Marco's Redemption (13 page)
Read Marco's Redemption Online
Authors: Lynda Chance
She was too beautiful now, too alluring, too--
noticeable
. And he didn't want anyone--any other men--noticing her.
She had been softly pretty before--even seriously beautiful. But now--she was--dangerously appealing.
He'd have to be on his goddamn guard all fucking night long.
****
Natalie sat in the back of the car beside Marco and tried to calm her nerves so that her inner-self matched her outside poise.
She was a quivering mass of tension and when he told the driver to stop outside a large jewelry store, her heart rate only accelerated more.
"Stay here. I'll be back in a minute."
Natalie concentrated on her breathing and on a small crease in her dress she hadn't noticed before as she waited. He wasn't gone for longer than seven or eight minutes.
He sat back down beside her and closed the door, once again locking her into the intimate space of the back seat that the drawn partition created in the limousine.
The car pulled away from the curb and Marco handed her a small box. "Put these on."
Natalie lifted the lid and gasped out loud. Diamond studs lay on a bed of velvet, sparkling and huge. "I don't think--"
"You don't need to think, Natalie. Do what I said--put them on."
She continued to hold the box in her hands, looking down at the diamonds. She sucked in a breath as she felt his hands on her lobes, removing the earrings she wore. His fingers were cool against her hot skin, and a stream of need flowed from the point of contact down her body to flare into heat between her thighs.
Pocketing the costume jewelry, he lifted the first earring from the box and put it in her shaking palm. "Go ahead."
"Are they real?" She deliberately closed out her sexual awareness of him and tried to focus on the jewelry he wanted her to wear.
He lifted one sardonic eyebrow.
She tried again. "I don't think--"
"Sweetheart," he said softly--almost too softly, and her pulse went skyrocketing again. "I'm not in the mood for an argument. If you continue to argue with me, I'm going to shut you up the way I want to--with my mouth on yours. The way I'm feeling right now--your pretty little hairdo won't survive. Neither will your make-up. Possibly you don't realize this, but I've been having a bit of trouble keeping my hands to myself. Now be a good girl and put the earrings on."
Natalie had never liked being treated as a child, but the way his eyes moved over her body and then settled on hers, not to mention the words that came from his mouth, made her very aware that he didn't see her as a child to take instruction. No, more like a subordinate employee he wanted to sleep with--or a potential lover who needed to understand, metaphorically speaking, who would be on top.
The thought of being under him was earth-shattering, mind-blowingly hot. But again, the thought of his dominant personality made her more than a little apprehensive. She was old enough to know where this was headed, and even with the twenty-thousand standing between them, she didn't think she'd be able to withstand him if he made a real attempt to have her. At least, she wouldn't be able to withstand him for long.
So, now, as she slipped the earrings into her lobes, the question of exactly what he expected in a sexual relationship was troubling to her. She knew she didn't have near the experience he did, and while some--sexual concepts--were exciting--even titillating--to read about, living them firsthand didn't appeal to her. Scared her shitless, in fact. She did not want it. At all. It was troubling her so much, she couldn't stop the question when it popped from her mouth. "Are you kinky?"
His head snapped away from her ears to land on her eyes again. "What?"
"I'm sorry-it's none of my business."
"You want to make it your business?" His eyes flared. "Say the word, baby."
"Never mind. I don't know why I asked."
His eyes narrowed on her, studying her. "What's upsetting you?"
"Really. Never mind. I don't know you well enough to ask--we're not involved that way."
"Okay. Here's the deal. You ask me one question--I'll answer it--but then, I get to ask you a question. Okay? We won't take it any further than that."
"All--all right."
He leaned back in his seat and stretched his arm out behind her. "Ask."
She dampened her dry lips with her tongue. "You seem dominant in the extreme. I just wanted to know--it scares me to think--I don't want to--"
His expression grew incredulous as he interrupted her disjointed speech with a bark of laughter. "No, I'm not kinky. Not the way you're thinking. You've been reading too much fiction." His finger reached out and twirled around a lock of her hair as he spoke. "I admit that I like to be in control. When you make it to my bed--and you will--I imagine you'll find I'm exactly the same as I am all the time. I don't like to be argued with--I like things the way I like them. I'm a bit spoiled that way. I'm no different in bed."
The lock of hair around his finger ran out of length and he began pulling on her--just forcefully enough that her torso twisted toward his and her hands fell on his chest, the distance between them gone. He continued, "No arguments in my bedroom. No arguments and we'll get along fine. The door closes and you're mine. You don't need to worry about anything. I'd damn sure never hurt you--I'm going to treat you like a princess, baby, and you'll never want to be anywhere else." His gaze raked boldly over her and it took all of her concentration to maintain the few inches between them, and not let her arms fall completely over his chest.
She was already so totally infatuated with him that she was scared he was completely right. Once she made it to his bedroom, she'd never want to be anywhere else.
"Do you understand, Natalie?"
"Yes."
"That's good. Now it's my turn for a question." His hand left her hair and moved down her shoulder to settle on the curve of her breast over her dress. His other arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her over him until her legs straddled his lap. He began caressing her with steady strokes. Natalie's throat tightened as he peeled down a shoulder strap and bared a breast. She felt the cool evening air on her naked flesh.
He sucked in oxygen through his teeth as he glanced down at it. Looking back up into eyes that were glued to him, he slid his thumb over her nipple, lightly caressing it and bringing damp heat between her legs.
Her head began to drop down to his shoulder, but he anticipated her move and nudged her chin back up and then sank his mouth down over hers. His tongue moved deep into the recesses of her mouth and she began to squirm against him. Her breathing grew shallow to match his, and her pelvis pushed softly against him with a movement she couldn't seem to control.
She moaned softly into his mouth, and at the sound, his fingers became rougher against her nipple, pinching and pulling her pink flesh. They kissed heatedly, and her heart thumped erratically in her chest, her proximity to him and his kisses going to her head and making her desire skyrocket out of control.
He lifted his mouth from hers, breathing raggedly, and took his hand from her breast and slid it unerringly down her side to fall on her thigh. He lifted her dress, slid his hand to the silk covering her mound and pushed the elastic aside. He cupped her wet heat from behind, sliding his finger through her slit and opening her up to him.
He teased her tight opening with his blunt finger and said in a raspy voice, "Look at me."
Natalie raised her head from where it had fallen to his shoulder and opened her eyes. Tearing up her bottom lip with her teeth, she pushed against him, her movements frantic.
He continued the soft teasing with his finger, his eyes holding hers, but he didn't say anything.
Natalie tried with only limited success to stop her hips from undulating against him. She attempted to distract him from the dangerous, erotic turn of the night. "I thought you were going to ask--ask me a question."
"I am."
Her womb clenched and a new flood of damp heat had her pushing against him again. "What?" she managed to ask in a whisper.
He held her eyes for one beat, two beats, and then three as he circled her wet opening. "You think I can make you come with one finger?" As he said it, his finger plunged inside.
The question and his finger sinking all the way inside her hit Natalie at once. The feeling was exquisite--unbelievably, undeniably exquisite. He pulled her up with the arm wrapped around her, and his mouth dropped to her exposed nipple, where he began sucking it in time with the finger that swirled inside of her. It was a dedicated assault on her senses, and whatever dark and wicked thing he was trying to accomplish, was working.
He licked her nipple, blew on it, and then began sucking it again as his finger began pumping into her, and then stilling on a spot deep within her, which he massaged with his blunt fingertip.
The feeling was electric. Currents of pleasure grabbed her and her head fell forward as she tried to stifle her scream as she was hit with spasms of release. Her body tightened, and sensation unlike any she'd ever experienced before enveloped her as she rode the tide of pleasure.
She came down slowly and her head dropped to his shoulder again.
"That's it baby." He slid his finger from her and held her head gently while she trembled in his arms. A long moment passed as she tried to calm her raging heart. Finally, he spoke against her ear. "Our relationship just changed, Natalie. The orgasm you just gave me--it's a game changer. You understand?"
Her head lifted from his shoulder and she looked into eyes that he quickly hooded. She studied his closed features. "What do you want from me, Marco?" she asked softly, her body still trembling with after quakes of desire.
"You," he said, his voice firm as he looked into her eyes.
She shifted, suddenly anxious in his arms. She was tempted. God knows she was tempted. That one word of his seemed so final, so very sure. She needed clarification--but she could barely get her throat to work. "Me?"
"Yes,
you
--in my bed."
She licked her lips. "You said it would be a game changer. Would I still live with you? Live in your penthouse, I mean."
"Without question. That won't change." His tone was adamant.
"So--you want a girlfriend?" she questioned.
He hesitated. "No. Not a girlfriend."
"Then what?"
"I want--an arrangement."
An arrangement? Who the hell put it that way?
"What--what would this
arrangement
entail, exactly? What kind of arrangement?" Doubt and insecurity beat a loud drum in her head. "Friends with benefits?" she asked hopefully.
The look he gave her pierced through her heart. "We're not friends, Natalie." He dropped that small bomb into the quiet of the night with a smoldering heat in his voice.
Mixed emotions surged through her. She knew what he was inferring--that the sexual tension constantly between them didn't allow for mere friendship. But a tiny river of fear was blending with the strong attraction she always felt when in his radius. A fear that was telling her she didn't ever want to be this man's enemy--and she felt sorry for anyone who got on his bad side. "Being friends isn't bad. We could be friends as well as--" Her voice trailed off.
"No, Natalie--we can't. Friendship is a tame emotion that doesn't have a damn thing to do with the way you make me feel. I have no desire to unload on you about how my day went, or to sit beside you without touching and watch a damned movie. Those aren't the things I want from you."