Page 170 of Savage Suit

Uncertainty dropped into his features, and he glanced at me. I shrugged, unsure how to convey what I thought Quinn wanted to hear.

“Because you want clothes I can afford to pay for?” he asked tentatively, wincing when she stiffened.

Dumb ass. Even I wouldn’t have given that answer.

“You have two more tries, Reid, and then fuck yourself forever if you don’t get it right.”

“Because in the last several weeks, you’ve fucked me several times, and this is your reward? I have repeatedly told you that your puss…” He glanced at me. “Er, that you’re, especially certain parts of you, are worth its weight in gold.”

The stupid fucker was digging a hole so deep he’d never climb out. “I move to forfeit Reid’s attempts to respond,” I said, trying to lighten the moment.

“On what grounds?” Quinn asked after the briefest pause.

“You have an unfair advantage. I doubt he’s had an in-depth conversation with you in ages. He can’t know the answer you’re searching for.”

“Request to forfeit denied,” she said flatly. “He knows the right answer. He more than fucking knows.”

One look at Reid’s clueless expression and I saw hedidn’tknow. But I knew how proud Ryan was. She’d walked away from a thousand dollars in cash. Quinn admired Ryan, so she’d follow her sister’s ideas. While I believed she wouldn’t hesitate to have a man spend lavishly on her if she slept with him, she felt differently about Reid. I wish I could’ve conveyed to Reid that all he needed to say was he’d buy whatever she wanted because he cared about her and wanted nothing more than her happiness.

“What do you want me to say, Quinn?” Reid sounded helpless. “Tell me.”

“If I have to tell you, dickhead, it’s meaningless.”

“May I talk to my cousin a moment?” I asked, not waiting for her response. I nodded to Reid and started out the door.

“You may,” Quinn called, stopping us in our tracks, “but it still forfeits his answer.”

Reid and I glanced at each other. As much as I wanted to school him, Quinn refused to give an inch. She wantedhisunfiltered response.

His arrogance, coded in Keegan DNA, dissolved. He couldn’t charm, order, or buy his way into Quinn’s good graces. As one, we turned to her again.

She got up and walked to us. “So, tell me, Reid, why?”

He gave her a stark, vulnerable stare that told me he understood exactly what she desired, and he wanted to give her the world because she was his world. Tension drifted from me. Even Quinn’s look softened, and she gave him a tender smile.

Clenching his jaw, he glanced away. When he looked at her again, his expression was cold and indifferent. “Because it’s no less than what I do for all my women?”

A small noise escaped Quinn, disappointment and despair running across her face. For a moment, I thought she was going to cry, but her look hardened and I saw the death of her love that birthed unadulterated hate.

I think I was too caught up in the moment because a sense of foreboding rose in me.

“I have held you up long enough, Noah,” she said briskly. “Thank you for the sentiment, but I have to get going.”

“I’ll take you home,” I told her.

“No, you won’t. You don’t have time,” she said evenly. “That’s why you called your cousin. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

She tried to scoot past me, but I blocked her path. “Go to the fucking car, Quinn. You’re upset. Anything can happen to you.” And Ryan would roast my fucking balls for my role in her sister’s misfortune. “I’m taking you home.”

She threw me a sullen look. “Why?”

“I’m not playing this fucking game with you. I’ve told you why. Now go to the goddamn car.”

She opened her mouth to reply.

“It’s a fucking order, not up for debate. When I walk out of this shop, I expect to find you in the Town Car.”

Although she didn’t give me a sign she’d comply, she left. I grabbed Reid by the collar and yanked him closer. “You’re a stupid sonofabitch. Why did you answer as you did?”