“Mark, please.” She loved to hear herself beg.
He looked up and his gaze was hard on hers. “Do you want to come?”
“Yes, please… please. I want to come.”
He removed her right arm from his shoulder and kissed the tip of her index finger. “Then fuck me.”
He sucked her finger into his mouth and she ground against him, moving until her clit rubbed his pelvic bone. Yes, right there…
“Mark!” She threw her head back as the climax ripped through her, tore her apart. And only then, with her finger on his tongue and her gaze locked on his, did he allow his own release.
She didn’t know how long she lay on top of him, a panting heap. He traced his fingers over her back, stroked her hair.
After a while she glanced over her shoulder at the photograph Ash had taken of her. Yes, it was beautiful. But it was like looking at an image of someone else. It was the image of someone trusting and foolish. It didn’t feel like her at all.
Now, suddenly, she was sick of the picture, sick of it in her home, sick of it on her wall. She suppressed the urge to stomp across the room, rip the thing down, and throw it out the window.
But then she remembered the photographs Mark had purchased. She thought of him looking at those images, and it softened her. Just thinking that he might look at them, that he would remember her a little, made her heart melt.
She kissed Mark’s cheek and closed her eyes. She wouldn’t think about that. Not now, not while she still lay slick and warm in his arms. There would be time for that tomorrow. After he’d gone.
Emmett finally walked in the door at two in the morning. Meg sat at their concrete counter, sipping decaf. Waiting.
He closed the door silently, tiptoed through the entry, and stepped into the open living area before he saw her. “Meg? What are you doing up?”
She smiled. “Waiting. For you.”
“Oh.” He looked past her shoulder. “Great.”
Sliding off the barstool, she let her robe drop to the floor, leaving herself dressed in nothing but a sheer black negligee. “I was hoping we might… you know… do it.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “God, Meg. I’m exhausted.”
She clenched her fists. “You never used to be too exhausted for sex.”
“That was before we bought this place, before the new studio, before…”
“Before what?” She swallowed down the ball of panic in her throat.
He shrugged, his shoulders bunching underneath his sweater. One of the things she’d loved about Emmett was his body, how he looked in clothes. He was tall and skinny and still wore Converse high-tops. He had spiky black hair and reminded her of Sid Vicious. All those things, combined with his sweet personality, had made her fall for him at first sight.
He came to her and placed a quick kiss on her forehead. “I’m sorry, babe. I promise, tomorrow I’ll have more energy.” He turned and walked away to their bedroom.
Tomorrow. How many times had she heard that? Swallowing back tears, Meg picked up her robe and followed him to bed.
Chapter
Six
Ruby was trembling in Mark’s arms.
He held her tightly, stroking her back as he kissed her nipples. He could feel the muscles of her arms spasm beneath his hands as she recovered from what they’d done.
What they’d done. He was flying high still but beginning to crash. Didn’t matter. What mattered was Ruby in his arms, open and vulnerable and needing him to care for her.
He knew he’d taken her further than she’d ever allowed herself before, and now, with this petite beauty in his arms, he felt so much more than an obligation to be a responsible dom. The desire to protect her came from somewhere deep inside, and it was unfamiliar and primal.
He stroked her silky hair, and she smiled up at him, still dreamy. He wanted to see that look again, wanted to look in her eyes and see everything right there. It seemed that if he just searched her eyes long enough, he’d know all her secrets, her deepest fantasies. And fuck if he didn’t want to be part of those desires.
Wrapping her in a soft blanket he’d found draped over the couch, he laid her on the oversized chair.
As she rested her head against the back cushion she looked at him, her eyes wide and dark and so open; for a second he had to look away.
Then he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Be right back.”
She nodded and closed her eyes.
Grabbing his jeans and T-shirt, he found his way to her bathroom, went inside and closed the door. He ran a hand over his head.
His hand was shaking.
Fuck.
Thinking about the fact that he had to leave in just a few hours made something go crazy inside him. He didn’t want to go. He wanted to be with her the whole damn day. Make her breakfast, learn how she took her coffee. Make love to her again. Make love to her slowly and sweetly. Watch her come again and again.