Marcus let his hands move and explore the touch of my body while his lips continued to play with mine. One of his hands came up and slid my nipple between his fingers. I let out a moan of agreement with his move; I loved the feeling of his hands on my body. Anywhere on my body was just what I needed.
He didn’t muffle my moans this time and seemed to press me to moan more as his fingers rolled and twisted my nipple between the tips.
I lay back on the bed and tried to pull him on top of me. I wanted to feel him thrusting inside of me. I wanted to feel the explosion of ecstasy, but he would not give it to me. Instead, he relished the ability to build up my excitement.
His hands were gentle and moved with a light touch over my skin. I could feel goose bumps form as he was intent on making my pleasure last as long as possible.
We spent over an hour kissing and fondling each other before Marcus mounted me and slid inside. Our bodies were sweaty from our makeout session, and it brought another level of excitement to the evening, at least for me it did. I loved feeling his muscles under a layer of sweat. It felt good to know even a man in such great shape could be made to sweat from touching my body.
As our bodies moved in motion with each other, I felt a closer connection to Marcus than I had even a few days before. I was starting to have feelings for him, and that wasn’t a good thing; I really knew nothing about him.
We both collapsed from orgasmic pleasure, I felt the exhaustion of the night overwhelm me. It only took a moment, and I had fallen asleep, tucked close up against Marcus and feeling happier than I had in months.
***
The next morning, I was awoken by the hotel phone ringing. It startled me and took me a few seconds to figure out where I was. I let my hand slide across the bed and felt Marcus, and that helped me figure out where I was.
“Isabella, you sold all of your photos!” Sarah said as loud as I think she could have possibly said it.
“What? All of them, there is no way?” I said as I sat up in the bed. “I can’t believe that. I’ve never heard of anything like this happening. Are you sure?”
“Yep, you did. And there was a bidding war over the picture from the woods. It sold for over twenty thousand dollars.”
“Holy shit!” I stood up and went to the hotel window. “Really Sarah? I can’t believe this. I’m speechless.”
“Yeah, everyone was asking when you will have another show and if you have any other work. Do you have other photos ready?”
“Hell no! I don’t have anything else ready. I mean I have millions of photos, but it took me months just to find those pictures. I can go through my stuff and see if there is anything else I like. I mean I can have another show. But it will take me a few months at least,” I said almost out of breath with excitement.
“That would be great. I’d love to do another show with you whenever you are ready. I’m getting a check cut for you now with all the funds that have already cleared. You’ll get a much larger check in about two weeks with the remaining amount. Minus our commission, of course.”
“Thank you so much for organizing this and putting it together. You did amazing. I wouldn’t have sold all of those photos if it wasn’t for your advertising and bringing everyone into the event. You earned that commission for sure.”
“Have a great day, Isabella, and go out and celebrate. You’re a big hit. I have a feeling this is only the beginning for you.”
“Thanks again Sarah,” I said as I hung up.
I stood at the window looking over Kansas City. It was amazing. I couldn’t believe I had sold all my photos. I couldn’t believe how much money they had sold for. It was like a dream come true. A dream that I had not dared to actually let myself dream of before that very moment.
My life had never been a fairy tale, and that was alright with me. I knew at a very young age that we all get treated differently in life, and I wasn’t going to let that take away from me having a happy life.
“You do know you’re naked standing in front of a window right?” Marcus said as he started to stir in the bed.
“Well, Kansas City will just have to deal with my nakedness.”
“I don’t think anyone will mind. So that was good news about your show?”
“Yes, great news. I sold everything. Can you believe that?”
“Yes.”
He said it so quickly and so confidently that I couldn’t help hugging him. It felt so great to have someone to share that moment with. It also felt really good to be around someone who had such an intense ability to calm me.
For as long as I can remember, I have had an anxiety disorder. This gets in the way a lot of times and makes things very difficult for me. Often times I cannot even shop at the grocery store. Having a boyfriend around helped calm me down in those situations. Having several in my home made me confident I would always have someone to go out and enjoy situations with. It was just one of the reasons that I’d adapted to my new lifestyle and really felt at ease with it.
“I just can’t believe it. One of the pictures went for over twenty thousand dollars. That is so insane to me.”
“Which one?”
“The one of the moon through the woods. It was the one I took the night you had to carry me home.” I laughed.
I didn’t add that it was also the night that he carried me up the stairs to my bedroom. I didn’t add that it was the first night I had been with a man since losing Michael. I also didn’t add that the night was a memory that was still firmly embedded in my mind.
“Hmmm, I remember that night very well,” Marcus said as he kissed me.
He headed over to the phone and stood there naked while he dialed a number. It was impossible not to enjoy watching his body. Especially while he was standing there naked in front of me. I knew he had a lot of muscles, but seeing him in all of his glory just made me want to try something new.
“Yes, we are in room 1205. We need strawberries and champagne, please.”
“What? It’s eight o’clock in the morning. Are you crazy?” I said as I grabbed a T-shirt from my suitcase and a pair of shorts and put them on.
“It’s never too early to have a celebration. But yes, I could possibly be crazy.”
His smile hid something very interesting, and I loved how he winked right after saying the word crazy. I certainly didn’t think he was crazy, but I did really want to know more about him. There had to be more to him than a ripped muscular body that always rescued me from situations.
“Well, I’m only going to have one glass; I want to get home and get to my own bed this afternoon. I’m exhausted. I don’t think I’m going to stay in town any longer. Someone kept me up most of the night.” I jokingly pushed Marcus toward the wall.
“Who would do that? For sure must have been a crazy man.” Marcus winked at me again.
He pulled me close to him, and I let my head rest on his chest. Feeling his arms wrapped around me made me feel so safe. Like no one and nothing in the entire world could ever harm me. I liked that feeling, and I liked Marcus’s arms wrapped around me.
When the champagne came, Marcus popped the cork and poured us a couple of glasses. It was the first time I had actually tasted champagne, and it was delicious. I didn’t stop at one glass and was soon lying in bed drinking my third or fourth glass and eating a giant strawberry with Marcus sitting right next to me.
It was by far one of the best celebrations I had ever had. The simplicity of it made it perfect. Having Marcus there made it perfect. Knowing that Marcus was okay with my lifestyle just added to the perfection. I couldn’t have been happier than I was at that very moment.
Luckily, Marcus had only one glass of champagne and was able to drive us around Kansas City on a little sightseeing tour while I relaxed before heading back home. It was like a first date for us. Sort of backwards to have a date with someone after you were already sleeping with them, but then again, I wasn’t someone who liked to follow the norms.
We went downtown and even drove past the Royals baseb
all stadium. I wasn’t a particularly big fan of baseball, but it was neat to see the big stadium.
Around five in the evening, we went back to the hotel to gather our things and head home for the night. I felt comfortable with driving by then, and I really did want to sleep in my own bed. I wanted Marcus to sleep with me in that bed too, but I would have to work on that idea when we got back to Bain.
Chapter 16
I followed Marcus for the whole drive back to town, and I felt that he was purposely driving slow. Otherwise, he drove like an old lady, and I’d seen him drive like a normal person already. I had always been a slower driver, but since we were just getting started, I would have driven faster to keep up with him.
After following him to the airport the other day, though, I knew he typically was not so cautious and probably was just driving slow for me. It made me smile to think that he was thinking about me on his drive back to town.
When we both parked our cars in our garages, we met in between them to say goodnight. It was almost midnight, and I was exhausted. I certainly knew I would be asleep in only a few minutes after I got to bed.
“Well goodnight,” Marcus said as he hugged me.
“Night.” I turned to walk back to my house but then stopped to look at him. “Do you want to come over?”
He didn’t hesitate at all and was standing right next to me within three seconds. His enthusiasm over the invitation to come visit my house was really cute. We had spent the whole day together, and he still wanted to come over, I loved that about him.
“I think that’s a perfect idea,” Marcus said as we walked into my house.
“I don’t know how exciting and fun I’ll be; I’m pretty tired.”
“Well, I would be happy to just lie next to you for the night. I’m going to cuddle the heck out of you,” he said with a sexy hip thrust.
And that is exactly what we did. Both of us were so tired; we lay down on the bed and fell asleep on top of the covers, fully dressed. Our bodies on top of the comforter and fully dressed in our shorts and T-shirts from the night before.
It was the first time I was going to bed with Marcus without having sex. In fact, it was the first time in a really long time that I’d had a man in my bed but didn’t have sex with him. That wasn’t something I had even thought about after our first meeting. But now I was starting to get closer to him, and this was just one more step in that direction.
Somewhere in the middle of the night, Marcus and I moved under the covers because the draft from the old house was just too much. It was nice to fall asleep next to Marcus. The feeling of being next to him made it so much easier for me to actually get some sleep.
Just before dawn, I woke up to Marcus peering out the window at his house. He was hiding from someone and just barely had the blinds open. I was about to joke with him, but then I realized something serious was going on.
“What’s going on?” I said as I got up from the bed, still dressed in my shorts and T-shirt from the day before.
“I think someone is in my house.”
I came close and was about to look through the blinds, but Marcus grabbed my hand.
“Let me see. What is going on? Why would someone be in your house?”
Marcus just ignored my questions and dialed a number on his phone. I thought it would be 911 to have someone come and investigate. Although, living in Bain, Missouri meant the nearest sheriff or police officer could be a half hour away. There just was not a need to have more than a couple officers on duty in the county at any one time.
“They are here. How fast can you get here?” Marcus said to someone on his phone.
“Who is here?” I said as I went to the other window to try and look out.
I continued to keep the curtains closed to prevent the people at Marcus’s house from seeing that I was watching them. He was right; there were people in his house. I could see the curtains moving, just like the other day when I thought I saw someone in there, but this time there was absolutely no doubt about it.
“While you were gone, I thought I saw someone in your house. I came into my house and waited to see if I saw the movement again, but I did not.”
“What day?”
“I think it was the night you left town.”
“Alright.”
Marcus went back to talking to the people on his phone. I couldn’t make out everything he was saying, but it sounded like he was trying to get them to come to his house. He was calm and controlled like he knew exactly what was going on and had even expected it. I couldn’t understand how he could remain so calm with people inside his home.
“If their team could help out today, that would be great. Send them down as soon as possible.”
I stood at the window and continued to look between Marcus and his house. I didn’t know what was going on, but I could see the tension and change in Marcus, and I felt that there was something pretty dangerous about to go down.
“I need you to trust me. Do you trust me, Isabella?” Marcus said intently.
“Yes,” I replied without hesitation.
It was a little odd to me that I did trust Marcus considering everything I’d seen from him. But I couldn’t help how I felt, and my gut told me that I indeed could trust him.
“I need you to get into the closet and not to come out, even if you hear something horrible. Even if it’s been thirty minutes, and you haven’t heard from me. I need you to stay in the closet until I come back for you. Can you do that?”
I looked at him and tried to take in everything he was saying. I hadn’t hid in a closet since I was in elementary school. What could possibly be going on that it would be necessary for me to hide in my closet? I didn’t see why I couldn’t just stay in my room. Certainly, the people robbing his house weren’t going to come over to my house. Or at least that’s what I thought.
“The closet? Why?” I asked as I looked off toward the window and tried to figure out who those people were in his house and what this something horrible might be that he was talking about.
“Isabella, this is serious. Pay attention. Can you get in the closet, please?”
Marcus guided me to the closet and moved some things out of the way. He had me climb in to the back, and then he put the items in front of me.
“How long do I need to stay here?”
“Until I come for you.”
“Alright.”
I could hear Marcus moving something around, and then he left my room. It was hot and stuffy in the closet, but I tried to stay put for as long as possible. Unfortunately, that only lasted about sixty seconds, and I was up and pacing in the closet. There was a small window that I could look out, but I couldn’t see what was going on so I opened the closet door and went to the other window and looked at Marcus’s house again.
I had never been very good at listening as a child and was horrible at hide and seek. I just had to see what was going on with Marcus; there was no physical way possible that I could sit at home and watch the coverage of the event from my bedroom. I could hardly see anything from there.
Slowly I made my way down the stairs and toward the front room of my house so I could see better. It was the only option I could think of, and I knew it wasn’t going to make Marcus happy when he found out I hadn’t listened to him at all.
I watched Marcus make his way toward the front door of his own house. He really did look like some sort of professional police officer or military man. His eyes were focused, and there wasn’t anything that could distract him.
He had a gun drawn and pointed at his house in a defensive position. I had never seen him look so serious since we met. It was scary and invigorating all at the same time. I also had no idea where he had gotten that gun from since he certainly didn’t have it while we were in bed together. Maybe he had it in his coat or something like that, but I had not seen him with a gun while he was in my company.
I thought that I should go back to the closet, but then I figured it would probably be just as safe
to look out my window. Really if someone wanted to kidnap me, they would eventually find me in the closet anyways.
I watched intently as Marcus made his way around the outside of his house. He would look in the windows when he thought he could see something, and then he would move around to the next window.
Most of the fight movies and other crime dramas that I watched would have already had the hero blowing the doors up and just going inside to see what was going on. I was waiting for something exciting to happen, but Marcus just kept looking around the exterior of the house. He was being extraordinarily patient with these people that were in his house.
Finally, he saw something when he looked through his front window, though, because he kicked down the front door very quickly. I opened my window to see if I could hear what was going on, and all I could hear was a faint commotion. I couldn’t hear what was being said, and before I knew what had happened, I heard gunshots ringing out throughout his house, and I ran down to the front door. I didn’t know what I could do, and I certainly wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into, but I couldn’t let something bad happen to Marcus.
As I ran out of my house and toward Marcus’s house, a black SUV pulled up. A man that I had seen at the airport with Marcus a few days before came over to me. He was forceful like Marcus, and I listened to him.
“Get back in the house. Lock the doors, and don’t come back out.”
I didn’t question him as he was carrying what looked like a very large semi-automatic gun. I turned around and went straight back into the house. I did feel a sense of relief that someone else was there, and that they would help Marcus.
The thought came to me that the people in his house must really want something bad if they kept coming back to his house to look for it. I wondered what it was that they were looking for. Certainly, it would have to be worth a lot of money or important in some other way. Perhaps they just wanted Marcus, and that was why they kept coming back.
I locked my door behind me and pushed a few things in front of the door. Then I went around the house and made sure all the other easy entrances were locked and had a few things pushed in front of the doors.
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