Chapter 304 Desire And Doubt
Chapter 304 Desire And Doubt
Heat rippled beneath his taut skin; his chest rose, fell, then rose again as though each gasp fought its own battle. In that instant, Julius looked dangerously alive–raw temptation poured into human form.
Quinn angled her gaze away. “Yes, I’m here. Fabian said you accidentally drank a spiked cocktail and refused medical help.”
“Medical help?” He dragged in air and seized her wrist. “If I walk out like this, the press will feast. A scandal would bleed the company. I can’t risk that.”
Fire licked beneath his palm; the heat of his skin scorched her pulse. She wondered if the drug’s fever was burning him from the inside out.
“If exposure is all you fear, I can wipe every camera between this room and the car. We wrap you in blanket, cover your face–no one will know,” she said.
“And if they still uncover my name? The hospital halls have–ears, Quinn. Secrets leak. Just as you learned that I abandoned Rowan, and you walked away from me.” His breath fractured, fingers tightening as though her wrist were his only anchor.
“Julius, we are no longer together,” she answered, voice low but firm. “I’m not your antidote. I’m here to persuade you to seek treatment. The Whitethorn family’s power can bury any rumor.”
“But… what if I still refuse?” Julius murmured. Forcing himself upright, he swayed, then collapsed forward, heavy and desperate, into her arms.
Quinn darted forward on instinct, catching Julius by the shoulders. The sudden contact drew him flush against her, heat rolling off his skin like a furnace. Even through the layers of fabric between them, she felt the scorch of his body, a fever that seemed to radiate straight into her bones. He quivered, jaw clenched, every muscle in his face fighting for restraint, yet his arms locked around her with a desperate force, as though she alone could snuff out the detonation of need building inside him.
“Do you know? This drug sets the body on fire. It feels like poisoned insects gnawing under the skin. It hurts so much, Quinnie. Are you really going to stand there and watch me burn?”
Quinn lifted her chin, icy calm veiling the panic thudding in her chest. “I am not here for that, Julius. We ended this. I will not let history replay itself tonight.”
He buried his face against her neck, breath scalding. “Yet you came,” he murmured, words rubbing against her skin like his restless hands. “You still fear for me. You still care. Tell me I am wrong.”
The fragile thread of restraint was all that kept him from becoming a crazed animal and slamming her beneath the weight of his hunger.
“I am only here so you will not blame Mr. Wooley later,” Quinn answered, tone flat as glass.
“Ha.” The raw chuckle scraped out of his throat, roughened by need. “Do not pretend you feel nothing for me.”
“Believe whatever eases your conscience,” Quinn snapped, shoving at his shoulders. The motion only made her acutely aware of the growing change in his body against her thigh.
She sighed inside. Perhaps the simplest solution was to knock him out cold and drag him straight to the emergency ward.
“What if I told you the liquor I swallowed was what Trent Grafton wanted to drug you with” Julius forced out, words jagged between shallow breaths.
“What did you just say?” Quinn froze, every nerve snapping to attention.
She had assumed some smitten socialite had slipped the drug to Julius.
Yet he told her Trent was behind this.
“Trent not only spiked the drink,” Julius went on, voice fraying, “he hid a mini camera. There was no chance I would let him get the footage.”
Understanding dawned like a cold lantern in Quinn’s mind.
Trent had grown spiteful after her repeated refusals. He meant to film her disgrace and leash her back to his yoke.
How blind she had been to ever save that man, to go so far as to marry him.
“I will make him pay for this,” Quinn growled, teeth clamped tight.
Julius panted, his mouth hovering over hers. “I have already started. If Trent even thinks of harming you, I will ruin him until he is unrecognizable.”
“What exactly did you do?” Quinn demanded.
A chill slipped down her spine. Julius was fully capable of crossing the line.
“Tell me, are you worried for me, or for Trent?” Julius asked, eyes smoky with heat.
Quinn kept silent.
“If you worry for me, that warms my heart,” he whispered. “As for Trent, I simply forced the rest of the spiked liquor down his throat. Whatever he planned for you, he can experience himself.”
“If the drink was meant for me, how did you end up with it?” Quinn pressed.
Julius flushed deep crimson, his unfocused eyes fixed on her. “Quinnie, I will not hide the truth. I drank it on purpose. I needed to know whether you would come… Whether you would save me.”
Quinn blinked, and in that heartbeat, Julius seized her mouth with a fierce kiss.
