Headlong (Quinn Brothers Book 2) Read online

  He took her surfing one evening, and taught her how to paddle out beyond the small breaking waves and catch them back in. Her sense of accomplishment when she finally managed to stand up on the board for a microsecond before bailing off back into the water again was enormous.

  They hooked up Abby’s laptop to an old projector they found and spent an evening with her colleagues laughing at trashy science fiction movies and picking holes in the ever-increasingly outrageous plot lines.

  He took her fishing, and helped her to scale, gut and cook the single fish they caught. Well, he caught it on his fishing line, but she was with him, so she considered it a joint effort.

  One night they went to a local bar and she drank beer and danced to the sound of a visiting rock band.

  All things her parents would have scoffed at.

  In return, she introduced him to her world.

  She took him out on a field trip and showed him how to collect samples for testing, and they laughed together when he turned over a rock and was momentarily startled when a large spider scuttled away.

  She introduced him to her microscope and explained the tests she did on her samples to analyze the properties of the rocks. He was amazed at how much a tiny speck of dirt could tell her.

  He read the paper she was preparing for publication and even claimed that he found it interesting. She didn’t believe him.

  And they talked. About her family and his. About geology and helicopters. About their hopes and dreams for the future. About anything and everything.

  By the time Friday rolled around a second time, she was starting to feel like she was burning the candle at both ends. She had never been more productive at work, but the long days were starting to catch up with her.

  Still, she greeted Noah with enthusiasm when he showed up to the canteen on Friday. He scooted in next to her at the table, without any of the others so much as raising an eyebrow. It seemed to be tacitly understood that they were a couple now, and of course he would want to sit next to her.

  She still wasn’t sure what to think about her relationship with Noah, if you could call it that. She liked and even respected him now, and he always made her feel good about herself. She looked forward to seeing him every day and missed him when he wasn’t with her. He was her best friend here, and she felt comfortable sharing thoughts and feelings with him that she had never shared with anyone before. Not even Jed. Although she didn’t ever bring up Jed to Noah. It didn’t quite feel right.

  Lately, the thought of ever having to spend this much time with Jed made her feel quite uncomfortable. He was a lot like her parents sometimes. It had been just a vague thought before she’d snapped at him and now that she’d articulated it, she had realized how alike they really were. He wouldn’t understand her point of view and would try to educate her out of it. Or make her feel guilty for spending time on anything other than work. Or make pointed comments to show how ignorant he thought she was. Of course, he was a highly-educated professor and top in his field, so compared to him she was ignorant about many things. It was just that he so often made her feel that way.

  Noah was so easy to be with. He challenged her to think about things from a different viewpoint, and to see the world from a different angle. He was always friendly and warm, with none of Jed’s mood swings or descents into bitterness and sarcasm when things didn’t go his way. She always felt happy when she was with Noah.

  So, when Noah suggested that they go out that evening to see if they could find any turtles scrabbling out of the water to dig a hollow and lay their eggs on the beach, she accepted enthusiastically, despite her tiredness.

  She’d sent Jed her paper already, and tomorrow was Saturday, so there was no need for her to be in her lab at seven a.m. as she was during the weekdays. She could sleep in until ten if she wanted. Or even take the whole day off and forget about her work for a couple days.

  Life, she had decided, was a lot more exciting when she mixed a bit of fun into her working week. Noah had brought a lot of joy into her days. She couldn’t quite imagine going back to the way she had been living before. All work and no play really had made her a dull person.

  The drive to the beach felt shorter than usual. She knew the tracks now and knew the turns and corners and small hills that lay between the compound and the beach. It was no longer a mystery to her, but an outdoor playground filled with exciting possibilities.

  When they arrived at the beach Noah pulled a beach blanket and a small cooler out of the back of his truck and spread out the blanket at the top of the dunes, overlooking the beach.

  He had brought a bottle of wine and a couple plastic glasses in the cooler. She smiled as he poured her a glass and handed it to her.

  He quirked a questioning eyebrow at her.

  “I was just thinking that we’ve already done something parentally-unapproved,” she said, as she gestured with her glass. “Wine in a plastic glass? Shocking! Actually, plastic glasses themselves? Dreadfully trashy.”

  “You mean I’ve gone to all this effort over the last couple weeks to find parentally-unapproved things for you to try, and all along it was as easy as pouring you some wine into a plastic glass?” He made a face of mock disappointment. “What a waste of effort.”

  “It hasn’t been wasted at all. I’ve enjoyed every minute of everything we’ve done together.”

  He held up his glass to hers, and she knocked hers gently against his. The plastic glasses made a quiet click as they toasted each other. “You have?” His face was unreadable in the growing shadows.

  The wine was good. Light and fruity and the perfect accompaniment to a warm evening. She took a moment before replying, wanting to make sure her words came out right. “I have. It’s been great fun spending time with you. You know how to relax and to take things easy, to make friends and to have a good time. That’s something I never learned how to do. I’ve always been too focused on my work.”

  “Maybe it comes a little too easily for me,” Noah admitted, as he put his towel behind his head and lay down to look at the night sky. “I like my job a lot, but I’ve never been focused that much on a career. Climbing the corporate ladder doesn’t hold any appeal. I’d rather just rescue people when they need a hand and go surfing the rest of the time. And I suppose a fair bit of chilling in between.”

  Abby leaned back in her turn. “Isn’t there anything you really want to do with your life? Like, I want to be a scientist. I’ve always wanted to be a scientist. I love thinking about how the earth was created and how it has developed over millennia. Finding a fossil gives me a thrill that lasts for days. I wouldn’t know what else to do with myself.”

  “Living in the present has always been enough for me. Until now, I guess.”

  “So, what changed?”

  “I met this woman. Terrifically smart and very successful. A bit of a workaholic, you might say, but great fun when she stopped thinking about rocks all the time. She made me reconsider my approach to life. Made me wonder if it was time I started thinking a little more long term.”

  Abby grinned at the description of herself. “She sounds like a miracle worker.” All the same, she was touched that she had had such an impact on him. All this time, she had thought their relationship was very one-sided, but it seemed she was showing him a different way to live as well.

  “She is. She is so sure about her place in life, and what she wants to do. In many ways, I envy her that certainty.”

  He jumped to his feet then and held out his hand to pull Abby to hers. “Enough serious talk. Let’s go for a stroll while there’s still enough light in the sky.”

  He didn’t let go of her hand, and she didn’t pull away.

  Hand in hand they strolled along the water’s edge. The sand was still warm from the heat of the sun, and the odd shell was sharp on the soles of her feet. She edged towards the water, enjoying the chill of the water and the way it rushed up to her ankles and then retreated as each wave rolled in and then back again.

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sp; There was a disturbance in the water just in front of them and Noah stopped short. “Look, there’s a turtle. Let’s see if it comes ashore.”

  They stood still and watched as it scrambled out of the water and then dragged itself up onto the sand, further and further until it was above the hide tide mark. The tracks it left looked rather like tire tread marks. It was much bigger than Abby had expected, and it looked as though shuffling through the sand up into the shelter of the dunes and out of reach of the high tide mark was a marathon effort for it. Once it had reached the dunes it sat still for a moment. Abby and Noah were as still at statues, not wanting to startle it. Then it set to with its flippers, shoveling out a hollow in the sand.

  “She’s getting ready to lay her eggs,” Noah whispered close to her ear. “Then she will bury them in the sand to protect them from predators and leave them there.”

  His breath was hot on her neck. She was having trouble concentrating on what he was saying. And not just because it was the first time she had seen anything like this. “And what do the baby turtles do when they hatch?”

  “Make their way to the water as fast as they can, before a seagull eats them. Most of them don’t make it, but enough do.”

  “That’s tough.”

  “That’s life though. Nature can be a cruel mistress.”

  They collapsed on the sand and sat there for what felt like hours watching the turtle dig, then wriggle itself into the hole where it seemed to collapse in exhaustion. Noah slowly pulled Abby away and back to the place on the beach where they had the open bottle of wine still waiting for them.

  Noah gave his towel a brief shake to get rid of the sand, and then laid it down on the sand. He pulled her down to sit next to him.

  “I didn’t want to stress it out. Wildlife deserve to be left alone from humans sometimes.” His voice was still quiet.

  “That was incredible,” Abby breathed back. The wine had given her a warm feeling in her belly, a warmth that was spreading down her back and through her limbs to tingle in her fingertips. Or maybe it was the feeling of Noah’s hand enclosing hers that had made her feel so suddenly warm.

  She turned and nuzzled her face into his shoulder. “And you are incredible for showing it to me. Thank you so much.”

  He leaned down and tilted her chin up so that he could look into her eyes. “I want to kiss you, Abby.”

  His eyes were shining in the starlight. It must have been the effect of the wine, because Abby heard herself murmur back, “I want you to kiss me, too.”

  His lips came down on hers, hesitant at first, and then bolder, encouraging her response.

  She hadn’t been kissed since third grade, and that had been a mere peck on the cheek. She had a moment of panic. What if she was doing it wrong? What if she messed up somehow?

  Noah felt her hesitation and drew back. “Is everything okay?”

  She nodded, her face hot. “I haven’t exactly been kissed like that before.” She gave an embarrassed laugh. “One of the perils of being a workaholic scientist—you don’t exactly get much time for relationships.”

  “Do you want me to stop?”

  “Oh God, no,” she blurted out immediately before she could think better of it, and then hid her face in his shoulder again. What was he going to think of her?

  “Good. Then I won’t.” And he bent his head towards her again.

  Abby felt boneless with pleasure at his touch. She wanted him to keep kissing her all night.

  And more.

  She hadn’t wanted anyone with such fervor since, well, since never.

  She leaned backwards, resting herself on her elbows on the beach towel. “I want you to make love to me, Noah.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Perfectly sure.” And she was.

  He didn’t need another invitation. He stretched himself out next to her on the towel and deepened their kiss. Their bodies were plastered against each other, and she could tell precisely how much, to the inch, he wanted her.

  She wriggled against his erection and made an appreciative noise in the back of her throat. How had she never known before how good it felt to have a man pressed up against her like that? How much had she been missing out on by focusing on her studies, and only on her studies, for so long?

  His hands were on her dress, fumbling with the buttons down the front. She wriggled to her knees and pulled it over her head, tossing it onto the sand beside her.

  The dress’s lined bodice meant that she had had no need to wear a bra. Clad only in her panties, she knelt beside him in the glow of the rising moon.

  He sat up and took her breasts reverently in his hands. “So beautiful,” he breathed, caressing them gently. And then he took one of her nipples in his mouth.

  An electric arc shot through her body at the touch and she arched backwards, thrusting more of her breast into his mouth.

  When she could breathe again, she tugged at his shirt. “You’re overdressed,” she murmured.

  In a few quick movements, he got to his feet, dragged his t-shirt over his head and pushed his shorts down over his hips. “Better?” he asked, as he stood before her, naked in the night.

  His tattoos were a faint outline. She reached out and stroked them, glorying in the feel of his bare chest under her hands. “Much better.” Then she let her hands move downwards, until they reached the whorl of hair on his belly.

  He went as still as a rock when her questing hands reached his erection. When she touched him, he let out a sharp exclamation. He was as hard as a rock, too. She let out a little giggle. Just as well rocks were her favorite things. “I’m not hurting you?”

  “No.” But his voice sounded as if he were in pain.

  “I haven’t done this before,” she said, as she ran her hand down the length of him, and then gave him a gentle squeeze. “You will have to tell me what to do.”

  “You’re doing just fine so far,” he bit out between clenched teeth. “But if you keep doing that,” he added, as she squeezed him again and brought the tip of her tongue to his tip, “I’m not going to last out the night.”

  She licked him tentatively, and then reluctantly let go.

  With a gentle hand, he guided her down to the towel and slipped his hand inside her panties. “You’re wet for me.”

  She tried to close her legs in embarrassment, but he kept his hand there, and in a few moments her shame had melted away in a wave of heat.

  When he slipped off her panties and bent his head to taste her, she could hold on no longer. A powerful orgasm swept over her and she cried out into the night, her body shuddering as wave after wave of pleasure rocked her.

  When she came to herself again, she opened her eyes to see Noah looking at her with satisfaction. “That was good?”

  Boneless, she couldn’t move. “You know it was. It was amazing.”

  He reached out and stroked her side. “I’m glad you enjoyed round one.”

  Amazingly, even though she felt completely satiated, she felt herself respond to his touch again. “Round one?”

  There was a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “You surely didn’t think we had finished yet? We have the rest of the night still to go.”

  She wouldn’t have believed she was capable of getting aroused again so quickly, but under Noah’s skillful hands, she felt herself getting short of breath once more. He was so male—and so right for her.

  And more than anything else in the world right now, she wanted him inside her.

  Spreading her legs wide in invitation, she looked up at him. “Make love to me, Noah.”

  He poised at her entrance and rolled a condom onto his erection, the strain evident on his face. “Are you ready for this?”

  “Yes.”

  His entrance was slow and steady as he pushed into her, filling her until she knew she would never feel complete without him.

  Deep inside her, he held himself still for a moment. “Oh God, Abby, you feel so damn good.”

  “So do you,” she grou
nd out, as she bucked wildly against him.

  That was all the encouragement he needed. He withdrew and thrust into her hard, pushing her against the sand.

  She met him, stroke for stroke, her fingers digging into his butt as she pulled him close to her.

  “I’m going to come, Abby,” he grunted, as his strokes grew faster. “I’m going to come inside you.”

  “Good.”

  “I can’t hold out any longer.”

  “Neither can I.”

  “I’m coming. Now.” And with a howl of completion, he let go.

  The feel of him throbbing wildly inside her tipped her over the edge, and another orgasm slammed into her, taking away her breath and making her see stars.

  It was several minutes before either of them caught their breath enough to talk.

  Abby was the first to recover. “If I’d known it was going to be that good, I would have lost my virginity years ago.”

  Noah grinned at her. “It was only that good because it was with me. No one else could have made you scream like that. Twice.”

  “I didn’t scream.” At least, she couldn’t remember having done so.

  “You did too.”

  It was quite possible. Noah was certainly worth screaming over. She shifted on the towel, suddenly aware of a momentary discomfort. “I have sand in my butt.”

  He riffled his hand through his hair. “I should’ve taken you back to my room instead of falling on you like a wild animal. Not very gentlemanly of me.”

  She smiled lazily at him, feeling perfectly relaxed and happy. “I didn’t want a gentleman. I wanted you.”

  They lay there in contented silence for a few more minutes before Abby yawned loudly.

  “I should get you back to the dorms.” He sounded as reluctant as she was to move.

  “Meh, I guess so. I suppose we can’t stay out here all night.”

  Hand in hand, they wandered slowly back to Noah’s truck and drove back to the campus.

  As she opened the door to get out, he leaned over and kissed her. “You are an amazing woman, Abby. Thank you for tonight.”