25. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Leighton

T he sun caresses my bare skin on this beautiful afternoon.

I'm lying peacefully on the lounge chair by the pool. There's no one around to watch me. No neighbors. No other family members milling around. Marcus hasn't asked Hazel to drop in today—and even if he had, she'd have been here at sunrise to drop our groceries.

I'm free to sunbathe in the nude.

In fact, I'm free to do anything I want. And what I want is to stay here a while longer. With my man.

I can't deny the way my heart twisted when I emailed my new workplace. Quitting before I even started wasn't a part of my plans. My future boss looked like a really cool lady. The job sounded interesting. I was looking forward to it.

Was .

There would be other places, Marcus promised. He convinced me anyone with half a brain would hire me in a heartbeat. That life would make so much more sense if we both worked in the same city.

In a home and a city that we'll choose together .

Speak of the devil. The very handsome, extremely sexy devil. Cool water drops splash on my thighs. My belly. All over my face.

"Asshole." I swipe the back of my palm on my closed eyes, laughing.

"I'm the asshole?"

His taunting voice has my smile lingering. "Who else?"

"You're the one lying there with your legs spread." When I open my eyes, I see my Marcus, perched, his sexy forearms on the edge of the pool. "You think just because I'm doing laps that I don't see your fuckable pussy on display? Tempting me?"

He's been grooming his stubble, and it's a little fuller than usual. His eyes, those dark, black wells of hunger, zone in on me. Starved for me.

Out in the open with no one to stop us from loving each other.

A sharp pain slashes at my heart. No one but my best friend who's out there somewhere. Plotting to murder me.

Would've murdered me if not for Marcus. Her father.

Jesus, since when did my life become such a fucked-up mess?

Also, how am I sitting here like nothing's wrong in the world ?

"Come here," Marcus demands. He must've noticed the shift in me. He always does.

He sees me.

The comfort he gives me is unlike any other. Cruel and gentle. My complex man. He was right to say I'd learn to love both sides of him.

I do.

I'm in love. Obsessed. Possessive. I'm powerless to stop myself, and truthfully, I don't want to.

Slowly, I tread over the wet stone floor, standing over him.

"Good girl." He licks his wet lips. The pool water makes his skin glisten, emphasizing his toned muscles. The veins on his forearms. "Now, sit. Feet in the pool."

I do as he says.

Ever since I almost fell asleep with his cock in my mouth, I've been getting more and more comfortable being here. Thanks to him.

My legs are spread, my feet dangling inside the cool water.

"Good girl." The decadence in his gaze is addictive. "Not enough, though."

I lean on my hands, arching my back for him. "How would you like me?"

"There's more than one answer to that question." He rakes my body with his eyes, then with his hands. Marcus grips my calves, dragging me on the slippery floor. "Here will be a good place to start."

"To start wh—"

His big palms drag me another inch closer, and then his lips are on my pussy. A moan slides past my lips and my thighs clench from the jarring pleasure.

"This, Leighton," he growls and returns to eating me out. Marcus kneads one of my aching nipples, torturing me while he's licking and sucking my clit. When he looks up, he's cold and terrifying. Mine. "Tasting this pussy is a great fucking place to start."

"Don't stop," I plead, begging harder when he pushes two fingers inside me. "Please, don't stop."

"Not planning on it." With his mouth still between my legs, Marcus is pure danger. "I won't stop even after—"

He grazes my sensitive G-spot with his fingers inside me. My legs jerk, splashing water in the pool. "Even after cloud ."

Oh, shit.

"Fuck." My orgasm ripples through me, clawing at my throat, choking me. "It hurts. So good. But it hurts."

I'm fighting to breathe as Marcus closes his lips on my clit again, prolonging the pleasure. Tears cascade down my cheeks.

That first orgasm of the day is always the best. Always the worst too, with how intense it is.

"We're going to play." He grips my thighs, bruising me. Owning me. "Before we do, I feel like there's something you're hiding from me. You're going to tell me what it is."

"W-what?" The aftershocks of my orgasm make it hard for me to talk.

He doesn't care. He'll get his answers. "Yesterday, you weren't disgusted when I told you Rylan had killed the women I dated. "

This. "I—umm—I wa—"

His fingers bite deeper into my flesh. Warning me. "No lying, little doll."

The edge in his tone sobers me up fast. "I'm not. Thing is…" I trail off.

"Yes?"

He knows why. The man can read through anyone, especially me. Other than Rylan's murderous tendencies, I don't think he's missed anything in his life.

This isn't him being curious. It's about trust. About teaching me that he won't judge me for being honest.

"Murder is wrong." Truth. "They didn't deserve to die." Also truth.

"Good girl." Marcus rewards me by biting the inside of my thigh. I roll my eyes at the delicious pain, my fingernails scraping the stone floor. "Go on."

"I…" My cheeks heat. The last truth is so ugly. But with Marcus's face so close to me, big and strong and ready to take the blow, I say it anyway, "I don't regret them being gone."

The second the words are out, I slap a hand over my mouth.

Marcus's teeth dig into his lower lip. He tilts his head and looks up, away from me. He's considering what I admitted to, even though he knew I was going to say it.

I guess hearing it hits differently.

Dread has my belly dipping. I remain as still as a statue, waiting for his verdict.

"Fuck, Leighton." He returns to me, his voice drenched with lust. His fingers roam higher up my thighs, his thumbs parting my lips. "Why does everything you say have to sound so fucking hot?"

Before I have a chance to answer, he fastens his hands on my hips, yanking me with him inside the pool.

"No." My arms splash in the water. "Put me back, please, put me back."

In the back of my mind, I'm aware the smart thing would be to hold on to Marcus's shoulders. Except, my mind has gone on vacation. Panic kicks in, and my common sense is gone.

"I'm sorry, Leigh." Marcus pins me to the wall of the pool. "I have to fuck you. Another second and I'll lose what's left of my sanity."

"What about my sanity?" I screech.

That time when he threw me into the pool was nothing like this. Adrenaline swarmed through my body. Anger and resentment ruled my world. My spirit was adamant about teaching him a lesson.

I could fight.

I can't now. I was calm a second ago. Happy, sated. Unsuspecting.

Beneath my feet, I feel the short step that trails along the circumference of the pool. I'm too busy, though, kicking in an attempt to stay above water. To save myself.

"Listen to me. My hands are on your waist." Marcus enunciates his words by squeezing me. I feel him. "My. Hands. Are. On. Your. Waist. Breathe with me. When I inhale, you exhale."

His lips slam on mine, his tongue coaxing my mouth open. I'm still dizzy when he stops kissing me .

As he promised, Marcus sucks in a deep inhale. My obedient body responds, exhaling air into his mouth. He exhales the air I breathed into him, and I suck it back into my lungs.

We dance this way, back and forth, back and forth.

Eventually, the panic isn't all-consuming.

The dark cloud clears. My hands slip around Marcus's neck. My toes find purchase on the step.

"That's my girl." He doesn't waste a second, lowering his hand and taking out his cock. "You're so beautiful, Leighton." Marcus grips me beneath my thigh, pinning my heel to his back. "How are you doing?"

Air in, air out. I'm better, and I have him to thank for it.

But not a second before I give him hell for what he's just put me through.

"It's cute how you pretend to care," I spit out.

"Brat." Marcus shoves his cock inside my pussy, his lips curling in a snarl. His fingers are a choker around my neck, the other hand shoves my body into the wall. "You know I fucking care."

"You forced me in here." I latch onto the short strands of hair at the back of his neck. Pulling on them. Hurting him. "So selfish."

"Selfish?" His eyebrows lower as he pulls back and pushes deeper into me, repeating the motion. "I brought you in here to show you how much I love you. I'm fucking you in this pool to show you I love you. I'm willing to give up on a lot, and I mean, a lot for you. To be with you. "

His words sear my soul. His cock is thick, tearing me from the inside. Marcus doesn't do lukewarm. He's either fire or ice, consuming me no matter which he chooses.

"You dragged me in here," I accuse, sounding meek. I really don't care anymore.

"You were ready," he says between harsh pounds and scalding kisses along my neck. "More than ready. That was another thing that got me hard. How brave you are."

"I didn't need you to make a point," I moan my accusation. "I don't need you to show me I'm ready."

"Well, maybe I am selfish." He meets me eye to eye, fucking and fucking and fucking me. "Selfish for wanting more of your smiles. For wanting to create a million memories everywhere with you. For getting off on taking care of you."

While he talks, I once again see how the world isn't black and white. Yes, Marcus helped me for reasons that may sound selfish. Then again, the end result is us spending time together.

How can I say he isn't doing it for me as well?

"You're my whole life, Leigh." Marcus slips a finger into my pussy, rubbing my clit under the water. "You're in my veins. You crawl under my skin. Your laugh, your face. Your sweet words. You have the power to bring me to my knees."

My body tenses when my second orgasm threatens to implode. Marcus sucks on my shoulder, shoving me violently over the edge. I cry out his name, my heel digging into his lower back.

And I beg. I beg him to go harder, to stop, to keep going. My face is wet from tears and the water is splashing on me. I'm a mess. I'm his mess .

"You're my everything. Anything you ask is yours, little doll." His eyes find mine, fierce and handsome and absolutely mad. "I've waited five years for you. I'm not waiting anymore."

His groan as he comes rattles the air around us. Water sloshes everywhere as he shoots his cum so deep that I feel it up my throat.

His harsh thrusts are now smooth glides. As his lips kiss my nose, then my mouth, his hands stroke my face, and I shudder in his arms.

After a while, we're both back to our bodies. Our foreheads press together, his fingers soothing my scalp.

"Marcus?" I whisper.

"Yes?"

"Earlier." I suck in a breath. "When I told you that I don't care your exes are dead..."

"I don't care about that. I love you for who you are. Wouldn't have had you any other way." He tilts my head to steal another kiss. "You're obsessed, just like me. Would you be mad if I told you I'm ready to kill anyone who'd come too close to you?"

"No."

"I wouldn't actually kill them," he reassures me, his eyes narrowing. "Other than the fucker who tried to rape you. I'd kill him in a heartbeat."

"I know."

"I'd never let anyone hurt you."

I know that too.

He means what he says.

And as always, I believe him.