Making Mina Strings Attached(14)

Marco pushed back from the table, a glint of amusement in his eyes, and slowly nodded.

“You agreed to move in, I was just… helping.” Marco smiled lazily, enjoying her temper.

“Helping?” Mina yelped. “This isn’t helping! This is the opposite of helping.” Images flashed through her mind: strangers boxing up her under things, laughing at the box labeled Ethan’s Stuff—BURN, and the thought of Ivy wondering whether she’d lost her mind—hell, she wondered if she’d lost her mind—and she shook her head, stunned at his nerve.

“Cara,” Marco leaned across the table and covered her hand with his, “calm down. It is done. Your friend, Dr. Fielding, said she would take care of your personal items, and everything else was basically still packed. It was simply a matter of man-power, and I am quite capable of providing that.”

There was never any doubt of that. Mina rolled her eyes and sighed. “You talked to Ivy?” She knew the answer even as she asked the question. Of course he’d talked to Ivy. And Ivy, insane friend that she was, probably agreed to his plan in ten seconds flat. For some reason she thought Marco was good for her.

Marco nodded. “Yes. I spoke to her while you were getting ready. I explained that you’d agreed to the new living arrangements and she was quite happy to be of assistance. She said something about being happy someone was “taking care” of you for a change.”

He stroked lightly across the back of her hand, her fingers slim and delicate under his powerful palm.

“I’m happy to be taking care of you,” he said and Mina was surprised at the sincerity in his voice. She looked at him, really looked at him, and was surprised again by the caution in his eyes. He enjoyed getting her worked up, but he looked like he was ready for her to bolt any second, and he couldn’t decide whether to give her space or throw her over his shoulder and carry her to the nearest bed.

A shiver ran up her spine as she imagined Marco’s caveman tactics, and interested eyes followed the goose bumps as they raced across her arm.

His voice was low and gravelly when he asked, “Are you cold?”

Mina couldn’t think of anything that was further from reality. When Marco was around she felt like she was burning with fever, chills of excitement and desire racking her body, but never anything as mundane ascold.

“No.”

His eyes rested on her, an almost physical weight.

“Are you upset?” His voice was so calm it took a moment for her to hear the steel in it. She took a deep breath and looked at him. There was no question about it—going home with him had been the most impulsive thing she’d done in years, maybe in her life. There’d been no planning, no painstaking deliberation. She hadn’t thought past her own body. When her rational mind had resurfaced she had run—she still wanted to run—but curiosity kept her in place. She didn’t completely trust him; she didn’t know him well enough for that. But, she wanted him. She wanted to be wanted by him. She wanted what he had already given her—the passion, the moments where she believed she was the most beautiful creature in the world, the overwhelming feeling that she was what he most desired and he only had eyes for her—but the only way she was going to get it again was if she asked for it. Marco had made it clear that he wanted her, but looking in his eyes Mina knew that the next move had to be hers.

She turned her hand under his so she could clasp his. A twist of her wrist and her fingers slid between his, her pale oval nails shining against his dark skin.

“Not upset really. I’m a little at a loss.” Marco tightened his fingers around hers and a rueful smile quirked her lips. “I usually have a plan—step by step, day by day—and everything goes the way it’s supposed to. When you step in and do things without explaining… It’s unnerving to realize that I have no idea what to expect. No control over how things are going to turn out.”

Marco kept his grip on her hand and she could feel the heat of him seeping into her skin. She raised her eyes back to his and smiled again.

“If you’d told me a week ago that I’d be here with you…” her voice trailed off and Marco pulled her forward a little.

“Yes?” he prodded and she shook her head. He wasn’t letting her get off that easily though.

“Tell me,” he insisted, and she let out a frustrated sigh.

“I’d have said you were crazy. It would never happen. You’d never notice me, not to mention actually want me, and even if you did it wouldn’t matter. I was engaged. Ethan loved me. I had a plan, and everything was going to go just the way it was supposed to.”