"Do you think I give a damn what that dick-head does?" Jack said through gritted teeth.
"Serena," Mark said, interrupting before Jack could go off on a rant about Phil the Shill and his inferior building practices. "Don't you see? That's exactly why this will work. We're willing to take a risk, and actually give people something new and different. When did you lose your imagination and become so conservative? You're way too young to be so close-minded."
Serena bristled and turned her blazing gaze on him. "This has nothing to do with being close-minded, Mark. I feel like I'm the only voice of reason here. I'm just not willing to gamble everything we've worked for on a whim." She pointed to Jack and herself. "Unlike you, we have a lot at stake here. If this turns out badly, you can just take off again. While we're stuck here to clean up the mess." She had to bite her tongue, but she managed not to say 'again.' Hot pokers wouldn't force her to admit how betrayed she'd felt when he'd left last time. He couldn't know how she'd cried and waited and generally made a fool or herself over him.
Mark gave her a puzzled look. "I'm not going anywhere. Where would I go exactly? My football career is over. And all my family is gone. This is where I belong. And I'm doing my best to make up for the past with the only people who've ever really cared about me. I'm here to stay. No one will be cleaning up after me. I swear."
Serena's heart leaped at his statement, but she controlled herself and gave him a doubtful look. "We'll see. But pardon me if I don't get excited about sinking a bunch of money into what sounds like a hare-brained scheme to me."
Jack clapped one hand on Mark's shoulder. "See? I told you she could be reasoned with."
Serena snorted. "Didn't they have a hedge maze in The Shining? Let's hope this turns out better than that did."
"Just the movie. Not the book." Mark said, surprising everyone with his literary knowledge.
Serena massaged her temples as if trying to relieve the pressure from a headache. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. But mark my words; no one is making me dig in the dirt. No one." Giving them both one last glare, she turned her back and smiled brightly at the prospective buyer standing in the hallway, watching them warily.
Chapter Two
Mark glanced down at the plans and tried to pretend he was listening to what Jack was saying, but it was useless. He was too busy fighting to keep down a growl. Out of his peripheral vision he watched Serena smile and flirt with the pretty boy who had just entered the Show Home kitchen. What kind of weenie wore a suit on a Saturday exactly? And yet Serena seemed downright excited to be talking to him. If she laughed and touched that blonde weasel's arm one more time, he was going to get violent. No doubt about it.
He knew he deserved this torture. He'd been such a complete and utter ass. Ten years ago he'd thought he was doing the right thing by rejecting Serena. She'd been six years younger, his best friend's cousin, and the niece of his dad's business partner. A recipe for romantic napalm. He'd wanted her with a disturbing and constant hunger, but she'd been too young and innocent for someone as jaded as him. When the opportunity to play professional football had come his way, he'd run like he was being chased by wolves. Anything to get away from her and the temptation she represented.
Escape had been the answer to all his problems. Not just the permanent hard-on he sported for Serena despite her being a completely inappropriate target for his lust. His dad's rapid decline into alcoholism was just too hard to watch. Edward "Eddie" Goldsworthy had always been a drinker. After Mark's mom left him he finally gave into his true love and immersed himself in booze. His few beers every night turned into twelve, or more.
Mark always felt that if he'd been stronger, or smarter, or better in some way, maybe he could have done something, and convinced his dad to want more out of life than his next bottle. After years of trying, and failing miserably, Mark just needed it to stop. He decided to be selfish for a change. So he left, and his dad quickly imploded. Within two years of Mark's departure Eddie ruined his professional reputation to such a degree that no one in town would let him near their landscaping. Not even to mow a lawn. Add to that a penchant for gambling away funds embezzled from the business he shared with Jack's father, and Eddie very efficiently ruined his life in record time.
Now Mark was back and wanted to make restitution for his mistakes, not to mention his father's, but witnessing this little mating ritual between Serena and this jerk was too much to ask of him. Especially when he was pretty sure Serena would rather see him dead than consider giving him another chance. Not that he deserved one. But it hadn't always been that way. Once she'd wanted him with all the passion and misguided trust of a teenage girl in love. And he'd been sorely tempted to take advantage of her. If only to experience something pure, something sweet, just once.
Ten years ago...
"Dance with me," Serena said, holding out her hands to him and swaying her hips in invitation. She was a little unsteady on her feet, and her coquettish glance was a bit cross-eyed after her fifth glass of champagne, but she was still the sexiest thing he'd ever seen. And the most off limits.
They were at Jack's wedding, and it was by far the grimmest affair he’d ever had the misfortune to attend. It felt more like funeral than a party. Everyone, except Jack, seemed certain this particular wedding was a huge mistake. It was awful. Like watching a train heading for a derailment but being powerless to stop it. Only Serena seemed to be having a grand time. Everyone was so focused on Jack and his unsuitable bride; no one was keeping tabs on Serena for a change.
Being the only girl in a family of overprotective male cousins usually meant her fun was rated PG. Tonight, however, all her chaperones were distracted and she was cutting loose for maybe the first time in her life. She was clearly reveling in it, though he was pretty sure she was going to pay dearly for her overindulgence tomorrow.
Mark felt a bit like a pervert for noticing, but she looked incredible in the strapless, lavender bridesmaid gown she was currently wearing. He had been watching her all evening, holding his breath and waiting hungrily for a wardrobe malfunction, but it had never happened. Somehow, despite all the laws of physics, her bodice remained decently in place.
Uncomfortably hot in his stiff tuxedo collar, Mark shook his head and grabbed Serena’s hands before she could trail them down his white shirt front. “Serena, you’ve had too much to drink,” he said, attempting to sound stern rather than amused. He wasn’t entirely successful. He could feel his lips pulling up into a smile as he watched her lean to one side on her skyscraper high heels and nearly topple directly into the nearby punchbowl. If he hadn’t been holding her hands, she would have been wearing the evil pink concoction.
Serena looked up at him with reproachful eyes. “Am I a disgusting drunk, Mark? Am I grossing you out with my repulsive drunky drunkenness?” She hiccupped once and leaned to the other side. Mark had to let go of her hands and grab her by the waist to prevent a complete face plant.
He should have lied and agreed that she was indeed a disgusting drunk. Encouraging her was a huge mistake. After all, she was barely 18 and he was almost 26. There was a huge gap in both their age and experience. And even if there wasn’t, Jack would kill him for even thinking of Serena in a sexual way. Jack took his responsibilities very seriously, and keeping Serena safe from predatory males was one of them. Mark couldn’t betray him like that. He respected jack and desperately wanted to retain his friendship. Violating his cousin was a surefire way to get a sold fist in the gut, a kick or two in the nuts, and complete ostracism from the family he loved like his own.
Besides, he was leaving. Just as soon as he could get out of this damn tuxedo and grab his things, he was out of here. It would be unfair to let Serena believe there could be anything real between them. She was so innocent she probably still equated sex with love. He’d had a lot of sex and very little love, so he knew how rare it was for those two items to actually coincide. But she was so damned hard to resist. Especially when her inhibitions were missing in
action like this. Who would it really harm if he flirted with her this one time? Maybe he could scare her off and she would realize that trying to tempt him was the romantic equivalent of baiting a bear.
It was fairly obvious to him that she was practicing her feminine wiles on him because she thought he was safe. She was wrong. He wasn’t some horny teenage boy intent on feeling her up at the movies. She couldn’t toy with him and walk away, leaving him at the end of the night with a boner and aching balls. He was a man, and he would stay firmly in control. Even if it killed him.
“You,” he said softly. “Are an adorable drunk.” He squeezed her waist and leaned down, just touching the tip of her upturned nose with his lips. She was almost six feet tall in her heels, but at 6’4 he still had to hunch down a few inches to kiss her. He pulled away and nearly laughed at her befuddled expression. In the 15 years he’d known her, he’d never willingly touched her before.
“Really?” She asked, biting her delectable lower lip and looking up at him doubtfully through lowered lashes.
Mark stared at that lip and thought about biting it himself. He wondered if she would taste as sweet as he’d always imagined. Right then he decided he was going to find out. Shitty behavior or not, he couldn’t leave town without knowing.
“Really. Totally adorable.” He removed one hand from her waist and brushed back an errant strand of corn-silk hair off her forehead.
“Then dance with me,” she cried, and flung her arms around his neck, nearly choking him in her enthusiasm.
“Alright. Alright. Just one song.” Mark loosened her hold slightly and placed her hands on his shoulders. He wasn’t much of a dancer, but he began slowly swaying in time to the music with his hands on her shapely hips, holding her at a distance so they looked like an old couple learning the box step at a retirement home mixer.
Serena glared up at him. “Not like that. Like this.” She said, and yanked him gracelessly into her embrace until he was forced to capitulate or wrestle with her, drawing unwanted attention to their dark corner near the bandstand.
Three things happened all at once. Her high, firm breasts came into contact with his lower chest; the cool fingers of one delicate hand threaded through the hair at the back of his neck, and his cock became instantly and painfully rock hard against her stomach. Within the rented tuxedo pants, his erection felt like it was straining to get at her like an impatient dog on a leash. So much for staying in control.
“Serena,” he whispered against her temple. “C’mon. Let’s do this properly.” He attempted to put some distance between them so she wouldn’t notice his raging hard-on, but she held on tightly, and nestled her soft stomach against his groin. He nearly groaned as she swiveled her pelvis in time with the music, brushing cruelly against his erection until he was forced to grab her hips to keep her still or go mad.
“Don’t want to do it properly,” she sighed against his shoulder. “I want to do it like this.” Her breath tickled his neck and the image of all the improper things he wanted to do to her flashed through his mind. God, what he would do to spend one night between her creamy thighs. Not even a whole night. Just an hour would be worth almost anything.
But that was his dick talking. He couldn’t have her. Not even once. She deserved so much better than someone like him.
She sighed again, and mumbled. “Oh, Mark. Isn’t this better? I wish we could stay like this forever.”
Forever? Like this? Could she actually be oblivious to how aroused he was? Apparently she was. The gap in their sexual knowledge seemed to widen to Grand Canyon proportions. He was pretty sure he had never been this innocent. Or at least not for a very long time.
Unlike Serena, who he suspected was probably still a virgin; Mark’d had his first sexual experience at fourteen. With a much older woman. The first of many, many such encounters. So many, in fact, that he was certain Serena would be disgusted if she ever found out about his past.
It had started out like a wet dream come true. He had worked for his dad since he was twelve. Just mowing lawns at first, but eventually he'd be sent out to some properties regularly to maintain the shrubbery and keep the yards of a few chosen clients looking lush and beautiful. Mark didn’t have the interest or the green thumb his dad possessed, but he knew the basics and wanted to help out. Besides, his dad paid a decent wage. Enough to pay for football equipment and video-games.
By the age of fourteen, he was working most days after school and on weekends when he wasn’t at football practice. His dad was on the job less and less, and spending more and more time of his time at the bar and the race track. Mark was exhausted, but he picked up the slack because he didn’t want the Kingstons to realize what was happening. He was ashamed and angry, but did what he thought was his duty. At the time he’d thought he was being a good son, and hadn’t realized that he was actually enabling his dad to self-destruct.
His first time had been with one of his dad’s clients. She was a bubbly blonde divorcee in her mid-twenties named Cherry. She’d been sunbathing in a black string bikini beside her pool and had blatantly removed her top in front of him as he trimmed her nearby hedges. He’d nearly dropped the shears at the unexpected sight of her tight brown nipples and large pale breasts. She was built exactly like one of the centerfolds he gawked at in the privacy of his bedroom at night. He’d been completely awestruck.
Cherry had beckoned him over and asked him in her little-girlish voice to spread some lotion on her breasts. Sitting on the edge of the lounge chair, he’d done so gingerly, his penis rising to painful proportions in his cut-offs, and his mouth dry. She’d watched him with a knowing smile on her pretty face and told him to be sure to pay close attention to her nipples because they burned easily.
He’d been shocked to find that one of her manicured hands had wandered into his lap while he’d been intently rubbing lotion into her nipples. Before he realized what was happening, she’d undone the zipper on his shorts and was leaning forward to kiss the head of his straining penis. He’d erupted within seconds of feeling her glossy lips slide down his shaft, but she hadn’t seemed to mind. Within minutes he was hard again, and she was bouncing herself to a powerful orgasm on his erection, screaming so loudly that she startled the birds perched in the tree branches overhead.
Over the next few years Mark allowed himself to be seduced by many of his dad’s unattached, female clients. If anyone had suggested to him that what was happening was statutory rape or child molestation, he would have been baffled. He thought he was a total stud. He loved women and they seemed to really like him. He gave them what they seemed to want and he learned a great deal about pleasuring the mysterious female body in the process. It seemed like an ideal situation. Besides, he was nearly a man. He hadn’t achieved the muscled physique that would take him to the NFL yet, but he was mature enough to please these lonely women. And it relieved some of his loneliness, at least for a few minutes.
The extra money on his paycheck certainly didn’t hurt either. It allowed him to save for college and would finance his eventual escape. His father’s knowing grin, however, hurt a lot. But they never talked about the extra services Mark provided to their clients. Not until years later when Mark realized just how thoroughly and horribly he’d been robbed of his innocence.
Those clandestine afternoons were a long time ago. Right now he was at his best friend’s wedding, holding Serena. A girl he genuinely wanted. She was curled up against him like she belonged there, and something elemental in him longed to be accepted by her, to erase the past and be made whole again. To be worthy of her. It was selfish, but he couldn’t help himself.
Before his slumbering conscience could kick in he jiggled her a bit and smiled as she slowly raised her head from his shoulders and looked at him through heavy-lidded eyes. “Hey,” he said. “The song is over. Do you want to get out of here?” She nodded and he grabbed her hand, heading for the closest reception hall exit door before she could change her mind. He looked around warily for any of her r
elatives to notice their departure, but no one even spared them a glance.
Without a single word, he dragged her towards his truck and helped her slide into the high cab. She exposed a lot of silky leg climbing clumsily into the passenger seat and he felt more blood rush to his groin at the sight. He could easily imagine just pushing her down on the seat and kissing his way up those thighs to her hot, moist centre. There he could gorge himself on her sweet honey until she came in a rush, maybe for the first time.
The image of what she would look like with her skirt up around her waist and his face buried between her thighs was so vivid he could practically taste her. Gritting his teeth he barely resisted the impulse to take her right there. But no matter how depraved he was, seducing an innocent in a parking lot was too low, even for him. He could wait a few more minutes to get his hands on her. Maybe.
He raced around the front of the vehicle and climbed into the driver’s seat. He was surprised to find that she was sitting in the middle of the bench seat instead of the opposite side. When he slid behind the wheel she was pressed against him from thigh to shoulder. His hands actually shook at her nearness as he turned the ignition key and put the truck in gear. He should have asked her to slide over and fasten her seat-belt, but he couldn’t resist her warmth and softness.
“Where are we going, Mark?” She asked sleepily as the truck left the parking lot. She placed her head on his shoulder and cuddled even closer. He though he was going to lose it as he breathed in the sweet strawberry scent of her hair, and felt one of her small hands wrap around his upper arm.
Hot Property (Kingston Bros.) Page 2