by Toni Aleo
“Man, he’s fast.”
“Yeah, but only for like five seconds. But if you chase him, he tries to go faster, and I’m always worried he’ll have a heart attack,” she cried, taking him from Markus and shaking her finger at him. “Now, you know better! What were you chasing? A bird? They’re faster than you.” Looking up to Markus, she smiled. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good. I just didn’t want to lose him.”
“Thanks, he’s such a jerk. He did this earlier.”
“He was howling at the window, and I didn’t pay it any mind, but I guess he was telling the bird he was coming for him,” he joked.
“Yeah, and I bet the bird laughed at his big butt. Goodness,” she said, shaking her head and starting for the cabin. “You’re such a brat.”
“I didn’t think he was that fast. I’m highly impressed.”
She laughed, and God, he loved the sound. “I think he thinks he’s littler than he is and forgets that he can’t move that fast. I’ve tried putting him on a diet, but you’ve seen his eating habits.”
“Hey, I can’t hate. I’m the same way, I love food.”
She grinned over at him and nodded. “As am I, but our friend here doesn’t work out like we do.”
“Well, that needs to change.”
“You tell him that,” she said with a laugh, and he smiled as they reached the cabin
He opened the door for her, and she went in, placing Mr. Right on the couch before putting her stuff down too. Markus watched as she moved, her dress clinging to her body in all the right ways. Holding his breath, he bit into his lip as she moved to pull the scarf off and laid it on the table while the silence stretched between them. If he didn’t say something, he would either take her in his arms, or he was going to die. It was that damn simple.
Clearing his throat, he said, “How did the rest of rehearsal go?”
“It went really great. The wedding is going to be beautiful on Saturday.”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
“I thought you were in the wedding.”
He shook his head. “Nope, at first I wasn’t supposed to come in until Friday, so I wouldn’t have been able to do all the rehearsals and stuff.”
Pulling out the chair that was beside the door, she sat down. “Because you were down with the Ninjas.”
“Yeah,” he said, coming around and sitting across from her. “I didn’t think I’d get called up.”
“Well, that’s silly, you’re great.”
“Eh, the last year or so, no. I’ve kinda sucked.”
“I’m sure that’s with good reason.”
“Yeah,” he said softly, shrugging.
“But still, you’re an awesome player, and I know Elli is excited to see you play.”
His heart warmed as he sent her a smile, and she smiled back. “Thanks.”
“It’s the truth,” she said, waving him off. He couldn’t stop himself, he reached for her hand. She seemed surprised, but then her fingers laced with his and everything inside him went hot as their eyes met.
“Sorry. I had to touch you.”
She smiled shyly while holding his gaze. “Oh.”
“I can’t help it.”
She blinked as she nodded. “It’s nice.”
Neither of them said anything, just held hands as Markus’s other hand drew circles on the back of hers. Her mouth moved and he thought she was going to say something, but apparently, she couldn’t get it out as she looked away, shaking her head.
He figured he should say something. “I’m sorry you had to find out the way you did. I wanted to tell you. Not like that, though.”
Sucking in a breath, she looked up. “No, it’s fine. I’m glad I know.”
“Me too.” He smiled as he rubbed the backs of her knuckles. “They don’t look bruised or damaged, so I’m assuming you didn’t kick her ass?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “No, not at all. I said some shitty things, told her she was dead to me and stuff like that, but like always, my parents are making excuses.”
“Excuses?”
“Yeah, apparently, my sister is addicted to pills.”
That made sense, and he wouldn’t doubt it. That was the only way she’d gotten high back in college, but he’d thought she was smarter than that. “Wow. I bet that was hard to hear.”
“Hearing she tried to rape you was hard to hear. Hearing her excuses for why wasn’t. They were just infuriating,” she seethed. He understood her anger, he felt the same, but he also knew how badly off people who suffered from addiction were.
“She’s sick, though. That crap changes people,” he tried, but she shook her head.
Giving him an incredulous look, she said, “I don’t care, she shouldn’t have done what she did.”
“Oh, I completely, one hundred percent agree with you on that.”
“I don’t get how you can defend her after all that.”
“Whoa, no way, not defending her, I’m just pointing out that addiction sucks and hurts people. But in the end, Mekena, she is your sister.”
“No, my sister wouldn’t do that to me,” she answered, and then she looked away. “I can’t believe she did this, and I’m so incredibly sorry, Markus.”
“It’s not your place to apologize.”
“Yeah, but I’m going to.”
“Okay,” he said with a smile, rubbing her knuckles. “Thank you.”
She didn’t smile back, though. Instead, her eyes filled with tears as she looked back down to the table, her shoulders slumping some. “I thought you wouldn’t want to talk to me.”
His brows rose. “Why wouldn’t I want to talk to you?”
“Because of all this. I’m her sister, I’m a part of this, the pain,” she explained, but she still wouldn’t look at him.
Squeezing her hand, he cleared his throat. “You did nothing wrong, Mekena. If anything, I shouldn’t have put myself in that position. I shouldn’t have had that drink with her. I should have walked away.”
“You can’t do that, though. This isn’t your fault—you’re the victim.”
“So are you,” he explained when she finally looked up. “She fucked us both over. And, yeah, it sucks, but until we both accept that neither of us is at fault, we can’t move on.”
Biting into the inside of her lip, she held his gaze. “How do we do that?”
He shook his head. “I have no freaking clue. Baylor says I need to go to therapy.”
“Yeah, you probably do. Hell, I probably do too.”
He smiled. “We can go together. Hold each other’s hand and shit,” he said, and she grinned.
“You’re such a dork. You take nothing seriously,” she accused, but not with annoyance.
He shrugged. “Yeah, but then this would be really hard to take, you know?”
“True. It feels better to smile than to cry.”
“Amen to that,” he said, and she smiled as she looked away. Watching her profile as his fingers moved along her knuckles, he didn’t know what to say next. As much as he wanted to gather her in his arms and kiss her senseless, he wasn’t sure if she wanted that. He could tell everything was still weighing hard on her. It was all still so raw, but he had spent much more than a year without her, and he wasn’t sure he could go on any longer. “One thing is my fault, though.”
She looked back at him, her brow furrowed. “What?”
“I should have contacted you sooner. I should have gone to you and really apologized and explained that I had no clue what happened. I shouldn’t have let you go like that, but I think I did because I was embarrassed and scared. Please know that in no way was it easy, Mekena. There were nights when I couldn’t sleep ’cause I swore I could smell you, and it shattered me.”
Her eyes were wide as they started to fill with tears, but she held his gaze. “Me too. I missed you. I didn’t want to, but I did.”
He smiled at that. “I missed you too, and I’m sorry. Really sorry.”
; “I mean, given the circumstances, I can’t blame you. I just wish I would have tried instead of running. Maybe then I would have been able to help, and then you wouldn’t have had to do it on your own. I feel like I failed you. Like I wasn’t there for you.”
“I can’t blame you for running, Mekena. I would have. If I’d walked in on that. I would have taken off and never talked to you again. It looked bad. It looked like I fucked up. I mean, she even had me believing it.”
She nodded. “I was just so hurt and broken.”
“I know,” he whispered, squeezing her hands. “I was too.”
They sat like that as the minutes passed, just holding each other’s hands, neither knowing what to say or do. There was so much that had happened, and he wondered if they could come back from it. If the love they had two years ago was still strong enough to live on. He prayed it was, but she wasn’t talking. She was just staring at the table, chewing on her lip.
“So what do we do now?” she asked, and he shrugged.
“What do you want to do?”
When she looked up, he held his breath as her eyes met his, a lone tear rolling down her cheek. “Earlier at my house, after it all went down, I told Libby all I wanted was to wrap you up in my arms and hold you.”
His lip quirked at the side. “Yeah?”
She nodded. “I feel like you need a hug. I know I could use one.”
He was out of his chair before she even finished, pulling her up and into his arms. She went willingly, her arms coming around his chest as his wrapped around her neck, holding her tight. Closing his eyes, he nuzzled his nose into her hair as he breathed in her scent, unable to fathom how he had gone so long without her in his arms. Her face nuzzled into his chest as her arms squeezed him tight. Man, it felt so good.
So perfect.
They held each other, neither moving, only breathing as the sounds of the wilderness sang outside the cabin. But he wasn’t really listening. He only heard the sound of her heartbeat, pounding against his stomach as her arms dug into his sides. He didn’t want to move. He didn’t even want to breathe. He wanted to stay just like that for the rest of his life. But then she whispered, “Markus?”
Pulling his head back only slightly from her shoulder, his voice was rough. “Yeah?”
“Kiss me.”
Her head moved up, but before she could even fully look at him, his mouth was finding hers, connecting in sweet perfection. His fingers threaded through her hair as she held his hips, their mouths moving with ease and familiarity. They had a lot of practice with kissing, and apparently, neither of them had forgotten those lessons. They fit together seamlessly, her lips hard to his soft. The way her tongue slid along his lips, wanting him because she knew how that drove him crazy. Pressing his body into hers, needing her to be closer, he slid his hand down, pushing his hand into her ass so she could feel how hard he was for her.
How badly he wanted her.
When she pulled back, he kissed her top lip and then her nose as she gasped for breath against his jaw. His eyes drifted shut, loving the feel of her but needing to control this desire inside of him. He couldn’t expect anything to happen. They were figuring things out; he needed to slow his body down. Problem was, the guy in his pants didn’t listen very well. Because when she moved against him, he hissed out a breath, opening his eyes—only to find that she was pulling her dress up and over her body.
“Holy shit,” he gasped as he drank in her full breasts protected by a sheer black bra, her thick peaks dark under the fabric. Her belly was flat and he missed the little chub she had there before, but he forgot all about that when his eyes drank in the matching sheer panties she wore. “Jesus, Mekena. I’m trying to control myself here.”
Her lips curved as her eyes drifted shut in a seductive look before she pushed her hair off her shoulders, whispering, “Don’t.”
“Don’t?”
“Don’t,” she repeated, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing him down to her, his mouth a breath away from hers. “Take me to bed.”
“To bed,” he repeated, unable to comprehended what the actual fuck was happening.
“Yes, to bed,” she giggled, her eyes full of so much heat and want. For him. Breathing hard, he searched her eyes with his. Was this a pity fuck? Or was it a good-bye fuck? Why was he thinking so much? Take her!
But he couldn’t.
“Are you sure, Mekena? Like, really sure? I mean, we just started talking for real like an hour ago, and I don’t want this to be over tomorrow.”
Moving her thumb along his jaw, she shook her head. “I’ve wanted you since the moment I met you, Markus Reeves, and I have no intention of this being over tomorrow. But right now, I want you to take me to bed because, yes, I know we have a lot to hash out and figure out, but I’m tired of waiting. I want this.”
“Really?” he squawked out, and then he closed his eyes in embarrassment. He fully expected this all to be a dream when he reopened them, but it wasn’t. Mekena was looking up at him, her eyes dark as she nodded.
“Do you want me, Markus?”
“Fuck yes,” he cried out, and she smiled.
“Then take me.”
Apparently, it took a few times for that to sink in, but when it finally did, there was no stopping him. Reaching for her, he lifted her up, her legs coming around his waist as their mouths met. Carrying her into her room, he paused because he wasn’t sure she had condoms in her room. Since he didn’t want to stop once they got started, he turned, kissing her as he navigated the way to his room, watching out for the couch and then Mr. Right as he went toward the kitchen. Making it to his room, he walked until the bed hit his legs before slowly laying her down, covering her body with his.
“That took forever,” she teased, and he grinned against her lips as his hands ran up her ribs to her breasts, cupping them. His whole body went taut, his mouth dry as he molded and nibbled on the two globes that were hiding behind the sheer fabric.
“You don’t know what forever even is. I’ve spent the last two years thinking about you every night when I went to bed,” he whispered against her breasts as his hand shook. He used to dream about touching her like this. When they were dating, things got hot and heavy, but he never got to see her like this. So wanton as her body arched into his or actually seeing her nipples or feeling the heat so directly from between her legs. It was driving him mad, and he knew once he got inside her, he was going to embarrass himself completely. But in a way, he didn’t care.
He had all night.
“Every night?” she breathed, her voice rough and sexy as her hands pulled at the bottom of his shirt.
Raising his arms, he nodded. “I was incomplete without you.”
After he threw his shirt to the side, she cupped his face, bringing it to hers as their mouths met. Pushing the cups of her bra up, he captured her bare breasts in his hands, moaning against her lips as he pressed himself into her. Pulling his mouth from hers, he trailed kisses down her neck, swirling his tongue along her peaks before kissing across her belly, and bringing her panties down her thighs before sitting up to bring them all the way off and onto the floor. Drinking in the sight in front of him, he almost thought this wasn’t real.
“I’m dreaming,” he whispered, and her face reddened.
“I hope not.”
“And to think, you thought I didn’t want this?” he asked, bringing her leg up and kissing down it, swirling his tongue along the inside of her knee. “You thought I didn’t stay up at night, whacking off to the mere thought of you?”
Giggling, she smacked his arm. “Markus!”
“What? It’s true,” he threw back at her, kissing her thigh. “I dreamed of my mouth on this gorgeous pussy every time I even just got to graze it.”
And to make his dreams a reality, he took her whole in his mouth. When he ran his tongue along her slit, she cried out, her knees coming together. But he held them apart, which opened her more. As he slid his tongue along the inside of her fles
h, she tasted sweeter than he ever could have imagined. Finding her bundle of nerves, he was relentless, moving and nibbling at it as she thrashed against him. His name left her lips in pure, unadulterated torture. Slipping his fingers inside of her, he couldn’t stop his eyes from closing as he continued to move his tongue against her nub. She was fucking tight, and he trembled to get his cock inside of her. He was begging for it, but he wanted her to get hers since he would get his—and fast.
He slid his fingers in and out of her, and she moaned his name, screamed it as she shook under his mouth. When he looked up, her whole body was blotchy red as she held her breasts, arching up as she shouted his name. Her moans and cries were music to his ears, and he almost wasn’t sure he could handle it. He had wanted this for so long, and now he had it. He honestly had never thought it would happen, and now that it had, he wanted to savor her, but he wanted her too bad.
When she shattered, she sat up, squeezing her knees together, but there was no closing her legs with him between them. She tried to push him away, but he wasn’t done. He couldn’t get enough. Looking up at her, he continued to fuck her with his fingers as their eyes met.
“You’re fucking gorgeous, Mekena,” he said roughly as her head fell back and she moaned loudly, making his toes curl.
“Markus, I want you,” she cried as he sped up the rhythm of his fingers, wanting her to come again. She was so wet, so juicy, and he knew it would be over for him before it started if he got inside her. “Now, now, Markus, please,” she cried, trying to squeeze her legs shut.
Biting into his lip, he stopped, pulling his fingers out of her as she collapsed back onto the bed. Covering her body with his, he kissed her hard as his cock slid against the wetness of her perfect pussy. He almost came just doing that as her arms and legs wrapped around him and she kissed him hard against his lips. Pulling back, he kissed her nose. “Let me go so I can get a condom.”
She nodded, releasing him. Going to his bag, he grabbed a few, throwing them at the end of the bed before opening a package to slide it on. But before he could, he noticed she was watching. He knew she wanted to help him with it, but there was no way. “I will come before you even get it on, don’t look at me.”