“Seriously. Go.” He poked me in the back.
I chuckled, putting an extra kick in my step as I flounced to the other side of the bench. He watched every move with interest as I trailed my fingers over the counter. I climbed onto one of the swivel seats, resting my elbows on the bench top to create a nice view of my cleavage.
Marcus licked his lips. “Are you sure you don’t want to put some clothes on?” he asked dryly.
I flashed a sinful grin. “Positive.”
He groaned but his gaze didn’t leave my breasts. “We are going to eat,” he tried to warn me.
“Is that a challenge, Marcus?”
“No. Yes. Maybe. Fuck. I don’t know.” He blew out a breath and fumbled about with the other cuff of his shirt before throwing away the ruined remains.
By the time I finally left Marcus’s apartment, the steak was still sitting in its pack, but my hunger had been well and truly sated.
“Will you stay for the night?” he’d asked as I was about to leave. His quirky, lopsided grin almost had me. Almost.
Laughing, I had turned down his offer, hoping he didn’t see how much I wished I could stay.
* * * * *
The first message request came through as I sat at my desk the next day.
Morning after catch-up, he’d called the appointment.
A sting of warmth needled my chest and I tried not to smile. There was nothing to smile about. The invitation to meet was exactly the same as the last ten that’d hit my inbox.
I hit accept.
“Ridiculous,” I muttered under my breath.
I spent the time waiting for Marcus to arrive by compiling a list of things to do, which mostly involved making up lost time for my unproductive day yesterday and rearranging my pens. By the time Marcus arrived, my nerves were perfectly under control and my professional face was on.
“Good morning.” His greeting was functionary, although the glint in his eye was anything but. “I wanted to check on progress. You know, make sure there’s nothing on your mind this morning that might interfere with work.”
Apart from him? Absolutely nothing. But if he thought I was going to acknowledge what’d happened between us last night… I pretended to look through my notes with a frown. “No. Nothing I can think of.”
“Hmm, okay. Well, if you’re sure?”
“Very sure.” I switched my pens around, changing them from color coordinated to ranking in size. I looked up. “Was there something else?”
Marcus’s smile grew wider. “No. Nothing else.” He got up and I had a few scant seconds to admire him while he wasn’t watching. I got lost in the way his ass clenched and released—mmm, mmm, mmm—as he strolled to the door. He paused just before leaving and turned to catch my stare. His brow lifted. “You’ll let me know if you think of anything.”
I scowled, wishing I didn’t like the sound of his laugh quite so much. I was saved from having to answer by the phone. A quick check of the caller ID showed it was Stacy. Shit. I waved Marcus off, swallowing back my grin to put on my best, professional voice.
“Stacy. Do you have the information on the proposed legislation change yet?”
A pause filled the line. “Ah, no hello? No, ‘how are you and the child-thing you’re incubating’?”
“Sorry,” I shook my head. “I’ve got a busy day and I…I need those details.”
Another pause. “You’ve slept with him, haven’t you?”
I choked back a laugh. Had I slept with him? “No.” I managed to get the word out without erupting into fits. “And I don’t want to talk about it.” I threw in as Stacy took an excited breath.
I gripped the phone. I had no idea what I’d gotten myself into with Marcus and I didn’t want to talk to Stacy about it. Not yet. Marcus wasn’t Nathan. I could see that now. There was nothing hidden about the way Marcus played the game. He was a full-on assault to my senses. Nowhere to hide there. But speaking it out loud to Stacy would make it more real. And that wasn’t something I was ready to acknowledge. I needed more time.
“Oooo-kay.” Stacy sounded confused. “Well I guess I’ll make sure you get my breakdown on changes by the end of the day then.”
“That’d be good.”
“You’re not fooling me, you know.”
“I know.”
“But you’re okay?” Stacy queried softly.
This time I couldn’t hold back my smile. Yeah, I was okay. I’d been emotionally malnourished for so long this thing with Marcus was a chance to explore my feelings without the complication of a relationship. Hell, we weren’t even having sex. Although that wouldn’t last much longer if I had my way. No man could hold off fucking for long. Right?
My grin widened. I’d wear him down before the end of the week. Marcus had no idea who he was dealing with. He wanted to win? Then he had to play by my rules.
“Yeah. I’m good,” I answered my friend. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Abby
Our rounds of sexual competition were so fierce it could be an Olympic sport. I was wrung out, but satisfied physically in all the right places. So much so I relaxed my working timeline to come in late on Monday. What did it matter if I had to stay an extra night in Wellsford…or two?
I smiled. I’d be thoroughly worn out by the time I returned to Chicago. A pang of regret prodded my belly and I paused part way to opening Marcus’s front door, frowning as I stepped inside. And my frown deepened at the sight that greeted me, my chest squeezing impossibly tight. Marcus talking to Rosalind, AKA the perky receptionist. There was nothing in it. Objectively, I knew that. I could see it as plain as day. So why was my heart hammering so hard it pounded in my ears, my stomach burning like acid?
“Hi, Abby.” Marcus saw me falter in the doorway and he turned on a smile that should have stripped away all of my fears. I blinked. His smile faded. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah.” No. The room closed in as air suddenly became hard to find. “I have work to do.” Somehow I made my way past him, the hallway tilting as one foot followed another until I found my balance.
“Let me finish up here. I’ll come through,” he called out.
I didn’t even know what I answered as I beat a fast retreat to my office. I closed the door behind me and backed up against it, trying to catch my breath. I was being silly. Yes. But seeing Marcus with Rosalind brought it all crashing back. How quickly things could turn and how next time it might not be a Rosalind, but an Emma, or a Katherine…or a Nicky.
The realization hit with the impact of an eighteen wheeler. I wanted Marcus. Needed him. And not just for sexual fulfillment.
Rosalind wasn’t competition, but how long until someone else came along? How long until the thrill of the chase wore off and Marcus left me. Just like my sister and my mother…and if my own family could betray me, what hope was there for anyone else?
I curled my fingers up painfully tight. I’d been so fucking stupid to allow Marcus the temptation of his game. Bad, bad idea. To him, I was just another project. Something he could walk away from when he was done. But to me? Marcus made me feel things. Want things. I’d spent the last week telling myself this was different from what I’d shared with Nathan—and it was different, because it was more.
Those were the plain awful facts. My craving for Marcus filled me. Consumed me. Scared me. I shook with raw emotion at the depth of my feelings. How had this happened? How had I failed to follow the most basic of my own rules and respect the game? Instead, the false security of playing had lulled me into laying my heart open to hurt.
I laid my head in my hands. Against a seasoned professional like Marcus, I’d never stood a chance. No wonder he’d been walking around all week grinning like a Cheshire cat, that knowing smile I’d started to ignore because it looked so damn cute. But I’d seen that smile before. Every time he won, it was right there on his face.
Marcus was the consummate player and he’d played me like a virtuoso. I let go o
f my breath. I might have fallen for his cleverly played strategy, but I’d never give Marcus the satisfaction of letting him know. He needed the game. He lived for the game. I couldn’t give him up, not yet. But I was never going to let myself forget he was playing again.
Until then, I would take as much as I could.
* * * * *
“Are you ready?”
It was six o’clock and Marcus stood in the doorway. I always knew he was close by the warm tingle of awareness that started from the inside and crept through my body, raising a rash of goosebumps along my arms.
The smell of him was a tantalizing invitation, the sight of him as he undid the top two buttons of his business shirt, breathtaking. Teasing little slivers of skin tempted me to stretch out my tongue and lick at his throat, his wrists, the soft patch of flesh under his ear. Yummy. He was hot and sexy and oh so dangerous. I had my last rational thought as I gave myself over to him.
“Yes, I’m ready.” My voice came out in a husky rasp.
“Then let’s go, Ms. Harkness.” He tugged me upward. His hands took a sensuous slide down to my waist and his hips pushed forward to bump against me. “Now,” he growled.
“So demanding.” I brushed past him, knowing his eyes were fastened on my ass, right where his thoughts had hopefully been all day.
I knew I was right when his warm breath accompanied the back of my neck on the way up to his apartment. As soon as we were inside I spun around to push him against the door. I pressed against him, my mouth, hot and wet and searching. A deep groan built in my throat as his tongue danced with mine.
“Fast first.” I was already sliding apart the button on his pants. As I released the weight of his cock, I slid to my knees, fingernails rasping a path down the contours of his thighs.
The thud as he hit the door was the only sound Marcus made as I cupped his balls and swirled my tongue around them. Then I slowly licked my way up his shaft. By the time I lapped at the base of his tight, swollen head, it was already glossy with desire.
He lifted me to my feet. “Both of us.” He got rid of my skirt, not caring when the zipper caught as he wrenched it past my hips. “I’ll replace it,” he muttered at my gasp.
I didn’t care, his urgency igniting a searing heat that burned up my insides. My fingers trembled as I unbuttoned his shirt, my shirt, any shirt I could get my hands on. Marcus tried to help and attempt to guide me over to the sofa at the same time. We didn’t make it. He went down a few feet from his goal and didn’t bother getting up. Lying on his back, he guided me around until my head was positioned above his cock and his mouth was directly under my…
“Ahhhh.” A long moan leaked from my lungs as he opened me like a flower and his tongue found my clit.
I pushed my hips against his face and took his cock deep into my mouth. I was rewarded with his groan of pleasure. It set us both off. I wrapped my hand around his length, licking and suctioning his cock, while Marcus lapped and nibbled at my pussy.
We quickly found a rhythm. I rocked back and forth as he strained upwards, the pressure building as the tempo increased, the slide of his cock in my mouth against the carnal rasp and thrust of his tongue on my most sensitive flesh. The air filled with muffled groans of pleasure, wet sounds of mouths and lips and tongues, hands gliding and stroking.
Our rhythm faltered as I lost focus for a moment, sensations sweeping over me so fast a sheen of sweat rolled across my skin, followed by another. My body tightened, until I thought I might cave in on myself. Lifting my head, I fisted his cock and pistoned it up and down in the slick, wetness of my hand. Marcus bucked beneath me, his thumb pressing against my clit as his tongue speared my entrance. Salty sweetness hit the back of my throat and I tumbled after him down the rabbit-hole, wave after wave of pleasure shuddering through me.
“Good.” I groaned as I lurched sideways and landed beside him on the floor.
“Damn good.”
Marcus’s smile almost melted me with its warmth. Almost. He looked sweet and adoring. Satisfied.
I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to move, but knowing I had to. To stay here would be to roll into his arms, lay my head on his chest and give in to temptation. Something I couldn’t do. Ever.
“Bath?” I suggested, not willing to attempt stringing more than one word together until my brain unscrambled. I was limp as a rag, but it wouldn’t be long before I’d want him again. And in my satiated state, who knew what I might agree to?
His eyes popped open and I took it as a resounding yes. I laughed softly to hide my relief. That left Marcus no time to try any more of his tricks.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Marcus
My ass barely hit the bottom of the over-sized tub before Abby was on me. I answered her kiss, enjoying the feel of her wet skin sliding against mine, her breasts pressed against my chest, my cock resting between her thighs.
After my initial explosive release, I had wanted to take my time and linger. Something had happened today but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Something that had put a harder edge than normal to Abby’s sexual assaults. I liked it, sure, but that wasn’t what I wanted from her tonight.
I turned Abby over, drawing her back so her spine rested against my chest. Trailing my fingers along her thigh, I smoothed away the water, enjoying the small shudder that travelled across her body and into mine.
“What are you doing?” she asked. There it was again. An almost defensive tone to her voice.
She tried to turn but I held her still. She gave a half-hearted struggle and my breath hissed through my teeth as her ass wriggled against my crotch. Sensing my reaction, she chuckled and did it again.
The movement of my hand stuttered, losing its rhythm. “Shh. Be good,” I warned, pressing a kiss into her hair. The smell of her wet skin was like a lemon-scented caress and I rested my forehead against her for a moment.
“Perhaps I would if I had something to take my mind off things,” Abby challenged with a laugh.
“If you agree to stay the night, I’ll give you anything you want.”
Abby tensed as my fingers stole up the inside of her thigh. My chest contracted, making it hard to breathe. I wanted her to say yes. Not so that I could win this little contest between us…but because I really wanted her to stay.
“I can’t believe you’re persisting in this silly no-sex rule.” She made light of my comment.
“It’s not silly if you give me what I want.” My mouth found the skin at her throat and I sucked lightly at the condensation.
Abby moaned, sinking back to lean against me while I circled patterns into her skin. Each rotation drew my hand higher. As I brushed the edges of her pussy, my other hand worked her breasts, alternately squeezing and plucking at her pebbled nipples.
Her head fell back against my shoulder. I could see her profile, eyes closed, mouth slightly parted as her breaths grew heavier.
I slid one finger inside her, feeling the clench of her pussy. Abby widened her legs and I lifted her knees so her feet slid to the outside of mine, then pressed against her, holding her open. I pushed two fingers inside, slowly pumping in and out, my lips at her neck, her breasts in my hand, taking the utmost pleasure out of pleasuring her.
“Marcus. Please.” Water sloshed as she started moving to my tempo.
The water lapping at my skin added yet more sensations to my already quivering body. I rocked into her, my cock sliding along the dent in her spine. My balls grew heavy, gathering tightly.
“You want this?” Leaving her breasts, my fingers glided over her belly to her clit. She rode my hand, grinding against me.
“Oh. God. Yeeeessssssss.”
Her clitoris swelled between my fingers, her hips writhing, her body twisting and rasping against my cock. I couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Come. I want you to come.” My words came out in a garbled shout, my orgasm already burning up my shaft, spreading my seed over her back, onto my belly, into the water.
Abby stiffened,
her sheathed heat clenching around my fingers, joined by a guttural moan that reverberate all the way through me. We lay panting for a few moments before she roused herself enough to reach forward and pull out the plug.
She twisted around, dangling the plug from her fingers, a sexy smile flirting at her lips. “Again?”
I laughed, pulling her around to land a kiss on her mouth. As always, her lips were a temptation I found it hard to pull away from. What started out as a small brush of our mouths turned into a lip-locked marathon, only brought to a halt when her teeth started chattering in the fast cooling air. I helped her up and toed the fallen plug back into place.
“Again.” I nodded.
Afterwards, we found ourselves facing each other as we lay in the cooling water, ignoring the puddles on the floor, the sopping towels and smears of scented bubbles running down the outside of the tub.
Body soft and sated, I drew lazy trails along her forearm. “Will you stay with me tonight?” I had to ask again, even though I knew her answer. If I felt this way, warm and relaxed, and just wanting to hold her in my arms, surely she must feel something too.
So, why did I feel the sting of disappointment when she pushed up and out of the tub, brushing aside my invitation?
“Why do you want me to stay?” She tilted her head to look at me and her watchful gaze burrowed into my soul.
“Why not?” I rose and stepped out of the bath behind her. The gnawing annoyance at Abby for not giving a damn inch burrowed into my chest as I swiped at beads of moisture with a towel.
But I was curious too.
“Because it’s just a game.”
Abby took me by surprise with the honesty of her answer. I snorted. She was the one who’d made me play like this. She was still making all the damn rules.
“To you maybe,” I said dryly.
“And you too,” Abby argued. She made a play for my towel but I pushed her hands away. Bunching it up, I began blotting it against her skin. I sunk to my knees as I worked my way down her body, stopping to press a kiss to the silky nest of hair covering her mound.
His Rules (One Night Stand Series Book 1) Page 10