Dani
“I love how close all of your family is with each other,” I told Marcus a few days later as we drove home from dinner at his mother’s house in Rocky Springs.
It was a beautifully clear summer’s evening. Because we were riding in one of Marcus’s many sports cars, I could see the stars. The convertible gave me a perfect view of the Colorado sky.
I relished the feel of being in the open air. My hair would probably end up looking like a bird’s nest, but to feel this way, so free and buoyant, it was completely worth it.
“Your family is close,” he replied.
I shrugged. “When we’re all able to get together. I think so much fell apart when my parents died so suddenly. We all sort of went our own way to deal with our grief. Your mom seems to hold everything together in your family.”
“I agree,” he answered. “She’s been the glue that’s fused our family together since my father died. But traveling the world doesn’t help. We both have some time to try to make up with our families.”
Marcus and I had talked a lot about what we wanted to do in the future.
I would see a lot more of Harper since we were in the same town, and my sister and I had vowed to try to get together more with our brothers. Harper would still be traveling with her senator husband, Blake, back and forth to Washington, DC, and I wanted to travel with Marcus internationally so I could find my own stories to write. But Harper and I would both be home and in one place a lot more often, so we were determined to force ourselves into our brothers’ lives if necessary.
I loved every one of my siblings. None of us had ever wanted to grow apart.
It had just…happened.
Marcus reached out for my hand, and I entwined my fingers with his as I finally promised, “We’ll make time in the future.”
I already adored Tate, and his wife, Lara. Zane and his wife, Ellie, were both extremely kind. I’d met Gabe and Chloe for the first time earlier in the evening. And of course, Harper and Blake had been at the family supper, too.
Honestly, I already knew that I was going to come to love Marcus’s family as much as he did. The Colter women were already trying to pull me into their circle by planning various activities together. It was going to be nice to have family again, but having Marcus’s family wouldn’t lessen my efforts with Harper to pull my brothers Jett, Carter, and Mason back into the fold.
I smiled as we pulled into Marcus’s driveway and he took the small paved road that drove around the massive house and to the back where he had a ten-car garage where he stored his summer cars. There was a three-car garage attached to the house where he kept his luxury vehicles that were appropriate for all-weather driving.
As serious and sensible as Marcus was, I was delighted to see that he was still a boy who loved his toys. All ten spaces were full of luxury or classic sports cars. It seemed to be Marcus’s one big indulgence, and I wasn’t about to complain. He could afford them, and I got the benefit of riding in the powerhouse vehicles.
Eventually, I’d finagle him into letting me drive all of them. A girl loved her toys, too.
After he closed up the garage, he took my hand and we walked to the house together. “It seems strange to actually have a permanent home,” I said in a thoughtful voice.
I’d spent years running all over the planet, but I’d never invested in a home. Yeah, Harper and I had purchased the condo in Miami together, but that was more of an investment than a home.
“If you don’t like this one, we can buy a different house,” he suggested.
Oh, hell no. “You had this home built custom,” I scolded. “And I love it.”
Marcus’s house was enormous, but it was a reflection of him, and I couldn’t have planned out a better home for us.
He let me into the house and disabled the alarm before he turned back to me. “I don’t want this to be all about me, Dani. Hell, I don’t even know if you want to live in Rocky Springs. I can live anywhere, but I can’t live without you.”
I threw myself into his arms, my heart so light it nearly floated out of my chest. “It’s not all about you. I don’t have a home, Marcus. I never bothered because I was too busy trying to chase stories. But this is where we both grew up, and my sister is here. It’s perfect.”
His arms tightened around my waist. “I just want you to be happy,” he grumbled.
I pulled back so I could look up at his face. “Tell me you love me,” I requested.
His beautiful silver eyes were flashing fire as he said obligingly, “I love you.”
I ran a hand along the dark stubble on his jaw. “That’s all I need to be ecstatically happy.”
He nodded and shot me a wicked grin that immediately had heat pooling between my thighs.
When Marcus smiled, my world turned upside down.
He clasped my hand and pulled me toward the kitchen. “I’m glad you feel that way, love, because there’s more.”
Bemused, I followed his lead. I wasn’t sure how much more happiness I could handle.
I stopped abruptly as we entered the kitchen. “What in the world…”
The kitchen table was full of items, but the first thing that caught my attention was two heart-shaped balloons attached to the most beautiful bouquet of red roses I’d ever seen.
One balloon said “Marry.”
The second said “Me.”
I covered my mouth, my emotions close to the surface. “I already said yes,” I reminded him in a tearful tone. “How did you do this?”
“I do have assistants,” he said. “You just haven’t met them yet. I had to enlist some help to get this stuff here while we were gone.”
I gently ran a finger over the roses, and then noticed that nearly the entire table was filled with chocolate.
“You have good taste,” I said in an amused voice. I recognized most of the names on the boxes and wrappings. Everything on the table was the best of the best in chocolate, and pricey as hell. He’d gotten everything from master chocolatiers from Switzerland to France, and one from the East Coast of the US.
More often than not, I’d settled for a candy bar from a convenience store. I wasn’t that picky about how I got my chocolate. But I wasn’t averse to trying some of the items Marcus had gotten. In fact, I was downright eager to tear into the collection.
He stepped up to the table and drew a bottle of fine champagne from its icy confinement, and then uncorked it and poured it into a beautiful pair of crystal flutes.
I accepted the one he handed me, my heart racing at the thought of how much trouble Marcus had gone to just to please me. “Thank you,” I said in a tremulous voice.
“It’s no more than you deserve,” Marcus told me as he took a sip of his champagne. “I never should have proposed in the bedroom of my damn jet. You deserve so much more than that. You’re my heart, Danica.”
I opened my mouth to answer him, to tell him that he was my everything, but I closed it again as I heard a high-pitched bark.
“One more thing...” His voice trailed off as he walked across the large kitchen and bent over to fumble with what looked like a crate of some kind.
I was flummoxed as a bundle of fur exploded from its confinement and hurdled straight toward me. “Oh, my God,” I squealed, putting my wine glass on the table so I could catch the small canine body. “Who is this?”
“You did say you always wanted a dog. Technically, this is a puppy, but he will eventually be full-sized,” he informed me.
I cuddled the squirming, excited puppy as I asked, “So it’s a boy? Is he mine?”
Marcus nodded. “Yours,” he confirmed.
I beamed up at him. “I’ll share him with you. He looks like a German Shepherd. Does he have a name?”
“Not yet. But he will when you give him one. And he is a German Shepherd. Tate has a male, and he wanted to breed Shep with a female before he got him fixed. This puppy is one of Shep’s offspring.”
“He’s gorgeous,” I said emphatically, laughing as the pup left my lap and started bouncing around the room and then ran back to me.
I stared at his collar for a moment before I reached out and tried to grab the shiny object attached to the blue collar.
It took me a moment to understand what I was holding.
“Is this mine, too?”
Marcus moved forward and offered his hand. I took it, allowing him to pull me to my feet. “If you’re still willing to accept it and everything that comes along with being married to a guy like me, it’s yours.”
I fingered the beautiful ring I’d snagged from the puppy’s collar, my eyes filled with happy tears. I got entirely choked up as Marcus took the ring, reached for my hand, and slid the incredible diamond on my finger as he added, “If you don’t want it, you’re too late. You’re mine now.”
“I want it,” I shrieked as he twirled me in the air.
“I’m sorry that I wasn’t ready when I proposed,” he said huskily. “But you can cross another item off your bucket list. You got a proposal, even if it wasn’t all that slick.”
He’d just put an absolutely amazing ring on my finger, and he was apologizing? “It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters,” he argued. “I don’t want you to ever regret that you married a guy who isn’t very romantic.”
Maybe Marcus wasn’t hearts and flowers every day, but I’d never doubt how much he loved me. This huge display just to propose to a woman who had already said yes was a perfect example of why I’d never think he wasn’t romantic. “I’d never regret you,” I said fiercely. “Never.”
His mouth came down on mine so quickly that he took my breath away. I moaned against his lips, my body needy as I opened to him willingly, letting him plunder my mouth.
I was on fire, and I wasn’t sure anything could ever extinguish the blaze.
My arms tightened around his neck, I pressed against him, feeling his enlarged cock through the denim of his jeans.
I hadn’t crumbled under his other assaults to my senses, willing to wait until he was completely recovered. They’d taken his sutures out earlier today, and I’d had a feeling that I wasn’t going to be able to resist our mutual hunger for each other much longer.
“Marcus,” I gasped as he lifted his head.
“I know, baby. Hold on,” he crooned as he lifted the cotton skirt of my casual sundress, and then stroked his fingers over my saturated panties.
My head fell back as the heat of his touch consumed me. “Yes. Now. Please.”
I couldn’t wait for him to fuck me after days of self-deprivation. I wanted him inside me, his hips thrusting over and over until we were both spent.
He crunched up the panties in his hand, and then tugged hard. “No more waiting,” he said, demanding.
“No more waiting,” I repeated as I felt the small piece of torn, silken material slip down my legs and to the floor.
My core clenched ferociously as Marcus stroked through my folds and his fingers entered my wet heat.
I moaned again as he teased my clit, ready to plead for mercy.
His hands finally grasped my ass, and he carried me over to the table and set my butt down on the edge. He cleared space with a wide sweep of his muscular arm, and I never mourned the expensive chocolate that hit the floor.
I craved Marcus so much more than I longed for any kind of chocolate.
I propped myself up on my arms and watched as he furiously freed his cock from his jeans.
“Can’t. Wait,” he growled. “Put your legs around me.”
“Don’t wait,” I pleaded as I obeyed his command. “Now.”
I inhaled sharply as he pulled my body forward and buried himself inside me in one powerful thrust.
“Yes. Just like that. No holding back,” I panted.
“I couldn’t if I wanted to,” he answered in a low, carnal tone.
It was hard and fast. Beautiful and frenzied. Marcus pummeled into me with a desperation that I returned.
“More,” I cried.
He gave me more, and then he did it again.
Keeping up his punishing pace, my body started to tremble as Marcus pounded into me with no mercy. All I could do was ride the wave of desire that had flooded me, and then took over my body until all I could think of was the man that seemed eager to drive me completely insane.
He tightened his hold on the cheeks of my ass, holding me in place while he kept stroking into me over and over.
“I need to come, Marcus,” I whimpered.
“Then come for me,” he replied in a raw, feral tone. He took a hand from my ass, and then found the spot I needed him to touch with his fingers.
“Yes. Yes. Yes.” I let go and let the force of my orgasm take control. I rode the climax to a crescendo, my body writhing under his ministrations. My core started to spasm. The muscles in my sheath were trying to milk him dry.
“Marcus. I love you so much,” I screamed, my whole being trembling under the force of my powerful release.
“I love you,” he returned in a groan of pure relief, surging a few more times as he emptied himself inside me.
I sat up, threw my arms around his neck, and kissed him.
It was a long, leisurely embrace. I speared one hand through the hair at the back of his head, sighing into his mouth as he held me tightly. “Marcus,” I said in a whisper as I pulled my head back.
We clung to each other. I wasn’t sure how long we stayed in that position, but it took the puppy’s annoyed bark to snap us out of our own little world, both of us laughing as we finally pulled our satiated bodies apart.
I picked up my destroyed undies and tossed them into the garbage can without a single ounce of remorse.
I was rich. Marcus was rich. I could buy new panties. But nothing could ever replace what had just happened between us.
Money could never buy this kind of happiness.
I smiled as I watched Marcus give our new puppy the affection it wanted.
If I had the man I loved, I could easily learn to just buy my underwear in mass quantities in the future.