Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Sapphie had never been given permission to explore Marco’s body the way Magnus was now inviting her to do to him.

She relished each caress over his muscular shoulders and down his chest. The reaction of his pebbled nipples and his groans of pleasure when she licked and sucked them into her mouth. The taste of his skin as she licked over the furrows of his eight-pack.

All leading her to where his cock stood up thick and long, the top glistening with the release of his juices.

Sapphie cupped his balls in one of her hands as the fingers of her other hand encircled that steel encased in velvet, before she lowered her head and took the bulbous top fully into the heat of her mouth. The taste of his pre-cum exploding on her tongue was so delicious, she wanted more.

“Fuck!” Magnus groaned as his back arched up off the bed and his hands tightly gripping the duvet beneath him.

Sapphie sucked his cock deeper, then deeper still, not able to take all of him into her mouth, but using her hand to pump the remaining inches in the same rhythm as she sucked and licked. She swallowed down the copious amount of pre-cum that continued to release into her mouth.

She lifted her head and released him the moment she felt his balls draw up and she could feel the increased steeliness of his cock. “I want you inside me when you come,” she told him huskily.

“Condom?”

She moistened her bottom lip. “That depends.”

Magnus looked at her with glittering eyes. “On?”

“On when you last?—”

“Several months ago, and I’ve been tested since then,” he cut in.

“And I haven’t been with anyone since—since four months before the end of my marriage,” she admitted with a warming of her cheeks.

Magnus studied her intently for several long seconds before nodding his understanding of what she wasn’t saying. “Do you want more children now or do you want to wait?”

Sapphie had never thought she would ever trust another man enough to want more children. But Magnus was unlike any other man she had ever met. “I think I would very much like to have your child,” she admitted shyly.

Heat flared in his eyes. “It could be twins,” he warned. “My mother was a twin, and obviously, so am I.”

“How wonderful!” She loved the idea of having two of Magnus’s babies to love and adore.

“So be it.” Magnus rolled to the side and took Sapphie with him, so that she was now lying beside him. “I want you,” he told her gruffly. “So much it hurts.”

Her smile was tremulous. “I want you too.”

“Thank God!” Magnus muttered before lowering his head to take one of her engorged nipples into his mouth, licking and sucking the turgid bud as he moved one of his hands between her thighs. She was already wet, her pussy lips swollen as Magnus’s fingers scooped up some of those juices before seeking out her turgid and sensitive clit.

Much as he wanted to just thrust his cock inside her and lose himself in her heat, Magnus knew he was a big man, and that his cock was perfectly in proportion to the rest of his body. He wanted to ensure Sapphie’s channel was relaxed and open before he attempted to enter her. The last thing he ever wanted was to hurt her.

He felt the increased gush of her juices as her pleasure deepened. He pushed one finger inside her, then two, feeling her tremble, the walls of her channel tightening before she climaxed.

Magnus was remorseless after that, taking her to that release again, then again, having three fingers inside her now as he readied her for taking his cock.

“Please, Magnus! I want you inside me!” she begged.

All his senses focused on Sapphie as he notched the head of his cock at the entrance of her channel and began to slowly push that thickness inside her.

“So good,” she groaned. “So, so good,” she cried out again once Magnus’s cock was fully inside her.

Magnus knew he couldn’t hold back any longer, his self-control shot to hell as he began to thrust deep inside her. Each stroke and tightening of her channel sent him ever nearer his own release.

“Come for me, Sapphie,” he instructed fiercely just minutes later. “Come for me now!” he groaned as he felt the familiar tingle at the base of his spine as indication that he was about to explode inside her.

Sapphie looked up at him, and they stared into each other’s eyes as they reached that pinnacle together.

“Time to wake up, you two. I have important news!”

Magnus rolled over in bed, muttering as he glared at the bedroom door that Linus had just knocked on but thankfully still stood on the other side of. “I swear by all that’s holy that I am seriously considering murdering my youngest brother! The only thing saving him right now is that he very wisely decided not to just barge in here.”

Sapphie chuckled, lying beneath the duvet beside him. She wasn’t laughing at what he’d said, but because he looked so disgruntled. His hair was tousled, and that dark scowl was back on his gorgeous face. Her humor evaporated at Linus’s next remark.

“Fergus is here too,” he called out cheerfully. “He’s in the kitchen making pancakes for Angel’s breakfast.”

Sapphie was so immediately alarmed at this news that she sat straight up in the bed. Not because she doubted the ability or good intentions of either of Magnus’s brothers, but because, for the first time since her daughter was born, she hadn’t heard Angel wake up or, now she was older, get out of bed.

“Just so you know, Fergus is no more impressed by the spider than you are and insisted, for hygiene reasons, that Angel put Henry back in the bedroom while we eat breakfast,” Linus added dryly. “Couple of wusses,” he taunted softly.

Sapphie threw back the cover and swung her legs to the floor before standing up. Which was when she became aware that not only was she still completely naked, but her breasts and thighs clearly showed abrasive burn marks from Magnus’s beard. She doubted her chin and cheeks had fared much better after the hungry kisses they had shared.

Magnus had woken her again during the night, his head between her thighs as he sucked and licked her to climax after climax before she had once again begged to have his cock inside her.

She didn’t even feel embarrassed about that begging but was instead looking forward to the next time the two of them made love.

“Hm,” Magnus murmured when he saw her dilemma. “Maybe the beard has to go?—”

“Don’t you dare,” Sapphie stated fiercely. “I like the extra burn against my skin,” she admitted when he raised a questioning eyebrow. Her cheeks felt fiery hot.

He grinned. “Then the beard stays. But maybe I’ll trim it a little so that it doesn’t cause as much damage next time.” He sobered. “I’m really sorry about the way my brothers just keep inviting themselves up to my apartment. It isn’t something they usually do.”

Sapphie was too happy about Magnus saying “next time” to continue being too alarmed. “The three of you are obviously close. I like that.”

Of course she did, Magnus chided himself. Because Sapphie had never had that closeness with her own family. Or her now-dead husband’s family.

“Can I borrow one of your T-shirts?” she prompted, obviously still not completely over her shyness enough to be able to stand naked in front of him. “I don’t want to go out there doing the equivalent of the walk of shame by wearing yesterday’s clothes.”

Magnus got out of bed and moved across the room so quickly that Sapphie looked visibly startled to find him standing in front of her. His hand beneath her chin lifted it so that she had no choice but to look directly at him. “There will be no walks of shame here,” he rasped. “We’re together, in a committed relationship, not a one-night stand.”

Her eyes widened. “We are?”

“Too damn right we are,” he bit out, kissing her hard before releasing her to open the top drawer of his dresser. He took out a black T-shirt—mainly because black was all he had—and handed it to her. “You’ll find a robe hanging on the back of the bathroom door.” His T-shirt might be like a small tent on her, and it reached almost to her knees once she’d pulled it on, but he still wasn’t happy with his brothers seeing her wearing only his T-shirt.

Sapphie rushed to collect the robe, pulling it on as she opened the bedroom door.

“Make sure to wrap that around yourself twice and tie the belt tightly about your waist,” Magnus called out.

She turned to give him a mischievous grin before hurrying from the room, muttering a greeting to Linus as he still stood outside in the hallway.

Linus gave a pained wince as he strolled into the bedroom. “Could you at least cover up your hairy arse before I go blind?”

“Jealousy isn’t a good look on you,” Magnus taunted as he took out some boxers from the second drawer of the dresser and pulled them on before straightening. “What’s the important news?”

“I think we should wait so we can share it with Sapphie too.”

He scowled. “As long as it’s good news.”

“Protective much, bro?”

“Protective very much, yes.”

Linus grinned. “I don’t think Fergus believed me when I told him how smitten you are.”

“Smitten?” Magnus mocked as he pulled on and fastened his jeans before taking out another black T-shirt and pulling that one over his head. “That’s an old-fashioned word.”

Linus’s grin widened. “It’s an old-fashioned type of love.”

“What does that mean?” he prompted irritably, running his fingers through his hair rather than brushing it.

“The steadfast, lifelong type of love. Marriage. Babies,” Linus explained as they left the bedroom. “I’m so fucking pleased for you, I could do a little jig to celebrate.”

“Please don’t.” Magnus affected a wince. “And don’t start doing any sort of celebrating just yet. You might put a jinx on it.”

“What sort of jinx?”

“I don’t know how permanent Sapphie views our relationship as being yet.”

Linus shook his head as he chuckled. “ Sapphie wouldn’t have risked Angel finding her in bed with you this morning if she wasn’t already in love with you too.”

“You think?”

“I know,” Linus insisted.

Linus was right in part of that statement, at least. Sapphie put protecting her daughter before everything else, even her own happiness.

A wave of displeasure washed over Magnus the moment he saw Sapphie sitting at the breakfast bar beside Angel. Granted, she was wearing his robe and T-shirt, but she was also chatting away to Fergus as if she’d known him for years rather than minutes.

His twin was the same height and build as him, but Fergus’s appearance was far more put-together. His dark hair was brushed back from his face and fashionably overlong; his designer stubble was trimmed neatly to his jaw.

Even though Fergus was standing at the stove cooking a pile of pancakes for an eagerly waiting Angel, he still wore a white button-up shirt with black trousers that were both perfectly tailored to his muscular body and long legs. The matching suit jacket hung over one of the chairs around the kitchen table.

Magnus guessed Fergus was dressed so formally because he would be going to the offices of Wynter Security later that morning.

Whatever the reason, as usual, Magnus felt undergroomed and underdressed next to his more sophisticated twin.

It bothered him less when Sapphie turned to look at him entering the kitchen and her face lit up with happiness as she stood and crossed the room to his side. “Your brother is making breakfast for all of us, not just Angel,” she confided as Magnus put his arm possessively about her waist to anchor her to his side.

“Angus shouldn’t eat pancakes,” he warned, the little dog sitting beside Fergus with a hopeful look on his face as he gazed up at him.

“I already put suitable food in his bowl,” Fergus dismissed. “The pancakes are for us.” He glanced across at Magnus. “Well…maybe not Magnus’s old arse, but for everyone else, yes.”

“I’m only five minutes older than you!” Magnus protested as Angel giggled.

“The same five minutes you’ve reminded me of all our lives whenever it suited you to do so,” Fergus drawled, dishing up the last of the pancakes onto the stack of about twenty before bringing the plate over to place it on the breakfast bar. Sugar and honey, plus fresh strawberries, were already there to accompany them. “Everyone dig in,” he invited. “Except Magnus, because he doesn’t deserve any.”

Angel gave another giggle. “You’re funny.”

“Do you think Magnus deserves some of my pancakes?” Fergus teased.

“Oh yes.” She gave an enthusiastic nod of her head. “Because Magnus went to get Henry and brought him back to me.” She looked at him with stars in her eyes.

“Creep,” his twin muttered in his ear before sitting on the stool next to Linus. “Let it be known I’m only allowing Magnus to eat some of the pancakes because it was at the request of the most beautiful young lady it has ever been my privilege to cook breakfast for,” Fergus assured Angel as he tapped her playfully on the nose, causing her to giggle again.

That was quite a compliment considering Fergus had probably cooked breakfast for a lot of beautiful young ladies before he kicked them out of his apartment the morning after, usually never to be seen again.

Angel certainly looked suitably flattered by the male attention.

Magnus couldn’t begrudge her that, considering the examples of male love and caring she’d had so far in her young life: a father who certainly hadn’t given a damn about her, and a grandfather who probably wasn’t much better.

“So,” Linus said once they had all helped themselves to the pancakes and toppings.

Angus had now dragged himself off to his basket in the corner of the kitchen, his expression one of pure martyrdom as he ignored the dog food in his bowl.

“The…authorities will be calling you later this morning to confirm that…” Linus glanced at Angel to make sure she was fully invested in eating and enjoying her breakfast before he continued. “That the person we had already discussed might be responsible has now made a full confession and been charged with the breaking and entering of two properties and the willful damage to all three of them.”

Sapphie didn’t need to ask who “the person” was. She knew by the way Linus was talking that it was Francesca Fuller.

A shiver ran down her spine. Thank goodness Magnus had spotted and felt duty-bound to report the other woman’s viciousness toward Angel. She really wasn’t fit to look after young children. No doubt this experience would mean that Allison Fairbody would be extra-extra careful about who she decided to employ at the nursery in future.

Magnus’s youngest brother had no doubt hacked into the police system to find out all this information.

Information which meant the Carluccis hadn’t, after all, been involved in the breaking, entering, and theft at the nursery, or the graffiti at the other two buildings.

It meant Sapphie hadn’t needed to run away to Scotland either to avoid the Carluccis. But she couldn’t bring herself to regret that. Not when it had given her Magnus.

At least, she hoped it had given her Magnus.

The two of them still had a lot to talk about and sort out, but for the first time in a very long time, Sapphie felt an inner excitement for what the future might hold.

Because she hoped that future would be with Magnus.

The man she now knew without a doubt that she had fallen deeply in love with.