Paragon

⊰❉⊱ 52 ⊰❉⊱

Quinn spun on her feet, her sunglasses pushed high in her hair. She watched the ocean sprawling ahead. I watched her leaning on the front of the car.

She turned over her shoulder with that trademark smile.

"What?"

I shook my head and nodded her forward. She seemed only too happy to comply. My dark shirt fluttered against her body as she walked the wooden plank path to the villa ahead.

The palms surrounded us in bright lime and yellow leaves. The sand was whiter than sugar and the villa was nothing but paradise in the tropics. Wide glass panes and wood for nothing but uninterrupted views.

But who cared about any of that with her here...

The staff had left the front window door open and the long white curtains shifted in the breeze. Her fingers brushed them as she passed inside.

She left her bag by the door and shook her head as she took in the modern yet natural interior of stone floors and finely cut furniture.

"This stuff just doesn't exist in the real world, Fletcher..." She murmured, leaning against a marble counter and gazing at the aqua blue water kissing the shore.

I dumped my back and rolled my shoulders with a smirk. She caught it and rolled her eyes.

"We can sleep on the beach if you prefer."

"As long as there's a we in the sleeping arrangements." She replied with a sly look.

I returned it with an innocent one and took my place beside her on the counter looking out the glass. Unlike the cities, this never changed.

"There may be if you have trouble sleeping in the heat." I mused, before meeting her dark smirk. "But we have good air conditioning."

"Leave it off." She stated.

It made me laugh despite her serious expression.

"I should be worried shouldn't—"

She rolled off the counter and stopped my lips with her finger. "Terrified." I stilled under her touch and let the heat and scent of her wrap itself around me.

"Want a swim?" She blurted.

I raised an eyebrow wordlessly and stopped breathing when she unbuttoned her shirt—my shirt—someone's shirt—in front of me.

"Quinn." I got strangled.

She turned her back to me as it fell from her shoulders and left her in some of the finest lace underwear I'd ever had the honour of seeing... Her hips swayed as she slid open the back glass door and trailed down the sand beyond.

I cursed a non existent god and then myself.

This is what I wanted wasn't it? Freedom and time to be with her. Just a moment without death around every corner. Now the mortal was waltzing off into the ocean practically naked knowing exactly what she was doing and I was stood here like—

She turned around, still walking backwards to the ocean and pointed directly at me. My body cooled seeing every line of her and curve before she pointed behind her.

I sighed long.

You are an immortal. An elite assassin that has averted doomsday more than once and that woman is just asking you to move. Why was facing ancient, world altering elites easier than facing Quinn Adams?

I shook off my own ridiculousness and strode after her.

Her ankles were already in the water as she watched me cross the threshold into the sunlight. I pushed my hand back into my hair and tore it free, letting the wind carry the dark waves behind me. She faltered a step when she didn't see me hesitate at the lip of the water.