"You want to know the real me, Alex?"
"Yes, Mary, I really do."
She held his eyes for a moment before speaking. "I am the kind of girl that let her alcoholic boyfriend verbally abuse her for far too long, and it was all because I was too afraid of what I would be, and how I would feel when I was alone." He opened his mouth, but she smiled sadly and shook her head, stopping what he would have said. "I'm not saying this to make you feel bad, or to gain anything. You wanted to know something about me that no one else knows, and I just told you my deepest secret, because I want you to know who the real Mary Trellis is, Alex. I used to be very weak, not sure of myself, and afraid of the unknown. I let people walk all over me growing up, and never held my head high because I thought I wasn't worth anything."
"Mary." Alex was once again at a loss for words.
"I have moved past all of that, and am now stronger because of it. Even though it took a lot of tears, I did it on my own." The waiter came by to check on them, breaking up the melancholy that filled the space between them. When he left them alone once again she said, "So, have I scared you off yet?" He loved that she was looking for humor in a situation that clearly cut her deep.
"No." He shook his head and reached out for her hand again. "You could never scare me off." Being with Mary was so different from anything he had ever done, and what he felt for her was like nothing that he had ever experienced before. There was no doubt he would not be the same with her in his life, not anymore. His pulse increased, beads of sweat dotted his temples, and he knew that there was no walking away. He wanted her now, and he would always want her, no matter what. He was falling hard for this girl, and he wasn't about to stop it from happening.
For a moment a plethora of emotion passed across her face, and he wondered if she had seen how much he wanted her, but it was gone as quickly as it had become visible. "I'm adopted, and growing up with Margo was hell in itself."
"Margo?" He liked that she was sharing all of this with him, and liked that she trusted him.
"My sister. The one getting married next weekend. She's two years older than me, and even though I was adopted as an infant and we grew up together, I never felt like I belonged. I'm not the stuffy, rich type like my family and the people they associate with."
Alex had never wanted to hit a girl, but hearing that Mary's sister had made her feel like that had a new kind of anger surfacing. In his mind, he'd just beat the shit out her ex twice. She placed her hand on her chest and stared directly into his eyes.
"I don't mean to dump so much information on you, or make you look at me any differently, because I like the way you look at me, like I'm the only girl you've ever seen."
God, she was tearing him up inside, and he didn't know what to say to wash that almost hopeless expression off her face, the one that had been brought up as she gave a piece of herself to him.
"Mary." She had once again averted her gaze from his, but he wanted those beautiful blue eyes looking right at him. When she did just that he said, "When it comes to you, there isn't any other female that I want." His expression was hard, serious. "You're it for me, Mary."
Chapter Fifteen
Alex couldn't keep his hands off of her, but that was okay, because she couldn't keep her hands off of him. After they left the restaurant all Mary could think about was being with him in the most elemental of senses. To hear Alex Sheppard tell her there was no other for him had everything else fading away, had her heart pounding like a drum in her chest, and had a sense of euphoria washing through her all at the same time. He must have seen what she wanted in her eyes because all other conversation ceased, he paid the bill, took her hand, and got back to his place faster than she knew was legal.
She had told him so much about herself, things she had never uttered to another person. Her fears when she was younger, the way Lance made her feel, hell, what he had done, all of it had been something she kept deep down inside of her, afraid to reveal it to another living person. He had let her talk, didn't judge her with looks or words, and never made her feel embarrassed or regretful opening up to him.
"You smell so good, Mary. Taste so fucking good." He took possession of her mouth again, dragging his tongue along hers, and causing so many sensations to pass through her body that left her confused. Here they were, in the cab of his truck in his driveway making out like high school teenagers. It was exhilarating. The lights were off in his house, and the fact he told her no one would be home for hours had her wanting out of this truck and in his bed now.
"Alex."
He continued to kiss her, and then moved his mouth down her neck to lick at her pulse that beat frantically right below her ear.
"Can we possibly finish this inside, on your bed?" He groaned, and she grinned. She had already sent Darcy a text saying she wouldn't be home tonight, and the response she got back was two crude designs made from numbers and symbols of a penis and vagina.
"Say that again." He cupped her breast, and she let her head fall back against the headrest.
"Say what?" Her words were short and breathy because what he was doing to her body should have been illegal.
He was doing wicked things to her nipple with his forefinger and thumb. He tweaked the tip, rubbed it between his fingers, and had the blood rushing to the surface.
"Tell me you want to be on my bed." He gently bit her neck, and a sigh of pleasure left her. It felt so good, he felt so good, and he knew just the right place to touch her that lit her up faster than pouring gasoline on an open fire.
"I want to take this upstairs to your room, where we can lie on your bed … naked." She added the last part as a little tease, because if he could torture her with his hands and mouth, then she would do it with words.
"What you do to me." He didn't phrase it as a question, but at least he moved away from her so she could suck in a much needed lungful of air. In quick moves he was out of the truck, moved around the front and had her out and in his arms on seconds later. After a prolonged kiss, one where he had pressed her against the truck, cupped her pussy, had had her so wet she had actually ground herself on his hand to relieve the ache, they had quickly made their way inside an up to his room. A streetlight across the street came through the single window in his room and washed the room in a muted yellowish glow. They looked at each other for only a suspended moment before they clashed together, hands tearing at each other's clothes, mouths pressing together in bruising force, and sexual sounds emitting from both of them.
Once both of them were nude Alex stepped fully against her, his hardness to her softness. There wasn't a part of him that wasn't tone, ripped, and defined. He was wholly male, and she had never felt more controlled than she did when he touched her. A low rumble left him, and he flattened his tongue at the base of her throat and dragged it up slowly. She let her head fall back, closed her eyes, and didn't focus on anything except how he made her feel.
"I'm going to take my time with you, Mary. This isn't a quick fuck against the lockers at Frost." His voice was scratchy and vibrated against her neck. He cupped one bared breast, rolled the nipple between thumb and index finger, and moved to the next. He did this repeatedly while continuing to drag his tongue up and down her throat, like he was some kind of animal and marking her so there was no mistaking who she belonged to. It was a heady sensation, one that made her feel owned in the best kind of way.
He wrapped his huge arms around her, ground his erection into her belly, and then turned them so the bed hit the back of her legs. He used his upper body to push her back, and when the mattress greeted her he claimed her mouth once more. Spreading her legs so he could settle his lean hips between them, she felt the air leave her when all of his weight pressed her into the bed. After he kissed the shit out of her he placed his hands on either side of her head, and pushed himself up so his upper body no longer touched hers. Mary felt caged by him, by his strength and muscles, and by the sheer determination that she saw on his face. He reminded her of some wild animal, about to claim his prey … and she was that prey. He stared down her, and with a touch far gentler than she thought he could give her at this moment, moved his finger between her breasts. Up and down he did this, causing her flesh to pucker from the sensation. He never took his eyes from her, not even when her chest rose with so much force she grew lightheaded form lack of oxygen.. He trailed his finger lower, and as he held her gaze with his own, all she could do was wait with bated breath until he touched the part of her body that ached the most for him. When he reached her belly button Alex moved the digit around it in a slow circle, and then continued lower until he reached the top of her mound.