Chapter 7
“Marie, wake up.”
Marie grumbled and pulled the blanket higher, trying to stay warm. She heard laughter but ignored it.
“Honey, you need to wake up.”
“No,” she grumbled.
More laughter. She didn’t like the laughter since she suspected it was directed at her. She wanted to sleep. Too tired.
“Why are you so tired, honey?”
“Worried. ‘Bout you.”
“About me? Why are you worried about me?”
“Go ‘way.”
More laughter and she swatted at the source. “Love you. Hate you. Go away,” she mumbled, trying to get warm again. But someone kept pulling her blanket away and she wanted to go back to sleep.
“Honey. Wake up.” The urgent voice plus the inkling that something was wrong tugged her out of deep sleep. She sat up with a rush, but then looked around, trying to figure out where she was.
“What time is it?” she asked, blinking and trying to figure out if she’d been dreaming or…had she really just said those things to Phillip?
A cup of coffee was placed on the small table beside her. Marie stared at it, willing magical hands to lift the cup to her mouth. They didn’t appear and she glared at the cup, cursing it for being so dependent on her to bring the happy juice to her lips.
“Are you going to drink it?”
Marie turned to face Phillip, glaring at him for the amusement she heard in his voice. “Go away.”
He only laughed and she vowed that she’d hurt him. Soon. As soon as those magic hands appeared. Damn hands. Hiding from her! Why didn’t magic work when one really needed it?
“I don’t think glaring at the coffee is going to help as much as drinking it.”
Another glare. Another chuckle. Yeah, she was going to really hurt him. Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell him that because she was too busy yawning. She tried to politely cover her mouth with her hand, but her hands were…heavy. Hence the need for the magic ones.
With enormous effort, she pushed the blanket away, fumbling with the material. It took all of her very limited concentration to finally lift the cup to her lips and take a sip of the hot, wonderful liquid. When the caffeine hit her system, she sighed with happiness and leaned back against the leather chair. Some part of her mind wondered who had put the blanket over her. And who had lifted her seat back up. She wasn’t sure, and at the moment, she didn’t want to speculate.
“Is it working?”
She mumbled something that could have been “yes” or maybe “no”. It might have even been along the lines of “shut up for a few more minutes” but she wasn’t going to worry about it. Not yet.
More laughter, so she supposed it was the third possibility. Then again, Phillip seemed to be amused by a lot of things lately…ever since he’d broken off his engagement.
Phillip continued to watch Marie as she slowly roused from a deep sleep. She was cute when she woke up. She looked like an angry kitten, all soft and fluffy, her cheeks still flushed from sleep and she purred. Yeah, the woman might be growling, but he preferred to call it purring because, well, she was sexy, cute and pretty irresistible.
He called her most mornings during his workouts, ostensibly to check in with her about work issues, but mostly because he just wanted to hear her voice. And he wanted to hear her wake up, hear her soft laughter every morning as she slowly roused from sleep.
However, this was the first time he’d ever witnessed her waking up. And for the life of him, he couldn’t think of anything amusing. He was so turned on, he was aching. Every ounce of his brain power was focused on keeping his hands to himself. Otherwise, he was likely to lift her into his lap and kiss her.
Oh, he had no objections to kissing her. Not even slightly! But it was too early for that. He needed to get her to his house. And clothes.
Hmmm…maybe no clothes would be a good thing.
No. That’s just…rude. Besides, he liked the idea of dressing her, buying her things.
Damn, he shifted in his seat. Just the thought of her dressed in something he’d bought her made his body throb with the need to bury himself in her heat, to bring out all of those sexy sounds she was making simply because she was drinking coffee.
“When do we land?”
It took him several moments to figure out what she was talking about since he was so wrapped up in his fantasies about dressing her. And undressing her.
Plane. Flying. Landing in Aruba in a few minutes.
“About fifteen minutes,” he finally told her.
He watched, fascinated, as that news sank in. Slowly, she nodded her head, took another sip of coffee. And then the news truly hit her brain. Jerking upright, she looked around, pushing her hair out of her eyes and peering out the window. “Fifteen minutes?” She looked down at the blanket he’d draped over her, protecting her from the cool, pressurized air. “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?”
“Why would I?” he asked softly, shifting once again.
“Because we could have…” she stopped, looked around and shook her head. “Where’s my hair tie?” she asked, distracted by all that lovely hair, which was falling into her eyes.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the band she’d had in her hair. “Here you go.”
She took it with trembling fingers, still not sure what had happened.
“I took it out to make you more comfortable,” he explained, answering her unspoken question.
“Oh.” He laughed again when she looked down at the rest of her clothes, trying to determine what else he’d taken off.
“Only the hair tie,” he vowed. He could really get used to this, he thought. Phillip was the kind of person who slept easily, and woke up alert almost instantly. Seeing her wake up slowly and confused, he thought of all the things he could do during her waking up process. All the different ways he could help her with that process.
Yes, life with Marie as his wife was going to be endlessly fascinating.
The flight attendant stepped into the cabin. “May I take your coffee?” he asked.
Marie pulled her cup closer and the man smiled. “I’ll put it into a cup with a cover so you can take it with you.”
Only with that promise would she relinquish her coffee. The man disappeared and she pulled her hair into the band, pulling it up and containing the silky locks back up on top of her head.
“I feel frumpy compared to you,” she grumbled. “You should have given me time to shower and change into something more appropriate.”
He smiled, pausing while the flight attendant handed her a disposable cup with a lid, obviously having filled it all the way up again. “You should have listened to me yesterday when I told you that we were leaving for Aruba this morning.”
Marie took a long sip of coffee, slowly becoming more alert. “You’re annoying in the morning.”
He laughed again. “I hate to break it to you, my lovely woman, but it is mid-afternoon now. Except for the first thirty minutes of the flight when you only pretended to sleep, you passed the time away in blissful slumber.”
The plane landed a few minutes later and Marie didn’t have a chance to reply. Too many things were happening for her to come up with a good enough response anyway, so she just grumbled her way through the landing.
Since she didn’t have any luggage, it was a simple matter to walk down the steps and slide into the passenger seat of the Jeep. Since the Jeep was open, there was no air conditioning, but Marie didn’t mind. She lifted her face up to the sunshine, enjoying the late afternoon heat on her skin.
Phillip stepped into the driver’s seat, turned on the engine and drove away.
“What’s first on the agenda?” she asked, trying to relax, but this was so different from their normal traveling routine. She wasn’t sure what to expect.
“First, we stop and get you a bathing suit and some clothes.”
She was fine with that plan. “Just any of the beach shops will work.”
“No they won’t,” he said and drove down the coastal highway. It was a small island so it took them only a few minutes to drive from the airport to the shops. He parked away from the center of the marketplace, but Marie knew that these were the exclusive shops. The ones that charged thousands of dollars for a sock.
“I can’t afford these stores, Phillip,” she grumbled.
“I can,” he pointed out and took her hand, leading her into the first one. Thirty minutes later, despite all of her protests, they left the store with several tiny bikinis, a red sundress, and several shorts and tops. Unfortunately, no matter how much she argued with him, Phillip kept telling the saleswoman to bring more. While she was trying things on, he’d even slipped out of the store and went to others, so there were bags with beautiful tissue paper sitting next to him that she had no idea what they contained. Nor was she going to ask.
“She’ll wear that one out,” he said, referring to the flowered sundress with the spaghetti straps and billowing material.
“No, I need…”
“Let’s go,” he said and grabbed her hand. He dumped all of the bags into the trunk of the jeep, right next to his duffel bag and their computer bags.
“I’m not keeping all of those clothes,” she warned, squinting up at him through the bright sunshine.
He looked down at her, leaning against the Jeep. “They aren’t returnable. I had the sales ladies cut off all of the tags.” He smiled at her horrified expression, then chuckled when she glanced back at the store as if she wanted to hurt the woman.
“That’s just…cheating!” she told him, vehemently.
He laughed again, then took her hand. “I know. You’ve worked with me long enough to know that I always win, Marie.” He led her into the next store, which just happened to sell sunglasses. “Pick one,” he ordered.
She stood by the doorway, crossing her arms over her stomach. “I don’t need four hundred dollar sunglasses, Phillip. A cheap pair sold by a street vendor work just as well.”
He didn’t answer her, but simply turned to the cases containing the beautiful designer sunglasses and pointed to three of them. “We’ll take those,” he told the salesperson.
The man was already wrapping up the glasses when she gasped and pushed away from the wall. “I won’t!”
“Ignore her,” Phillip told the salesperson, handing him the credit card. The salesperson happily rung up the sale and packed everything up in the pretty tissue paper and elaborate bag. “Thank you sir,” he said cheerfully, handing over the bag with a flourish.
Phillip took out a pair and slid them onto her nose. “Perfect,” he smiled.
Marie looked at herself in the mirror and was amazed at how light they felt. And wow – they looked good. But they were also fifteen hundred dollars!
“Phillip, these glasses cost me as much as my monthly rent,” she hissed as they left the store. “I can’t accept these!”
“Tough,” he said and took her hand once again. “Hats.”
She pulled her hand out of his and walked over to one of the street vendors. The hats here were only five or ten dollars, depending on how well she could haggle down the price. And she was really good at haggling, having done it for Phillip for the past year.
By the time she walked away, she had three different hats for fifteen dollars. She plunked one on top of her head and walked back to the Jeep. “We’re done. I’m not walking into any more stores with you.”
“That’s fine. I’m starving anyway. How about dinner?”
She eyed his shorts and tee-shirt. “When did you change clothes?” she asked with a thoughtful frown.
“While you were trying on that yellow sundress. You’re really slow, by the way,” he told her as he pulled out into the heavy traffic. Five minutes later, he pulled into the gravel parking lot of what she assumed was a restaurant. But it was really more of a covered deck. There were tables out in the sand, but he pulled her into the bar area. “Two hurricanes,” he said to the bartender.
She knew that hurricanes were lethal and vowed to sip the drink slowly. But she didn’t argue about eating dinner. She was starving!
The bartender quickly mixed the drinks and handed them over. Phillip tossed down some money and walked over to one of the tables. Since it was still relatively early in the evening, there wasn’t a lot of competition for the waitress’ attention and she appeared quickly. “What can I get you?” she asked.
“What do you recommend?” he asked. She named a spicy fish specialty and Phillip glanced over at Marie. Marie shrugged, not sure what it was, but she loved local food so she nodded, taking a long sip of her drink. It was sweet, cold, and delicious.
They talked about work for a while until their meal arrived. Marie had already finished her drink and Phillip asked the waitress to bring her another and a beer for himself. By that point, she was thoroughly relaxed, the alcohol and warmth of the setting sun soothing her temper.
“This has been the craziest day,” she yelled above the music that had started playing over by the bar.
“Let’s dance,” he said and took her hand, pulling her into his arms.
Marie knew that dancing with Phillip would be a bad thing, but she was just too relaxed now to argue with him. So instead, she slipped into his arms, letting him pull her closer than normal. Well, whatever normal would be for Phillip. Certainly, she’d never seen him pull Lillian this close during the few times she’d witnessed them dance or saw pictures of them dancing in the gossip news.
“Why are we really here?” she asked.
“Because I’m tired of you invading my dreams at night,” he told her and swung her around so that they were swaying closer to the sand.
“Ha!” She held on tightly as he shifted. Was he moving closer? She didn’t remember his thigh between her knees before. But she didn’t mind. The alcohol had really relaxed her. In fact, she pressed closer, enjoying the feeling of him surrounding her like this. “You’re the one that gets into my dreams at night. Do you know how many times you’ve woken me up in the morning when I wanted to stay asleep and have you…” she stopped, looking up at him and shaking her head.
“What am I doing in your dreams, Marie?” he asked softly, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear.
“Bad things,” she whispered against his neck.
“Bad as in things you don’t want to happen in real life?’
She laughed, shaking her head. “Bad things that can never happen in real life.”
“But you want them to happen right?”
“Yes. But they can’t.
“Why not?’
“Because you’re going to marry Lillian. Or someone like Lillian.”
“Nope.” He spun her again and she leaned into him. The only other option was to fall on her butt and that really wouldn’t be dignified.
“Why not?”
“Because I want you,” he told her.
She jerked back as far as his arms would allow. “What do you mean?”
He smiled slightly and pulled her closer, lowering his head once again. “Because I have been dreaming about you for too long, Marie.”
“You’ve been engaged.”
“I know,” he sighed. “It was stupid of me, but now that I’m no longer engaged, I am not going to hide it any longer.”
“Hide what?”
“My attraction to you.”
“You’ve been hiding it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought it was wrong. At first, you were my assistant. And I thought it would be safer to be engaged and married to Lillian rather than offend you. Then Lillian pointed out that she and I only liked each other as friends.”
“And now?”
“And now, you’ve admitted that you feel the same about me.”
“I did?”
“Yes. You said you’d been dreaming about me doing wicked things to you.
“Bad things,” she corrected, staring up at him.
He smiled slightly and her eyes were drawn to those lips. Lips she’d imagined doing…oh so much!
“Would one of those bad things be kissing me?” he murmured, drawing closer.
“Yeah,” she whispered just as softly. “One of them would be.”
Marie didn’t have a chance to respond because he was kissing her. Kissing her and making her mind spin with the impact of his kiss. No longer would she have to imagine if his kiss was soft or hard. Gentle or demanding. She knew. It was both. And all. And everything! His kiss started off gently, teasing her lips until she kissed him back. Then it was much more demanding. She opened her mouth as he deepened the kiss, making her head spin with the feelings rushing through her now.
Marie had no idea if they were still dancing or not. Every dream she’d ever had of doing this with Phillip was obliterated with the reality. His kiss wasn’t just hot, it was mind blowing, her senses spinning out of control.
When he lifted his head, they were both breathing hard. “We need to get out of here,” he growled. Taking her hand, he led her out of the bar and back to the Jeep. It was only a five minute drive to his house and that wasn’t long enough to get her mind back under control with all of the thoughts swirling around in her head.
When he pulled into the garage of the house, she was already out of the jeep and walking around to his side. Phillip pulled her into his arms and lifted her up against the warmth of the hood. With his hot chest against hers and the heat from the engine against her back, she felt like she was on fire. Her fingers tightened on the material of his shirt, trying not to rip it to shreds because it was in the way of her hands finally discovering what was underneath all of his conservative clothes.
Thankfully, Phillip had enough presence of mind to fix that issue. With one hand on the back of his shirt, he pulled it over his head, dumping it on the cement of the garage floor. “Touch me, Marie,” he commanded, but didn’t wait for her to follow his order. He took her hand and placed it on his chest. When her fingers were touching him, he closed his eyes, clenching his jaw as she ran her fingers over the tanned skin that covered the most amazing muscles she’d ever seen.
He was glorious!
“You’re amazing,” she whispered, pressing her lips to the middle of his chest. Yeah, another thing she’d dreamed about doing too many times to count.
“Marie!” he groaned when she slid her hands over his arms and shoulders.
She wasn’t aware of his hands sliding up the skin of her thighs but suddenly, his large hands were cupping her bottom, pressing her hips against his erection and she gasped with the strange sensation. But only for a moment. The surprise dissipated quickly and she was back in the thick of things, trying to touch him, wanting to touch him everywhere. She couldn’t seem to get enough of him, but he kept distracting her by kissing her neck, her shoulder, lifting her higher against the vehicle so that he could pull the straps of her sundress off. Since the dress didn’t allow for a bra, when he tugged on the straps, he bared her breasts to his gaze.
Marie froze for a moment, her chest heaving in an effort to get more oxygen into her lungs. But it wasn’t working. Not with him looking at her like that. Flinging her head back, she shifted against him and the movement seemed to break him out of his trance.
With a groan, he lifted her and carried her through a doorway. Marie had no idea where they were, nor did she care. Phillip was here and she pulled his head to hers, kissing him as if her life depended on it. And in a way, it did. She knew she would just die if he stopped kissing her.
“Damn Marie!” he groaned and settled her down onto something hard and cold. But she didn’t care. Phillip was here and it felt better than anything she’d dreamed about. “Please don’t stop!” she sobbed when he stepped away.
“Not a chance!” he vowed. It took him about five seconds to tear open the condom wrapper and roll it down his thick shaft. But then he was back, his hands on her hips as he pulled her closer to the edge of the granite countertop.
“Please!” she gasped, sobbing out her need and lifting her hips to meet his thrust.
When he entered her, she cried out and froze, feeling her body stretch to accommodate his size. Marie wasn’t a virgin. She’d been with a couple of men but none had been this…intense. She’d never needed a man, as she did Phillip. And none of her previous lovers were…as large!
“Are you okay?” he asked, holding still as she shifted. “Marie! Don’t…! Just…hold on honey until you feel okay.”
Marie laughed and pulled herself up the few inches that separated them. “I’m fine,” she told him.
He shook his head, his fingers pushing her hair back off of her forehead. “No, you’re tight. I hurt you.”
She kissed him gently on his neck, his jawline. His lips. “I’m fine,” she whispered. “But if you don’t start moving, Phillip, I’m going to think that you don’t want to do anything more and I’ll just…” She gasped when he started moving and from that moment on, she was unable to finish that statement, much less the thought.
There were no other words. Just gasps of pleasure as Phillip shifted against her, pressing himself deeper into her heat. His thrusts were smooth and measured at first, but when she lifted her hips up to meet each thrust, the movements became much quicker, more desperate. And then she couldn’t hold back any longer, screaming out his name as her fingernails dug into the skin of his shoulders, holding on as her body convulsed around his over and over again. The waves were so intense, she didn’t know what was going on, never having experienced such incredible bliss before. Marie was completely unaware of Phillip following with his own orgasm, but she knew when her world stilled.
Ragged breathing was the only sound in the room as she slowly uncurled her fingers from his skin. “Sorry!” she whispered as her fingers stopped clenching.
“For what?” he asked, lifting his face from the curve of her neck. “Did I hurt you?”
He looked down at her in the dim light of the kitchen, not sure if she was hurt or not. “I don’t feel anything but...” She couldn’t finish, her throat choking with the beauty of what she’d just experienced.
He lifted an eyebrow when she didn’t finish that statement. “But…?” he prompted.
She bit her lip, trying to decide how to describe exactly what she was feeling at the moment. “I think embarrassed,” she finally finished.
He stared at her for a long moment, then threw back his head and laughed. When he looked back down at her, he was still smiling. “Embarrassed about what?” he asked, pulling out of her, then tossing the condom into the trash as he adjusted his clothing. He then came back to her and helped her sit up but he wouldn’t let her off of the countertop.
“Um…well,” she looked around, realized where they were and sighed. “Okay, so we just had sex on your mother’s counter. That, in itself, is enough to make me want to find a cave to hide in.”
He chuckled again, nibbling on her bare shoulder as he lifted her up into his arms. “First of all, this is my house. My parents use it occasionally, but I bought the land and worked with the architect to build it to my specifications.” He was carrying her up the stairs and shouldered his way into the master bedroom, which was done all in breezy whites with dark wood furniture. “But even if it was my parents’ house,” he continued as he laid her down on the bed, then whipped her dress up and over her head, tossing it behind him. “I still wouldn’t care.”
“But I was…” she stopped when his long fingers moved to the buttons on his shorts, discarding both his shorts and the boxers underneath.
“You were?” he asked and shifted to the bedside table to take out a box of condoms before climbing onto the bed beside her.
Phillip looked down at Marie, wondering if he should slow down. But she was here, in his bed, looking…amazing. And she’d been incredible just moments ago. Thinking about the way she’d just…released herself to him made him hard as a rock all over again.
“I think you should be embarrassed again,” he told her as his head dipped to nuzzle the skin on the side of her neck. He hadn’t gotten to that place before. “I think you should be embarrassed and slower this time.”
She sighed and he smiled when she tilted her head slightly. “Move your hands, Marie,” he ordered since she was covering her breasts with her arms and hands.
“No,” she whispered back, but he felt the shiver race through her body when he nibbled on her ear.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m embarrassed. I acted like a hoyden.”
He smiled, but she couldn’t see his face since he was nuzzling her hair out of the way of her neck. “Yeah. You did.”
She gripped his shoulders when he pushed her back against the mattress. “What are you planning to do?”
He moved lower, his nose pushing her hands away from her breasts. When they were once again holding his head, he blew cool air onto her nipple, smiling when it tightened into a raspberry peak for him. “I’m going to make love to you all over again,” he told her. “But this time, I’m going to go slower. I’m going to take my time and find all of the places that I want to explore.”
She groaned, her fingers curling into his hair as he took that nipple into his mouth and sucked hard against the peak. Damn, he loved this about her. She was so responsive. So ready for any touch. He loved it!
“Slower might not be better,” she whispered, and arched her back as his mouth teased her nipple.
“Slower is more fun sometimes,” he argued right back, moving to her other breast while his fingers teased the first one. Immediately, he felt her legs lift up, wrapping around his waist as her hands slid down against his arms and shoulders. Her touch was so soft, so delicate, he thought he might just burn up as she slid her hands higher.
When he took that other nipple into his mouth, Marie lost her words entirely. Excellent! As he moved over her body, he found more spots that had the same effect. Her stomach, the small spot on her hip, her inner thighs. And when he pressed her legs open, he discovered something more amazing. Marie tasted even better than he’d imagined. Also, he’d thought she’d sparked apart earlier, but that was nothing compared to her reaction when he sucked that small bud into his mouth. When his fingers slid into her heat, that only added to her reaction. Pressing against the inside as he teased that bud, it took almost no time at all before she was experiencing another climax. The liquid heat flowing from her core as she writhed in his arms was such a turn on, he could barely hold back as he rolled another condom down his length moments before entering her.
Filling her up, he watched her eyes, her facial features, making sure that he didn’t hurt her. But it looked like she was enjoying everything just as much as he was. The tight heat surrounding him as he started thrusting was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. She was so tight, so perfect, and he loved the way she lifted, meeting each of his thrusts.
Too soon though, she was coming apart in his arms again. Normally, he would want to prolong their pleasure, but she just felt too good and her orgasm pulled him right over the edge with her. A few more thrusts and he was gone, holding Marie close as they both struggled for air.
Rolling over, he pulled her close, staring up at the ceiling. This was how it was meant to be. This was his woman. If he hadn’t known that earlier, feeling her splinter apart like that told him everything.
He felt her curl up against his chest, one of her legs sliding against his, and he knew what he had to do. Marie was perfect for him. He wanted her in his life forever. Only one thing to do.
But when he looked down, he realized that his “forever” was going to have to wait. Marie was sound asleep, curled up against him.
With a chuckle, he let his head fall back against the pillow as he contemplated tomorrow.