Page 132 of Brutal Vows

Snuggled in his big strong arms, I whisper, “I don’t want to kill you. I mean I do, but not right now.”

He chuckles, nuzzling my ear.

I close my eyes and breathe him in. “Quinn?”

“Aye?”

“You shot a man because he disrespected me.”

“Aye. And you didn’t even flinch.”

“Is it bad that I found it erotic?”

“The dead guy?”

I know he’s only hunting for praise, but I still sigh in exasperation. “The psychotic machismo. Watching you blow out someone’s brains because you didn’t like the way he talked about me was a real turn-on.”

A smile in his voice, he murmurs, “Careful, viper. Another compliment like that and you’ll have a hundred bodies laid out at your feet by the end of the day.”

I shiver with happiness, burying my face into the crook of his neck. Then, because I know my reaction is all sorts of wrong, I say sternly, “That’s awful.”

He laughs, squeezing me harder. “Christ, we’re a pair, aren’t we?”

Over his shoulder, Kieran says, “Look at it this way, lad: yer savin’ two other people by bein’ together!”

I say, “I thought you couldn’t hear anything!”

“Oh. Right. Sorry, lass.”

Settling back against Quinn’s chest, I say to him, “I have a question for you.”

“And I have an answer. Whether I’ll admit it or not remains to be seen.”

What I wouldn’t give for a Taser right now.“You said yesterday, you didn’t have a condom because you weren’t planning on having sex.”

“So?”

“So why weren’t you planning on having sex on your wedding night?”

Kieran chuckles. “Because he doesn’t fancy little girls, that’s why.”

At the same time, Quinn and I say, “Kieran!”

He waves a hand apologetically. “Sorry. Mum’s the word.”

After a pause to glare at the back of Kieran’s head, Quinn says, “Lili didn’t want it. I didn’t want it. There was no need for protection from something that wasn’t going to happen.”

I’m so confused, my eyes almost cross.

Then, abruptly, I’m angry.

“Let me get this straight. You were going to marry Lili with no expectation of consummating the marriage, but you demandedourmarriage include sexand then made me propose to you?”

He makes a face as if I’m being silly, then brushes me off with, “Let’s talk about Aldo. Why don’t you trust him?”

I reply with a pointed stare. “Because he’s moody, arrogant, and incomprehensible.”

“Ah. Then we’ll get along just fine.”