CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ALICE

I must drift off because when I come to, I’m alone in Marcus’s bed. There’s a languor to my body and I slowly stretch and wiggle my toes. Marcus is going to spoil me with all these orgasms.

Grinning, I hug the pillow. Not that I’m complaining.

He’s such an unusual man. Gruff and yet unbelievably sweet at times. He still burns hot and cold, and I know I’ll constantly be on my toes around him. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

Hopefully, things will settle down and we’ll be able to read each other’s moods better once we’ve spent more time together.

The door swings open and Marcus wheels in. “Sorry, but if we’re going to make the party, you’ll need to get up and get ready.”

I sit upright in bed and grab for my phone on the nightstand. It’s past eleven! I shove off the covers and bounce out of bed when I notice the tray in Marcus’s lap.

“Since we never got those chocolate chip pancakes you wanted so badly,” he says.

He made me chocolate chip pancakes.

It’s a simple thing. And probably not even a huge deal to him, but it is to me. My nose starts to burn, and it’s all I can do to hold back the tears welling up in my eyes.

“Thank you,” I whisper, coming forward and lifting the tray from his lap. I place it on the bed and carefully slide onto his lap.

Only once I’m sitting do I realize what I did. I jerk and make a move to get off him when his arms band around me and hold me tight. “I’m too heavy,” I protest.

“You’re perfect,” he says softly. His head lowers and his lips claim mine.

His kisses always start off so gentle and sweet. Far different from what I expected from him. He comes across like he would kiss with an angry sort of passion. The sort that consumes and takes.

Instead, he gives.

The desire builds slowly, the intensity ramping up perfectly until we’re kissing like our lives depend upon it. His tongue slips over mine, stroking and gliding in a dance as old as time itself. Despite coming only a few hours ago, my body is quite on board with another round of incredible sex.

We haven’t had penetrative sex yet, and I don’t want to rush or push him. We all have hang-ups and insecurities about our bodies and sadly, his are probably well-justified. I don’t want Marcus to feel pressured or ashamed in any way. When he’s ready to take that next step, I’ll be right here.

He breaks the kiss first.

My eyelashes flutter as I open my eyes to his handsome, smiling face. Sometimes I look at him and can’t believe this man is mine.

“We don’t want these getting cold,” he says, dropping his arms from around me and gently urging me up from his lap.

It takes me a moment to understand that he’s talking about the pancakes. “Right. I’ll eat and get ready as fast as I can.”

“No rush. We can be fashionably late. We are crashing this party, after all.”

And crash might be the right word.

When we arrive at the large two-story house at the end of a cul-de-sac in a large and pricy development just outside of town, we bypass the house and go right to the fenced-in backyard. I open the gate and, with Dan’s gift on his lap, Marcus rolls right in.

Following after him, I’m closing the gate when I hear a happy shout.

“Uncle Marcus! You came!”

A dark-haired boy in bright red swim trunks with blue sharks on them charges at Marcus and launches himself at him.

Laughing, Marcus returns the hug, and my heart positively melts at the sight of the two of them together.

Marcus said he could still have children and suddenly I’m hoping fiercely that he can. He deserves this.

I stand back and watch the two of them as Dan opens his gift, viewing the delight on the boy’s face when he pulls the drone out.

“Oh wow!”

Several of Dan’s friends gather around and block my view, but that’s okay. This is Marcus’s moment with his nephew.

“Who the hell are you?” an angry male voice hisses next to me.

Surprised, I whirl on my heels and gaze up at a man that has to be Marcus’s brother, Chase. There’s no mistaking that resemblance.

He’s tall, well-built, and clearly very ticked off.

“I’m Alice. Marcus’s girlfriend.” I hold out my hand and smile.

Chase looks down at my hand. His dark green eyes, so similar to his brother’s yet lacking Marcus’s warmth, dart around at the other people around us.

Probably not wanting to make a scene, Chase gives my hand a limp handshake and growls something about cake before stomping off.

I make myself useful and grab two bottles of water, one of which I pass to Marcus before giving him a kiss on his forehead, and going off to find a chair to settle into while the kids show off their cannonball skills in the pool for Dan’s cool Uncle Marcus.

Dan’s mother, Terry, comes over and introduces herself, and I’m glad to see she’s not the rude prick her husband is. She’s also surprised Marcus didn’t bring his swimsuit. I keep my mouth shut on that one and pack it away to tell Marcus later that his brother was behind the uninvite, not Terry or Dan.

Marcus comes over and takes me around, introducing me to some of Dan’s friend’s parents, and I get a thrill each time he says, “This is Alice, my girlfriend.”

Later on, Dan comes over with plates of cake for each of us and talks in the overly excited way only children can get away with. He demands to know when Uncle Marcus will be back to fly the drone with him.

Dan sheepishly peeks at me and extends the invitation to me as well.

All in all, it was a great afternoon and I’m so glad I talked Marcus into going. On the drive back to his house, he states the same.

Since he uses hand controls to drive, I can’t hold his hand during the ride and I’m afraid to place my hand on his thigh in case that might distract him.

Only later do I realize that he probably wouldn’t even know I was touching his thigh unless he looked down. A bit of sadness fills me at that realization.

As Marcus turns into his driveway, I can’t help remarking, “Terry and Dan are so nice. Shame your brother is an ass.”

“Yeah, guess it runs in the family.”

I roll my eyes. “You’re not that bad.”

He laughs and I love how much more relaxed he is compared to how tense he was on the drive over.

We’ve barely gotten into the house when Marcus tugs on my arm and pulls me into his lap. I tumble down and automatically wrap my arms around his neck before I struggle to carefully get off his lap. Even after sitting in his lap yesterday, I’m still worried about hurting him.

“Don’t go,” he says, then his mouth covers mine as his hand cups my breast.

As he smoothly moves his lips over mine, his tongue gently sweeps along the crease of my lips, urging me to open for him. With a soft exhale, I do.

A rush of warmth fills my core and the need only intensifies the longer the kiss goes on. Marcus’s other hand creeps up under my dress to palm my thigh before inching higher and rubbing along the front of my pussy. The way I’m sitting sideways on his lap, there’s no way for me to open my legs and let him touch me more.

He solves that by lifting my leg and hooking it over the arm of his chair. With my legs spread, he easily dips behind the leg hole of my panties and finds my inner folds slick for him.

Moaning into my mouth, he gently teases a finger into me, gathers some moisture and drags it up to smear around my clit. His finger moves around and around the hard nub until I’m quivering and gripping his shoulders so tightly I’m shocked I’m not hurting him.

Pulling back, Marcus looks into my face. The dark pupils of his eyes are dilated with desire, leaving only a thin ring of dark green. “I want to make love to you,” he declares.

He swallows hard. “It won’t be like you’re used to, but I will make it the best you’ve ever had.”

Out of any other man, I would think it was nothing more than a careless boast. From Marcus, I know it’s a promise.