"I want to be good for you," she whispered, unable to look away from where he was touching her.
"You are," he said, his voice ragged with need. "So let me be good for you."
One of his fingers slid into her.
"Oh." She sucked in air as he moved inside her and rubbed outside her. "Oh, Marcus."
"That's it, babe," he said, his own breathing coming in hard, fast bursts. "Open up for me."
Then he leaned down and his mouth replaced the finger rubbing against her and he was licking her and stroking into her, and everything about her tightened down until a wave of electricity spiked through her and her mouth fell open in a silent scream of pleasure.
It was unlike anything she'd ever felt. She'd touched herself, but those little pops of release had nothing on the way Marcus had effortlessly brought her to orgasm.
Marcus knew it, too. He looked up from between her legs and stared at her. She was powerless to do anything but stare back as her muscles pulsed around his fingers. "Ms. Reese," he said, but that was as far as he got because Liberty had grabbed hold of his face and hauled him up to her mouth.
This was what she'd guarded herself from for so long-this feeling of his weight pressing her back against the mattress, the feel of his mouth on hers, the sound of her name on his lips.
She was his now. She'd always been his.
But now?
Now he knew it, too.
Ten
The taste of Liberty still on his tongue, Marcus forced himself to push back. Mine, he wanted to say as he looked over her body, splayed before him with delicious wantonness. Mine.
Condoms. He needed condoms before he lost what little control he had. He managed to get them out of the bedside table as she was pushing his shorts off him, pulling his briefs down and going, "Oh, Marcus," when he sprang free.
"Babe," he managed to say, but then she wrapped her hands around him and stroked up, then down, and he lost all thought except the sensation of Liberty's hands on his shaft. He couldn't not move. He thrust into her hands and braced himself against the side of the bed and thrust harder.
"Do you like this?" she asked, and he didn't miss the almost innocent note to that question.
"God, yes," he groaned. It would have been easy to just go on and lose it right there in her hands, but he wasn't going to be selfish about this.
He managed to pry her hands away from his throbbing erection and roll the condom on. She watched the whole process with wide eyes. "What position works for you?" he asked, finally climbing into the bed. Before she could even answer, he pulled her into his arms and kissed the hell out of her.
Her hands were all over his body, her fingers digging into his backside-urging him on. She rolled onto her back and pulled him with her. "Like this," she said.
"Anything you want, babe." Her lower lip tucked up under her teeth as he positioned himself at her entrance, and for a second she looked so nervous that he paused. "Okay? Yes?"
"Yes," she said decisively, flexing her hips to rise up and meet him.
Marcus tried to go slowly, tried to hold himself back as he joined his body to hers. It should have been easy-for years, he'd always been able to restrain himself when it came to sex. He'd convinced himself it was because he was a considerate lover, always putting his partner's needs first.
But the truth of the matter was, it'd been safer that way, safer to make sure he didn't get hurt. Even with Lillibeth, the woman he'd resigned himself to marry, he'd never given himself over to uncontrolled passion like this. Maybe because there hadn't been all that much passion in the first place.
He trusted Liberty with his life. And he couldn't hold himself apart from her. Not any longer.
She sucked in a hot breath when he sank home into her tight body, so he kissed her and let the feeling of her warmth surround him.
Then he began to move. Liberty made little gasping noises as she clung to him, her hands digging into his shoulders, her lips on his neck, his mouth. Every so often she would move in a different way and he'd have to pause and realign, but after a while, they learned each other's pacing better and she began to rise up to meet his thrusts.
And he was lost in her. The only thing that kept him from going over the edge was his runner's stamina. He pushed himself past the point of pleasure and pain as his muscles burned and his lungs cried out for more air.
She made a noise high in the back of her throat and then her shoulders came off the bed. She clung to him before she fell back, panting and moaning his name. He couldn't hold back any longer, not when she looked up at him, her eyes glazed with desire and satisfaction.
He groaned through his climax and collapsed, his heart racing. "Liberty," he whispered into her hair. He had things he wanted to say, things he needed to tell her. But he didn't have the words-that's how lost he was.
She leaned back, her gaze searching his face. Then, when he continued to fail to come up with a single sweet nothing to whisper, she kissed him hard.
For the first time in a long time, he felt right. Definitely since Lillibeth's betrayal but even before then. He was safe here.
Liberty lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. "So...wow."
"Yeah, wow." He grinned. "Just think-we'll have three days to do that when we go to the wedding."
The moment the words left his mouth, he realized that hadn't been the right thing to say. He felt her body tense up, felt her withdraw from him. She cleared her throat. "Um, I need to get cleaned up, I think."
"Through that door," he said, pointing to the master bath. She scooted off the bed without looking at him.
He stared at her retreating form until the bathroom door shut with a decisive click. Bringing her to his place and making love to her had changed everything. There was something between them, something that ran deeper and truer than anything he'd ever felt before.
It wasn't a feeling that he wanted on a part-time basis. He couldn't go back to running with Ms. Reese in the morning and working with her in the afternoon and pretend that what they'd had here didn't exist during business hours.
If they were going to be together, they were going to be together. Marcus Warren didn't settle.
He hurried to the bathroom down the hall, took care of the condom and cleaned up quickly, and then headed back to the bedroom. He didn't have anywhere he needed to be and there was no way in hell that he was going to let Liberty head back to the office, no matter how much she thought she needed to get ahead.
He was pulling the covers down when the bathroom door opened. Liberty, in all her nude glory, leaned against the door frame, one arm seductively wrapped around her waist. Marcus was glad to see the satisfied little smile on her face, glad to know he'd given that to her.
"Hi," she said in a quiet voice.
He patted the bed next to him. "Come here."
He watched her as she crossed to him. Her body was beautiful in a real way that he wasn't sure he'd ever appreciated before. Lillibeth had had her nose fixed and her boobs enlarged and she worked out slavishly to keep her weight a ridiculous 115 pounds. Lying in bed with her had sometimes been like lying in bed with a bag of bones, all pointy and hard.
Liberty had curves. Her hips were a sight to behold and, as she slid into bed next to him, he was already having a hard time keeping his hands off them. Her nipples were far darker than he'd been expecting, but he liked them, and her breasts, although small, were more than enough to fill his hand.
He pulled her against him and touched her breast. "I can feel your heartbeat," he murmured as he pulled the covers up over them.
She put her hand on his chest. Amazing how even that simple touch warmed him. "Yours, too." She leaned forward and kissed his chest. "So, what happens next?"
"A couple of options. We could stay in bed for the next several days."
She leaned back to give him a sharp look. "You know that's not going to work."
"You're not going back to the office today and that's final," he told her. "I'll fire you if you do."
"Again with the threats," she murmured, but she didn't sound menaced. If anything, she sounded sleepy. Warm and content. And although Marcus didn't nap, per se, he felt his eyelids drifting shut as they snuggled deeper into the covers. "Fine. Twist my arm. I guess I'll just have to stay here with you."
"That's option two-the best option," he agreed, curling his body around hers. He realized he was stroking her perfect little breast, his fingers drawing over her skin toward her stiff nipple.