***
“Hello, Dewdrop.”
Quinn barely heard Julian’s words. Her attention was solely focused on the brand new, tan couch sitting in her living room. It hadn’t been there when she’d gone to the bar to grab the stub for her paycheck. She had automatic deposit; banker’s hours didn’t exactly work for her, but she’d decided to check with Clint and Angie and make sure she hadn’t missed anyone from the fight last night. They hadn’t mentioned anyone she didn’t already known was there.
She hadn’t been gone an hour, but he’d been extremely busy. “What is that?” she demanded.
“It’s a couch.”
Her eyes shot toward him. “I know it’s a couch. What’s it doing in my living room?”
“I wasn’t spending one more night on that death trap you scavenged.” He rubbed at his neck to emphasize his point. “I texted Chris earlier to find me something comfy to sleep on. The delivery guys dropped it off while you were out.”
“How convenient. Did my couch break your neck?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t see the problem.”
“It was hideous and less comfortable than a board of nails. By the way you could have warned me that I was literally sleeping on a death trap.” He gestured to the three stakes sitting on top of the milk crate. She’d placed them strategically through the couch. One had been under a cushion, another on the floor beneath the couch, and the third in the springs under it. “One of them kept poking me.”
“Not hard enough,” she retorted.
He chuckled as he ran a hand through his tussled hair. “I think it left a bruise.”
“What are you, the freaking Princess and the Pea?”
“No, I’m definitely all man, but I do enjoy sleeping.”
Her teeth grated together, it took everything she had not to start swearing at him. “Who said you were going to stay here again tonight?”
He folded his arms over his broad chest, crossed his legs and leaned against her wall. “I just assumed you would continue to be an inviting ball of sunshine.”
There were angels who would have gladly jumped on him and beaten him to death. She most certainly wasn’t an angel. “Where is my couch?”
An irritated sound escaped him, but there was no way he was more aggravated than her. “I had Chris put it where it belongs.”
“If it’s in the dump…”
“It is.”
“Damn you!” she snapped. “I don’t care what you say, or what you think. I want you out of my life!”
His body uncoiled, he closed the distance between them in three lengthy strides. The thunderous look on his face almost made her retreat a few steps, but she refused to give him any more than he’d already taken from her. She tilted her head back to look up at him, and defiantly met his icy stare as he rested his hand on the wall beside her head and leaned closer.
The inside of her body came alive, her ability itched to taste the waves of power he emanated and feast on him. Stay under control, she told herself, but the tempting vibrations of his body against hers were almost more than she could stand.
“You can curse me, damn me, do whatever you want to me, but I’m not leaving until there is no more threat to you. It could be a very long time before I walk out that door and out of your life, but we can fight about it later; we have something far more important to deal with first. Now, tell me you know for sure all the people who were involved last night.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “I do,” she reluctantly admitted.
His face eased. “Good.”
“I’m going to help you with this, but don’t get rid of my things or try to take control of my life like this again.”
“Whatever you say.”
“Don’t patronize me!”
Her body relaxed when he dropped his hands down and stepped away from her. “I’m not patronizing you.” He ran a hand over his face, pulling at the dark stubble lining his cheeks.
A tired air surrounded him. For the first time she realized what he’d seen from the killer was wearing on him. “What you saw last night was really bad, wasn’t it?”
“It was,” he confirmed. “You should get ready to go.”
“Yeah,” she murmured.
Despite her persistent urge to yell at him, a part of her would like nothing more than to console him in some way. Shaking her head at the ridiculous thought, she walked into her room and closed the door behind her.