Despite what Addison had just seen, there was no resistance in her body as Marcus’ hot breath warmed her prickled skin. They fell to the floor, entangled in one another, a long-familiar sensation of passion sweeping through her as his fingers worked against the buttons of her blouse.

“I’ve missed you,” she exhaled, and his shuddering sigh told her he felt the same.

As his chin dropped to taste her waiting nipples, Addison lifted herself onto her elbows, peering at him with naked adoration, shivers coursing through her slim frame. His tongue teased the rigid skin, and one of her hands fell into Marcus’ blonde head.

“Is what they said true?” she murmured, her red hair falling into her face as her bun came loose.

“I don’t want to talk about them,” Marcus muttered, his hands cupping her round rear, sliding the material of her pants along her hips.

“Are you in love with me?”

Marcus lifted his head, freezing in place, and Addison suddenly wished she had not asked the question.

Why did you ruin it? she scolded herself. You could have enjoyed one more time with him, one last time…

“I have been in love with you all along,” Marcus told her gruffly. “I was just too blind and too stubborn to acknowledge it.”

Addison gasped and fell back, happiness filling her to match the desire in her loins.

She was exposed in seconds, nude and vulnerable beneath Marcus’ huge form, his face rising to meet hers as she wrapped her legs about his hips, pulling him near to feel the tip of his hardness against her core.

“You don’t know what you do to me,” Addison purred, her hips reaching upward, urging his massive shaft inward, but Marcus only slid himself against the slick cleft, deliciously rubbing her already pulsating clit.

“I know what you do to me,” he growled, and without warning, he plunged deep inside her.

Addison screamed out at the unexpected thrust, her ankles locking around his buttocks.

“Oh, my god!” she moaned as he thrust into her, his hips making wide, intense circles, as if to touch every part of her insides. Addison’s fingers dug into his rippled shoulders, and she idly realized he was as naked as she was, although she had no idea how he had gotten that way. “Harder,” she gasped. “Harder, Marcus—”

Marcus’ blue eyes constricted, and he studied her face with mild surprise. His pace intensified, and Addison clung to him, her nails cutting through the flesh of his back as her calves began to spasm. She yelped as he delved into her, reaching her in only places he had known. Addison felt the inevitable orgasm building inside her. Against her swollen center, Marcus’ sack grew taut, still slapping against her as his grunts met her breathless cries.

Suddenly, Addison could take no more, squealing as she shuddered against her lover’s engorged member. His seed rushed out to meet her climax as they fell into a writhing pile of limbs, trembling and moaning.

Addison buried her nose in his neck, feeling the racing pulse against her mouth. She locked her lips against his throat, sucking back the lines of sweat dripping from him, and Marcus shuddered one last time.

They lay in silence, relishing the feel of the other, their heartbeats synching as they inevitably slowed. For a few moments, Addison felt as if she had melded into Marcus, becoming the part of him that she had longed to become for so long.

“I will never hurt you again,” Marcus finally murmured, and Addison felt a rush of pleasure at the words, knowing them to be true.

Gradually, he lifted his toned shoulders and looked at her, his vivid eyes searching her face as if memorizing her for the first time.

“Will you move in with me?” he asked her quietly.

Addison’s heart quickened. “I can’t be just another woman to you,” she admitted, willing her voice not to crack. “I’m not going to let you put me in your ivory tower and parade me around like a trophy.”

Marcus shook his head vehemently. “Haven’t you been paying attention?” he joked lightly. “You are nothing like another woman to me. You are my soulmate, and I will never let you forget that. I don’t want you to move back into the penthouse. I want you to be in with me. I want you live in my home in the Bridle Path. There will never be another woman other than you. It’s as if I have been waiting for you my whole life.”

Addison swallowed the lump in her throat.

“I don’t blame you for worrying,” he softly continued. “But I have never lied to you, Addison, and I never will.”

“What about the others?” she questioned. “Even if you give them up, we’ll never be free of them.”

Marcus chuckled dryly. “You leave that to me,” he told her, leaning forward to kiss her lips as he slowly slipped out of her.

Addison clenched to keep him in place, sighing with disappointment as he fell from her, a trickle of their passion sliding down her leg. “Is what Melissa said true? You can’t harm anyone unless you’re threatened?” He nodded, his intelligent eyes watching her.

“It is our honor,” Marcus replied. “We cannot strike directly unless we have been struck first.” But something glimmered in his eye, and Addison could see he was holding some information back.

“But?” she urged.

“But there is always a way around it,” he replied simply. “Just leave it to me.”