At the sting, he ground against her again with a low, rough noiseand twined their tongues greedily. His herbal scent was turning muskier, deeper by the moment, and her own overheated skin prickled with growing dampness.
He couldn’t wrap her legs around his waist and fuck her against this fence. Not in daylight. Not in public. Not given her size. But the next time she fished her technicolor vibrator from her nightstand, she had a new fantasy to ride to a bed-shaking orgasm.
When his mouth eventually lifted a hairsbreadth from hers, she chased it.
Then she heard the sound too.
“Hey, you two! Get off my property!” It was a disgusted shout, originating from the doorway of the house beyond the fence. “That’s way too much tongue for a Saturday morning!”
Marcus gave a quiet snort, and he whispered in her ear, “Apparently we can come back later this afternoon to dry-hump against his fence again.”
“During normal business hours.” Regretfully, she slid her hands out of his jeans. “Although there are also public indecency charges to consider.”
He rested his forehead against her shoulder for a moment, still breathless. “Fair point.”
Then, with an odd sort of groaning whine, he levered himself away from her and turned to offer the man in the doorway his usual charming smile. “Our apologies, sir. We’ll be on our way now.”
The man emitted an unappeased grunt and disappeared back inside his house.
As they returned to the sidewalk, Marcus cupped her hips and maneuvered her in front of him. Almost close enough to touch, but not quite. “Stay here for just a minute, please.”
If she arched her back just a tad... yes. There.
As her ass pressed against the ridge of his erection, his fingers tightenedto a pleasurable bite through her leggings. “April...” He sounded as if he was speaking through clenched teeth. “You’re not helping matters.”
Okay, then. No more below-the-waist contact, at least for now. Instead, she tipped back her head, laid it against his shoulder, and smiled as they waited for his body to calm. “Really? Because it felt like I was helping.”
“Helping me get arrested, maybe.”
“To echo a wise man: fair point.” Luckily, her current state of swollen arousal wasn’t quite so obvious, butGod, she needed to squeeze her thighs together. “Want to hold my purse?”
“What does that have to do with—” He paused. “Oh. Yeah. That’ll probably work.”
Still, neither of them started walking. Instead, he hitched her a bit closer, and they just... cuddled for a minute, her head on his shoulder, his strong, broad hands lightly stroking her sides and hips and arms. When he eventually folded her into his embrace, she rested her arms on top of his.
After a moment, he kissed her temple, then laid his cheek there.
It was the gentleness she’d told herself she didn’t want.
Turned out she was a liar, because she wanted it all. His teeth and his tenderness. His pretty face and his laugh lines. The respected thespian and the hammy star ofSharkphoon.
The gold and the pyrite.
Turning her neck, she pressed a soft kiss to the underside of his jaw. “Come home with me. Please.”
He didn’t hesitate, not even for a breath.
“Yes,” he said. “Yes.”
MANMAID
EXT.SHORELINE AT THE BASE OF THE CLIFFS – DAWN
CARMEN has waded chest-deep into the surf, fully clothed, and TRITUS flicks his tail idly to stay upright before her, gazing adoringly into her seafoam-green eyes.
CARMEN
When will you return?
