Chapter 17
MARCUS
It feels like my blood has been set on fire. Everything is brighter, and I can’t experience life fast enough. I’m indulging in things I didn’t show any interest in before I got sick. I’ve even started reading. I’m a sucker for any kind of survival story, I don’t care if it’s fiction or non-fiction. It’s fuel for the passion surging through me.
When I woke up this morning the first thing I thought of was the kiss.
Fuck, that kiss.
I never wanted it to end.
Feeling Willow open up to me gave me a tremendous sense of dominance, which I needed. Up until yesterday, Willow was the dominant one in our friendship. I let her take the lead on everything because I was too scared to make the leap myself.
But no more.
Fuck, it’s good to be back to my old self. No, fuck that! This is the better, more improved me.
I want to seduce her. I want to make her want me until she’s ready to come apart from just a simple touch from me. I want to make her feel as alive as she’s made me feel.
Miss Sebastian was right. A woman needs to be wooed. Fuck, I never thought I’d see the day I would use the damn word wooed.
I let out a chuckle as I fasten my belt. Grabbing my jacket, I pull it on. I haven’t worn this suit in months. Patting my hands over the pockets, I feel something. I reach into the inside pocket and pull out an empty box of Tylenol.
I walk to the kitchen and throw it in the trash. A freeing emotion makes me stare at it before I close the lid of the trashcan. I’ve been having a lot of those moments. I will find something from when I was sick, and throwing it out gives me a sense that I escaped more than just death.
With Jaxson’s unwavering support, I’ve realized ghosts are precisely that, just a fucking moment in the past. I was giving my father more power than he deserved. He just had to grow a pair and get a fucking job, but instead, he took the cowardly way out. Surviving death twice, showed me that I’m nothing like him.
I might have been crawling at some point, but I fucking kept moving.
Willow. I owe her everything.
I close my eyes as the love I feel for her wraps around my healing heart. It’s always there, in everything I see, in every moment I experience, in every beat of my heart.
She showed me that you never give up. You might back down at times, but when you come back, you come back swinging.
With a massive smile on my face, I take out my phone and call Willow.
She answers on the third ring. “Hi.” It almost sounds like a squeak, which makes my smile widen.
“Morning, Pretty-Girl,” I say, my voice filled with temptation.
This is the part I’m really good at. I’ve mastered seduction to a fine art, but this will be the first time I’m using the skill to turn on the woman I love.
“Did you sleep well?” I ask, dropping my voice to a low rumble.
“Uh-huh.” She clears her throat. “And you?”
I can hear her breaths speeding up, and it makes satisfaction surge through me. I’m going to enjoy every second of pursuing Willow.
“I did, especially after that kiss. It gave me plenty to dream about.”
She makes a startled sound, followed by a burst of nervous laughter.
“Really?”
I hate that she doubts me, but it’s something I plan on fixing.
“Really, Pretty-Girl. Be ready at six pm. I’m picking you up.”
“Okay,” she says, and I know I’m leaving her confused, but there’s only so much a guy can do over the phone.
Seeing that I’m already late, I get my ass to work. When I walk into the office, I can hear Miss Sebastian’s voice echoing through the open space that’s busy being redecorating.
“You can’t work in such a stuffy place. This would totally cramp my style. I can already feel the dull juju creeping up my ass.”
When I round the corner, I chuckle at the dismayed look on Jaxson’s face.
“Morning, Miss Sebastian,” I say, as I walk up to her from behind.
She swings around with a shriek. “Sweet mother of all that’s bedazzled!” She instantly scowls at me. “You’ll scare the color right out of my hair. It took me three hours to get the purple streak just the right shade.”
“Shouldn’t you be at work?” I ask innocently.
“Why? Are you trying to get rid of my sexy ass?”
“I wouldn’t dare,” I laugh.
She frowns and leans in closer to inspect my face, then a sly smile forms around her bright red lips.
“Did you finally smooch my angel-girl?”
I frown, wondering how the fuck she guessed that.
She starts to clap her hands like a kid that’s been told she can have all the candy in the world.
“You did! Oh, Jaxson,” she slaps me while smiling at Jax, “our boy finally dropped his assholishness and kissed the girl.”
A burst of laughter escapes Jaxson, but he quickly tries to cover it with a fake cough. Miss Sebastian swats him upside the head with something she’s been using as a fan.
“What’s that?” I ask pointing to the explosion of colors in her hand.
“Oh, I brought samples. We need to brighten up this place. There’s no way I can let you die of all this drabness after I worked my sexy ass off to get you back to health.”
Fuck, she’s here to redecorate. Jaxson and I just stare at her.
“You’re both welcome. I’m gonna go find that delicious chunk of hunk that’s in charge of knocking down walls.”
We watch her walk away, then I look at Jaxson.
“We’re fucked.”
“So fucked,” he agrees.
∞∞∞
WILLOW
Every few minutes, I catch myself wondering what got into Marcus. I was useless at work today.
Not that I’m complaining, his sudden change in behavior just caught me by surprise.
When I met him the first time, I knew he was intense, but I forgot about that after a while as we became friends.
I have no idea what he has planned for tonight, so I have decided to wear jeans and a pale blue t-shirt. I tie my hair back in a ponytail and freshen up my mascara and lipstick.
When I’m ready, I look at my reflection in the mirror.
“Is this really happening?” I whisper to myself.
I’m too scared to take the leap because I’m not sure Marcus will be there to catch me.
A knock at the door, makes me jump. Evie’s already left for work, so I rush to open for Marcus.
I don’t get a chance to greet him. As soon as he sees me, he steps inside the apartment. He wraps an arm around my waist, yanks me against his body and kisses me so hard that I can’t breathe. Just like the goodnight kiss he gave me yesterday, he keeps it short, only leaving me wanting more.
When he pulls back, I drop my hands from his shoulders, where they were hanging on for dear life.
“Are you ready?” he asks.
I nod as I fight to bring my breathing back to normal.
Yeah, intense doesn’t begin to describe Marcus.
I grab my bag and lock the door behind us. Marcus has always been the perfect gentleman, but tonight every gesture feels as if it’s intended to turn my hormones into a pile of mush.
I’m surprised when he drives back to his apartment, but I’m okay with it. The privacy will give us time to talk.
“Miss Sebastian decided to take it upon herself to decorate the new office space,” he says as we step into the elevator. “It’s going to look like a unicorn puked all over the place.”
“Are you going to let her have free reign?” I ask as I laugh. I can picture her ordering bedazzled stationary for the guys.
“We don’t have much choice in the matter. Once she gets it in her head to do something, there’s no stopping her.”
When the elevator doors open, I notice we’re not on Marcus’ floor. He takes my hand and leads me up a flight of stairs. When he pushes a door open, my eyes widen in surprise.
“Wow.” I walk closer to the edge, taking in the view of the city. “I would be up here all the time.”
He takes my hand and pulls away from the edge.
“Stand right here,” he says.
I do as he says as he takes five steps away from me.
“We’re going to play a game,” he says as he turns to face me.
“What game?” I start to laugh because this is definitely not what I expected.
“It’s called Not so fast. We each get a turn to ask the other a personal question about ourselves. If you answer right, you get to take a step towards the other person.”
Okay, that actually sounds like a great idea.
“So it’s a test to see how well we know each other?”
“Yeah, but there’s a catch,” he says with a cocky grin.
“There’s always a catch with you,” I tease.
“If you answer wrong, I will tell you the right answer, but you have to strip out of a piece of clothing as the price for the answer. The same counts for me if I answer wrong.”
Oh.
I immediately remember when we played strip horse. I’m pretty confident that I know more about Marcus than he knows about me.
“Okay, who goes first?”
He tilts his head, and with a flirtatious smile, he says, “Pretty-girls go first.”
I shake my arms out next to me and clear my throat as if I’m getting ready for the competition of my life.
Well, technically it is. I definitely want Marcus standing naked in front of me.
“Are you ready to strip for me, Pretty-Boy?” I say while I think of a question.
“I’ve been ready for years.”
Hot damn.
Deciding to flirt a little, I ask, “What kind of underwear do I wear?”
He lets out a burst of laughter.
“You’re all about comfort, but you have a daring side, so I’m going to go with boyshorts and a lace bra.”
Damn. I pout when he gets it right. That was supposed to be a sure win for me.
“I’ll take that as a right answer,” he says as he takes a step towards me.
“My turn,” he teases as he rubs his hands together. “How old was I when I lost my virginity?
Laughter bubbles over my lips. “I think you started pretty young. Uhm… I’m going to guess fourteen.”
He slaps his hand over his heart and acts all offended.
“You make me sound like a whore.”
I roll my eyes at him. “When we met you pretty much where a man-whore.”
“Fine, I’ll let it go, but you have to strip for the right answer,” he says, dropping his voice low like he did earlier over the phone.
The smile drops from my face. “I got it wrong?”
“Yeah.” He wags his eyebrows at me, clearly enjoying this. “I was sixteen.”
“Okay, fair is fair.” I remove the tie from my hair and drop it next to me on the ground. I stick my tongue out at him, which only makes him chuckle.
“How many sexual partners have I had?” He’ll never get that one right.
He thinks about it for a few seconds, then says, “Three.”
I shake my head as I try not to smile. “Pay the price, Pretty-Boy.”
He goes for his shoes first, placing them neatly next to where he’s standing.
“I’ve had five.”
“Five?” He sounds surprised.
“Five isn’t that high a number,” I say defensively.
“Still, I wanted to say one at first. How old were you when you started?”
“I’m sure my number is missing a few zeroes at the end before it can compete with your number. I was nineteen.”
I can see the question on his face, which makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Oh shit. Don’t ask that question.
“Did I have sex with anyone since we became friends?”
Shit.
“Yes,” I whisper.
He shakes his head which surprises the hell out of me.
I kick off my shoes wanting to get to the next question, but before I can open my mouth, he asks, “Did you?”
I close my eyes for a moment before I lift my chin to look at him.
“Yes.”
I can’t read his facial expression which makes me feel uncertain. I don’t think I have to defend myself. It happened during our three-year break as friends. I haven’t been with anyone since we ran into each other at the drug store.
“Was this before or after I told you that I love you?”
“Before.”
He nods, and I let out the breath of air I’ve been holding.
“The night we met for the first time. Do you think I liked or hated you?”
He chuckles. “I’m pretty sure you hated me.”
I shake my head, and as he shrugs off his jacket, I say, “I liked you so much it took me having two orgasms before I could fall asleep.”
He starts to take a step toward me, but quickly stops as he whispers, “Fuck.”
The heated look he gives me makes me want to drag him to his bedroom.
“Which part of your body do I love most?” he asks, his voice sounding gruff.
How the hell must I know?
“My eyes?” I guess. He loves making eye-contact.
He shakes his head, and I scrunch my nose as I look down at my clothes. Jeans or t-shirt. Damn, why didn’t I wear more clothes?
I unbutton the jeans, and as I pull the zipper down my eyes meet his. I watch his eyes drop to my hands as I start to push the fabric down my legs. His lips part slightly as he lets out a breath.
I drop the jeans on my shoes as his eyes burn a path back up to my face. He has the same unwavering look on his face that he had right before he kissed me breathlessly the night before.
“I love your ass. I can’t wait to bend you over the bed so I can feel your ass grind against me as I fuck you.”
I can only blink as my mouth drops open from his suggestive words.
I’ve always been attracted to Marcus, but right now he’s off the charts hot.
I take a shuddering breath. “Am I ready to have sex with you?”
Everything around us fades away as my focus zooms in on Marcus.
He takes a step forward as he whispers, “Judging by your panties, you’re wet and ready for me to fuck you raw.”
Holy hotness overload. If we keep this up, I might just orgasm from his dirty words.
“Which sexual position do I prefer?”
“From what you said about my ass, I’m going to guess doggy style.”
He nods slowly, and I take a step closer to him. We’re touching distance from each other. My heart starts to beat faster, as I wonder what he’s going to do once we’re right in front of each other.