Page 35

“Happy birthday, gorgeous,” Quinn said, enveloping Rae in his arms in the entryway.

He’d come to pick her up to take her to dinner at her parents’ place and let himself in.

As always, Rae looked beautiful, although Quinn thought she was most beautiful when she was in her real birthday suit with her blonde hair splayed all over the pillows.

Today she wore a light pink strapless sundress that was shorter in the front than the back and heels that were only a few shades lighter than her sun-tanned skin.

She met his greeting with a long kiss, then smiled as she wiped a smudge of lipstick off his lips.

It had only been a few hours since they’d seen each other.

Quinn had stayed with her again the previous night and had woken her up before her alarm with birthday morning sex.

The image of her slowly waking up as he touched her, kissed her neck, collar bone, and breasts, had been playing on a loop in his mind all day.

Once she’d woken up enough, she rolled on top of him, grinding down on him, using his body like an instrument for her pleasure.

He would gladly be any and everything she needed him to be if it meant getting to watch her lose herself to those beautifully intense, dizzying orgasms.

Quinn pulled a small, gift-wrapped package out of his pants pocket and handed it to her.

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Rae said, though she beamed as she took the small present out of his hands.

Quinn watched anxiously as she unwrapped and opened the small red box.

Her eyes went wide at the site of a diamond tennis bracelet and a pair of matching princess-cut diamond earrings.

“Quinn... Cartier? These must’ve cost…” she trailed off, gaping at him.

Quinn shrugged. “I’ve got a lot of birthdays to make up for.” Showering women in gifts wasn’t something he’d ever done before, but it was something he’d always wished could do for Rae.

“They’re beautiful, Quinn,” she said, looking into the box at the glittering jewelry before pressing her lips to his again. “Thank you.”

“I didn’t know what princess cut meant, but it sounded like it was the right fit for you.” Quinn smirked as he took the bracelet and gestured for Rae to hold her wrist out so he could put it on her.

“I thought that might have been intentional.”

Once the bracelet was clasped and she began switching out her earrings, Quinn pulled an envelope out of his back pocket, “One more thing.”

“More?” Rae gave him an incredulous look before taking the envelope. “Well I know it’s not a card. I’ve heard enough rants from you about how dumb it is to spend money on cards and gift bags.”

“It is. I already bought the gift; why pay to dress it up? And what do you do with cards anyway?”

Rae opened the envelope and pulled out two plane tickets.

Quinn watched, studying her as she read them.

“Two tickets to Paris?!” she exclaimed. Looking down at them again she noticed the date.

“For December?” She looked up at him unable to contain her obvious excitement.

“So does that mean you plan to stick around? Or am I supposed to take Jett?”

Quinn laughed. “If Jett got my romantic French getaway with you I would be about as happy with him as I was that time he licked frosting off of you from my birthday cake at my eighteenth birthday party. Or the time he walked in on you changing out of your bathing suit.”

Rae’s giggle met his ears and made his heart squeeze. “It’s starting to sound like you want me all to yourself...and for a while.”

“I do,” said Quinn, now meeting her gaze, his expression turning from playful to sincere.

“That’s exactly what I want, actually.” He was used to stating outright what he wanted, just not when it came to Rae.

But he knew he didn't want to go another seven years without seeing her.

Hell, he didn't want to go seven days or hours.

He struggled with not being able to see her while she was at work. "Is that going to be a problem?"

Rae briefly seemed surprised by his straight-forwardness but smiled her sunshine bright smile, "No, it's not a problem."

“Okay...good,” Quinn nodded, taking Rae’s hand and kissing it.

She glanced back down at the tickets in her hands before smiling back up at him. “Quinn, this is amazing. Thank you...I guess we get to re-do my sixteenth birthday, too!”

“I would’ve made it your next birthday, but I might be playing again by then. I just know you love it there.”

“I’m going to have to teach you French now.” Rae wiggled her eyebrows.

“I know croissant , so I’m off to a good start,” he replied, in what even he knew was a thick American accent, enunciating all the wrong letters.

Rae pulled her eyebrows together in a pained smile. “We’ll work on that.”

They piled into his Bronco- him, Rae, and Harry, since Camille’s two kids were always begging for more time with the large animal- and started the familiar drive to Rae’s parents’ house.

The smile refused to fade from Quinn’s face as he reveled in the fact that Rae had agreed to be his .

Inside his head he was doing a ridiculous happy dance, cheering and screaming at the top of his lungs, but on the outside he was only smiling, probably like a dork, as he drove down M-37.

When he glanced over to the passenger seat, he saw that Rae was also smiling, though it was a cute, reserved smile.

She was clearly doing a better job concealing her joy than he was.

He wanted to see her bright smile light up her face again.

"Did you know," he started, "I used to love when you'd wear my baseball hats. "

Rae's smile widened a little further as she looked over at him. "You did? "

"Yeah…" Quinn bit his lip, feeling shy about what he was going to say, but he’d spent long enough holding his feelings in, so fuck it. "I, uh...it made me feel like you were mine."

There was the smile he was looking for.

Seeing her smile at this made him continue, "I would, I don't know...I'd think other guys would see you wearing it and they'd just know like 'Oh that's Quinn's girl'."

Rae opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't seem to form the words. She ran her fingers through her hair as though she were nervous, but her smile said it all. "I guess you'll have to give me one of your new ones, then."

His chest felt so full with triumph and joy and outright exhilaration that she wanted to be his and she wanted people to know it. He'd been waiting for this moment, this feeling, for so long. He wanted to hold onto it and never let it go.

"I've got a few. You can have your pick," Quinn said, and he reached over to lay a possessive hand on Rae's leg. She rested her hand on top of his, brushing her thumb back and forth over his knuckles.

It had been about ten years since Quinn had been to the DeRoses’ massive French manor home, and when he pulled in, past the tall wrought-iron gate into the long driveway, his excitement turned anxious.

Even though he now had his own mansion back in Los Angeles, it was obvious that his home and this one were from different types of money.

Quinn’s sleek, angular, beach-front house with its floor-to-ceiling window-walls was an obvious show of new money, meant to impress and brag about his success.

The DeRoses’ manor, however, with its stone accents, large pillared fence, perfectly landscaped stone walkway and massive arches spoke of money that had been there for generations.

All of the upstairs rooms had balconies and large windows, the steep roof gave away the high, vaulted ceilings.

The front doors were tall, with a huge stone archway over the porch, and there were multiple elaborately decorated chimneys.

Quinn remembered his first time here, covered in mud from playing baseball in the rain with Rae.

He’d wondered why in the world someone would need more than one fireplace, and why- why would a family of four need such an enormous house at all.

On the left-hand side, there was a section that looked distinctly like a tower or a turret, which had given his eight-year-old self the impression that this was some type of castle, not just a house.

“Does it still look like a palace?” Rae’s light voice cut through the memory he was reliving as he stared back up at the impressive structure before them.

“Oh yeah,” he replied, gaze traveling to the front door. “What did they say when you told them I was coming?”

She looked briefly uncomfortable, like a little kid with her hand caught in the cookie jar as she scrunched her nose. “I thought maybe we’d just surprise them. It’s not like there won’t be enough food.”

Nodding, Quinn bit his lip and felt his pulse kick up a notch.

No, he didn’t have to worry about her family being unprepared with food or accommodations.

They’d always had maids, some that cooked, others that cleaned.

Hell, they’d had chauffeurs to drive Rae and Camille to school or soccer practice when they were kids.

Accommodations were the least of his worries.

It was just that the last time he’d been here he’d been a mess, begging to talk to Rae nearly every day for the entire summer after graduation.

Mr. DeRose had done his best to get Rae to come down and talk to him, but she had refused until the very last week before he moved to Arizona for college.

“You have nothing to worry about, Quinn,” Rae said, taking his hand. “My parents love you. They’re going to be ecstatic to see you, I promise.”

Nodding again, Quinn let out a deep breath, “Let’s do this then.”