“Right?” Quinn took her hand. She didn’t miss the way Nora’s cheeks pinked when she noticed the faint ring of bruises encircling her wrist, and she squeezed Nora’s hand to draw her attention away from her souvenir from last night’s activities. “It’s like something in here,” she murmured, tapping her chest lightly with her free hand, “recognizes you.” She’d never connected with someone as quickly and easily as she had with Nora, and her heart ached with the knowledge that her time in Newport was running out. She sighed as she lifted Nora’s hand to her lips, and looked up at her through her lashes as she brushed a kiss over her knuckles. “Come with me?”
Nora took a deep breath. “That’s cheating.”
“I’m not above cheating when it comes to you.” Quinn turned Nora’s hand over and dragged her nose along the crease that ran through the center of her palm.I don’t think I’m above anything when it comes to you,she thought as she pressed her lips to the spot.
“Kjære,” Nora warned, her voice noticeably rougher than it’d been a moment ago, “if you keep that up, the only place we’ll be going is back to bed.”
Affection bloomed in Quinn’s chest at the endearment, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she let herself sink into it for a handful of heartbeats. It was foolish to hope this feeling might last, given their situation, but she wanted it.
Wanted Nora.
Wanted her for so much longer than just this weekend.
She blinked her eyes open to find similar emotions shining in Nora’s gaze, and she leaned forward to kiss her softly. “I’m so glad I met you.”
Nora nuzzled closer to whisper, “Me too,” against Quinn’s lips before sealing the words with the sweetest kiss. “But if you’re serious about wanting to go to the hardware store, we should probably stop doing this.”
Quinn nodded. Stopping this runaway train of emotions before it picked up too much speed was an excellent idea. “Okay.” She stole one last quick kiss and, in an attempt to lighten the mood, called, “Hey, Fort? You wanna go shopping?”
Fort popped to his feet with a delighted, “Woof!”
“Excellent.”
“He can stay here,” Nora pointed out.
“I know. But I need his input,” Quinn argued.
Nora frowned as she gathered her tablet and empty coffee cup. “Input for what, exactly?”
“Ah.” Quinn flashed her most charming smile and prayed it’d be enough to sway Nora. “That’s a surprise?”
“Are you asking, or telling me that?” Nora quipped. She huffed a laugh and paused to kiss Quinn’s cheek as she headed inside. “That smile is adorable, though, so I guess I’ll go along with whatever you have planned.”
Quinn grinned at the way Fort fell off the small outdoor sofa he’d been lounging on in his haste to follow Nora, and picked up her phone and coffee cup before joining them both inside. “Is it really that easy?”
“Is what that easy?” Nora called over her shoulder.
“Getting you to go along with whatever I’m asking,” Quinn explained as she joined Nora in the kitchen.
Nora turned to her with the sweetest smile as she opened the dishwasher. “For you?” she asked, her voice laced with affection. “Yes.”
Quinn’s heart fluttered at the tenderness in Nora’s voice. “See, now stuff like that is really going to ruin my plan.”
“Stuff like what?” Nora asked as Quinn reached past her to set her coffee cup into the dishwasher. “And does it mean I get details about the plan?”
“No, it doesn’t.” Quinn pulled Nora into her arms. “But it does mean that I’m going to kiss you now.”
“Oh?” Nora lifted her chin and hummed happily as she looped her arms over Quinn’s shoulders. “Better make it a good one, then.”
Quinn laughed and dipped her head to capture Nora’s lips with her own. She sucked softly on the plump pad of Nora’s lower lip before teasing it with her tongue, and moaned low in the back of her throat when Nora obligingly deepened the kiss. She pressed closer, pinning Nora to the counter as their tongues dipped and delved in an intimate waltz, and her head spun with every heavenly slide of Nora’s tongue against her own.
“If you keep this up,” Nora murmured, nuzzling Quinn’s cheek as she chased after her lips, “we won’t be going anywhere but the bedroom.”
“And yet, you’re the one—” Quinn’s retort was silenced with another slow, glorious kiss that made her knees weak, and she couldn’t even find it in herself to care about losing this particular round of repartee if it meant she got to kiss Nora more.
“Woof!”
Nora sighed. “Fortissimo…”
