by Cari Quinn
“He told you,” he said after a moment.
“You knew he was coming over?”
“Sure. Best friend code. If you’re going on a solo visit to see the other’s girlfriend, you have to get clearance first.” His unexpected grin blinded her. “Still counts if you’ve slept with her.”
“You’ve got this all worked out,” she said, moving back. As much as she craved his solid warmth, she needed to stand on her own to figure out if she could stand with him. “It’s all so reasonable and adult. Are you sure you’re both only thirty?”
“Cale’s thirty-one actually.”
“Thanks for the clarification.”
He reached out and stroked her shoulder. “He can handle her,” he said quietly. “If he even wants to.”
She let out a laugh and shook her head, shocked to the ground by the stabbing pinpricks in her eyes. Hell no. She wouldn’t even think about getting damp-eyed over that bitch. It wasn’t her problem. She had to be hormonal.
“C’mere,” Tony murmured, tucking her head against his shoulder. Holding her there when she would’ve slipped away.
“I’m fine,” she said stubbornly, staring at her shaking fingers as they hooked in the front of Tony’s shirt. “I just know how she affects men. I know that when she crooks her little finger, they come running. Strong men, who normally wouldn’t be so goddamn stupid.” Her broken laugh exploded against his throat when she pressed her mouth to his skin.
God, this was Tony. Her Tony. Hers. And she wouldn’t share him. She’d die first.
“She didn’t have that effect on me,” he said against her hair. “Not even close. She’s attractive but that’s not what I see when I look at her.”
“Oh really. What do you see?” Marcia asked, unable to stifle the tremble in her voice.
“I see a woman who’s on the verge of cracking completely.”
“Only humans crack.” Like I’m about to.
“She’s very human. And she’s terrified of what you’re going to do to her.” He pushed a loose curl behind her ear. “You hold all the cards here, Marcia. She knows it too.”
“What did you say?”
“A lot of things.” He tightened his hold on her. “The most important was that I want to build a future with you.”
There was no way she could hold back a shiver now. “Why? What is it you see in me that makes me worth all this bullshit?”
“You make me happy. We can make each other happy, if you’ll just listen when I say there’s no one else for me.” He cradled her face in his hands. “And if you’ll let me, I’m willing to spend a lifetime proving that to you.”
Chapter Twelve
Marcia closed her eyes, unsurprised at the wetness that slipped out to seal them shut. Struggling with her anger at Diana was one thing. Dealing with her concern for Cale, another. But hearing the warmth in Tony’s voice when he offered her forever? No one could be that strong, least of all the woman who loved him right back. “You have no idea how much I want that.”
“Tell me.”
“I’m ready to try again, to really try this time. I didn’t before, not even when I was married. It was easier, safer, to keep one eye on the door. That’s what I always did, because if I didn’t care with all of me, no one could break me. I don’t want to break.”
“Neither does Diana.”
His quiet, patient tone ripped the rage from inside her, at herself most of all. “How can you compare us? I’m not like her. I don’t use people like she does. I don’t hide behind my looks and my position and take advantage—” She opened her eyes and shook off her tears with such vehemence they sprayed over his cheeks. But he didn’t step back even when they dripped off his chin, as if he’d taken them on as his own. He didn’t let go.
“What if she loved Spencer?”
Marcia made a sound of disgust. “So she told you.”
“Parts.”
“And of course you’d take her side. Why are you defending her?”
“I’m not.” He rubbed his thumb over her wet cheek. “I’m defending you. Baby, I think you’re fighting yourself most of all. You’re afraid you’re too much like her. You’re punishing her for being as scared as you are right now. For making some really bad fucking decisions, over and over again.”
“I turned on him because of her.” She gripped her elbows. “After the thing with Diana the first time, I turned my back on my own brother because I didn’t want to be associated with their situation. But then when David and I split up, he was there. Spencer never held it against me that I didn’t know how to be a sister, just like I didn’t know how to be a wife. Sex I can do. That I can handle. But anything more? No.” She turned away and closed her eyes again. “I can’t do it,” she whispered.
“You’re wrong.”
“You don’t know the real me.”
“Yes, I do.” His soft certainty curled around her, offering the support she hadn’t had a clue how to ask for. Somehow he always knew. “I know that dragging Diana’s needs through the streets and besmirching her professional reputation won’t make you forgive yourself for what happened before. You want to be a different person, then make a different choice. Let this go. This isn’t about us, sweetheart. This is for Cale and Diana to figure out.” He placed his hand on her back. “We have a lot to think about ourselves. Our own lives to live.”
She wanted to argue. In fact, at least half a dozen replies hovered on the tip of her tongue. One of them stood out from the rest. “She didn’t fuck him over once, she did it twice. And you expect me to walk away? Why should I give her the break she didn’t give my brother?”
Tony didn’t say anything for a moment, then let out a long breath that made her cheeks burn with shame. She must be such a trial to him. “You need to put it in perspective. Spencer’s already ahead of the game. He’s happy with Kelly. He has his own business to run exactly the way he and Kelly see fit. Diana’s alone and she’s trying to keep her head above water in her parents’ store when I know damn well there are certain people who can’t wait to see her fail.”
“You’re asking me to feel sorry for her?”
“No, I’m suggesting—not asking, because it’s not my call or my business—that you show her some compassion. Maybe then you’ll start showing some to yourself.” Gently, he turned her toward him again and cupped her shoulders. “You didn’t see her face today when she realized you were my girlfriend. She’s damn lucky you never noticed it was her at the club, because you probably would’ve pulled her hair out by the root.”
A smile twitched onto her lips. “It’s probably a weave.”
“Touché.” He kissed her forehead while his thumbs circled in distracting loops on her upper arms. “Whatever you want to do, I’ll support you. I’m just saying you have choices. Right now, she doesn’t.”
“She could’ve been a little more circumspect in the first place,” Marcia muttered. “If Little Miss Perfect needed to get her ass blistered, why didn’t she stay the fuck home?”
“I don’t know. Not really my problem.” He didn’t add nor is it yours but she heard it just the same.
Dammit, did he honestly expect her to take the high road here?
She’d been stewing all afternoon about how she’d finally get to skewer Diana. Or at least she had until this evening, when she’d started to—against her will—imagine exactly how it would feel to be outed like that. And think about who else might be affected.
Diana had kids. To the best of Marcia’s knowledge they were older and didn’t live in the area, but just the same. Word traveled. While liking certain flavors of sex was nothing to be ashamed of, it also wasn’t necessarily something the kiddies should be privy to. Or fellow coworkers.
Tony was right about Spencer. He’d won the round with Diana. Was still winning. Despite the front she put on, Diana was not. Scuttlebutt indicated she’d been single quite a while and many of her employees at the Nook barely tolerated her. Her kids weren’t even in her orbit. Another kick
while she was down and who the hell knew what would happen.
Marcia scrunched up her shoulders then let them sag. Already some of the tension she’d hauled around all day like a sack of old potatoes was starting to drain away. Because she knew what she had to do.
Daaaaamit.
Diana or no Diana, the one thing Marcia didn’t need to do was to send more bad mojo out into the universe. While she was standing on so many precipices in her own life, she couldn’t afford the karmic debt.
Not your problem, Marcia chanted in her head. Not your problem.
“Marsh?”
“Yeah, fine, so it’s not really my problem either.” She sighed at the twinge in her oft-neglected conscience as she lifted her head and met his gaze. “I’m doing this for you, by the way. If you can do the supposed right thing no matter how uncomfortable it is, then I can too once in a while. Just don’t get too used to it, Antonio.”
His face softened, his dark eyes melting like chocolate chips on a cookie sheet. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
He grinned and she had to fight to keep from grinning back at him. She’d do a lot more than smile at her sexy man once they’d gotten through this conversation.
Right now, she’d just keep her serious face on, thank you very much.
“This isn’t your only chance, you know,” Tony said, brushing his hand over her hair. “If you change your mind, you can still blast her rep to kingdom come. But you’ll likely be blasting Cale too. Not that he cares.”
“He’d probably have a T-shirt screen-printed. The guy’s completely unrepentant about sex.” Except this morning. He’d acted uncharacteristically hesitant concerning last night.
She was no dummy. That meant it hadn’t been just some impromptu crop-and-run game. Diana had gotten to him. Even blindfolded and facedown, somehow she’d reached a place inside him Marcia knew he didn’t willingly give access to.
“True enough. He doesn’t lose his cool about anything.”
“Not so true anymore,” Marcia murmured.
“Why? What’d he say to you?”
“Not a whole hell of a lot. But I think he’s interested. Christ, he was talking about Diana’s boobs when he was in bed with me, so who am I kidding? We know he’s fucking interested.”
Instead of giving her one of those patient looks that made her feel approximately six inches tall, Tony started to laugh. “Well, can’t fault the guy. She does have nice breasts.”
“Asshole.” She laughed too, catching the teasing glint in his eyes. “Good thing I know you’re kidding.”
“Nah, I’m lucky, because I get this even more gorgeous, perfect pair all to myself.” He played with her nipples, already rising to stiff peaks beneath her sweatshirt. “No bra,” he added appreciatively.
“No panties either.” She knew from his widening grin he’d heard the little hitch in her breath. He had very talented fingers. “I went low maintenance today.”
“Mmm. I want to go low too. On you. I want to taste every part of you,” he said, his breath hot against her cheek. “Right here in this hallway, until you’re limp and digging your nails into the wall to hold yourself up.”
She moistened her lips. Kinda matched the moistening going on elsewhere in her body. “That sounds acceptable to me.”
“Not yet.” He twisted her nipple and a moan escaped before she even knew it was coming. “First we need to have a talk.”
“Another one?” She knew she was whining and didn’t care. “Aren’t we done yet?”
He flashed her another grin. “Be good.”
“I’ve already been good once today. Any more and I’m likely to turn green and start smoking.”
He pulled her with him into the living room. “Funny girl. So—” His gaze narrowed on the mess on the sofa. “What happened here?”
“Been writing.” She shrugged when he glanced her way. “It’s messy business.”
“Come up with anything awesome?”
“Oh yeah. The book’s basically done, except for the table of contents. And that’ll probably just be a list of sex positions.”
Ignoring her, Tony made a spot for himself amongst the piles and sat down. When he reached for her notebook, she swooped in and grabbed it. “Um, this isn’t ready yet.”
“I want to read it.”
“Soon. When it’s ready.”
“When will that be?” he asked, frowning.
What was the big deal? Like he really cared about reading her dopey little sex advice book that probably no one would even buy, never mind read. “I don’t know. I haven’t figured out if I want to share my work yet. The online sites I visited said that a writer should protect their creative space and keep it judgment free. ”
“I don’t judge you. Hand it over.”
If she couldn’t wreck lives, at least she could drive her boyfriend crazy. It wasn’t a bad trade-off, all things considered. “Nope.” Before he could react, she shoved the notebook under her sweatshirt and stepped back. “Sorry. Mine.”
“Really.” He placed his hands on his thighs and angled his head, clearly in no hurry to get up and wrestle her to the ground. Darn it. “Is that how you want to play this?”
She gave a vehement nod. “Yes. I highly value privacy.”
He rose, the leisurely movement a counterpoint to the rapid beat of her heart. “Right now, there is a bigger rights violation to consider.”
“What’s that?”
In three steps he was in front of her and hauling her against his chest. He dipped his head and seized her earlobe, his teeth sinking in without thought to her pain or pleasure. Giving her both effortlessly. “You’re mine, Marcia Daly. Lock, stock and notebook.”
“Galvin.” She turned her head so he could take more of her flesh into his mouth. “I’m not using Daly anymore. I’m a Galvin. I’m…shit, bite me again.”
He laughed and sealed his lips around her pulse, drawing hard to mark her skin. The resulting thrum of excitement echoed through her body. “I like Marcia Galvin.”
“Do you?”
“I do.” He shoved her jeans down so he could cup her cheeks. Handy that she’d worn her baggiest pair to mope in today. “God, I love your ass.”
She frowned at him as he traced his fingertip up and down her crack. He’d had the perfect opening to reveal his unending love for her. Instead he’d commented on her butt. Which she appreciated and all, but really?
“What about me?” she asked.
He tugged off her jeans. “What about you?”
As he spread open-mouthed kisses down her throat, she shivered at the cold press of the notebook’s metal spiral into her belly and breasts. “Uhh.”
“That’s better. Stop talking. Start feeling.”
“On it. Do that again. With your teeth. Right fucking there.” She gasped at the jagged seesaw of his teeth between her neck and shoulder. He answered her directive, repeating the move over and over while he fumbled up her sweatshirt and pried out the notebook she so didn’t care about at the moment. He tossed it onto the coffee table then hoisted her up into his arms so easily she got lightheaded.
A man’s strength always made her a little dizzy. This man’s in particular. He already held so much of her that when he took possession of her body too, her brain tended to vacate the premises.
Like right now.
He backed up to the couch and sat down so that she straddled his lap. “I want you,” he whispered, drawing her sweatshirt up and off. He sculpted her breasts with his hands, his gaze ravenous. “All of you. More than I’ve ever wanted anyone.”
Her pussy heated as fast as her mouth dried. “Then take me.”
“Tonight we’ll take each other.”
Surprised by the tightness of her throat, she nodded and tugged his jacket down his arms, spanning her fingers over the breadth of his shoulders. The crisp white dress shirt emphasized his muscles. All his muscles. Her attention drifted down his torso as she worked on his buttons and un
dressed him as quickly as her overeager fingers allowed. Beneath he wore a white undershirt, which she shoved up to reveal his defined stomach, already rippling with his inward breaths. She drew her fingertips over his navel, enormously pleased by the rumble in his throat.
Soon he wouldn’t be capable of anything more than those hungry, mindless sounds. She wouldn’t stop until she got her way.
Until she’d staked her claim—permanently.
“God, when you look at me like that…”
“Like this?” She drank her fill, a smile playing around her mouth at the increased rise and fall of his chest.
He twisted her nipples between thumb and forefinger and matched her smile when she gasped. “Just like that.”
It wasn’t any hardship to study his delectable body, especially while he kept up his sensuous torment of her breasts. Dark hair fanned over his pecs and wound its way down to the waistband of his pants. With a couple of flicks, they were undone, leaving her free to reach inside and stroke his stiff length, outlined in the black clingy material of his boxers. She rolled back the waistband and closed her palm over the damp head of his cock, her gaze slamming against his while he jerked in her hand.
“Now this is an erection that shouldn’t be hidden by latex.” As flippant as she tried to sound, the last word still trembled on her tongue when he lifted her chin.
“Your choice. All of this is.”
“Our choice,” she corrected, leaning closer to lick his lower lip. His ragged breaths only grew choppier when she began to stroke him. “Let’s make it together.”
“Ti amo.” She was pretty sure that had something to do with love in Italian, but she didn’t know for certain. Nor did she care. It sounded fucking sexy.
He rocked into her movements, eyes closing. Features relaxing and tensing simultaneously. She took her time with him, putting everything she felt and still hadn’t said into the glides of her hands. Into her eyes, so that when he finally looked at her again, she knew he would see how much he mattered to her and how grateful she was he hadn’t given up on her when she’d been tempted to give up on herself.