by Liz Lincoln
Clutching the notebook she brought with her only for appearances, Bree spun and hurried out of Bryant’s office. Her heart pounded as she hurried down the hall. Where the hell had she found the guts to stand up to him like that? She usually avoided confrontation at all costs, as it was often a trigger for her anxiety.
But she couldn’t stand that smug sneer of his a second longer. And she’d worked too fucking hard to let him threaten to destroy it all.
She was shaking too badly to make it back to her office, so she stopped to lean against the wall. The cool cream brick soothed her, and she closed her eyes to pull in slow calming breaths. She needed to visualize someplace that would help her relax.
Instead of conjuring up the usual beach scene, she instead found Imaginary Bree snuggling Marcus on his couch while they watched a movie on his gigantic TV. The switch surprised her, but she did indeed feel calmer, imagining the way it felt to curl into his solid warmth. She could almost feel the press of his lips against her temple and hear him murmuring her name.
The sense of him was so real she opened her eyes, half expecting him to be walking down the hall. But she was still alone. Fortunately, she was now calm enough to walk the rest of the way back to her office.
Her path took her past the office Kevin shared with Tomás. She could see Kevin’s blond head bent over something he was scribbling in a notebook. Her anger surged back to life, though not as strong as it had been when she was in Bryant’s office.
For a moment, Bree stood in the hall working herself back into a really good shitfit. When it felt like her stomach was boiling, she surged into the room and headed straight for Kevin.
She whacked her notebook on the desk to get his attention.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” She wasn’t quite yelling, but her voice was definitely louder than normal.
Kevin’s head snapped up. “Well, if you must know, I could list probably a dozen things wrong with me. But I suspect you have something specific in mind.” He had a hesitant smile on his face.
Bree could usually appreciate using humor to defuse the situation. But not today. “This isn’t a damn joke, Kevin. Bryant is threatening not to pass me next week. To keep me from getting my PhD.” OK, he hadn’t actually said that, but it was implied. It was always implied. “And whatever it is you said to him, he’s using that against me. Says it’s evidence I’m not a grown-up, because I had to send some man to do my dirty work.” Her fingernails dug into her palms. She’d worked up a nice frothy anger. She’d probably start foaming at the mouth soon. But dammit, Kevin deserved it. Kevin and Stefon and Silas and Hank and Bryant and her dad. Especially her dad.
And probably not really Kevin more than a little.
“I just wanted to help.” He held up his hands in surrender. “He was treating you so shitty, and that’s not okay. So I told him.”
“Well thanks a hell of a lot. Now he thinks I can’t hack it myself.”
“What a jackass. I didn’t even talk about you all that much. I said the way he treats women in this department in general. You’re far from the only woman I’ve seen him shitting on. The senior thesis student in our lab is a woman too and he’s awful to her. Don’t forget, you may get to leave here in a couple weeks. But I still have to work with that asshole until the end of the year.”
His words took a little of the wind out of Bree’s angry sails. But not all of it. “You still should’ve told me first. If you wanted to talk to him about how he treats women in general, you should never have mentioned my name. He’s been here a long time. He has the power to make sure I don’t graduate.” Just saying the words out loud made the panic rise in her chest. She felt lightheaded, like she couldn’t take in a full breath.
She had to graduate. She had to pass her defense. She’d spent six years working on this damn degree. She knew physics. If Bryant tried to fail her, of course she had a case to contest it. But the prospect was overwhelming.
She sucked a breath in through her teeth but her lungs refused to fill. Why did anxiety always have to affect her breathing? It made everything scarier, but in panic-attack mode, the emotional part of her brain was in no state to calmly explain to the rest of her body that just because it wasn’t breathing well right now didn’t mean it would last.
Unfortunately, all too often the irrational side of her brain, which wasn’t swayed by facts, stayed in charge.
“Look,” Bree said through her teeth. “I get that you are trying to help. But maybe next time, actually ask one of the women you’re defending if what you’re doing is going to help or make things worse. Because I absolutely could’ve told you that Bryant would react the exact opposite of how you hoped he would.”
Kevin’s cheeks turned pink. “I’m sorry. Do you want me to talk—”
“No!” Bree shoved her fingers into her hair and pulled on the strands. “That’s what got the problem started in the first place. Of course I don’t want you to talk to him again.”
She stared hard at him, letting him know that what he’d done was completely unacceptable. “I don’t have time for this bullshit. So here’s your life lesson. Don’t fucking help women unless they ask.”
Before he could respond, or worse, argue with her, Bree stormed out of the room. Fucking cocky guys, thinking women needed saving and that they were the ones to do it. Maybe she hadn’t handled the Bryant situation perfectly, but she would get things under control on her own.
Reina wasn’t in their office when Bree got there. Dammit. She really needed someone to vent to, and in this case, another woman seemed ideal.
Since she was alone and too angry to focus on yet another round of rereading her data analysis, Bree picked up her phone, intending to send a text message to Marcus. But somehow, as if they moved without her permission, her fingers instead called him.
“ ‘Lo?” He sounded tired.
“Hey,” Bree said, her voice automatically a touch gentler just from hearing his voice.
“What’s up? You sound upset.” His voice was instantly more alert.
“I just had a bad meeting with Bryant.” She gave him a brief overview of what Kevin had done and what Bryant said.
“I’m sorry your friend did that. I mean, I’d like to come down there and kick this Bryant guy’s ass. Tell him to stop fucking with my girl. But I also know better. Because as much as I want to kick this guy’s ass, even more I don’t want you to kick my ass.”
Bree laughed. “As if I could kick your ass. I think I’ve been to the gym three times in the past year.” My girl. Her belly went squishy. She was not going to read too much into that comment. They’d only been sleeping together for three weeks. And hanging out some, though she could admit she wished she had time for more. But it was just a fling.
“Yeah, but there are other ways you could torture me.”
“Oh really?” The anger faded from her voice and her system. She was left with the warm glow that came from flirting with Marcus.
“Baby, you could crush me if you wanted.”
“Good to know.” What had they been talking about? What was she even upset about?
Oh right, Bryant. Son of a bitch, what was she going to do?
“What are your plans this weekend?”
Her stomach did a little seesaw of anticipation. “Nothing really. Just finishing touches on the dissertation. And there’s a new show I wanted to binge.” Maybe she shouldn’t watch TV, but at some point, she had to let herself be done.
“Come stay with me for the weekend. Maybe we’ll even go to some fancy, decadent hotel for a night. Pamper you. We can watch that show. And barely put clothes on all weekend.”
Bree shivered. “I could do that. I need to do one more pass through my dissertation, but I promise, no other work.”
“Deal. I should be home by four. Come over anytime after that. We got a home game on Sunday, and I’ll be down on the field. But I’d love you to come, sit in the box with Tanisha and Celia and Carrie and stuff. You in?�
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Excitement hummed through Bree. She and Tanisha had tried to work out a time for Bree to go to a game, but between the Dragons having a long stretch of road games and Bree traveling for her interviews, they hadn’t made it happen. This weekend was the perfect chance. She had to relax or she’d get to her defense next week and spontaneously combust from the stress.
“Let’s see, am I in to go see my favorite football team play? Am I in to sit with the significant others of a bunch of the players? Am I in to sit in a damn luxury box? Yeah, I could probably be talked into that if you twist my arm.”
Marcus’ chuckle rumbled through her ear. “I’ll text Tanni. Set it up.”
“Thank you.” She didn’t just mean for the tickets.
“Of course, baby. Anytime.”
*
—
Damn, Marcus was good at oral sex. Bree lost count of how many times he’d gone down on her in the twenty-four-plus hours they’d been at one of the nicest hotels in Milwaukee. The only time they’d put on clothes since entering the room and falling into each other was when they went to the hotel spa.
Marcus got a package that included a couple’s massage and a mud body wrap. Bree rarely scraped the money together for massages and she’d never had a mud wrap. It was the most decadent thing she’d done in her life. Plus he’d insisted she get a mani-pedi.
She felt epically pampered.
Not to mention all the sex. Orgasms galore. Interspersed with amazing food. Including the double chocolate cake she’d been eating as she lounged on the bed. It was incredible cake, but then Marcus crawled onto the bed, spread her thighs, and gave her a long, slow lick. She’d dropped her fork, spilling the bite of cake onto her naked belly.
Worth it. As fabulous as the cake was, Marcus’ tongue was infinitely better.
Struggling to focus, Bree put the dropped bite on the plate and set the plate on the bed next to her. The nightstand would be better, but she couldn’t reach it. And if she accidentally rolled over in the chocolate cake, well, Marcus could use his mouth to clean her off.
He lifted his head, still teasing her with his thumbs. “Why’d you get rid of the cake? I shouldn’t be the only one eating something delicious.”
Bree shuddered. That should sound corny as hell. Instead, it was sexy as hell.
“If I try to eat right now, I’ll choke. How are you going to explain that to the medical examiner? ‘Well, sir, I’m just so good at going down on women she choked to death on her pleasure. But what a way to go.’ ”
Marcus’ chuckle sent hot breath over her skin. She shivered again.
“I suppose.” He reached across her body and grabbed the small piece of cake she’d dropped. With a grin, he popped it into his mouth, then gave a long groan of appreciation. “Damn, that’s good cake.”
“It is.”
“You need to finish it before I go back to work?”
She palmed his head and pushed him back into place. “Not at all.”
He winked at her, held her gaze for one long, sizzling moment, then dropped his head and sucked her clit into his mouth.
Pleasure shot to every corner of her body. She cried out, arching into him and falling back onto the pillow.
“Damn, that’s good, woman.” He sucked her again, and she was already so close. She was practically choking on her breath, even without the cake. At least she would die glowingly happy.
And with great nails.
She dug her blue-tipped fingers into his fuzzy scalp—he hadn’t bothered to shave all weekend—and clutched him to her. “Fuck, Marcus. That’s so good.”
He murmured his agreement into her body, and the tip of his tongue slid inside her, thrusting the same way his cock did when he fucked her. And suddenly she craved more. She needed him to fill her.
“More, I need…” She was too breathless to vocalize it.
But he apparently understood, because, dragging his tongue up to flick at her clit, he thrust his fingers inside her, curving them just right so he hit that wonderful spot inside her. And the multifronted attack was just what she needed.
The orgasm ripped through her with a roar. She didn’t quite roar too, but an animalistic noise tore from her throat as she flew over the edge. Somewhere in the distance, beyond the rush of blood in her ears and the sizzle of her skin, Marcus murmured words of encouragement and pleasure. She couldn’t make them out, but she recognized his deep tone. She recognized everything about this man. This man who had put so much effort into helping her relax and forget all the stresses happening in her life at that moment.
He’d spared no expense—of money, of his time, of his attention and affection—helping her relax. From the multiple orgasms to the spa time to the making out in a giant whirlpool bathtub to feeding her chocolate-covered strawberries to listening as she vented her frustrations, he proved over and over that this was more than just a fling.
Just as she was starting to come down, Bree started to tremble again as the realization hit her.
She was in love with Marcus James.
Chapter 16
Marcus loved the way Bree didn’t hold back her passion. He loved how she surrendered completely to the sensations he gave her.
Most of all, he loved that he could do that for her. That he could bring her such consuming pleasure. He hated how stressed she was, that even after all he had done to help her relax, he could still see the strain around her eyes, the brackets of tension around her mouth, even when she smiled at him.
He knew he couldn’t pamper away the situation for her at work. So he did the only thing he could, helping her relax, helping her forget, so that maybe she could deal with it a little better.
As she shook in his arms, gasping his name, Marcus kissed his way up her beautiful body. He paused just beneath her breastbone to lick away a spot of chocolate frosting. Dark chocolate and Bree might have been the most wonderful combination he’d tasted in his life. “Baby, you taste so good covered in chocolate. Which gives me ideas for another time.”
An image of her spread out on his bed, drizzled with chocolate sauce, flashed through his head. He saw himself crawling over her, licking and nibbling along the path made by the sweet treat. She could do the same for him, then they could have hot, messy sex, smearing the remnants over each other.
They could follow it up in his big walk-in shower, soaping away the sticky remains.
He hovered over her, his throbbing dick so hard it was almost painful. But the best kind of pain. The kind only Bree could relieve.
He pressed a rough kiss to her parted lips. “I need you.”
“Yes. Now.” She grabbed his hips and pulled him to her, her already spread legs wrapping around him.
He slid in with one powerful thrust. Her pussy was still trembling with aftershocks, rippling along his cock, sending a blinding burst of pleasure up his spine.
Shaking, he pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. “So good. With you, it’s always so good.”
She tightened her legs around him. “Yes. Always.”
He didn’t remember how many times he’d been inside her since they’d gotten to the hotel. As soon as they entered the room, he’d shut the door, stripped her down, and taken her right there against the wall. Since then, they’d barely worn clothes, the entire day spent pleasuring each other.
He loved when she sucked on his dick, licking him like a Popsicle until he shot down her throat. He loved using his mouth or his hand to make her scream. But this, right here, when he was as deep inside her as he could get, when he could look down to see her beautiful face, her dark hair spread wildly across the pillow—this was what he loved the most about being with her. Even the bright blue streak in her hair that matched her nails turned him on. Because it was so uniquely Bree.
Despite the urgency nagging at him to fuck her hard and fast, he made himself go slowly. Shallow thrusts interspersed with long, slow, deep slides. Nearly leaving the tight, hot grip of her pussy, angling his hips so the root
of his dick brushed her clit. Then the long, torturous slide back in, until he was buried inside her once more.
He bent his head to suck her nipple, and everything about her response said she liked it. So he did it to the other. But as much as he wanted to keep giving her that particular pleasure, he needed to see her face again. So he lifted his head and looked down at her. She was arched beneath him, head back, eyes closed. He kissed the base of her throat, then dragged his tongue up her chin until he could kiss her again
Like the weekend itself, the kiss was decadent. His tongue mimicked the movements of his hips, long slow glides that built everything slowly. But bigger. So much bigger. Pleasure bigger than he knew was possible.
He ripped his mouth away and stroked one hand over her cheek. “Look at me. I want to see your eyes as we come.” He never needed anything more in his life than he needed to see her eyes.
Slowly, her lids dragged upward. Her gaze was unfocused with pleasure, and so beautiful a tremor went through him. “Bree.” He barely had the breath support to get the word out.
She framed his cheeks with her hands and brought his face down to hers, forehead to forehead, noses touching. “This is…I’ve never…Marcus…”
“I know.” He understood her broken words. He’d never had a relationship like he had with Bree. Never felt anything like the elemental pleasure filling him. This was something more than sex. He didn’t know what, and he wasn’t ready to label it love just yet. But this was so, so much more than a little dirty fun.
*
—
Marcus had crawled out of bed Sunday morning after making love to Bree and left for the stadium. The Dragons were playing a three-fifteen game against division opponent the Colorado Springs Vipers. So after a lazy morning sitting in the whirlpool tub, eating far too much delicious room service for breakfast, and getting her hair done in the hotel salon, Bree headed to the stadium.
She’d been to Dragons games before. Her parents brought her and her brothers to one game every year. But for six people, NFL tickets were expensive. So they never had great seats. Sitting in Matt’s luxury box was an entirely new experience.