Love Dies Hard Three - Book 3 (Billionaire Romance Series) (Hard To Love)

by C. C. Cartwright

  “What’s your story with Marcus if you don’t mind me asking?” Julia inquires.

  “Well, what started off as one night of passion between two colleagues has turned into something more. This was not supposed to last.” I find myself admitting candidly.

  “You both look pretty happy together, what’s the problem then?”

  “Marcus is the ultimate player and partier. A good time guy, not the type you would ever settle down with. Let me just say that,” I say summing him up in two sentences.

  “I’m sorry to hear that, you guys look cute together,” she remarks with a smile.

  “Looks can be deceiving.”

  “Your man Marcus can’t take his eyes off you, he’s heading over here.”

  “Hey, you almost ready to head out?” Marcus asks wrapping me in a tight embrace from behind. Julia takes us all in as Richie comes up to her and does the same.

  Chapter 10

  Marcus

  I’m taking Sophie back to my new flat in London tonight. I need my hands on her, her hands on me, her body pleasuring me and my body pleasuring her.

  “Where are we going?” she asks, she can tell we’re not heading back to the Savoy.

  “I want to show you my new flat,” I reply taking her hand in mine and kissing it. She doesn’t fight me. She wants me as much as I want her. We pull up to my building.

  “Very posh Mr. Hunter, but I would expect nothing less from you,” Sophie taunts me as she walks around my flat, taking in the furnishings and the view of London from my expansive floor to ceiling windows. I don’t waste any time getting her naked and on her back in my bed, begging for more.

  *****

  “Do you remember our first night together?” I ask after we’ve finished with round one. I ravaged her body. Now she’s satisfied, relaxed and willing to talk sweet nothings with me.

  “Like it was yesterday,” she replies wistfully.

  “I know, it feels like it was yesterday. You threw me off my game that night, and ever since,” I reply, exposing myself.

  “That was my plan, seduce the seducer,” she laughs softly and my insides melt like candlewax. I love to hear her laugh, with a smile that lights up her beautiful face.

  “You blew my mind. You were always so professional and reserved at work. But that night when we were sitting at the bar, I was determined to bed you. I had been wanting to bury myself inside you for weeks.”

  “I made it easy for you didn’t I?” she smiles wickedly.

  “It was more like you bedded me, you little minx,” I whisper, skimming her lips with mine.

  “And you loved every minute of it,” she teases.

  “I imagined your ruby red lips wrapped around me.”

  “You’re a naughty boy.”

  “Yeah, during our meetings, when you would speak, that’s what I would be fantasizing about,” I say with a smirk.

  “You are a bad boy, nice to hear how seriously you took me at work,” she scolds and swats playfully at my chest. I brush a strand of hair from her face. She’s glowing, she’s satiated, she’s beautiful and she’s not mine. I drag the sheet down off her sexy body that I can’t get enough of. I lightly skim my fingers in circles around each breast then I continue to trace down her smooth, soft belly. My fingers pet her sweet nub. I love to see her stomach muscles quiver with each stroke over her sensitive spot. Her eyes are closed and her soft lips are parted and I watch my name roll off her lips.

  “Marcus,” she murmurs. When she looks like this I know she’s ready for me. She spreads her legs wider and swivels her hips. Her hands are fisting the sheets and she’s ready for me again.

  “Please Marcus,” she calls out.

  “Please what?” I want to hear her beg, I love to hear her beg for me to fill her.

  “Please.”

  “Tell me exactly what you want.”

  “Please, I want you inside me. Loving me like you do, touching me like you do,” she says, opening her eyes and piercing me with a look of pure unbridled wanton lust. This is the girl I’ve fallen for. Her hand wraps around my rock hard shaft and I never want her to let go. She gives me a firm squeeze and then strokes her hand firmly up and down. I can’t wait a moment longer. I roll on top of her and her hips thrust up. My rigid shaft slides right in to the hilt and we both moan out in pleasure as I hit rock bottom, buried as deep as I can go.

  “Oh God Marcus, yes,” she purrs. I love to hear her unleash, it sets my heart on fire to know I please her. She’s the only one I want to touch and she’s the only one I want touching me.

  *****

  Sophie

  I go into the London Hunter Investment office today to be the pair of hands Marcus claimed he needed here. We both know that was just an excuse to get me to London so he could get me back in his bed. From the looks of things around here, he could take his pick from a variety of ready and willing attractive young females who would let him get in their panties. That’s never been a problem for him and it makes me sick to think about it. What he does or who he does should be no concern of mine once I board my plane back to LA. One of the girls in particular catches my eye. The way she looks at him bothers me. She looks at him like he’s her next meal. When I see how he is around her, it makes me wonder if they’ve already slept together. I need to just shrug it off. Sure we’ve been engaging in our usual mind blowing sessions night and day, but I remind myself this is our last song. I need to buckle down and get serious with John. Speaking of which, I need to find a private office and call him.

  “Hi,” I say when he picks up his private line in his office. It’s nice to hear his voice.

  “Hi Sophie, I’m glad you called,” John says and I can hear the smile in his voice. “I miss hearing your voice sweetheart. Are you ready to come home? I miss you.”

  “London has been fun, but yes, I’m ready to come home,” I reply with a pang of guilt.

  “You been working hard? Have you had any time to play?” I’ll say, I’ve been playing more than I’ve been working I think to myself guiltily.

  “Yes, I managed to get in some sightseeing here and there,” I admit coyly, if only he knew.

  “I wish I could talk to you longer, but I need to run into a meeting,” John says.

  “Alright, then I will see you in a few days.”

  “I love you,” John says.

  “I love you too,” I say back willingly. Just as I’m hanging up the phone, Marcus, my warden, walks by and eyes me curiously through the glass of the office I am occupying with the door closed. He peeks his head in after I hang up.

  “Ready for lunch?”

  “Yes, I’m hungry,” I reply.

  “You’re always hungry,” he laughs.

  *****

  Marcus

  Sophie’s week here flies by, and here we are standing at her gate saying goodbye yet again. Back at the same place we were before I got her to fly all this way to give me her body, but not her heart.

  “I had a wonderful time with you Marcus. Thank you for showing me around London,” she says as if I’m just some family friend who showed her a good time while visiting. Her face is unreadable, her expression is guarded again. I tell you, this is why I want to keep her in bed with me all day and all night, it’s the only place she lets her guard down and opens up to me.

  “The pleasure was all mine,” I say seductively, hiding the hurt that I feel. I pull her hard into my body, it almost startles her. I hold her face in one last passion filled kiss that takes both of our breath away. How much longer can we keep doing this?

  “Goodbye Marcus, I need to board now,” she pulls away from the kiss.

  “Goodbye Sophie,” I say letting her go. No promises are made.

  Chapter 11

  Sophie

  My week in London with Marcus was an amazing farewell. I went because he beckoned for me to come and warm his bed yet again, and I couldn’t refuse. These last few weeks I’ve had nothing but fitful nights of sleep. My bed feels so empty without Marc
us next to me, warming me from the inside out like only he knows how to. My insides feel empty. I go through the motions everyday hoping as time goes by it will get easier to forget about him because forget him I must. I am moving on with John, committing to our future together before I lose him. But every single day when I come to work and see Marcus’s empty glass office the pain comes rushing back. I seriously need to quit this place and give my notice. Some days it’s still just so unbearable.

  “Hey girl, lunch today?” Tasha asks coming into my office.

  “Sure.”

  “Sophie I see you every day and you just aren’t yourself.”

  “Really, I’m not fooling anybody?”

  “No.”

  “I’m giving my notice soon.”

  “You’re going to let Mr. Hunter win, let him succeed at breaking you two apart?”

  “Yes, he did me a favor.”

  “Really? Keep telling yourself that.”

  “He saved me from his son, I should be thanking him.”

  “Sophie, I’ve got to hand it to you. You’ve done a number on yourself if you believe that.”

  “I’m fine, I’ve started seeing John again. I am moving on. I’m fine, really. I just need to quit this place.”

  “When are you giving your notice? What will you do?”

  “I’m giving my notice at the end of the week and I don’t have anything lined up at the moment.”

  “Sophie I can’t believe you’re throwing away what you’ve worked so hard for.”

  “It’s for the best.”

  “The best for who?”

  “The best for me, I can’t take coming here everyday and seeing his empty office. I need to move on and staying here isn’t helping.” I need to forget Marcus and I ever happened. I need to forget his hands ever touched me, I need to forget that night in his office. The nights in his bed, the nights in my bed, oh how I just want to scream and somehow exorcise or erase those memories etched permanently my mind.

  “Well I guess you need to do what you need to do,” Tasha replies. I can see Tasha feels sorry for me. Everyone gives me looks of pure pity. I can’t take those looks anymore. I need to march myself into Mr. Hunter’s office and give my notice ASAP, I don’t know if I can take another day of this. I’m going down there right now. I just need to put one foot in front of the other down the long hall to his office. I’m trembling inside as I approach his office, I have to walk by the desk Marcus took me on and those memories of our passion come flashing back.

  “Hello Mr. Hunter, do you have a moment?” I ask, standing at the doorway of his large expansive office filled with rich mahogany furnishings and shelves and shelves of books.

  “Yes Sophie, please come in,” he says clearing his throat. It’s a little awkward between us since I started seeing Marcus.

  “I just wanted to come and give you my notice.” I try and state as confidently as possible.

  “Oh, will you be leaving us?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that Sophie. You have been a phenomenal money manager. Where will you be going?” he inquires.

  “I haven’t decided yet. I’m just going to take some time off,” I explain.

  “Sophie, I want to tell you how sorry I am about the way things transpired between you and Marcus. I find myself always having to make apologies for my son’s behavior.”

  “Mr. Hunter, your son has never behaved inappropriately towards me and he has always been a gentleman. I do want to thank you however, for putting an ocean between us. It seemed that was the only way to get us to end a relationship which wasn’t right for either of us.”

  “Our London office really did need Marcus’s supervision and expertise. I didn’t just send him to drive a wedge between you two. For what it’s worth, I know he has had a hard time adjusting over there in London and I think you may be part of the reason.”

  “Thank you for your kind words Mr. Hunter, but I have moved on and Marcus needs to as well.” Mr. Hunter actually seems at a loss for words and just eyes me curiously. I stand and leave his office. I can’t stand the memories in this office any longer and will be counting the days until I can walk out of here permanently and never look back.

  “Hey Sophie, how are you doing?” Christopher comes into my office in the late afternoon for a chat.

  “Fine.”

  “I hear your visit to London went well. He claims he’s settling into his flat and getting used to the British way of doing things.”

  “Good for him,” I say bitterly.

  “He asked about you.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “I know he misses you.”

  “Don’t worry about Marcus, he’ll soon find a nice British girl to warm his bed at night,” I say my voice dripping with sarcasm as I can feel my throat getting tight at the thought of him with someone else, of some other lucky girl enjoying his attention in the bedroom. It kills me actually, like a knife in my heart to be brutally honest. But as you can tell I’m never honest with myself when it comes to Marcus.

  “Sophie, I’m sorry.”

  “What are you sorry about?”

  “I don’t know, seeing you both trying to act like you’re both fine. But I’ve never seen two people struggle so much.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re hurting, Marcus is hurting. It’s painful to watch you two not get what you want and that’s each other.”

  “Hey Christopher, you were the one that warned me to end it. Mr. Hunter ended it for us and I for one am glad he did.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, I was going to have to end it soon anyway. I’ve started seeing John again.”

  “Oh I see.”

  “Yes, so don’t worry about me. I’m fine, I’ve moved on,” I confide.

  “That’s great Sophie. I wish I could say the same about Marcus.” I bite down and struggle to not ask Christopher more about Marcus. The less I know the better.

  “I just gave Mr. Hunter my notice,” I find myself confiding in him yet again.

  “What, you’re leaving?” Christopher asks, his eyes wide with surprise.

  “Yes.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Nowhere, I’m just going to take some time off before I look for another job.”

  “Sophie you’ve worked so hard to get where you are here at Hunter, you’re an incredible asset to this firm. I can’t believe you’re going to up and walk away from everything you’ve worked so hard for.”

  “I know, I just can’t come in here anymore. Everyone looks at me with pity. Poor Sophie got her heart broken by the firms biggest player. I just can’t take it any longer,” I admit and there he goes looking at me with pity in his eyes.

  “I get it, I understand.” I’m sure he does, he has seen this happen before. This is why he warned me weeks ago. I’ve become road kill, Marcus Hunter’s road kill.

  Chapter 12

  Marcus

  I’m so damn miserable. The weather here in London is so dreary and it depresses me to no end. Sure I’ve got a great flat, London is a vibrant city with so much to do. But I miss Sophie in my bed. I miss her warmth wrapped around me, I miss her sweet laughter. Christopher tells me she’s moping around the office, trying to put on a happy face, but he said when he went into her office the other day that she looked like she was about to cry at the mere mention of my name.

  “Mr. Hunter, Christopher is on line one,” my assistant announces.

  “Hello Christopher,” I say pressing line one.

  “Hi Marcus, how’s life in London treating you?”

  “The weather here sucks, cold and rainy all of the time. You need to come out and pay me a visit.”

  “That’s an idea. Hey, did your father tell you about Sophie?”

  “No what about her?” My ears perk up whenever Christopher mentions her name. I need to know how she’s doing. So many times I’ve wanted to call her just to hear her voice, but every time I pick up the phone
I think better of it. When she left, she was so cold.

  “She gave her notice yesterday,” Christopher says cautiously.

  “What, where’s she going? Which firm stole her away from Hunter?” I can tell there is anger in my voice.

  “Here’s the funny thing, our ball buster money manager has no other job lined up. It’s as if she’s just thrown in the towel. She said she’s just taking some time off, with nothing lined up. Strange isn’t it? I tell you Marcus, she hasn’t been herself since you left,” Christopher sounds as puzzled by it all as I am.

  “Really? I’m shocked that she would just chuck it all.”

  “Yeah, I know. She admitted she couldn’t take the looks of pity from everyone around here,” Christopher continues to be my eyes and ears when it comes to Sophie. I don’t know what to say other than that I know this is all my fault. I should have stayed away from her, not been so impulsive and let my little head do the thinking for the big head. I have single handedly hurt her and what’s most important to her, her career at Hunter Investments.

  “So what, she gave her two week notice?” I ask.

  “I guess so, two weeks is pretty standard right?” I’m thinking about how many days I have to get my sorry self back to California.

  Chapter 13

  Sophie

  This is my last week. I just need to make it through Friday. Let me tell you I’m counting down the hours, the minutes until Hunter becomes a distant memory. I try to mind my own business, keep my head down as much as possible. I have a daily meeting with Christopher to get him up to speed on all the clients he will be taking over for me.

  Then Marcus Hunter walks into my office at 5:00, larger than life itself. Just the man I’ve been trying to clear from my mind. He makes himself at home in the chair across from my desk like he has done so many times before. Only this time it is so very bittersweet for me. He has snug fitting jeans on, a dress shirt with its sleeves rolled up and a five o’clock shadow which looks amazing on him.

  “Marcus, what are you doing here?” I ask in total shock. He has caught me off guard, I’m flustered by his presence and I start to tremble. See what I’ve been reduced to?