“You don’t have to thank me again. I’d do anything for you, Quinn.” I turned to look at her, sighing as she stared off in the opposite direction.
I pointed out the rooms—Movie theater, game room, gym, sun room — I thought Quinn would be interested in as we traveled through the manor, and when we made it to the conservatory, I stood in the doorway and caught my breath while Quinn walked inside, awed by all the bougainvillea and plumbago in the dimly lit room. It was a beautiful sight. Quinn looked right at home as she drifted toward the center of the room, the prettiest flower amongst all the other plants.
“It smells good in here,” she said.
“If I’m not mistaken, the scent mainly comes from the hoyas. They were mom’s favorite.”
She made her way around the room slowly, allowing her fingers to touch the leaves and stems of the birds of paradise as she checked them over with the widest smile on her face once she made her way back to me.
“It’s so calm in here! It seems like a good place to come when you want some peace and quiet. I could see myself propped up with a nice book in here.” She giggled.
I could see it too. I could see Quinn making herself comfortable and right at home in every area of this old mansion.
She grabbed my arm again and the two of us set off, this time headed toward the library. She seemed happy as she looked around, squeezing my arm tightly and pointing out everything she found exquisite, as if it were my first time getting to see it too. I couldn’t help feeling happy myself, her infectious smile forcing my own to stay glued to my face, yet I couldn’t stop thinking about the elephant in the room.
“Quinn,” I called after a moment. “Can we talk now? About…”
“Jasper, let’s not—” she began to say, but I couldn’t help blurting out what needed to be discussed, anyway.
“I wasn’t using you,” I croaked, desperate for her to believe me. I didn’t want her thinking everything we had was fake, just some ploy for me to have my fun before getting married. “I wanted to tell you about my engagement to Crystal, but I could never seem to find the right time. Every time I managed to work up the courage to mention it, I got interrupted.”
“You couldn’t work up the courage to mention it in the van before we had sex?” She scoffed. “That would have been a great time, and I doubt there would have been any interruptions then.”
“You were already upset as it was–”
“Don’t turn this back on me.” She glared. “It isn’t my fault–”
“I know it isn’t. It’s mine. Quinn, I should have told you right from the beginning, but it didn’t seem important at the time. But when I started falling for you, it became difficult to even bring it up. Selfishly, I didn’t want to lose you. I could have tried harder to tell you, but the fear of you thinking less of me bothered me. That engagement meant nothing to me. It was set up by my best friend, Eddie. He thought he was helping me. It was supposed to be a confidence boost, a way for me to have female companionship while I was ill, and more importantly, a way to carry on the King family name. We didn’t know anything about my illness—still don’t know much — aside from the fact that it was making me very sick very quickly. Eddie is obsessed with legacies and… I guess I bought into it for a while, not wanting to die without leaving a piece of me me and my parents behind.”
“Jasper.” She frowned. “That’s noble. But sad.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. If it’s noble, then why did it cause me to lose you?”
“Jas—”
“Shhhh. There’s no need to answer that,” I cut in. “I’m thankful for my improved health. My doctor is totally flabbergasted by my change, though he cautioned me that my symptoms may reoccur since he isn’t sure what caused it in the first place. But at this moment, I don’t want to worry about that. I am choosing to live my life to the fullest and hoping my health will continue to improve. My engagement to Crystal was the best thing to happen because if it never occurred, then I would never have felt the need to runaway and I wouldn’t have ever met you. The only woman I want, Quinn, is you.”
I had barely finished speaking when Quinn pulled me in for a deep kiss, her arms wrapped around my neck, mine circling her waist as I backed her up against the wall. She let out a soft, barely audible noise the second she was pressed against the wall, and it was enough to make me feel crazy. My hands began roaming before I could stop them, my tongue pressing fervently against hers. Before I could get too carried away, she pulled away from me with a giggle.
“We’re in the hall,” she whispered.
“So?”
“Jasper.” She rolled her eyes, grinning as she slipped away from me. “Come on. We should finish our tour.”
I sighed, readjusting my clothes. “You sure know how to get under a man’s skin.”
“Don’t complain or else you won’t be getting into mine later.” She smirked.
I raised my brows and made the zipping my lips motion as we continued walking.
We exchanged playful banter as we made our way to the library. When we finally got to it, I showed Quinn around the large room, pointing out a few of the vintage books that my parents had collected, along with some recipe books I thought she might like to read one day, and some of the few children’s books that the kids might get some enjoyment out of. When we left the library, we strolled the halls for a while before heading up the elevator and then coming to a stop in front of my study.
I was surprised to see Eddie and Crystal already inside once I opened the door, both jumping as I stepped inside. Raising my brows, I was about to ask why they were here instead of downstairs enjoying the party when Eddie smiled.
“Jasper! Just the man we were talking about. I was finalizing some business with Crystal. You know, some last-minute ‘end of engagement’ things…”
“Ah.” I glanced over at Crystal, who wore a short, sparkly dress and felt nothing. None of the excitement I felt when Quinn was near me. I had decided to offer Crystal some financial compensation for calling off the engagement. I felt bad that she’d been inconvenienced. They must have been going over the payment.
