Filed to story: Quinn Lane and Julian Sterling Book PDF Free
He actually had the nerve to use those words.
Even if they had not gone all the way, he had still kissed her, held her, and seen her completely naked.
Just thinking about it made Quinn’s cheeks burn.
“When I got there,” Julian said, “Maddox was in the middle of trying to take your clothes off.”
Quinn instinctively grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled it tighter around herself.
“We were out on the water at the time, so taking you straight to a hospital wasn’t an option. I had the yacht head for shore first, then I called my private doctor to meet us. During that time…”
Julian rarely showed embarrassment, but now it was unmistakable.
His Adam’s apple shifted as he swallowed, his jaw tightening slightly before he continued.
“You weren’t conscious. Because of that, there was some physical contact between us.”
“Physical contact…” Quinn turned her face away. “I wasn’t in my right mind back then. What about you?”
Julian looked straight at her. “I was perfectly aware of what I was doing. But I’m still a man, and a normal one at that.”
“If that’s the case, then I should be grateful you saved me,” Quinn said. “So why didn’t you finish the job and take proper responsibility? Why did you lock me in a room and leave me there by myself?”
That was a question Julian had no real way to answer.
In the end, he simply said, “Then my mistake was staying with you that night and taking advantage of the situation while you weren’t conscious. If you wanted to call the police, contact at that level probably wouldn’t be enough to get me charged with anything.”
“How do I know you’re even telling the truth…”
Quinn said quietly.
Her voice lacked conviction.
Deep down, she knew that someone like Julian probably would not bother lying about something like this.
Besides, she understood her own body.
She had never actually been with a man before, but that part of her body… there was no way she would not have noticed something if it had really happened.
Which meant Julian had not slept with her.
She was still… untouched.
“Do you want me to explain what kinds of physical reactions women usually experience after actually sleeping with a man?” Julian asked.
Quinn’s face immediately turned bright red. “What are you even saying? You…”
Seeing her flare up in embarrassment and anger, Julian actually thought she looked far more vivid and alive than before.
Knowing that nothing had been wrong with her physically finally allowed him to relax.
“If I had done it, I would admit it,” he said calmly. “But I didn’t. If you called the police and had me arrested anyway, wouldn’t that be pretty unfair?”
Quinn fell silent.
“You might not believe me right now,” Julian continued. “But someday, when you have a real sex life, you’ll”
“Shut up! Ah!”
Quinn grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and hurled it straight at him. Then she turned and ran.
Julian caught the pillow easily with one hand. He watched as she fled the room in complete embarrassment.
She really is far too easy to fluster.
At that moment, Julian had no idea what kind of Quinn he would end up facing in the future.
But Quinn herself already knew something had changed.
She had developed a deep resistance, almost a psychological barrier, toward physical contact with men.
Even though Julian had explained everything, she still could not fully escape the shadow that night had left behind.
She believed what he said. A man like Julian had no reason to lie just to explain himself to her.
Besides, what would he gain from it? And her own body had given her the answer.
Quinn knew that Julian had not taken advantage of her vulnerability. If anything, he had saved her.
But every time those fragmented memories resurfaced, her whole body tensed up with discomfort.
The Julian she saw in front of her was cold, composed, distant, and untouchable.
Yet in those broken flashes of memory, a man’s burning palm had gripped her waist, while his desperate kisses had left the back of her tongue aching.
The contrast was so extreme that it tore her thoughts apart.
She could not reconcile the two versions of him.
The man in the custom-tailored suit concealed a powerful, heated body beneath the expensive fabric.
And hidden under that polished exterior was a side of him that no one ever saw.
Whenever Quinn thought about what had happened between them that night, a wave of intense shame washed over her.
She wanted to erase that memory completely.
But strangely enough, even though those memories came only in broken fragments, they were becoming clearer and clearer in her mind.
Because of that, whenever she thought about Julian, she could almost feel the heat of his palm against her skin and that suffocatingly intense kiss all over again.
Cold, distant, untouchable? Take away the tailored suit and the polished facade, and the hunger beneath was impossible to miss.
The only thing she could be grateful for was that she had not been violated. If hugging and kissing counted, then yes, she admitted those things had happened, but that level of harm was something she could still bear.
What she could not seem to heal from was the psychological scar. Because every time she heard Chase’s voice, it still made her feel nauseous.
She once tried imagining what it would be like to be intimate with Chase. The thought alone made her feel like she was about to throw up.
Quinn lay on Lucy’s bed and listened as Julian’s footsteps faded away outside.
Once the divorce is finalized, I’ll just live on my own.
Since physical closeness with men now made her instinctively recoil, living alone might actually be the simplest life for her.
Compared to the resentment she once felt toward Julian, the person she truly hated was Chase, the man who had treated her like an object and handed her over to someone else.
But she had already consulted Veronica about it.
According to Veronica, while Chase’s behavior was morally disgusting, it did not necessarily qualify as a criminal offense.
There was no evidence proving that he had drugged her, and Quinn’s testimony alone would not be enough to convince the authorities.
In other words, if she tried to take Chase to court and make him pay for what he had done, it would be even harder than accusing Julian.
Now that she knew the truth, Quinn gave up the idea of calling the police.
But there was no way she would continue this marriage.
Someone like Chase was absolute trash. She did not want to spend another single day married to him.
Without hesitating any longer, Quinn washed up, changed clothes, and headed to the Lane estate.
Victor Lane and Elaine were both college professors.
Their schedules were fairly relaxed, and when Quinn arrived, they were just about to sit down for dinner.
“Quinn, you’re here?” Victor said with a smile when he opened the door. “Perfect timing. Join us for dinner.”
Elaine was in the kitchen finishing up dinner when she noticed Quinn. She looked over and asked, “What brings you home today?”
Her tone carried a hint of stiffness.
Quinn knew Elaine was still upset about the day she had said she needed to prepare for a competition and refused to sew a quilt for Rosalie.
Even though she had eventually made it afterward, Elaine was still unhappy.
She had accused Quinn of not caring about her sister.
“Dad, Mom,” Quinn said. “I came back because there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“What is it?” Victor said. “We can talk while we eat.”
If she brought up divorce right now, dinner would probably be over before it even started.
“Let’s eat first. We can talk after dinner,” Quinn said quickly. She stepped forward and took over what Elaine was doing. “I’ve got it.”
During dinner, Elaine talked almost entirely about Rosalie.
“It’s only a little over a month until the holidays. I wonder if Rosalie will be able to come back.”
“We’ll find out when the time comes,” Victor said. “Worrying now won’t change anything.”
“How can I not worry? She’s a young woman living so far away, halfway across the world,” Elaine said, then shot Quinn an annoyed look. “If it weren’t for you, your sister would never have had to go study somewhere so far away.”
Quinn lowered her head and quietly continued eating.
Victor said, “Alright, that’s all in the past. There’s no point bringing it up again.”
Elaine said, “I’m reminding her that her sister left for her sake. Otherwise, with her qualifications, do you really think she could have married Chase?”
