Loving Quinn Novel by North Rose

(Quinn)

The rest of the weekend passed in a haze of happiness. As cheesy as it sounds, it was the happiest I have been in twenty years. Even though Annora left after I told her about Dionne, she promised that we would speak later that night, after Grace was in bed.

Grace and I drove down to the marina to rent a boat on Saturday. We spent the entire day out on the water fishing. Sunday, we spent the day making a volcano for her science project. Her best friend, Emily, and her father, Gary, came over to help. It was the most domestic thing I have ever done in my life.

Gary and I got along well. He is an ex-Army guy himself. We swapped stories from downtimes on tours while the girls set up the work area. My dining room became a science lab with blue tarps all over the floor and tables. Those were brought over by Gary, which was nice since I hadn’t thought that far ahead,

When I dropped Grace off, Annora blushed crimson as I whispered in her ear about what we did over the phone Saturday night. That was the first time in my entire life that I had phone sex. She called to say goodnight to Grace, but later called back to say goodnight to me.

I asked her how her day went, then asked her what she was wearing. Our conversation went straight to steamy after that. The way she moaned my name while she pleasured herself for me was the most erotic thing I have ever heard in my life. All I wanted to do was drive to her house and replace her hand with my tongue, but because I agreed to her rules, it reduced me to m**on while her moans

drove me wild,

The night I slept better than I have since I was a kid.

Sadly, today is Monday, and I have to go to the office. We are bidding again on the property for our outreach center. Aaron and I have agreed to walk away from the bidding war if our offer is rejected again. We will go forward with the two empty lots he showed me.

The real estate agent is meeting with us for that later this morning. Then we have a meeting with Mac to go over the security for our two construction projects that have been sabotaged recently. While I have him there, I plan to ask him about security for my building.

There is no way I want a repeat of what happened Saturday morning. Dlonne, showing up at my penthouse, threw me off guard. It was a move I hadn’t expected from her. Until that morning she has always called me, then hung up. I should have added a security guard to my building after I filed the restraining order against her.

The only reason I didn’t was because I was the only one there during the weekdays and on the weekends, Grace and I were rarely at the penthouse. I never saw the need for it. Now, I do.

Just thinking about what Dionne did to me makes me shiver in disgust. She got past my guard and reached into my pants. When her hand wrapped around my d**k, my mind hadn’t quite registered what she was doing until her hand stroked up and down my shaft. Then she

tried to kiss me.

That hungry look she gave me over her shoulder as she walked away let me know she is trouble for me and Annie. This is not something! want to deal with at all. There isn’t much I can do that I haven’t already done other than put security in my building.

When I step off the elevator of our office, Aaron was waiting for me with a smile on his face, Something about the way he flicks his eye toward my office makes me groan internally. “What are you smiling at

“You have a package in your office. I opened it for you.”

“Gee, that was nice of you. What did I get?” I ask. I walk towards my office, dreading whatever was sent to me. If it is making my best Inlend smile like an idiot, it can’t be good.

“Find out for yourself. There is a card too, but that I left for you.”

Dumping my briefcase on floor next to my desk, I stare at the white bar sitting on my desk, it isn’t big enough to hold anything large.

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Chapter 24

However, the label on the box instantly gives away how sent it. Dionne was always a fan of Calvin Klein menswear on me. Most notably, underwear.

“She sent me underwear, didn’t she? For f**k’s sake, that woman just won’t stop.”

Without opening the box, I grab the card off the desk and rip it open. Anger fills me as I read her note. What the f**k is this woman’s game? Dionne destroyed whatever I felt f**g her years ago. Now, I just can’t get her to go away.

I had forgotten how ***y you were until I saw you on Saturday. I miss us. I miss you. We were like fireworks going off every time we touched. You may be with her now, but I know you. I know what you be, how to get you to o**m fast.

Does your little doctor know about all your kinks? I bet she doesn’t know you at all. I know the real Quinn Greyson, I have been in your

We are

head.

not done, and it is only a matter of time until you are back in my bed. Until then, I know something that you don’t about your current construction issues. I can make them stop but only if you come to me willingly.

I hand the note to Aaron as I sit down in my chair. My mind is full of so many questions, but the one that stands out among all the rest is simple. Is she f***g crazy? There is no way I am going to give her what she wants. She does not get me ever again.

“Wow. So, explain what she meant by seeing you on Saturday?” Aaron laughs.

“She showed up at my place early Saturday morning.” I tell him everything that happened after I answered the door that morning. Then I told him what happened after with Annora. By the time I was done with my story, Aaron was just shaking his head.

“So, let me get this straight. You and Annora got freaky in the kitchen, then your ex-fiancé showed up and manhandled your d**k. Not knowing that you had just had sex with the love of your life, she thought your h**** was for her. Man, what are you going to do about this new crazy version of Dionne?”

“When we talk to Mac today, I am going to have him hire a twenty-four hour a day security guard for the elevator to my penthouse. Then plan on informing the guards at the desk in our lobby here that she is to be escorted off the premises if she tries to come here.”

“What about the hospital?”

“Since it is a public hospital, we can’t ban her, but I will assign security to the private elevator that leads to the executive floor where our

offices there.”

“Since she knows Annora, do you think she will try to ambush her?”

F**k! I hadn’t even thought about that. I told Annie everything about my past with Dionne. Yet, all the intimate details, or the things I told Dionne while she was just my therapist, could hurt Annie. There is no way I am going to share the sexual details of my past with Dionne, with Annora. The stuff from my time in the Army is something I can share with her.

This will be ugly. I know she will ask about my time in the Army, eventually. Now I just have to decide whether to tell her the next time we talk or wait until she asks on her own. Those kinds of stories are not date night conversation.

“I will have to talk to Annora about Dionne again. I want there to be no secrets between us. Even if that means I must share some of what happened while I was deployed”

Aaron looks at his watch and then gave me a light tap on the shoulder indicating he has my back. He has been by my side since we were kids. There is no need for the words to be said anymore. He has my back and I have his in all things.

“Let’s go get this meeting with McAllister and the real estate agent done with. There is no doubt he will raise his bid, so we will be too

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low again. Are you ready to walk away from this if he does?”

“I love this location, but not enough to keep dealing with McAllister.”

As expected, when Aaron stated our new bid price, McAllister raised his counteroffer by a thousand dollars more than ours. He laughed when I told him we were done, and that the property was his. I don’t like the ominous feeling his laugh gives me.

This game he has been playing has been annoying, but I have never had a bad feeling about him until now. Maybe he is the one behind all the problems we have been having with our constriction sites. I think it is time to look deeper into McAllister Industries and its owner. Something isn’t adding up here.

“We have never dealt with McAllister before until now. Why was he so determined to beat us out of this deal? De so bad?” I ask Aaron as we leave the office to head to meet Mac at his office.

deal? Does he want that factory

“The building is already fitted with everything he would need. There will be a few things to change, but from the blueprints he submitted to the city, it is a sound investment for him. However, I agree that there is something else going on here.”

“I think he may be behind all the accidents happening on our construction sites.”

“What would his motive be?”

“That is what I want to find out. We can ask Mac to investigate McAllister.”

An hour later, we pull up to Mac’s office building. The front of the building is all glass, with Mac’s logo over the door. His receptionist smiles at us when we walk in and tells us he is waiting in his office. Aaron sends her a flirty smile as we walk down the hallway to Mac’s office.

“Don’t mess with her, Aaron. Mac is very protective of his staff.

“I know that. It was just a smile man, relax.

As we walk down the hall, we pass Alaric, one of Mac’s investigators. He gives a slight nod our way, then continues toward the front door. Alaric is ex-military, like most of the investigators that work for Mac. The entire company employees retired, or inactive military men and women. Between the corporate investigators, security guards, and all the private investigators, Mac’s employee roster is over one hundred,

“Ah, here are my two favorite customers, Mac says.

He stands when we enter the room. From years of military service, it is habit to stand at attention when a ranking officer enters the room. Which would be me. I wave him to sit down. “You are not in the Army anymore, Mac. There is no need for that.”

“Old habits die hard, man. So, what is this about wanting security teams for three construction sites at night? All night?”

Aaron goes over what has been happening, then explains what we want. He slides the file folder he brought with him over to Mac’s desk. It has pictures of all the accidents and the one where there were tool marks proving it was done intentionally “If it were only one site, and only one time, I would say accidents. However, it is all three, and these are no longer accidents.

“Have they only been happening when no one is on site? After working hours?”

“Yes. So Far at least.”

“Why don’t we do a guard during the day for all three sits, then a team of three at night for all three as well. One at the front, one at the bick, and one rotating.”

That sounds s like a good plan, so we agree. “That brings us to our second issue.”

“Oh, you guys are so kind to me.” 1

* Mac laughs. “What else can I do for you boys?”

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Chapter 24

“What do you know about Ithah McAllister of McAllister Industries?”

“They build service vehicles like ambulances, firetrucks, and so on. I heard they are building a new factory downtown.””

“Yeah, we were in a bidding war with him for that property. We planned to turn it in to an outreach center, food pantry, and donation center for the homeless in that area. McAllister would up the bid by a thousand dollars each time. Not much, but it was enough to make the owner ask for more each time.”

“What do you want to investigate him?”

“We have never dealt with him before, but he just kept this one-ups going on the bids each time. Then when we finally backed out today. he laughed. It was like he knew we would, but it felt personal in a way.”

“What agenda do you think he has?” Mac asks. His eyes have gone sharp with interest. We have his attention now.

“I don’t know. We never met until this property war. Frankly, I am confused about what personal vendetta this man could have against us.” Aaron says. However, he looks over at me as if something has occurred to him.

What?”

“Tell Mac about Dionne.”

Aaron brushes my question aside and moves to another topic. Knowing him, he will probably want to think about whatever occurred to him for a while before he tells me. I have a feeling that I will not like it

“Dionne?” Mac’s voice is full of hate and surprise at the sound of her name. “I thought you were done with her after what happened two

years ago.”

“I thought so too.” I give him a run-down of the events that have happened since I ran into her at the hospital. When I got to what happened on Saturday morning, his eyebrows were raised in shock.

“So, she violated a restraining order and came to your penthouse to rekindle what you had back then?”

“It is how she did it that p***ed me off, but yes, that is the jist of it. I would like to hire twenty-four-hour a day security for my penthouse Not on my floor, but stationed at the elevator in the garage.”

“What do you think it is that she knows about the issues happening on your sites? How can she stop them?” Mac asks.

“I don’t know, but I am not falling for it. Dionne had her chance, she blew it, not there is no coming back from that. She can play all the games she wants, but I am done with her. She wants what she can’t have.”

Dionne Masters is a manipulative b**h. There will be blow back from my relationship with her but if I can tell Annie everything, have no secrets between us, then Dionne will be powerless. Just the way I want her to stay.

Then I will do all I can to get her the hell out of my life once and for al