20. Marco

20

MARCO

I’d just stepped inside the hotel after spending the entire morning working out in the villas, when my phone buzzed in my pocket.

I pulled it out and saw I’d gotten a text from Ivy.

IVY

Take the elevator to the fourth floor.

My brow furrowed. What was she up to now?

If nothing else, this woman was keeping things fun and interesting. I wasted no time turning and heading toward the elevators. As soon as I stepped on, I responded.

MARCO

What should I do once I get there?

IVY

There’s an envelope stashed behind the plant to the left of the elevator.

My mouth curved into a smile as the fantasies began to run wild in my head. If nothing else, Ivy and I had been doing our best to make up for all the years we’d lost not taking notice of each other in the ways that we should have.

Mere months ago, I never would have imagined there was this side to Ivy. I was getting all these new bits and pieces of her I’d never gotten before, and I was enjoying every single minute of it.

I’d gone from feeling complacent with most of my life, accepting things as they were, and it never dawned on me even once that Ivy could be the key to completely turning my world upside down. Sure, I expected I’d feel more energized or excited about life if I found someone special to spend my time with, but what I’d experienced with Ivy to this point had far exceeded anything I could have hoped to have.

The elevator doors opened, and I was quick to step off and search for that envelope behind that plant. Fortunately, nobody else had found it.

Ivy hadn’t written anything on the outside, so I slid my finger beneath the flap and opened it. Inside, I found a room key with a small Post-it note stuck to it. Room 407.

From the second I read her first text, I was eager to see what she had in store for us. And now, this was getting better and better.

My legs carried me to the room, where I waved the key card in front of the lock, heard it click, and pushed the handle down to open the door. When I stepped inside, I didn’t immediately see Ivy. Either she hadn’t expected me to get here so quickly, or she was hoping for me to go and find her.

Knowing her, it was the latter.

I closed the door, flipped the security lock, and went in search of her. Unsurprisingly, I found her in the bedroom.

My hand immediately went to my groin. While Ivy was still wearing the dress I’d seen her in this morning, she was no longer wearing the blazer she’d had on over the top of it down in the lobby.

I hadn’t realized until this moment that the dress was not only sleeveless but strapless as well. Her shoulders and neckline were entirely exposed, and with her hair swept up in an elegant twist, I itched to touch my lips and tongue along the skin on her throat.

“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice just a notch deeper than usual.

“I need you to take off your shirt.”

She didn’t have to ask me twice. I didn’t care why she wanted it off. With her looking the way she did and the two of us being in this room, I could only assume she had something planned that I’d enjoy, something that would hopefully have her losing that dress.

Once I tossed the shirt aside, she stepped in my direction, brought her mouth to within inches of mine, and whispered, “I need you to unzip this dress for me.”

She didn’t give me a chance to kiss her before she spun around. I unzipped the dress for her, my eyes following the zipper and ultimately roaming over her naked back. She wasn’t wearing a bra, so the only thing beneath her dress was a thong.

My hand went to my groin again as I stifled a groan.

Ivy turned around to face me, allowed the dress to fall to the floor, and sent a seductive smile my way. “Can you please remove the jeans and go lay face down on the bed?”

I wanted to reach out and touch her, to capture one of her breasts in my mouth and have her writhing against me. But I honored her request, lost the jeans, and climbed into the bed. “What now?”

I could barely hear her footsteps on the floor as she came around to the opposite side of the bed and joined me. I braced myself for whatever she was planning to do and was surprised to feel her settle herself on my ass, her thighs parted over me and her knees resting beside my hips.

I barely registered that when I felt her drizzling something wet on my back. My body tensed, but the next thing I knew, Ivy’s hands were gliding along the skin on my back. I realized it was some kind of massage oil she’d put on me.

As her fingers worked along the muscles on my back and shoulders, she said, “You’ve been working so hard lately.”

I chuckled, loving the way it felt to have her hands on me like this. “It’s my job.”

Her thumbs pressed in firmly, glided up the center of my back on either side of my spine until she reached the top, where she squeezed my trap muscles. A low groan escaped. “I’m not just talking about the work in the villas. Though you’ve been putting in a massive effort there, which does entitle you to a bit of pampering. I was mostly referring to the work you’ve been putting in with us. I think that effort deserves to be rewarded.”

In all that I’d done for Ivy, for us, over the last few weeks, the thought never once crossed my mind to do it in hopes of being rewarded like this. I did it because I wanted to do it, because I loved seeing her happy.

But this was nice.

It felt good. Not just in the physical sense, which was amazing, but it was nice to know she appreciated the effort I’d been making for us. “Do I get to return the favor when you’ve finished with me?”

I hadn’t considered massages when I walked into this hotel room, but now that it was happening, I couldn’t say I wasn’t enjoying it. The only problem was that I didn’t think I’d be able to control myself and not give her the same treatment in return.

Her hands shifted to the right side of my back and worked along the muscles surrounding my shoulder blade. “We’ll have to see how much time is left. We’ve got this lunch hour, and I know you’re going to need to eat before you head back out to the villa to work.”

“So, it’s either massages and food, or massages and sex, is what you’re telling me?”

Ivy’s fingers drifted lower on my right side. “I’m saying you could have a massage, sex, and food if you avoid giving me a massage.”

I considered my options for a moment. Walking out of this room without giving Ivy a massage didn’t feel right. But having her naked and not having sex felt even worse. “I might want to skip the food, if I’m honest.”

Her laughter filled the air. “I don’t know. I think it’d be fun to show a little bit of restraint.”

“Fun? How so?” There was a moment of hesitation as she shifted her hands to my left side and began working her magic. I groaned again. “This feels amazing.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it. With all this muscle, I wasn’t quite sure if my hands would even be able to do enough for you to feel any real relief.” She squirted more oil onto my back and continued her efforts on my left side. “And I think it’d be fun to do all this touching now without giving in to our primal desires. We’re still connecting with each other, spending time together, and touching, but we’re not going to go all the way. Then after we eat and return to work, we’ll spend all day thinking about each other, about how badly we can’t wait to be with one another again. I think it’ll make it that much more enjoyable if we do it that way.”

It wasn’t a bad idea. “I can’t make any promises about how productive I’m going to be for the rest of the day if we do that.”

Ivy made it to my lower back, shifted herself back a touch, and picked up the bottle of oil again. I heard her open the cap, but I didn’t feel the oil being drizzled onto my back. The next thing I knew, I felt Ivy’s hands gliding up along my spine again until they reached my shoulders and drifted out along my arms. But as she did that, she lowered her torso to my back, her breasts pressed tight against me.

As she stroked her fingers firmly along my arms, her breasts moved easily against the skin on my back. Apparently, that’s where the oil had gone. Her mouth was at my ear, her voice barely a whisper. “Are you saying you can’t resist me long enough to get something else better?”

My dick was like stone, straining hard against the mattress. “What could be better than where this is headed right now?”

“I thought you’d enjoy the idea of me sitting in my office later, being so worked up about not finding any release this afternoon, that I get wet just thinking about what I want to do with you after work.” The vision that popped into my head was a nice one. Ivy apparently wasn’t done. “How would it make you feel to know I had to help guests in the lobby or work with the rest of my staff without any underwear on, because they were drenched from having so many naughty thoughts about you?”

My hands balled into fists. “If your goal with this massage was to relax me, those thoughts aren’t helping.”

She pressed a kiss to my cheek and giggled. “My goal was to reward you, handsome.”

That kiss. That sound of her laughter. Everything she was doing, and everything she had done. I stood no chance.

I was gone for her. It might have been mere weeks since we’d been spending time with one another, but I had fallen hopelessly in love with her in that time. I wanted this now, and I didn’t think there’d ever come a time when I wouldn’t want it. I wanted to tell her, but I worried it might ruin the moment.

“I’m beginning to think your goal was to tease me, above all else.”

Ivy laughed again. “Okay, so maybe I wanted to do that, too.”

Closing my eyes, I let out a deep sigh and smiled. All these years, and I never knew this woman had all of this inside her.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me. I’m up for your game. Whenever you have the urge to play, you just let me know, Princess.”

She squirmed on top of me, brought her mouth back to my ear, and bit down on the lobe. “Have I told you how much I love it when you call me that?”

If it was even half as much as I loved what she was doing to me now, I’d fully understand why it made her happy.

I groaned. “We need to switch.”

“Why? Don’t you like this?”

“You’re talking very tough for someone who hasn’t had my hands on her just yet,” I warned her.

I felt her body shudder on top of mine just before she slid off me. I gave her an assessing stare, smirked, and reached for the oil. “Am I doing your front?”

Her eyes widened, and she quickly rolled over.

Then I squirted some oil onto her back. Much the same as she’d done with me, I leaned forward, pressed my chest against her back, and whispered in her ear. “I like how creative you’ve become with our lunch hour, Princess. I just hope you realize what you’ve signed up for, because I’m going to leave you desperate for me before we leave this room in less than an hour. And I get the feeling, you’re going to be seeking me out to have lunch with you every day.”

Without giving her a chance to respond, I pressed a kiss to her cheek and started working my hands along the muscles in her back. All she could do was let out a moan of pleasure.

And before she walked out of that room to return to work, I made sure she’d be as unproductive throughout the rest of her day as I anticipated I would be.

IVY

Things got easier.

And better.

It seemed impossible that I could go from believing I was at the peak of happiness to realizing it was just part of a steady climb to something bigger.

For all the trouble I thought we’d encounter throughout our days at work, Marco and I found ways to be who we wanted for each other without compromising our secret.

And while there was a small part of me that didn’t like that I was hiding it from nearly every person in my family, there was a much bigger part of me that was enjoying the thrill of it all.

Not the thrill of the deception, of course.

Just the giddiness and excitement of being with Marco, of finding ways to connect with him throughout the day. Obviously, he’d visited me in my office once or twice since Valentine’s Day. But since we didn’t want to draw anyone’s attention, we had to find ways to be creative. Three times now, I’d texted Marco just before lunch and told him to meet me in one of the hotel rooms. And each time after the first time, when he got there, I had a fun lunch hour planned for us. We ate and had sex and laughed and played. It was wonderful, and my days were so much more enjoyable now than they’d ever been.

Then there were days like today. Days when I couldn’t wait until lunchtime to see him, to have him. So, I sought him out in the villas.

And Marco didn’t hesitate to show how much he liked when I surprised him this way.

I stepped inside the villa, where I knew he was working, and found him alone. He stood from where he was putting the finishing touches on the kitchen, allowed his eyes to roam over me from top to toe, and prowled in my direction. After learning how much he appreciated the effort I put into my professional attire, I took extra care each day to select something that I believed he’d love. His reaction never disappointed me.

Without a word, he slid his arm around my waist to haul me close. His hand drifted down to my ass and squeezed as his mouth captured mine. “Hey, Princess. I was wondering when you were going to send me a text or come find me today.”

Warmth moved through me. I loved that he looked forward to having these moments with me each day as much as I enjoyed having them with him. “I didn’t want to wait until lunch to see you.”

His palm rubbed circles on my ass. “Mmm. I could eat now.”

“You want me to get us a room and order something?” I asked.

A smile spread across his face, and he shook his head. “No. I have something here that’ll work.”

Before I could say anything, Marco took me by the hand and led me out of the kitchen and down the hall toward the bedroom. We made it to the master suite, and he spun me around, my back landing against the wall.

Then his mouth was on me, trailing along my jaw and down my throat. His hands were roaming, seeking to touch every curve he could.

I was already panting and whimpering by the time he dropped to his knees in front of me. Marco looked up at me, grinned, and shoved my skirt up my thighs. He lifted one of my legs over his shoulder, yanked my underwear to the side, and ate.

Evidently, Marco was hungry, and he wasn’t interested in food. He wanted me. Only me. So, I gave him what he wanted.

My hands went into his hair and held on. One of his snaked up my body and squeezed my breast.

And he growled. He growled and groaned as he ate, making it obvious he’d been a starving man.

His mouth was phenomenal, his tongue capable of things I didn’t know were possible. He licked, sucked, teased, and tasted. He devoured me.

If he could have done this for hours, I didn’t doubt he would have. And I’d have been happy to let him, because he was just that good.

My head had dropped back against the wall, my grip tightening in his hair. Marco built me up effortlessly, and it was a wonder I could manage to keep myself upright.

“Marco,” I breathed. “Please, don’t stop.”

Hearing how close I was, he went at me harder. I was squirming, panting. I couldn’t stop the moans that escaped me. And the next thing I knew, he’d pushed me over that edge, wave after wave of pleasure washing over me.

Marco worked me through to the end, lapping up every bit of my pleasure before he pulled back and looked up at me with a satisfied grin.

I bit my lip, my fingers still threaded through his hair.

He dropped his gaze between my legs, fixed my underwear, and readjusted my skirt. And the second he was standing in front of me, my mind swirling with all the thoughts of what I was going to do to him now, it happened.

“Marco?”

My eyes went wide at the sound of my brother’s voice coming in our direction, my heart not having a chance to recover from all that Marco had just done.

Realizing he couldn’t wait to react, Marco held his finger up to his lips, an indication for me to keep quiet. Then he walked out of the room and answered, “Yeah?”

My heart was beating so hard, I could barely hear over it. So, I moved toward the door and listened.

“Hey, man. I got a free minute in between projects I’m working on, so I just wanted to come in and see how it was going. You mentioned you were in the home stretch with the villas,” Cooper said.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think we’re probably going to be finished with everything within the week. Then it’ll be a matter of furniture. I think that’s all been ordered and scheduled for delivery, so we’re still on track to meet the deadline.”

How did Marco sound so composed? I was a mess.

There was a momentary pause before Cooper said, “It looks great in here. I’ve been wanting to check out the new tiles in the bathrooms.”

Shit.

Shit!

Cooper was going to have to come through this bedroom to see the tiles in the master bathroom.

This was not good.

My only option to get out would be to open the sliding door that led to the balcony outside the suite, but I didn’t know how loud it would be. Could I even sneak out without them hearing?

That’s when I realized Marco wasn’t nearly as composed as I had originally thought. “Oh, uh, well, if you want I can?—”

The front door opened and shut again. “Hey, Liam,” Cooper said.

“Hey, Coop. What are you doing here?”

“I just came to check out the villas, since I haven’t had a chance to yet. What are you doing?”

“Well, I came over to see if Marco could lend me a hand, but if you’re here, maybe you can do it.”

“What’s going on?” Marco asked.

“I’ve got to hang a new piece of drywall two villas down.”

“Why?”

Liam audibly sighed to the point I could hear it all the way down in the bedroom. “Long story, but I wound up putting a hole in the wall, and it was just better to replace the whole piece of drywall instead of patching it up.” There was a brief silence before Liam continued. “What do you say about giving me a hand before you check out the villas? I want to get this done so we can stay on task.”

“Yeah. Sure, no problem. Alright, Marco, I guess we’re all getting back to work now,” Cooper said.

Marco huffed. “Your break is over, Coop. Sorry.” I didn’t think they could hear it, but I noticed the relief in Marco’s voice.

A moment later, I heard the door open and shut. And barely ten seconds passed before Marco entered the bedroom. I started breathing again, and I knew he could sense the fear I was feeling with just one look at me.

“We need to figure out how to break the news to him, Marco. He can’t find out like this.”

He nodded. “I know. This was too close for comfort.”

I moved toward him. “I’m sorry about this.”

Marco shook his head. “This isn’t something you need to apologize for.”

“But you took care of me, and now you’re all riled up with no release,” I explained.

He kissed my cheek and gave my ass a squeeze. “You’ll make it up to me, I’m sure.”

“I promise.”

“We’ll make a plan to talk about how we want to handle breaking this news to your family, too.”

“Okay.”

Marco kissed me again. Then he jerked his head to the front of the villa. “You should go before Cooper has the chance to come back here.”

I hated having to leave like this, but Marco was right. It was possible my brother—or both of them—could come back. This was not the way I wanted them to learn the truth. So, I said goodbye to Marco, made sure Cooper wasn’t outside, and took off back to the hotel.