Love You Always (7 page)

“I believe I’ve earned my kiss.”

She doesn’t say a word and continues to stare into my eyes. I gaze down at her lips and lean my face in towards hers. Her eyes close, and I close mine, our lips touch, and I draw her tighter to me. With her body pressing on mine, I feel my temperature rise and our kiss becomes bolder. Damn, she’s a good kisser. Now, even the chill of the water can’t cool down the heat in my loins.

Christ, I’m getting a boner.

~* Laura *~

I was wrong. As Marcus kisses me, which is escalating to the level of ‘passionate’ and leaving ‘friendly’ at the wayside, I’m totally absorbed in his lips and not his ass . . . well, okay, maybe just a little, but with his strong arms enfolding me, pressing me against his hard, muscular body—his ardent kiss brings my head to swirl. I have kissed many times before, but not like this. And it’s our first one.

Where in the world did he learn to kiss like this? I always thought Keith was a good kisser, but not even he can compare—Marcus puts him to shame.

I’m sure he can feel my heartbeats thumping wildly as my breasts press against his chest. His hands move along my back and I shiver and tremble at his touch.

This is moving way too fast, and I’m not sure I’m ready for it, even if I want it—long for it.

I pull myself away, gasping for breath.

Marcus looks at me with surprise.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

“Nothing. I–I–I need to catch my breath, that’s all.”

“Okay.” He tries to read my face. “I’ve probably taken more than what I’ve earned anyway.”

He smiles at me so sweetly that I want to flush my reservations down the toilet. Damn. Why do I have to let my head get in the way of my heart? But it’s too late, I sense he’s going to give me my space.

We swim to the boat and he lifts himself out of the water and onto the deck. With one foot on the deck and the other on the floor of the boat, he holds his hands out to me.

Keeping my eyes averted from what dangles between his legs, which not even the water’s chill could keep his excitement from showing—he pulls me up to sit on the deck. He steps back a few paces to move his weight so the bow isn’t so dipped. I scoot across the deck until I sit facing him; his back faces towards me.

I watch him put on his boxer briefs, and as he does so, my eyes can’t help but notice the scars on his back—I know they’re from the accident.

He doesn’t attempt to put on any other piece of clothing and instead turns around to look at me.

Before I can move any further, since he stands in my way, his eyes scan over me, slowly, deliciously. Oh, how he makes my stomach flutter, while warmth surges through me, bringing a flush to my face, and tingles to my skin.

“Can you please pass me my dress?” I ask him politely, breaking his mental ravishment of me.

“Aw, why? You look so lovely in your lacy lingerie. I’ll eat more tarts if I can just have this view of you for a while more.”

If any other guy were to say that to me, I might think it cheesy and such a come-on, but coming from Marcus, I freaking swoon at his words.

“Stop embarrassing me,” I say coyly, but inside I’m yelling
‘more, tell me more.’
My face flushes with heat.

“You shouldn’t be. You’re beautiful inside and out, and you need to know it.” His dreamy eyes smile at me.

I am going to have to hug Jules for passing this job up and referring it to me. If ever there was a Prince Charming, Marcus is it!

“Besides, what you’re wearing isn’t any more exposing than a bikini. Your vital parts are still safely covered.” His eyes once again look me over, and when they connect back to mine, a grin emerges. “For now anyway.” he adds.

There goes my crotch again. I swear, if this man doesn’t start rowing, I’m going to throw myself at him.

“You can stay there and enjoy the view while I take us to a perfect spot we’ll have our picnic,” he says. And without further delay, he sits, grabs the oars, and starts rowing.

But it’s not the view of nature I’m enjoying, my eyes zero in on his broad shoulders, his biceps, all his gorgeous, sexy muscles as his every stroke defines them. Even his scars can’t ruin the beauty of his body, his manly physique that makes my loins throb just to imagine running my hands all over him, exploring, caressing, not to mention having his arms possess me in his loving embrace.

I know I’m getting ahead of myself, but even so, I feel like I’m the luckiest woman in the world right now. This man is not only a hunk, but a rascal too. His playfulness and charm are so endearing, I want to hug the living daylights out of him. And his boldness is so exhilarating—he curls my toes. I can’t believe he stripped naked without even a flinch. I’ve never met a man like him before. Not even Keith impressed me or moved me in this way in such a short time.

“Here we are,” he says as he maneuvers the boat to the bank. Again, with his gentlemanly manners, he holds out his hand to me, to help me out of the boat. Even though I’m quite capable of disembarking the boat without his help, I let him enjoy being gallant. I hope he never stops—I love gallant men.

He grabs the picnic basket, secures the boat to the bank, and we settle ourselves down on the plush grass, under the shade of a large tree with pink blossoms. This is a gorgeous spot overlooking the lake.

“I love it here. Thanks for bringing me,” I tell him.

“You’re welcome. This is my favorite place on our property. I used to come out here by myself sometimes, just to be alone with my thoughts.” He sighs and looks out over the lake. “That was before the accident.”

“Why haven’t you come out here since?”

He looks at me with solemn eyes. “I guess I don’t feel right about it with Angela unable to enjoy the outdoors anymore.”

“You can’t hold yourself back from doing what you love because of Angela. I’m sure if she knew you were doing that, she’d scold you.”

He laughs. “Yeah, my sis can be quite the terror sometimes.”

“Seriously, Marcus, you can still enjoy life and take care of your sister. Besides, she’s not a child, she can take care of herself with most things. The two weeks I’ve spent with her, she handled a lot of things over the phone and had them delivered. I told her I’d be more than happy to pick them up for her, but she didn’t want me to.”

“Really?” he asks in surprise.

“Yes. Why? Does she not do this normally?”

He brings up his knee and rests his arm on it. “Actually, no. I usually do all that for her.”

“Well, maybe you just never gave her the chance to show you she’s capable.” I’m not sure if I should be telling him all this, but I feel he’s always been so protective of Angela that he can’t see past his own nose in regards to her.

He eyes me intently and cocks up one eyebrow.

I hope I didn’t offend him.

“Hmm, I think you’re right. She’s often tried to tell me she can do things for herself, but I just dismiss it, thinking I’m doing her a favor by taking care of everything. I never realized that she might want to do them and that I’m taking that away from her.”

“Yes, she needs her independence in whatever way she can get it. You know what I mean?” My eyes plead with him, hoping he understands.

“Yes. I do.” He looks at me tenderly and I can see gratitude in his eyes.

Whew. I am so glad he was open to hearing feedback and took it well.

“You should’ve majored in psychology,” he says.

“Ha! Don’t let my bullshit fool you. I need more help than I dish out,” I jest.

“Somehow, I doubt that.” He pauses for a moment to look out over the lake. When he turns back to look at me he says, “You know, it seems to me, you may become as much a companion to me, as you are to my sis.”

I smile bashfully, wondering if ‘companion’ may have a few other meanings for him as well.

“You’re blushing. Did I say something wrong?” he asks, as he reaches out and touches my cheek in the most endearing way.

God, this makes me blush even more. My face now feels as though it’s been through a sauna.

His eyebrows scrunch with concern. “Everything I say to you seems to make you uncomfortable or nervous.” He sighs, and then his expression changes and his eyes crescent into a gentle smile. “But I won’t apologize for it, because I’m not going to stop.”

Will this man ever let my heart beat normally again? It’s as if he knows just what to say to make me melt.

Well, at this point, I’m loss for words, and can’t even think of a witty comeback. Maybe, I don’t want to break the mood, you think?

“So, Laura, tell me about the loves in your life,” he says out of the blue.

What? He wants to talk about my past loves? Well, that’s surely the way to break the mood.

“There’s not much to tell. There were only two guys in my pathetic romantic life,” I say with humor.

“Only two?” He cocks his eyebrow.

“Why is that so hard to believe?” I ask.

“A woman who looks like you and with your personality? I would think you’d have a battalion of guys knocking at your door.”

“Well, maybe I didn’t freely open my door to let them in. I’m picky.”

“Waiting for your Prince Charming, are you?”

“Yeah, do you know where I can find him?” Now it’s my turn to cock my eyebrow.

“Nope. Sorry. There’s no way I’m going to tell you where to find my rivals. Besides, you’ll only end up being a princess in your own kingdom with protocols and royal duties, and how boring is that?”

“Oh? You think that’s boring, do you?”

“Yup. Wouldn’t you rather be out there slaying the dragons? I mean, all the jewelry and poofy dresses are okay and all, but seriously, I can’t see you cooped up in a castle, talking to your mirror.”

He’s a crack up—I let out a hearty laugh. “You’re getting your fairytale characters all mixed up. The Princess doesn’t talk to her mirror. The Wicked Queen does that, silly.”

“Hey, okay, so I don’t know all the logistics since I wasn’t paying attention to the girly stuff. My ears were perked only during the battles, so the rest of the time, I was snoozin’.”

“Boys!” I say haughtily with a smirk.

He beams me a big smile.

“Are you finished? Do you want to hear about my love life or not?”

“By all means, princess,” he says, still smiling at me.

“Okay, where was I?”

“You hadn’t even started yet. You were about to tell me about your two boyfriends.”

“I didn’t have two boyfriends. I said, there were two guys. I had one boyfriend and the other guy was just a crush.”

“You had them at the same time?”

“NO!”

“Just askin’. Okay, so start with your crush. And this better be good, otherwise I may end up snoozin’ like I did with them fairytales.”

“You snooze on me, mister, and no more tarts for you!” I flare my nostrils and snort out a
‘humph.’

“Okay, okay.” He opens the picnic basket and searches for something. Is he getting hungry for lunch? I wait for his attention.

“Hmm, there are no toothpicks in here to hold up my eyelids,” he says, as he rummages in the basket. “Oh, look, but I found some tarts!”

As he holds up the plastic baggy to show me, a mischievous expression possesses his face and his eyebrows lift up and down twice in unison.

Ack!
I slap him on the shoulder.

“Hey, you’re getting to be like my sis.” He rubs his shoulder with exaggeration. I let out a chuckle, because I know it didn’t hurt him and he’s just toying with me.

“Okay, that’s it. I’m not telling you my story,” I threaten, trying to look serious to hide my amusement.

“Okay, I’m sorry, I promise not to interrupt. I want to hear your story. I do.”

I squint at him.

“Let me first warn you . . .” I say.

He squints back at me.

“What I tell you may keep you up at night.” I keep a straight face.

His eyebrows lift up questioningly.

“So I take it this is horror? And not a fairytale?” he asks.

“You’re not interested in no stinkin’ fairytale anyway, right?”

“Damn straight. Show me the dragons,” he says.

“I warn you, there may be munchkins.”

“Huh? And are we not in Kansas anymore?” he plays along. “If there’s an orgy, I’m all ears, Dorothy. But leave Toto at home, because I ain’t into bestiality.”

I burst out laughing.

Well, at least he got his storybook right.

~* Marcus *~

I’m anxious to hear about Laura’s past loves. Can’t understand why any of them would’ve given her up, especially the boyfriend. A woman like this, I’d keep and treasure forever.

“When I was thirteen, I had a crush on our neighbor’s son. He was six years older than I was, and although he saw me only as a kid, he enjoyed having me hang out with him. I’d watch him work on his car and I’d pass him his tools. I could talk to him about anything, and he’d listen patiently, and ask me questions. He always made me feel like he cared.”

“He sounded like a great guy,” I say.

“He was. Unfortunately, I was too young for him, and my love went unrequited, for obvious reasons. But he did kiss me, which is something I’ll never forget.”

“Really? Did you jump him?” I tease.

“No! But I confess I coerced him into it with a little lie.”

“You naughty girl!”

“Hey, I was an adolescent girl, coming of age,” she defends, her expression admonishing me for my razzing judgment.

“So tell me how it went down.”

“You perv.”

“Hey, I’m just curious, and wondering if any munchkins were involved.”

She laughs.

“Well, don’t sweat it, because it wasn’t anything that would’ve gotten him arrested.”

“Go on,” I say, intrigued to hear how a thirteen-year-old girl got a nineteen-year-old guy to kiss her.

“I sort of tricked him into it actually.” She looks embarrassed to have disclosed her little crime.

“I told him that I liked a boy at school and he wanted to kiss me, but I didn’t know how, and felt awkward. I said I wanted to impress the boy, so if he could show me what to do, so that the boy wouldn’t laugh at me.

“At first, he felt uncomfortable about it and covered himself by saying that any boy who would laugh at me, wasn’t worth being with.”