Brutal Vows (Queens & Monsters #4)(71)

When my orgasm hits, I stiffen, sucking in a breath through my nose.

Quinn shudders and groans into my mouth, and I know he’s right there with me.

He rolls me to my belly and fucks me straight through his own orgasm, pumping hard and groaning as I bury my face in the pillow and scream.

He says something in Gaelic. It’s broken and breathless, like a plea.

When the motion of his hips has slowed, he lowers himself on top of me and pushes my hair off my face so he can kiss my jaw and cheek.

We lie like that for a long time, both of us speechless and stunned, watching the room grow brighter with the rising sun, until finally, he exhales a heavy breath.

I whisper, “You okay?”

“Aye.”

“Why are you lying?”

He lifts my hand and stares at the ring on my finger. Then he turns his face to my neck and breathes me in.

“Just thinking of something someone once told me.”

“What?”

“That a man who’d marry a woman for any reason other than love has the soul of a monster.”

“Ah. Yes, well, that person was rather annoyed with you at the time.”

He pushes the ring up with his thumb, exposing the slanting black line of cursive below. His voice lower, he says, “Aye. But you were right.”

Something in his tone sounds an alarm bell in my mind. I don’t know the cause, but suddenly, without warning, he’s upset. I say gently, “I don’t think you’re a monster.”

There’s a brief pause. His voice comes even lower this time. “But you don’t know me, do you, lass? You don’t really know me at all.”





He doesn’t speak to me for two hours after that.

We rise from bed. He orders from room service and makes phone calls. He takes me into the shower and washes my whole body, including my hair. He washes himself, rinses us both, then lifts me up against the shower wall and fucks me.

His silence is especially unnerving then. Even when he climaxes, it’s with nothing more than a grunt.

After the shower and breakfast, he makes more phone calls from the other room and continues to ignore me. I sit on the edge of the bed in the hotel robe, disoriented by this abrupt change.

Maybe I was right about the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde thing.

Maybe he’s only wonderful at night.

In bed.

While he’s fucking me.

A nocturnal sex vampire who rises at sundown and turns into an irritating, baffling Irishman during the day.

Since he’s still pacing around in the other room growling in Gaelic into his cell, I pick up the hotel phone and dial the Four Seasons. The operator puts me through to Gianni’s room.

“Hi, Mamma. It’s Reyna.”

“Reyna who?”

I sigh heavily. “Glad to see you haven’t lost your special spark since your only daughter married a stranger and your grandchild ran off to Mexico with the pool boy.”

“I’m on my third mimosa. Things are a little fuzzy over here.”

“What happened after we left? Have you spoken to Lili? What’s Gianni doing?”

“I’m fine, thanks for asking.”

“Mamma, please. Not today.”

She pauses. “How are you doing? The Irishman still breathing?”

I throw an irritated glance toward the other room. “He’s still breathing.”

She chuckles. “Sounds like he won’t be for long.”

“Tell me about Lili. Did you see her leave?”

“Sí. She and her pretty boy left with about ninety-seven bodyguards in a convoy of limos. Looked like a presidential motorcade. Then Gianni left. I don’t know where, because he didn’t go to the reception, and he never came back to the hotel.”

I’m relieved to hear Lili left the church with Juan Pablo and was under protection when she went. That must mean they were headed to the airport as Quinn ordered. But then I hear a loud popping sound in the background and frown.

“Did you just open another bottle of champagne?”

“Don’t judge me. I’m on vacation.”

Feeling a headache coming on, I rub my temple. “I’m going to arrange for someone to come to the hotel to get my things.”

“Don’t bother.”

“Why not?”

“They were already here.”

“Who was?”

“The Irish army, that’s who. Knocked on the door twenty minutes ago, rushed in like a tsunami, packed up your suitcase, rushed back out again. That barrel-chested one’s cute. Kellen?”

“Kieran.”

“Mmm. I think I scared him when I told him I’ve always liked a nice big man.”

“Jesus, Mamma.”

“What, a girl can’t dream?”

“Since when do you flirt with men?”

She cackles. “Since never, but it was fun. He ran out of here so fast, he left skid marks on the carpet.”

I say faintly, “I don’t understand what’s happened to my life.”

“You’ll land on your feet, stellina. In the meantime, have a mimosa. You sound like you could use one. Or five.”

“Thanks for that stirring pep talk.”

“You’re welcome. When Gianni comes back, should I give him a message?”