then grab her left hand in mine. There is no hesitation as I slip it on her ring finger. The moment it is on, Annora flings her arms around my neck and fuses her

mouth to mine.

I pick her up, then carry her to the bed. After laying her down, I strip of my shirt. The way her eyes travel down my chest, then back up to my face, makes me smile at her.

“Like what you see?” I pull her ass to the edge of the bed, then stand between her thighs.

Annora reaches up, then trails a finger down my chest until she reaches my v-line abbs. Before I can lean down to kiss ber my phone rings. The ringtone is for David. If he is calling, that means someone is here trying to get upstairs.

Reluctantly, I move away from Annie to answer the phone. As soon as he tells me what is going on downstairs, I hang up the phone, then grab my shirt off the floor. Date night is over.

“Do you have any medical supplies with you?”

Annora sits up fast with a concerned look on her face. “What happened?”

“Aaron is on his way up

p with a friend of ours. She was attacked but refuses to go to the hospital. He mentioned your name, and she agreed to be brought here. I am not sure you have met her yet, but she now works at the hospital”

She gets up off the bed and walks to the closet. The view of her a** distracts me for a moment, but the black bag she pulls off a shelf makes me frown. I How long has that been in there? Guess she is more prepared for anything than I am.

“Take this downstairs while I get dressed in more presentable clothes.”

The tiny shorts and tight tank top she is wearing works for my plans, but there is no way I want anyone else to see her smoking hot body. I nod my head and leave her to get changed. There is a knock on the door when I reach the bottom of the stairs.

I drop the medical bag onto the floor, then hurry to the door. The sight that greets me when I open the door makes anger flare through me. Aaron is inding there with Rylan cradled in his arms. Her raven hair is a moss, and her face is buried against his shoulder.

Aaron’s face is pale but the fire in his eyes is like nothing I have ever seen before from him. This is an entirely different level of anger. I know this anger. I felt it today when Annora was hit by that truck. This kind of rage comes from a deep, primal place within us both.

He loves her and now I know it.

1

“Come in. Annie is on her way

down.”

“Bring her up here to the guest room,” Annora says in

Aaron

From the top of the stairs.

says nothing but follows her orders without hesitation. I follow behind them, grabbing the medical bag off the floor as I do. The rigid set of my best friend’s back is all I can see as I follow him upstairs.

“What happened to her? Who did this?”

“She won’t talk. At all ”

That is unlike Rylan. If she isn’t talking, then I know whatever happened to her was bad. Whoever did this will regret it, because if or when Aaron finds out their name, he will make them pay. I will help him. Rylan is more than a fellow soldier. She is my friend. She is the sister I never had.

“Put her on the bed. I also think it would be best if you two left. If what I think happened to her, I will need to examine her fully.”

Aaron gently places Rylan on the bed. Her hand reaches out to grip his arm when he tries to move away. Something flickers over his eyes as he looks down at her face. An emotion that I have never seen before when he looks at her. His eyes are gentle.

“Annora is here. You will be safe. Quinn and I will be right outside. I promise no one can hurt you here.”

Rylan nuds her head then lets go of his arm. Aaron steps away, then rushes from into the hall. The sound of his fist slamming into the wall echoes down the hall.

from the room. I hand Annora the bag, then

then follow hi

him out

“Annora will do all she can. Come downstairs with me.”

“I need to stay here.”

*I understand that but hitting the walls here will only scare her if she hears them. You can beat the s**t out of my walls downstairs while you tell me what happened.”

Aaron growls in frustration but then nods his head and walks away. I close the door before I follow him back downstairs. The sound of glass shattering against a wall is the first thing I hear when I reach the bottom of the stairs.

This is going to be rough.

“Talk to me, Aaron,”

I spent the day wallowing in my own issues. After I left your office, my first stop was Melinda’s. However, all I saw was Rylan when Mel was kissing me. That propelled me straight home to work out my frustrations out on my punching bag.”

Auron sinks to his as he stares at the ground.

“I am no good for her, Quinn. Yet when I opened my door tonight, Rylan was there. Not my imagination, but her in the flesh. I sighed before I got a good look at her.”

Without saying a word, I help him off the ground and lead him to the sofa. I sit across from him on the other sola. He needs the space, and I don’t feel like getting punched, so this is the saler spot.

“She won’t talk about it. Her face shut down and her eyes took on that lost, empty look. I will kill whoever did that to her, Quinn.”

“I will help you”