Two Weeks Later
Sadie was depressed. It had been three weeks since she had the tussle with Laura and the doctor told her she had a pretty severe concussion. She was ordered to stay off work for a while and take it easy. Marcus came over every evening and they’d watch a movie and cuddle or play a board game or just sit out on the back porch and look up at the stars and talk. It had been wonderful, but the whole time what she’d really wanted to do was launch herself at him and rip those clothes off of him. She was done waiting. She wanted him and she wanted him yesterday. But Marcus had been at her side when the doctor ordered her to take it easy. No strenuous activity, he had said. So of course Marcus wasn’t going to risk hurting her and “Dudley Do-Right,” as she had taken to calling him when she was really frustrated, refused to do any more than kiss her. Even the kisses seemed to lack passion. She knew he was afraid it would go too far, so he was holding back. She loved him and she appreciated the hell out of the way he wanted to take care of her, but lately, she also wanted to kill him for it.
Then the whole thing had happened on the movie set. Marcus didn’t tell her the entire story. She’d heard it from one of the Hollywood people one day when she’d been at Benny’s having lunch with Mickey. Her heart nearly stopped as the young woman relayed how Marcus had stood in the middle of that clearing, armed only with a small handgun, and handled things out in the open where he could have been easily killed. Even though she knew everything had turned out okay, she almost couldn’t stand hearing about how he’d walked right up the side of that mountain and reasoned with the sniper. Hell, she didn’t even know that he knew how to reason. The man hated conversation for crying out loud. What made him think he knew enough to talk a woman out of an automatic rifle and a death wish?
She’d said as much to Mickey that day and he had laughed and said, “Obviously, he did. No one died.”
Grant had shot the woman in the shoulder and last they heard, she was doing okay. It turned out that the night Peter met her in the bar hadn’t been the first night he was with her. She had been an extra in one of his first movies and he’d had her in the pool house of some mansion one night. She’d been following him ever since, waiting for him to call her. She was twenty-four years old and the daughter of a cameraman and a stuntwoman. She’d learned to climb and hike and shoot at an early age and her dream was to become a stuntwoman like her mother someday. She was also practiced in the art of stage makeup and disguise. No one, not even his security, had noticed her following Peter around for years because she never looked the same.
According to what the police told them later, she suffered from Schizophrenic Affective Disorder. She had delusions and she heard voices when she wasn’t on her medications. Unbeknownst to her family she had been off her meds for a while and Peter became the focus of her delusions. She finally decided that he didn’t want her and she didn’t want him to be with anyone else, so she was going to kill them both. Sadie considered it divine intervention that she hadn’t killed Marcus that day and she got mad at him every time she thought about him taking that kind of risk.
Marcus hadn’t exactly shrugged off her concerns, but he’d assured her over and over again that he knew what he was doing and she didn’t have to worry. She convinced herself that he was right and concentrated on how good it felt to spend time with him and how good it was going to feel to finally get to make love to him…and then he’d gotten called away again. He, Grant, and Billy Joe had gotten called up to Lake Tahoe to give depositions to the D.A. in the case against the man they’d caught stalking the rocker chick a month or so before. He’d been gone for over a week now and Sadie still hadn’t gone back to work. She felt like she was going stir crazy and she was on the verge of losing it.
On the eighth day after Marcus left for Tahoe, her Aunt Sally and Nate showed up on her doorstep. “We’re taking you for a ride,” Nate told her. “You need to get out of here.”
Sadie wasn’t about to argue. Her head was healed and her body no longer ached…except for Marcus. She needed to get out of the house and do something besides walking down to the store or the bar. She was still adjusting to losing Laura too. She no longer had a best friend to call when life got sad or boring, and that just made her more miserable.
“Great!” she told Nate. “Where are we going?”
He just shrugged. “Just put on your shoes and let’s go.” Sadie was wearing a pair of cut-off denim shorts and a tank top. It was 85 degrees outside and the humidity was 75%.
“Am I dressed okay?”
Nate really looked at her then and said, “I’d go with longer shorts…”
“These aren’t short!”
He raised an eyebrow. “They’re not?”
“Oh, stop it. You just don’t like them because you’re my cousin. If we’re just going for a drive it doesn’t matter what I wear anyway.”
“True, let’s go before Mom wastes all my gas blasting the air-conditioner in the truck.”
Sadie got in the backseat and as Nate drove, she chatted with her aunt. It was good to have another woman to talk to again for a change, even if Nate was groaning and making sarcastic comments every so often. Sadie was having such a good conversation with her Aunt Sally, mostly about Marcus, that when she looked up, she realized they were almost to San Antonio. “Nate we’re not going into a restaurant or anything, right? I’m not dressed for it.”
“Nope. No restaurant.” He put his eyes back on the road and Sadie watched out the window then, curious now about where he was taking her. When he exited the freeway and got into the lane for the airport, she was really confused.
“What are we going to the airport for?”
“You’ll see.”
Sadie had never been on a plane. She’d never been out of Texas, and Galveston was as far as she’d ever gone. Mickey took her to see the ocean once when she was about eight years old. That was the last vacation they ever took. She loved how over the past two weeks, Marcus told her about all of the places he’d been. She felt like she was living vicariously through his adventures, even if they hadn’t been all fun and games.
Nate parked in the unloading zone and he and Aunt Sally got out of the truck. Feeling self-conscious in her shorts and tank top, Sadie stepped out but stayed close to the truck. She had a tickle in her belly, suddenly believing that they’d brought her there to pick up Marcus. She was shocked when Nate took a suitcase on rollers out of the back of the pickup and a small overnight bag, and Aunt Sally handed them both to her one at a time.
“What is this?”
“Your luggage,” she said with a large smile. “I think I got everything you’ll need. I reckon you can get whatever I forgot when you get there.”
“Get where? Where am I going?”
“Here.” Nate handed her an airline ticket and a boarding pass. Sadie was staring at it in disbelief. It was a first-class ticket to Hawaii, in her name. There was a luggage tag and a boarding pass. What the hell was going on?
“I don’t understand. You’re sending me to Hawaii?”
“We’re just delivering you,” Sally told her. Her aunt gave her a gentle hug and a kiss on the cheek and then said, “Do me a favor and don’t tell your father I said this…but you turned out okay. I guess he did a pretty good job.”
Sadie hugged her back, still in shock. “Thank you. But this…I’m still confused.”
“Look behind you,” Nate told her with a grin. She turned around and her eyes scanned the crowd of people, landing on the tall man almost right in the center, approaching them. Wisps of dark brown hair stuck up a bit at the top, but it was combed back in waves out of his face. That face…it was completely smooth and the handsomest thing Sadie had ever seen. She dropped the luggage she was holding onto and launched herself at him when he got close enough. Marcus wrapped his arms around her and picked her up with a rumbling laugh. She wrapped her legs around his waist and forgot the rest of the world existed as she kissed him. That was until she heard Nate groan and her Aunt Sally say, “Enough, you two. They’re going to kick us out for public indecency.”
Marcus and Sadie both grinned. She stepped back, looked at him, and then reached up and touched his smooth face.
“God, I missed you.”
“Me or the smooth face?” he asked with a twinkle in his brown eyes.
“Both,” she said, grinning.
“We both missed you too.” He started to bend down and kiss her again, but Nate stopped him.
“Look, man, your flight leaves in an hour. Sadie still has to change and you two have to go through TSA, so as much as I hate breaking up all this nauseating kissing, you need to get moving.”
“Marcus? We’re really going to Hawaii? You and I?”
“Really. When I told you all the places I’ve been, Hawaii seemed to be your favorite.”
“Oh my God! I just didn’t…” She had tears in her eyes and a lump in her throat. “I just didn’t expect to go so soon.”
“I’m sorry, it was an impulsive idea. If you don’t want to go…”
“Do I look crazy to you?”
Laughing, he took her hand and said, “Not a bit. We better get going if we don’t want to miss our flight.”
Sadie said goodbye to her aunt and cousin, and then went to the ladies’ room to change. She couldn’t ever remember being so happy.
********
The sun beat down on Sadie’s body, but not the way it did in Texas. This sun wasn’t harsh or sticky. It was like being bathed in a warm glow. She let out a contented sigh and rolled from her back to her stomach. She’d been lying in the sun all morning and if there weren’t other things on her mind, like a gorgeous, half-naked Navy SEAL enjoying the hell out of the ocean, she’d be happy to stay right where she was the rest of the day. As it were, she was giving him his time in the water and then she was finished waiting.
She snuggled down into the soft blanket that Marcus had carried out for her almost as soon as they’d gotten to the posh resort. She barely got to see the bungalow they were staying in before he told her to put on her bathing suit and dragged her out on the beach. Not that she was complaining—she’d just pictured the order of things a little differently as they sipped champagne on the plane ride over. She’d never seen Marcus out of his element in Texas and it was fun to watch him in first class. He was so articulate and appropriate but she could tell that he’d rather be doing anything other than making conversation with strangers. She guessed that was why he was so anxious to take a swim. He needed some stress relief after all of that.
She closed her eyes and drifted for a few minutes, enjoying her thoughts of Marcus with the sound of the waves gently lapping at the shore in the distance. Suddenly, she was jolted back to reality by the stark cold of droplets of water raining down on her hot back. She sat up to see Marcus standing over her, dripping and grinning down at her. “Hi gorgeous.”
She laughed. “Hi yourself.” He dropped to his knees on the blanket and began to cover her face and neck with kisses. She pressed her body into his wet, firm, bare chest and enjoyed every second of it.
“You want to go for a swim?” he whispered.
“Later,” she said back in a breathless voice. She had her head tipped back and he was licking his way across her collarbones.
“Okay, what do you want to do now?” He kept kissing, licking, and nibbling as he talked.
“Um, this is nice.”
“Yeah?”
“Mm hmm.”
“You want me to kiss you all over?”
“Oh God, yes.”
“Right here on the beach?”
“Isn’t this our private spot? The girl at the desk said each bungalow has its own private beach.”
“She did say that, didn’t she?”
“Mm hmm…” His kisses had gone lower and his lips were caressing the swell of her breasts over the top of her bikini. “How was your swim?”
“Good,” he breathed out against her hot flesh. “I missed the water. But there’s something else I’ve been missing a hell of a lot more.”
“What’s that?” Her eyes were closed and she was arching her back, pushing her chest out as far as she could. What he was doing was amazing, but it made her want so much more.
“This,” he said, kissing his way down her bare belly. “Damn, you look good in a bikini. Why have I never seen you in one before?”
“Mickey didn’t like bikinis.” He pulled his head up and looked at her face.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“But no more Mickey talk, okay?”
She laughed. “Not exactly an aphrodisiac?”
“Just the opposite,” he said, before claiming her mouth in a hungry, passionate kiss. His hands were suddenly all over her and he used them to lay her back down on the blanket and once she was flat on her back, he straddled her. His large body loomed over hers and their thighs pressed together. She could feel how badly he wanted her as his erection pressed urgently into the front of his swim trunks and against the lower part of her belly. She wasn’t sure how much more she could stand as he bent down and kissed her again, this time letting his lips slide from her mouth over to her ear. He pushed her hair back out of the way and used his lips and tongue to do things to her ear that she’d never imagined would feel so good.
“Marcus…”
“Yeah, baby?”
“You’re killing me.”
She felt his body shake as he moved his mouth back down to her neck. He nuzzled his face into her. “I am?”
“Mm hmm.” Sadie’s eyes were closed as she relished the intimacy between them and ached for more all at the same time. Her desire for this man had been building up for ten long years and it was finally threatening to cause her entire body to explode.
“Was there something else you wanted?” he asked. Suddenly the man wanted to talk. She might just have to choke him.
“Yes. I can’t take it anymore, Marcus. Please, I need you.”
He pulled his head up and looked down at her. She opened her eyes and looked into his soft brown ones. “You have me, Sadie, for as long as you want me.”
“That’s good,” she said. “No, it’s great. It’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. But right this second, I need more. I need you to make love to me, Marcus. Right here, right now.”
He grinned at her again as he let one hand slide underneath her back. She felt him tug at the string of her bikini top and once the bottom knot was loose he slid his hand up and untied the one around her neck. Sadie squeezed her thighs together. She felt like she was dying. She arched her back and rocked her body into him as he pulled off the top completely and tossed it aside. He was still for a long moment so she opened her eyes and looked at him. He was staring at her with an awestruck look on his face. “God, Sadie, you’re so beautiful.”
She smiled. “Thank you. Worship me later. Let’s do this.”
He laughed. “Damn, my girl is impatient.”
“Impatient? I think after waiting ten years that makes me a saint.”
“That’s true,” he said, leaning down to kiss her again. He used his hand to pull her up and her breasts crushed against his hard chest. Her nipples hardened and her bikini bottoms were filled with a rush of warm wetness.
He let his tongue explore her mouth slowly this time, teasing hers and then sliding it in deeper and moving it in and out of her mouth in such an erotic way that it made her whole body quiver. He left her mouth and let his tongue travel down her neck and the top of her chest until he captured one of her breasts in his mouth. He teased the nipple with his tongue, flicking across it wildly and making her writhe underneath him and moan. She was physically aching between her legs as she bucked her body up into his.
He pulled back slightly and Sadie reached up and put her hands on his big shoulders. She ran them slowly down his bulky biceps and forearms and then moved them back up to trace the outlines of his tattoos with her fingers. God, he was crazy hot and he was making her crazy with lust.
He let go of her breast and kissed his way down her belly. When he reached her bikini bottoms he untied them at the sides and let them fall away. With another breath of awe he lowered his face down between her legs and used his tongue to drive her into a state of almost pure madness. She was screaming out his name and digging her fingers into his shoulders so hard that it was a wonder she didn’t draw blood.
“Marcus! Oh God…” She felt and heard him groan into her warmth and that was what put her over the edge. He’d just slipped her swollen nub in between his full lips when the orgasm hit her like a ton of bricks. It was unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. She’d often regretted that Marcus wasn’t the one to take her virginity, but at that moment she knew somehow she’d saved the best for him, and him for her.
When she finally stopped shaking and gasping he moved back up her body, using one leg to push hers open as he did. He pulled her up off the blanket again and kissed her and with the other hand, she felt him lining his massive erection up with her pulsating opening. When he slid inside her, the world tipped on its axis and she literally saw stars. Her soft velvet walls closed down around him like a custom glove. It was like everything in her entire life had been leading up to this moment and it was all worth it. Hell, it was so amazing that it would have been worth another 28 years.
“Fuck,” Marcus groaned loudly and pushed forward, until every last inch of his pulsating manhood was buried inside of her. He had his mouth against hers as she was crying out and she suddenly felt him practically growl.
“I imagined this for so long that I was afraid I’d built it up too much. God, baby, I never imagined it this good.”
Sadie brought her legs up and wrapped them around his waist, using the muscles in them to pull him in tighter. He rocked into her slowly at first, but it didn’t take long for the urgency to build and their desire to explode once again. Sadie had her fingers curled in his hair as he pumped his hips into her. She brought hers up to meet him and they found a rhythm that was like the most beautifully choreographed dance in history. When he got close he opened his eyes and looked at her face with such intensity she couldn’t look away. He gripped onto her so tightly it was like he was holding on for dear life, and then as his body tensed and she felt him swell inside of her, he called out her name and said, “Marry me, Sadie.”
She was moaning and giggling at the same time. “Oh, Marcus, yes, yes, I will,” she said just as he plunged head first off the virtual cliff that they’d both been standing on the edge of for ten long years. Finally, prom night was over.