by Force, Marie
I can’t do that here. But when I get her home… There might be howling. “I love you so much, my sexy little pit bull. So fucking much, it made me crazy to know you were in danger. This is the second time you’ve done this to me. You gotta stop scaring me. If anything ever happened to you…” I’m horrified when my voice catches and my eyes fill.
Leah frames my face in her hands and brings me in for a sweet, tender kiss that nearly unmans me. “I’m fine. I’m right here with you, exactly where I’ve wanted to be since the day I started at Quantum and you and your big brain nearly made me come in the conference room.”
Even when I think it’s not possible to laugh, she proves otherwise.
“And I love you, too. So much.” She caresses my face with a tender touch. “All I could think about the whole time we were gone was if you were okay.”
“I wasn’t. I wasn’t okay at all.” I hold her and kiss her and make love to her. “I need you to marry me, Leah. Marry me and be with me and just be mine.”
“Are you really proposing to me while we’re having sex?”
“I guess maybe I am. Why? Did you need some fancy romantic proposal?”
She shakes her head. “This is just fine.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes, Emmett, I’ll marry you.”
I love the blissed-out smile on her sweet face. “I hope you’re happy that your evil plan to fully infiltrate my life has been so successful.”
“I’m very happy.”
I hold her as close to me as I can get her. “That’s the only thing that matters.”
Chapter 23
Is it possible to die from too much sex or to become dehydrated from coming so many times, you lose count of how many orgasms there’ve been? If so, I’m knocking on death’s door as Marlowe completely and thoroughly uses me. I honestly can’t believe we’re still here. It has to be hours after this started. The club is due to open shortly, but the main door is locked. What will the employees do when they report to work?
There’s nothing they can do. I have the only key to that door, and it’s on the floor of the dungeon in the pocket of my jeans.
I want to ask her how long we’re going to do this, but I suspect I already know the answer to that question. My chest aches from the pressure building in the area of my heart. I can’t give her what she wants, as much as I might wish otherwise.
She once again turns on the vibration in the plug, and like every other time she’s done that, I come like an inexperienced teenager in the throes of first lust.
“Jesus, Marlowe. What the fuck do you want from me?”
“Everything.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I can’t.”
“Bullshit.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Bullshit.”
“So what? We’re going to do this until I give you the answer you want?”
“We’re going to do this until you give me the truth.”
“Aren’t you getting sore?”
“Funny you should ask. I was just thinking I should switch locations.”
“What…” Before I can gauge her intent, she’s moved my cock so it’s pressed against her ass. “Marlowe, don’t. You need to be prepared for that.”
“You’re not in charge here, remember?”
She strokes lube onto my cock, which is hard—again. How is that even possible?
“You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“What do you care?”
“I care.” I care too much, and that’s the problem. I never again want to feel as helpless as I did knowing she was in danger because of me, and there wasn’t a damned thing I could do about it. As good as the good times with her were—and they were better than it’s ever been with anyone—I can’t risk something happening again or that she’ll wise up in a year or two and realize she can do way better than me.
After hearing me say I care, she pauses. “What do you care about?”
“You. Of course I care about you. We’ve been friends for years.”
She scowls and continues on her misguided plan to initiate herself into anal sex.
“You’re going to hurt yourself. You need to be prepared, especially to take… well, me.”
“Fine, then prepare me.” She lifts herself off me and stands next to the chaise, gesturing for us to switch places.
“You haven’t had enough?”
“Obviously not.”
“Marlowe…”
“Prepare me. Now.”
I don’t want it like this. “I’m not sure I can.”
She glances at my hard cock and raises a brow.
“I’m kind of sore from what we’ve already done.” I’m quite certain I’ve never had this much sex in such a condensed time period, and I really am sore.
Her eyes shoot fire at me, but her chin wobbles. “Fine. Forget it. Just forget the whole thing.” She walks over to where our clothes lie scattered about on the floor and gets dressed, her movements jerky and rushed, as if she can’t wait to get out of there and away from me.
I start to get up to go to her, but my legs feel like overcooked spaghetti noodles. It takes me a second to get my shit together, and by then, she’s heading for the stairs. I gently grasp her arm to stop her. “Don’t go.”
“Why not?”
“Because.”
“That’s all you’ve got?”
It’s time to put up or shut up. I get that. But the words… They’re stuck inside me, wedged behind an unbreakable wall of fear.
She twists her arm free of my grasp. “Let me go, Sebastian. You’ve made it perfectly clear that you don’t want what I do.”
“That’s not true.”
“Whatever.”
“Marlowe.”
Probably only because we’ve been friends for so long does she turn to look at me.
“I’m afraid.” It takes every ounce of courage I can find inside me to admit that.
Her expression doesn’t change. “Of what?”
“Of this, of you, of how I feel when I’m with you, of what it felt like to know you were in danger because of me, of losing you after what we’ve had. All of it. It’s terrifying.”
She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly before closing the distance between us and laying her hands flat against my chest. “I love you.”
“I know, but—”
“Sebastian.”
I look into the lovely green eyes that are looking at me with affection and humor and love, so much love. “I’m in love with you. I think perhaps I have been for as long as I’ve known you.”
“You… I… Really?” My voice breaks on that last word, the way it did when I was twelve and going through puberty.
“Really.”
I shake my head. “You shouldn’t love me like that.”
“Kinda too late.” She flashes the toothy grin that made her a superstar. “I already do. I’ve made a lot of really bad decisions because I refused to acknowledge what was right in front of me for years. Are you going to make bad decisions, too?”
“You got kidnapped because of me.”
“I know, and guess what? I survived it because of me. I’m right here. I’m safe and sound and telling you I’m in love with you.”
“You can do better.”
Her disappointment is obvious. “I guess I’ll see you around, then.”
“Wait.”
She stops but keeps her back to me.
“You bring so much to the table, and I…”
She turns to face me. “Do you love me, Sebastian?”
When she looks at me that way and asks me point blank, I find I can’t deny it. I don’t want to. “Yeah, I love you.” Some of the tension in my chest eases when I say those words.
“That’s the only thing I need you to bring to the table. I don’t want or need one single other thing from you besides that. Well, I need your exceptional cock once in a while, too.”
“He kinda come
s with the package.”
“It’s a very appealing package, and you don’t even know it. You’re the most loyal person I know. Do you have any idea how important that quality is to someone like me, who frequently sees the worst of people in this business? You’re the best friend anyone could ever hope to have. There’s nothing you wouldn’t do for any of us, and we all know it. I’ve seen your heart, and I love your heart.”
“You humble me.”
“You thrill me.”
My heart, the heart that belongs only to her, skips a crazy beat, the same way it would if I were about to step off a cliff into a free fall. Isn’t that exactly what I’m doing? “Are you absolutely sure this is what you want? That I’m what you want?”
“One million percent sure.”
“And you won’t change your mind in a year or two when someone better comes along?”
She puts her arms around my waist and gazes up at me. “There is no one better than you.”
When she says it with such conviction, I start to believe that maybe it’s true. There might be better men out there, men who’ve never broken the law or done the things I’ve done, but no one will ever love her more than I do. That much I know for certain. I wrap my arms around her and bury my face in her soft, fragrant hair. “Are we really going to do this?”
“Only if it’s what you want, too.”
“It is. It’s what I’ve always wanted but was too afraid to reach for.”
“And now that you have it within your grasp, what do you plan to do with it?”
“Keep it.” I tighten my hold on her. “Forever.”
Epilogue
It’s Oscar night, and I’m nervous. Not about the awards or the show, but what comes after. Over the last week, Sebastian has been preparing me to finish what we started in the dungeon that day. Tonight, under the copper-colored Dior gown that was made just for me, I’m wearing the largest of the plugs he procured for me.
When I think about the battle it took to insert that plug, my body tingles with anticipation and a healthy dose of fear. Sebastian is twice the size of the plug. There’s a very good chance I won’t be able to handle him there, but I’m determined to try.
How am I supposed to think about anything but what’s coming later while we’re at the show?
He walks into his bedroom and stops short at the sight of me in the gown that perfectly complements my coloring. Wearing an Armani tuxedo, he’s absolutely devastating.
“Let me see the front,” he says gruffly.
I turn to show him the plunging neckline—if you want to call it that. It leaves the middle of me completely bare. The daring look required double-stick tape to keep my nipples from popping out, but Tenley has assured me I’m a slam dunk for a best-dressed nod, not that I care about that.
I do care about the heated, desperate, possessive way Sebastian studies me. “What do you think?”
“There’s too much of you showing.”
I knew he’d say that. “All the important parts are covered.”
“All your parts are important.”
I crook my finger at him. “Come here and let me see you.”
He crosses the room to me, and I smooth my hands over the fine fabric of his jacket. “You look gorgeous.”
“So do you.”
I hook my arm through his and turn us to face the full-length mirror Tenley brought when she learned that Seb didn’t own one. “How can men live this way?” Tenley asked.
I tip my head to lean it on his shoulder. “We look pretty good together, don’t you think?”
“We look incredible together.”
Ever since he decided to let go of the fear and take what he wants, he’s been like a whole new and improved version of his already awesome self. He’s all in, and all-in Sebastian is a force to be reckoned with. He tells me he loves me no fewer than a dozen times a day. He wants to talk about our future—where we’ll live and whether we should sell his place and live at mine at the beach or buy something new together.
He won’t let me pay for anything. “I’ve got it, babe” is his regular refrain.
I let him pay because I understand that he needs to take care of me, which is fine with me. What do I care who pays as long as we get to do everything together?
Turk was arrested about an hour after we walked out of the warehouse. My statement and Leah’s helped to build the case against him. I’ve kept my promises to Ariel and have plans to meet her for lunch this week. She had nothing to do with what her uncle did, and if I can help her get ahead in this cutthroat business, why wouldn’t I? Somehow the cops managed to keep my name and Leah’s out of the public statements about Turk’s arrest, and for that I’ll be eternally grateful. I’ve had more than enough publicity lately.
Turk has been charged with multiple felony counts of kidnapping, false imprisonment and extortion. His chop shop was raided, and the guys who worked for him were arrested, too. Leah and I think it’s kind of cool that we helped to shut down their entire criminal enterprise.
Speaking of Leah, she and Emmett are engaged! We’re all so thrilled for them. I love the way she’s totally transformed Emmett’s life and given him something he didn’t even know he was missing until she showed him that there could be so much more. And the rock he put on her finger? Holy statement, Batman. The man is smitten, and that’s plainly obvious to anyone who spends even five minutes with the two of them.
She and I are closer than ever since our ordeal with Turk, and I was delighted when she asked me to be in her wedding party.
Sebastian’s hand on my ass takes me out of my thoughts and back to reality when he presses on the base of the plug. “Everything still a go for later?”
“Yep.”
“You’re not going to wimp out on me, are you?”
“I really hope not.”
He carefully puts an arm around me and kisses the top of my head. “It’s okay if you do. After you plugged me, I have a whole new appreciation for what it’s like to be on the receiving end.”
“No, you don’t. That plug was nothing compared to the beast in your pants.”
His gruff laughter warms me all the way through. It’s so perfect with him. He’s everything I ever wanted and more. That I can be completely and totally myself with my friend Sebastian, who is also my love, is the greatest gift in an already blessed life.
“We need to go.”
“I still can’t believe I’m your date to the Oscars.”
“Believe it. You’re my date to life.”
“I still can’t believe that either.”
“Is your mom going to watch?”
“Yep, with my dad, apparently.” No one is really clear on how the relationship between his parents works these days, but whatever. It works for them, Sebastian says, and that’s what matters.
A chauffeur-driven black Bentley, the same model as my white one, delivers us into town for the show. I’m meeting my Quantum partners there and looking forward to a big night for all of us with Insidious the front-runner for best picture. Winning two years in a row would cement our place as the top production company in Hollywood.
Because of that, I’m almost more excited for the best picture category than I am for best actress. Although, it would be nice to win for acting again. It’s been almost twenty years since I took home the best supporting actress statue for my first film. I also received an Oscar as a producer for Camouflage last year.
More than anything, I’m excited to have the man I love as my date to the biggest event of the year.
My cell phone rings, and I take the call without checking the caller ID, certain it’s one of my partners. It’s not.
“Marlowe. Please don’t hang up.”
Rafe. “How’d you get this number?” I can’t imagine how he would’ve gotten my new number.
“It doesn’t matter. I need to talk to you. You have to do something. Everywhere I go, the women… They throw things at me. One of them threw hot food on me in a restaurant!”
I roll my lips together so I won’t be tempted to laugh.
“They hit me and slap me. You have to call them off!”
“Why should I? After what you did to me and twelve other women, it’s the least of what you deserve.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“I don’t believe you. I think you’re sorry you finally got called out for your bad behavior. Here’s a piece of advice—stay home. No one can throw things at you or slap you if you don’t go out. Also, you might want to stay out of the US since there’s a warrant for your arrest. And here’s my final piece of advice. If you call me again, I’ll press charges for harassment in addition to the assault charges.”
“Marlowe, please…”
I end the call and block the number.
“So fucking hot.” The low rumble of Sebastian’s sexy voice makes me want to fan myself.
“You think so?”
“Oh yeah. My woman is a badass. Nobody better fuck with her.”
“That’s right.”
“Damn straight.”
“They’re throwing food at him in restaurants.”
We lose it laughing.
And when the phone rings again, I scowl in anticipation of another call from him. This time, I check the caller ID and see Flynn’s name pop up.
“Mo,” he says before I can even say hello. He sounds frantic. “Nat’s in labor.”
“Already?” She’s not due for another month.
“Yeah, we were all ready to leave when her water broke. We’re on our way to the hospital.”
“What does Dr. Breslow say?”
“That she’s okay to deliver at thirty-five weeks, but…”
“She’ll be fine, Flynn. She’s young and strong, and the baby is totally fine. I know it.”
“Mo.” He manages to convey a world of fear in the way he says my name.
“You want me to come to the hospital?” I’d do it in a second if he asked me to, and he knows it.