Her elbow dropped.
“Elbow up!” I barked.
She jerked it back into place.
“The burn’s good.” I grinned. “You’re getting stronger.”
Quinn rolled her eyes. “You and Ezra should spend more time together.”
“Because you know him so well?” I asked.
The bow lowered half an inch.
“Up!” I barked.
Quinn raised it. “You both like to bark at me while we’re training.” She met my gaze. “At least Ezra has the decency to take his shirt off first.”
I jerked back. “What?”
Quinn flashed her straight, pearly white teeth at me.
My brain misfired a few times. I didn’t know my commander and Quinn spoke, much less were close. Were they sleeping together? Hotrage bubbled in my blood at that thought. Ezra’s fury when I admitted I tethered her clicked into place, along with dozens of his actions.
Ezra. My commander. With her. Rage seethed—because I’d been too busy with Angela’s bullshit to claim what I wanted.
“Rowan?” Quinn asked.
The rain increased, coming down in sheets. All I could see was red. I wanted to scream at the world. The ground rumbled under us.
Fear laced our connection, and I forced myself to breathe. She wasn’t my Quinn. But she could be. I wanted her to make her own choices despite my tether, but I also deserved the same chance as anyone else. She could have told me to stop in the saddle, but she didn’t. For that matter, that was the only orgasm I’d felt from her. If she was sleeping with my commander, he was terrible in bed, and she deserved more.
“Rowan, I don’t know what I said, but you’re scaring me. My shoulder’s going to cramp,” Quinn’s voice was so soft.
I took another deep breath.
Quinn lowered the bow and rubbed the aching appendage. “I’m going to have one nice-looking shoulder at this rate and one flabby one.”
“You’d have to put on weight to have a flabby one.” The words were out of my mouth before I could think.
I stepped into Quinn’s personal space and cupped her cheek. Her big, dull green eyes looked up at me with her hair plastered to her face.
With a thought, I swirled the air around us, redirecting the rain from our bodies and creating a sheer sheet of water isolating us from the world. She didn’t look away, and I rubbed her flushed cheek with my thumb.
Her heart rate increased, and arousal stirred within her. Her body, at least, responded to me. My usual smooth talk vanished. I wantedto demand to know if she loved my commander and how far into her contract negotiation they’d gotten, but the question would just drive a wedge between us.
I wasn’t free to pursue Quinn. But I suddenly knew I wanted to be. Whatever my goals had been, they paled in comparison to the well of emotions this beautiful creature created inside me.
“Get dinner with me tonight.” I placed my free hand on her hip so there would be no misunderstanding of my intention. “I don’t know what you do at The Rooster every morning, but it’s clearly not eating. Let me spend an evening feeding you.”
“Are you watching me?” Her eyes flew wide, and fear spiked through the link.
That was not the response I wanted. “I’m not.” I released her and put my hands up. “I’ve seen you there a few times. Brit has mentioned to Joe that she’s seen you there as well, going into the back.” I cocked my head to the side. “Then there’s the day I found you polishing glass. I won’t judge having a side job.”
But I would judge if it was anything but a side job, which, based on her missing TB, I found highly likely at this point.
Quinn took a deep breath, and her heart rate slowed. “A second, well, a third, really.”
I turned my palms up. “My guard duty pays for my room and board. You won’t get any judgment here.”
