Chapter 16

I closed my eyes and wallowed in the feeling.

“Mark…” I breathed.

He bent forward and kissed the corner of my mouth. I turned toward his lips, intending to deepen the kiss, but he backed away. “Bed.”

I rose to my feet, and his palm stroked up from my knee to my thigh, to slip under the shirt I still wore. He dragged his fingernails over the fly of my shorts, and I couldn’t prevent a shiver.

Mark growled and pushed himself to his feet.

“You’ll hurt yourself.”

“Not likely.”

“Mark.”

“I’m fine, Quinn. You don’t have to baby me.”

“Baby you, no. But someone has to look after you.”

“And that would be you?”

“Yes.” At one point in our relationship, I’d have expected a response like that to result in him fighting me on it, but now he looped his arm through mine and urged me toward the adjoining bathroom.

“Y’know what I find funny?”

“What would that be, Mark?” I relieved myself, then went to the sink, washed my hands, and reached for my toothbrush.