As she speaks, Emma’s face goes from pink to white to a blotchy shade in-between. “Grandma, please. We’re not—”
“Mary, leave the poor girl alone,” Ted cuts in. “You’re embarrassing her in front of Marcus, can’t you see? They’re adults; I’m sure they’ll figure everything out on their own.”
“We will,” I say, smiling at the elderly couple. Gathering Emma’s stiff hand into my palm, I move our joined hands from my leg to the empty spot between our plates. “I promise you, we’ll figure it all out.”
And ignoring the tension in Emma’s arm, I lift our clasped hands and press a kiss to her tightly clenched knuckles.
12
Emma
“This is ridiculous!” The words burst out of me as soon as Marcus and I are alone in our room. “You can’t keep doing this!”
He lifts a dark eyebrow. “I can and I will—for as long as it takes for you to accept the inevitable.”
“The inevitable being that we’re going to live together?”
His smile is pure arrogance. “Exactly.”
Argh! I want to slap him so badly my palm is twitching. We’d had such a good day together, and he’d been so sweet to my grandmother during dinner that I’d almost forgotten what he’s really like.
A ruthless, manipulative bastard who’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants.
Which, for some bizarre reason, happens to be me.
I’m so fucked—and not just literally.
Gritting my teeth, I focus on the issue at hand. “I am not moving in with you.” I enunciate each word like I’m talking to a child. “Get that through your thick skull. It’s not happening.”
“Oh, but it is.” A dangerous glint appears in his gaze as he advances on me. “Want to bet?”
Warily, I back away. “You can’t sex me into it. Even if—”
“Even if what?” He catches me next to the bed, his big hands descending on my shoulders as the backs of my knees touch the mattress. There’s a wicked smirk on his lips, as if he has me exactly where he wants me.
Which he does.
Why did I retreat in the direction of the bed?
Do I subconsciously want him to sex me into giving in?
“Even if what?” he repeats, his voice roughening as his gaze falls to my lips. Gently, he pushes on my shoulders, and I find myself sinking onto the bed as my legs buckle underneath me. A dazed eyeblink later, I’m stretched out on my back, with Marcus leaning over me, his hand working on the zipper of my jean shorts as his blue eyes drill into me. “Even if what, kitten?”
Gulping, I try to remember what we’re talking about. “Even if…” The words dissolve in my throat as he lowers his head to kiss my neck, his breath hot on my skin as his hand delves into my unzipped shorts, invading my rapidly dampening panties. His lips are silky soft, his tongue wet and warm as he licks the spot under my ear, making me shiver with a sensual chill. Fighting the haze, I try again. “Even if…” His thumb grazes my clit, and he bites down on a sensitive cord in my neck, turning me into a fuzzy-brained puddle. With a heroic effort, I locate a sliver of mental clarity, gasping out, “Even if the sexing’s really good”—and then my mind shuts down completely as he penetrates me with two big fingers, stretching me with delicious roughness.
“Is that right?” he murmurs, nibbling on my earlobe as his fingers curve inside me. Only I can no longer process what he’s saying, my entire being focused on the throbbing tension in my core as he begins to finger-fuck me with a hard, fast rhythm. My shorts and underwear are still on, limiting his range of motion, but his middle finger hits my G-spot with every thrust and the heel of his palm grinds against my clit, making me clench helplessly around his fingers.
Panting, I grip his shoulders, my eyes squeezing shut and my fingers digging into the hard muscles as my heartbeat skyrockets. He’s biting my neck again, and I’m close, so close—and then, with a white-hot burst of sensation, I’m there, the orgasm exploding through my nerve endings like fireworks doused in gasoline. Crying out, I arch into his fingers, my inner muscles spasming and releasing as my toes curl and dots of light speckle my vision. I come for what feels like minutes, the ecstasy so sharp it’s almost painful, and when it finally abates, I feel like I may never want to move again.
With effort, I force my heavy eyelids open—and find him watching me with fierce intent, his blue eyes darkened by arousal. Holding my gaze, he pulls out his fingers with a slow, deliberate movement, and I shudder with a rippling aftershock as his palm drags over my swollen clit.
Moving with the same slow deliberateness, he brings his fingers—the ones that had just been inside me—to his mouth and sucks on them.