The Divorced Military Queen Awakens (by Sadie Baxter) novel Chapter 448

Chapter 448 Narrow Escape

Chapter 448 Narrow Escape

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The moment their car vanished, Jade’s legs gave way and she collapsed onto the asphalt, breath ragged.

Who on earth is that terrifying man? The question echoed through her spinning mind.

Why was he acting as though making the Rowley family pay were as effortless as knocking over a teacup? Have I really provoked a figure so lofty that a lazy order from him could grind my life to dust?

The thought bled the remaining color from Jade’s face. A clammy fear slid down her spine, making her stomach churn.

Back at the hotel, Quinn watched Julius place the reclaimed Officer Bunny plush dead center on the pillow where he normally rested his head.

“Not going to tuck it away?” Quinn asked, one eyebrow tilting upward.

She had assumed he would slip the toy straight into his suitcase, out of sight until they traveled home.

Instead, he displayed it boldly, as though planning to fall asleep that night with the plush officer cradled in his arms.

“Why would I hide it?” Julius asked. “You gave it so I’d think of you. Seeing it out in the open should please you, right?”

She had to admit, the man had a point.

Quinn shrugged, said nothing more, and wandered to the couch. She propped her injured right leg across the cushions and began kneading her calf.

They had walked longer than planned that afternoon, and the muscles along her calf now throbbed with a dull, complaining ache.

Still, the ache was normal for this stage of recovery. In a few more weeks, once the injury fully healed, she would stroll for hours without feeling a thing.

Julius joined her, sat beside her, and gently lifted her right leg onto his thighs.

“Let me do it for you,” he murmured, those elegant fingers working carefully over her calf, coaxing tension out with practiced strokes.

An involuntary sigh slipped from her lips. She had to admit, the man’s touch was perfect–just

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Chapter 448 Narrow Escape

the right pressure, enough to chase the ache away.

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“Do you please people a lot?” Julius asked, his voice brushing her car while his thumbs kept circling.

“Not at all–only you,” she answered. She was no good at pleasing anyone, and they both knew it.

“Is it because you love me?” he pressed.

“Yeah,” she hummed, eyes fluttering closed, the pleasure of his massage making her drowsy.

“Then from today on, you may only please me. No more spreading that talent around.” His words fell in a soft, possessive whisper.

“Got it.” The corners of her mouth lifted; the demand was almost childlike, as if he refused to share his favorite toy.

“So even Harlan is off–limits–you won’t please him either?” he asked out of the blue.

Quinn’s eyes snapped open. “Why bring up Harlan?” she demanded.

“He’s always mattered to you,” Julius said, gaze steady. “If one day he asked you to please him, would you?”

Quinn straightened, slipped her leg from his lap, and said seriously, “No.”

“You wouldn’t?” Julius‘ amber eyes narrowed, probing, almost dissecting her answer.

“I please you because I like you–because I love you,” Quinn declared. “Harlan is my friend. If he ever needed help, I’d back him without hesitation, but I won’t please or coax him the way 1 do to you.”

She couldn’t even picture what it would look like, trying to coax Harlan with the same gentle nonsense she used on Julius.

He leaned forward, the lamplight catching the sharp angle of his cheekbones. In a voice velvet- soft yet edged with steel, he asked, “Do you truly see him as nothing more than a friend?”

“Well… I suppose I also think of him as a kid brother. When I was little, I used to wish for one. But tell me, Julius–do you still resent Harlan?” she replied, looking at Julius.

His lips sealed into a hard line, the color draining from them as though emotion itself had been bled away. Am I not allowed to feel threatened? he wondered, bitterness prickling under his tongue.

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