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He didn’t respond, instead walking over to look at Blue, which made me feel guilty for wanting to have an orgasm instead of taking care of them.
“I was kidding. I’m gonna go get dressed. You have to work today. You really don’t need to come with me. I can handle it.”
“Did I say you couldn’t?” He headed for the stairs. “I emailed my assistant and let her know I’d be taking the day off.”
He had? For me? I couldn’t make sense of it. All I was doing was getting stuff to transfer Blue to another tank and hoping the people at the fish store had some ideas on how I could make sure they’d be okay. While it was important to me, there was no reason for it to be important to Marcus. There was also no reason he had to go with me, even though it was sweet.
“Marcus,” I said when he got to the bottom of the stairs, and he turned to look at me. “Thank you…for everything.”
He shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “Nothing to thank me for.”
But really there was. On the other hand, Marcus got something out of this too. I thought…hell, I thought maybe he needed to feel needed. That this man who was so confident, beautiful, successful, and basically perfect, put himself out there for others, did things for them because it was how he felt wanted and important.
For the first time in my life, I felt my heart doing something funny, like it was physically softening, which was weird and something I definitely planned to bury and ignore.
I went to my room, took the world’s fastest shower, and got dressed. Marcus was already waiting for me in the living room when I got there.
My breath caught in my throat when I saw him. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a tight, black V-neck tee that hugged his strong arms and defined pecs like a glove. He needed to clean up his shave, but it didn’t take away from how fine Marcus Alston was. When you added in his heart? Well, he’d make someone very happy one day.
“We can take my car,” he said, pulling me from my thoughts, and grabbed a pair of sunglasses.
“Bet. Let me get some photos and video of Blue first.”
“I did while you were upstairs.”
Oh. Wow. He thought of everything.
I grabbed my shit too and went to Marcus’s BMW with him. Like I’d been taught to do, he also put his wallet and ID on the dashboard so he could reach them easily if needed. It didn’t matter that in some ways Marcus and I were complete opposites and had different experiences in life. Some of our experiences as Black men were universal.
When he pulled out of the driveway, I rolled my window down some. The September weather in Santa Monica was perfect, not that it wasn’t always. We averaged low 70s this time of year and about twenty days of rain a year. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to live anywhere else. The temperature was definitely something I would miss when I moved to Atlanta…
To distract myself, I asked Marcus, “Are you going through withdrawal?”
He glanced at me from behind his sunglasses. “From sex with you? We only had it once.”
I laughed. “Um…no, I meant from work, but I guess that applies as well.” His mouth opened on a small O, like he couldn’t believe he’d said that, which made me crack up even more. “Looks like someone has my body on their mind.”
“No I don’t.”
“Okay, Mr. Realist. Isn’t part of your persona that you’re totally honest? Methinks you are a big, huge liar.”
It was his turn to chuckle, rich and deep in that way only Marcus did. “Fine. Then yes.”
“To which question?”
He gave me a surprisingly playful grin. “Both.”
“Wow…so you miss having orgasms with me as much as you miss going to work.” I clutched my chest. “Be still my heart. That’s a Southern saying, right? I’m supposed to say stuff like that when I live in Atlanta.”
“Guess so.”
“Well…just so you know…I’m going through withdrawal too. It’s been killing me to be good. I even got advice from Declan last night.”
“Aw, shit. I’m never gonna hear the end of it now.”
“I’m pretty sure I’ve heard a story about you busting Corbin out of a cock-cage-gone-wrong incident. You guys share everything.”
“I don’t share everything. Corbin shares everything. Parker shares most things. Declan shares more now.”
If I’d thought he would really be upset, I never would have said anything, but still, I turned his way and asked, “Should I really not have?” Just to make sure. The last thing I wanted was to put Marcus’s private business on blast.
“It’s Declan. It’s fine.” When I smiled, he added, “Shut up.”
“I didn’t say a word.”
