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“We have to talk to my dad, though,” she said after she pulled away. “What we’re doing behind his bad . . . it’s bad, Denton. We’re betraying his trust.”
“Your dad’s not in charge of youorme,” I pointed out, even though I understood her reasoning. “You’re an adult.”
She moved off my lap and I immediately regretted the loss of her warm weight against me. I watched from the couch as she paced the living room, pinching the bridge of her nose with two fingers.
“He loaned me money to start my store,” she said, not looking my way. “I’m paying it back, but we have a contract in place, which I insisted on. My business is involved.”
I frowned as I watched her move back and forth. “Marcie, your dad isn’t a vengeful guy.”
She stopped and finally looked at me, shaking her head. “No, of course not—but mixing business with really personal stuff that might piss him off? It’sreallycomplicated. And you’re not his daughter. He could figure out a way to drop you as his partner, and you’d be out of a job. You would lose your friend, but he’s my only parent.”
I held up a hand, doing my best to try and reassure her. “Okay, pause for just a second. Your dad and I have a contract, so if he does fire me, he would owe me some severance, but even without that, I’m very comfortable financially and won’t have any trouble figuring something else out. And as for our friendship—well, you’re worth the risk to me. I would choose you every time. So don’t worry about me, okay?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” she insisted. “We’re—” she stopped, as though unsure which word to use to describe our relationship.
“Together,” I supplied. “We’re together. In an exclusive relationship.”
“Right, we’re together.” She exhaled a deep breath. “Iwantto worry about this stuff with you, Denton.”
With a thump, she flopped down next to me on the couch, and I draped an arm around her to pull her close, dropping a kiss on her forehead as she cuddled against my chest.
“I would be sad to lose your dad’s friendship,” I said as she snuggled closer. “But it would break my heart to lose you.”
“Next time he’s in town, we’ll tell him.” She laid a palm flush against my chest and I felt the warmth of her skin soak through my t-shirt, to the flesh underneath.
I laid a hand over hers and squeezed it gently. “We will,” I promised. “Together.”
She tilted her face up toward mine with a grateful smile and I bent my head to touch my lips to hers, knowing I’d never get enough of her. Ever. I wanted—no,needed—her in my life, every day.
“I love you,” she whispered, a slight worrying frown creasing her brows. “Please tell me we’ll be okay.”
I took a deep breath, inhaling the fragrance of her hair and skin as I savored her soft curves against me. “I love you, too.” I pressed another kiss to her mouth. “And I swear to you we’ll be okay.” I’d make damn sure of it.
Marcie made me dinner that night—some basic pasta dish from whatever she had on hand. I ate my entire plate and marveled at the warmth that throbbed in my chest from the simple gesture. Two years—longer, honestly—without anyone to make dinner for me or the intimacy of sitting next to me while we ate. No inside jokes or laughter, no easy companionship as we cleaned up.
It felt good to have that with Marcie. Better than good, really—it was incredible.
When we slid into bed together a few hours later, neither of us bothered with clothes. We collided in the middle of the mattress in a tangle of arms and legs and warm skin, and it felt as natural as breathing. I rolled her underneath me while she gasped her pleasure, twining her limbs around me as I slid my hard length into her wet, wanting core.
Since that first night at the bar, we had fucked with dizzying hunger and shared dirty, scorching-hot sex, but this was different—hearts laid bare as wemade lovefor the first time. I wrapped my lips around one of her pink nipples and sucked hard as she cried out, spasming around my thrusting length. It was gentle and fierce, and left both of us panting with the raw force of our feelings for each other.
We stayed connected for a long time, exchanging soft kisses and softer whispers under the warmth of her smooth sheets.
“Sex was never like that before,” I said as my fingers traced the curve of her smooth shoulder. “With—well, you know.”
“With Elyse?” Marcie said, no enmity in her voice as she said my ex’s name out loud. “It was never like that for me either. I mean,never. It was always pretty . . . routine with Lucas.”
I laughed and buried my lips against her neck. “Young guys don’t know what they’re doing and haven’t learned that a woman’s pleasure is the hottest thing of all.”
Her gorgeous breasts shook with her giggles. “No, I’m strictly old guys from here on out.”
I looked up at her and smiled. “Justoneold guy. And I’m notthatold.”
Her answering grin was blinding, and my heart throbbed in my chest. “No,” she breathed. “You’re not. Not at all.”
It was early evening, but wrapped up in each other’s arms, warm and sated from sex, we both started drifting off to sleep. Until a noise woke me up.
“Cut it out,” I mumbled to Marcie.
