Dispute Resolution

Chapter Twelve

"Are you okay?" Kat asked as Quinn strode back into The Daily Times office.

"Fine," she said, over brightly.

"You look strange. Shit, did Gray fire you?"

"No, nothing like that," Quinn said, "although he threatened to fire me if I didn't meet certain... criteria."

"Didn't he like the article on Taryn? I proofread it myself. Maybe I should call him and discuss it."

"He liked the article on Taryn, he just wants me to... not be so argumentative with him all the time."

"Are you sure you're okay? Maybe Summer and I should come around tonight, keep you company," Kat said and Quinn panicked.

"I'm fine, really," she said. She didn't want to be around anyone tonight. She needed to process her monumental mistake with Gray. "He's just got me doing some extra research," she said thinking up the excuse quickly. If only Kat knew that almost every statement that had just come from her mouth was loaded with double meaning.

"Jeepers, he really doesn't like you," Kat said.

Quinn shrugged her shoulders. "Anyway, I'd better get back to work."

She made her way over to her work station and plugged in her ear phones. She turned up the music as loud as she could handle it and fixed her eyes on her laptop screen hoping to give the clear message to everyone around her that she didn't want to be disturbed. But the rest of the day was a write off. She must've reworked the title of her article at least a dozen times and still hadn't come up with a suitable one, nor had she managed to write even one paragraph.

All she could think about was what had just occurred on Gray's desk. She closed her eyes. Thoughts of the hottest sex she'd just experienced in her life kept flashing through her mind. She had no idea it could be like that. Every experience before this just seemed pedestrian in comparison. She had no idea that being dominated like that could be so erotic either, maybe that's why she'd experienced her first ever orgasm during sex. Or maybe it was just the sheer potency of the man that she was with.

A man that still hated her. God, how could she be so stupid? This was probably Gray's way of exacting revenge on her for the article and the comments on his mum- give her the best sex of her life to date and then revert back to treating her like mould again just for a bit of fun. Game, set and match Gray, she thought, you win.

****

Gray snatched up the phone from his desk. "What?" he barked into the offensive piece of technology. Honestly, it was five minutes past the half hour that he'd told Lina to hold all calls, was the world really going to fall apart without him?

"Is that any way to talk to your older brother?"

"Dylan, sorry, I didn't realise it was you. What's up?"

"The old man and I are going to swing by your office, just checking to make sure you're there."

"Yeah, come on by," Gray said, raking a hand through his hair.

"We'll see you in ten. We want to see the latest white elephant you've purchased."

Dylan was making a joke, but Gray didn't laugh. His humour had all but gone the moment he'd stepped out of his private bathroom and found Quinn gone. And now he had ten minutes to compose himself after the most mind-blowing sex of his life, that instead of leaving him feeling satisfied, had left him bristling with even more testosterone than before.

Fuck, he needed to punch something. Or he needed to get Quinn back in here to explain just why she'd taken off without even a goodbye kiss. And then maybe they could repeat what had just happened. If only he'd behaved like more of a gentleman afterwards instead of some emotional screw up who couldn't handle a bit of post-coital conversation. Could he blame Quinn for taking off?