Page 52 of The Commander

“My father...you heard him that day.”

Fuck.

“Fuck your father,” I snapped, tightening my hold on her face. “Tell me you want me. Tell me, Quinn!”

A tear slid down her face.

“Quinn,” I pleaded and hated myself for it. Closing my eyes, I sought equilibrium and drew in a breath. “Look, I leave in two weeks. Let’s go get a burger and talk, really talk, and I can give you that ride on my bike.”

She could take that however she wanted.

Suddenly, she took a little step back, slight panic filling her eyes. “I was teasing before.”

The dagger in my heart was now twisting painfully. I’d discharged and she couldn’t even agree to a conversation about being together.

Quinn was a closed book, and trying to pry her open was like finding a rusty tin can on a deserted island.

Towering over her, my heart on my sleeve, raw and vulnerable, I realized in that moment that I was in love with Quinn Parker. That I would do anything for her and to have her in my life. But unless she took the step on the path with me, I was fighting a pointless battle.

I should’ve been used to this powerlessness when it came to her. The Army and its rules had always been the wall between us.

Now it wasn’t.

There was no one to blame...the choice was Quinn’s, and she had made it with that tiny step backward.

The hurt inside me shifted, turning to anger. I slid my hands into my pockets and rocked back on my heels. “Then why the fuck are you here?”

Quinn flinched.

“I came to say goodbye.”

Another piercing turn.

“Fine. Go. Sign my good-bye card. Turn around and walk away, Quinn,” I challenged her.

She swallowed, her face turning pale.

“Noah, please.”

“Here he is! I found him,” Johnny yelled as he rounded the corner with fellow soldier, Avery, who grabbed hold of my shirt and tugged. “Mechanical bull challenge starts now, and you’re up!”

I held Quinn’s eyes until I rounded the corner, and when I climbed onto the bull and it started up, I hung on to it like it was her.

When it flung me off, I laughed.

The irony.

When I climbed to my feet and glanced around, she was gone, and Tyrell was clapping and grinning.

Fucking prick.

Six long months I’d waited for her to reach out, regretting her choice that night. She hadn’t. But life had thrown us back together, and now she was lying in my arms.

I had tasted her and made her come.

Knowing Quinn, she’d try to bolt out of her own room, but this time I wasn’t letting her. Hell, she’d probably be saying no to me right up until she said I do.

I brush her dark hair from her forehead and study her face. With little effort, I could slide my cock inside her and fuck her so hard she’d have my name imprinted on her uterus.