by Codi Gary
“Aren’t you worried about someone spotting you on camera, 007?”
“All the cameras are fake. The owner just put them up as a scare tactic.”
She started to take off up the stairs, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her against him.
“No, now none of that until we get upstairs,” she hissed, breaking away from him.
“You really know how to make a guy feel special.”
She didn’t respond, just started running up the three flights until she reached the third floor. When she popped her head out into the corridor, she saw no one. Keeping her eye on the moving elevator, she finally came out into the open when the doors opened and Luke stepped out.
“So, if someone comes down the hallway, do you want me to throw you up against the wall and pretend to make out with you so they can’t see your face?”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re enjoying this?” she hissed.
“Cause, I’ve never snuck around with a girl before, even as a kid. It’s kind of fun.” He paused with his key in the door and frowned at her. “You aren’t married, are you?”
“Of course not! I just don’t want Sonora to find out.” Or Kelly.
“Okay.” He opened the door and she sprang inside. She looked around the beautifully furnished room with a grin, noting the updates. It had been years since she’d stayed here.
“You know, I lost my virginity in this hotel when I was eighteen.”
“In this room?”
“No, I think it was the second floor. Kevin Preston. It was not a magical moment. I—”
Suddenly, she was spun around and fell against Luke’s chest as he held her in his arms. “I really don’t need to hear the details about you and another guy.”
Marley blushed. “Sorry, I’m just nervous.”
“Why? We’re just hanging out. Alone. In my hotel room.” He wiggled his eyebrows and she laughed, some of the tension easing out of her shoulders.
“You’re right. So you grabbed my boob on the Ferris wheel. It doesn’t mean—”
Luke’s hand slid forward until it cradled her ribs, slowly making its way up until it cupped her breast. “You mean, like this.”
“Yes.” That single word almost sounded like a desperate plea.
He leaned over and brushed her lips, creating a train of tingles rolling down her spine. She felt his other hand come up and when he gently squeezed both of her breasts through her shirt and bra, she moaned.
“I have wanted to touch you like this since the first time you went off on me over a box of cereal.”
A small smile touched her lips as she murmured against his mouth. “You’re a freak.”
“With you, hell yeah.”
Luke suddenly lifted her up and carried her to the bed. Her heart leaped the minute the firm, squeaky mattress hit her back and her hands went to his chest. He stalled, looking down at her with so much tenderness her breath caught in her throat.
“I just thought you’d be more comfortable this way. Is it all right?”
Her hand came up, cupping his cheek. “Uh huh.”
It was like some kind of trigger switch, because his mouth came over hers with more intensity and passion than anyone had ever shown her. Her skin came alive as his body covered hers, and his hands stroked her knee, her thigh, and crept higher.
Her hands slipped under the back of his shirt and she pulled up, trying to get it off his head. He came up onto his knees and tossed it across the room.
Boy oh boy. Luke looked good with his shirt on, but off? Daaaaamn.
When he lifted up her tank and exposed her belly, she thought he was going to push it all the way off, but instead, he curled over and kissed her right above her navel. Her stomach muscles bunched, and she giggled a bit as his scruff tickled her with every kiss downward. When he reached the snap of her shorts, she waited with baited breath.
He actually used his teeth and she laughed. “Doesn’t that hurt?”
“It’s supposed to be sexy,” he mumbled around the zipper in his mouth.
“It’s not. Amusing, yes. Sexy, no.”
He let it go and leaned up on one elbow alongside her. “This is better for what I’m about to do anyway.”
“And what’s that?”
He leaned over, his warm breath fanning over her ear. “Watch you come.”
Marley had never imagined she’d be into dirty talk, but then again, no one she’d been with had ever tried. When Luke did it though, she actually squeezed her thighs together as a steady pounding started between her legs.
Luke never looked away as he pushed her shorts down and his warm palm rested over her. His finger ran along the lace of her panties, causing friction to explode against her seam. When he dipped his finger under and pressed until he touched her clit, she jumped. That small caress turned into a rapid circle that made her hips arch, her hands gripping the bed spread beneath her as pressure built. She closed her eyes, her breathing coming out in heavy pants, and he kissed her eyelids.
“Don’t close your eyes. I want to see everything.”
She opened her heavy lids, whimpering as he pinched and rubbed, working her into a frenzy of arousal until finally, a wave of euphoria rushed over her and her legs started trembling.
“Oh, yes. Yes. God.”
“That’s it, baby, come for me.”
Marley’s hands started to cramp, so hard were they clenched and as the orgasm passed, she sank back into the mattress with a sigh.
“Damn. If you come that hard with just my hand, I can’t wait to get you in my mouth.”
Marley’s eyes flew open, and as she caught the wicked grin combined with the admiration in his eyes, she giggled. “Has anyone ever mentioned you have a dirty mouth?”
“Stick around a little longer and I’ll show you exactly how dirty it can get.”
Chapter 14
Luke slid back onto the bed, watching her as she shimmied out of her shorts and tossed her tank across the room. Clad only in her lacy bra and panties, he could feel his cock growing and pushing against the cotton of his briefs. He’d ditched the cargo shorts when she’d gotten up from the bed, and he was dying to see how far this would go.
“I think I should tell you that I’m a classy chick.”
Her finger was playing with the strap of her bra and he could hardly concentrate on what she was saying, anticipating the moment she slid it down and exposed those soft, round tits.
“Uh huh.”
“No I mean it. I never hook up on the first date, or the third. I wait until the fifth.”
Now her hands were sliding along the flat of her stomach and he wanted to leap on her.
“Isn’t this like our seventh date?”
“No. Maybe our third.”
“So you’re saying tonight was a date, huh? And what does one do on a third date?”
Marley climbed onto the bed, her mouth hovering over his crotch.
“Oral.”
Have mercy.
Putting his hands behind his head, he tried to appear casual. “I can hang with that.”
Marley pulled the waistband of his boxer briefs down, as if she was peeling a banana, and as he waited impatiently, watching her smile, his cock flexed up.
Her hand wrapped around him and he arched off the bed, loving the grip she had on him. He closed his eyes as her mouth slipped over his tip and slid down, meeting her hand and creating a warm, wet pressure that had his balls clenching.
“Now, no closing your eyes.” He lifted his head to look at her, and the dark, passionate glow on her face was fucking hot. “I want to see the expression in them when you come.”
Having his own words thrown back at him would have made him laugh, except she’d swallowed him up again. He leaned up and back on his arms, watching as she dropped her head and started working
him. God, it had been a while since a woman had just given him head without it being a prelude to sex. His breathing kicked up as she moved over him, sucking and doing something with her tongue just below the head of his cock that was almost his undoing.
“Oh, fuck, do that tongue thing again. Jesus yes, God, my—”
She took him all the way in and when the tip of him hit the back of her throat, he was done. Shouting as he came, he threw his head back, shaking from head to toe.
He felt her move as he fell back on the bed. “Sorry I didn’t warn you. I didn’t expect to come so fast.”
Her lips pressed against his and she snuggled into his side. Her silence disturbed him a bit, and he got defensive.
“I’m not a one-minute man, if you were worried.”
“I wasn’t,” she said.
Her tone made him frown. “I’m serious.”
“I’m sure you are.”
Luke took her chin in his hand and raised her up so he could see her face. She was grinning from ear to ear. “Are you fucking with me?”
“Yep.”
“Mean.”
She grabbed his hand and circled his thumb with her tongue. “I thought I was pretty nice a minute ago.”
He couldn’t argue with that.
* * * *
Marley got up and pulled on her clothes. She’d felt Luke drift off to sleep shortly after giving her a warm, lingering kiss and pulling her closer to him. She’d enjoyed the cuddles for a while, but she didn’t want to wait too long and run the risk of bumping into Brent or another guest as she was leaving.
Tiptoeing out the door, she figured it was probably safe to take the elevator. She could always say she was checking on Sonora.
As she stood in the hallway, waiting for it to come back up, she heard the click of a door, turned around…
And froze.
Dustin was coming out of a room, looking rumpled. But that wasn’t what was so shocking. When Sonora wrapped an arm around his neck from inside the room and pulled him down for a kiss, Marley’s stomach rolled.
Sonora was cheating on Brent. With Dustin Kent.
Finally, the elevator arrived and she practically dove in. Only she heard Dustin call out, “Hold the elevator please.”
Unable to even look at him as he stepped in, she did notice him pause out of the corner of her eye. Maybe he’d ignore her and they could at least pretend that she hadn’t seen anything.
“Well, well. I guess I’m not the only one doing the walk of shame tonight.”
No such luck.
Marley flipped him the bird. “I am not. I was just visiting a friend.”
“And I bet I know exactly what kind of friend.”
Furious with him, she turned, her hands on her hips and spitting fire. “You’re a pig. Don’t you get that she is engaged to be married? That you’re breaking up a relationship?”
“Relax, that’s the best part about it.” The doors opened and although Marley tried to get away from him, he kept up with her. “We both just wanted to get off, no strings attached.”
“Like I said—pig.”
“Oh, and I suppose you and the meathead are soul mates?” he asked.
“Just leave me alone and I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
“Fine by me. Talking to you is like speaking to my uncle, the priest. Always wants to save my soul.”
Marley grabbed her door and jerked it open. “You’re the devil. You don’t have a soul.”
Dustin’s grin was unapologetic, and it made her want to punch him. “That must be why I’m so good at being bad.”
“Ugh, gross.”
Marley stepped into her car, and took a deep breath as she watched Dustin leave. What the hell was she supposed to do? Ignore what she saw?
Twelve hours later, Marley still had no idea. As she sat in her office at Something Borrowed, rubbing her temples and praying for the answer in her black cup of coffee, nothing came to her. She’d hardly slept, and her head felt as though it was about to split open and an alien would pop out.
“Geez, Marley, you look tired,” Rylie said.
Marley looked up, knowing that her face was devoid of makeup except for a little mascara. She just hadn’t been driven enough to put in the effort this morning.
“Thanks, Rys.” Marley didn’t mean to sound so nasty, but the last thing she needed was to hear how bad she looked.
Rylie certainly was dressed to the nines this morning. Wearing a black and white striped dress with lemon yellow heels, her hair was in a messy braid and with a little extra makeup, she was gorgeous. She held a white napkin in her hand with a yellow bar perched on top, black stripes covering the powdery white surface of the dessert.
“So, you’re dressing to match your baked goods now?” Marley joked.
Rylie looked down at her outfit and laughed. “You know, I didn’t even notice. Here, try this. It will make you feel better.”
“No, I’m not hungry, Rys. Rys!”
Rylie had come around the side of her desk and she couldn’t get away from the lemony looking bar with powdered sugar and chocolate drizzle hanging in front of her mouth.
“One bite,” Rylie said.
Marley opened her mouth with a sigh and took a bite. The tart flavor of lemon and the sinful taste of dark chocolate filled her mouth. She licked her lips, and didn’t want to admit that the treat did make her feel a bit better.
“Good?”
Marley took the rest of the bar from her and opened her mouth for another bite. As she chewed, her eyes rolled back into her head and she swallowed slowly, savoring it. “You’re evil.”
Rylie clapped her hands. “Yay, I’ve always wanted to be evil.”
“Mission accomplished. You should just bring whatever is left in the container back to my office.”
“Yowza, that bad huh?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll be right back with the bars then.”
Marley watched her leave the room and debated on whether to tell Rylie what she saw. She didn’t want to do anything to void her contract, but her conscience was sickened with Sonora. How could she do that to Brent? A man who despite her many flaws, wanted to marry her. She’d figured Sonora was marrying him for his money considering her financial straits, but it wasn’t as though Brent was a toad! And even if he was horrible to her, she could leave him. There was no excuse for cheating.
When Rylie came back in, Marley said, “Can you close the door please? I need to ask you a hypothetical.”
“Sure.” Rylie shut the door and set the glass Pyrex dish with the rest of the bars on Marley’s desk and sat down. “What’s up?”
Marley leaned against the edge of her desk and lowered her voice. “If you saw one of your brides or grooms cheating, would you tell Kelly? Or the person’s significant other?”
“Who—”
“This is hypothetical.”
Rylie’s gaze narrowed, but she didn’t ask any more questions. “Oh. Well, I guess I’d ask Kelly first and see what she said. I know some clients have a confidentiality agreement, so even if you see them doing something illegal, you can’t talk about it, unless they break the contract first.”
At least if Marley told Kelly, it wouldn’t be on her. “Yeah, I’ll do that. Thanks, Rylie.”
“Anytime.” She stood up, and grabbed one more bar from the pan. “The rest are yours. I don’t need them around. Asher keeps telling me that I could lose weight if I wasn’t constantly eating.”
Marley scowled. “Funny, how he never complains when you make dinner for him. And he’s not perfect by any means!”
Rylie appeared so defeated that Marley wanted to personally hunt Asher down and skewer him with a spork.
“He’s right though. I have to sample everything, and especially baking all the sweets…I could cut back or star
t substituting for sugar.”
Marley walked around the desk, and bent over to hug her friend. “Rylie, if you want to lose weight, then that is fine and I will support you, but do not change because some jackass thinks his shit don’t stink. You are gorgeous.”
“Whatever, I’m—”
“Gorgeous, and if you say anything else to the contrary, I will hurt you. I will dump all of these beautiful lemon bars out on my desk and beat you with the glass pan and eat them over your bloody body.”
“Okay, okay. Geez, I’m going to get out of here. You’re cray cray!” But when Rylie left Marley’s office, she was smiling, which was Marley’s goal. Then when Marley heard Dustin say hi to Rylie out in the hallway, she went to the door to keep an eye on the dirty rat.
So far, most of the women in the office had fallen under his spell, including Rylie. If she only knew what Marley knew, she’d be just as disgusted with the jerk.
“Hey, Rylie, got something sweet for me?”
Marley wanted to gag.
Rylie took a bite of her bar and held it out to him. “Here. It’s the last one.”
He leaned close and whatever he whispered, Rylie’s cheeks turned bright red.
And she shoved the lemon bar in Dustin’s face.
“You’re a jackass.”
When she spun around, her black and white striped dress flew out dramatically and she stomped back into the lobby in her yellow heels.
Marley started a slow clap, grinning when Dustin wiped a glob of lemon off the end of his nose.
“You seriously think that’s appropriate?” he growled.
“Actually, I think they call that just desserts.”
Dustin stomped back down the hall. Marley could hear the curses until he slammed his office door. She went back into her office, a smile spreading across her face.
Rylie deserved a gift card to that little baking shop in Jackson she loved. She’d just made Marley’s day 100 percent better.
Maybe things were looking up.
* * * *
Luke walked into Something Borrowed with a bouquet of flowers and a wide grin on his face. The front office was relatively normal compared to the décor of the rest of Sweetheart’s businesses. The walls had stenciled, curling scripts of romantic quotes and phrases. Not enough to look cluttered or tacky, just homey—down to the plant in the corner and the simple wooden reception desk, which happened to be empty at the moment.