Marco's Redemption (22 page)

"What do you need to tell me?"

She took a deep, steadying breath. "Just that I'll be late coming home tonight."

"Why?" The word left his lips in a growl--even though he was reeling inside from the intense relief that she would be coming home tonight.

The information she gave him didn't answer his question immediately. "I put a pot roast and potatoes in the crock pot. It will be ready when you come home. Just leave the kitchen. I'll clean it when I get in."

"Where are you going?"

"To see my mom--"

His muscles tightened. "Where the pedophile lives?"

"I'm an adult, Marco. He's not a pedophile, at least I don't think he is."

"It's not happening, baby. You're not going where you might be in danger."

"You're right. I'm not. I'm not going anywhere near Vidor. Mom took a vacation day and we're meeting in Beaumont, at a very large, very public restaurant."

"He's not going to be there?"

"No, otherwise I wouldn't be going. I told her I needed a girl day, just the two of us. We're going for a late lunch and shopping. I haven't seen her since I left. It's been almost two months."

He picked up his pen and tapped it against his desk in agitation. "I don't like it."

"Yes, I realize you don't like it. That's why I'm here. Telling you in person. But this is one of those times, Marco."

His mouth flattened and he raised his eyebrows in question.

She continued, "One of those times when you're going to have to trust me."

He gritted his teeth so hard it hurt. "Evidently."

Her shoulders relaxed infinitesimally, and he stood to his feet and crossed the room. He threw the lock on the door and reached for her two seconds after that. She sucked in a breath and stared up at him. "I need a little reassurance before I let you go." His grip tightened. "Can you think of anything that would make me feel better?"

Natalie stood dumbstruck under his touch. His dark, diabolical words trickled along her nerve endings.
He wanted her now? Here? In the bank?
Just the idea sent wild, wanton heat tingling down her spine. Unconsciously, she swayed toward him.

He grabbed her hips and pulled her into him. "Good call, sweetheart. That's exactly right." His head lowered, and he kissed her, hard, fierce, his tongue going deep within the recesses of her mouth and dominating her where she stood. She felt her brain separate from her body, and she gave him what he wanted, her body softening under his hands where they gripped her.

His mouth was hard as it moved over hers, alternating between light sips of her lips before plunging his tongue in once again and stabbing at her, in a motion that mimicked what he wanted to do with his body.

She clutched his shoulders as he lifted her off her feet and walked her backwards in his arms. Her butt landed on his huge, mahogany desk and he pushed his way between her spread thighs.

He wasted no time, and lifted her airy, floral skirt and pushed it to her waist. He ripped her panties down her legs and held her captive while he adjusted his fly and pushed into her, sinking all the way in with one long, captivating thrust.

Two things hit Natalie at once. Pleasure, intense and undeniable--and the knowledge he'd pushed inside of her without a condom. It was the first time he'd ever done it, and she was almost sure he didn't realize it yet. She had to stop him, had to tell him, but she was having difficulty catching her breath. Forming words was almost impossible; the situation was so far away from what she had expected when she left the house less than an hour ago.

He stroked her hard and she felt the sensations building. She had to stop him. She could get only one word out. "Stop."

He didn't.

"Marco, stop."

He lifted his face from her shoulder and Natalie could see the effort it was costing him to even slow down. Sweat dripped down the side of his cheekbone and his face resembled hard, implacable granite. "Why?"

Again, all she could get out was a single word. "Condom."

He stalled against her, but then began pumping his hips again. "I can't stop."

His admission, his very lack of control, sent Natalie over the edge and she began splintering underneath him. She let out an uncontrollable moan and wrapped her arms around his neck as she came in his arms.

He followed her over, and the impact of feeling his ejaculation hot and liquid against her womb sent additional quakes through her body.

She breathed deeply, trying to steady the blood that pumped rapidly through her veins, and held him to her as he fell against her.

Their hearts banged together in tandem, and slowly, Marco raised himself and held himself over her, looking down at her. Natalie didn't know what she expected him to say as she studied the intensity in his gaze. Maybe an apology, maybe instructions of some kind to take care of what they'd allowed to happen. But what he said was nothing like she was imagining. "Mother-fucker, that was good.
Unbelievably, fucking good
. I want it like that,
always.
"

She swallowed hard. "Too dangerous," she said.

"How so? We trust each other."

"I'll get pregnant, Marco." She tried not to make it sound as if she were explaining something to a four-year-old.

"Get on the pill."

"Just like that?"

"Yeah, just like that."

"I can't yet."

"Why not?"

"Because--because now I might be pregnant. I'll have to wait until I get my period. Unless you want me to take something now, a plan B?"

"Plan B?"

"Morning-after pill."

A shadow crossed his face. "Isn't that tantamount to an abortion?"

"Not exactly. Maybe, I don't know."

His countenance darkened. "I don't care for that idea, Natalie."

She let out the breath she'd been holding. "Me, either."

"So, we'll wait and see. After you get your period, you'll see a doctor and get on contraceptives?"

Natalie studied him as he carefully disengaged and began straightening his clothing. She couldn't help but notice he didn't say either the word pregnant or baby. He avoided both of those words, and she felt her stomach fall a little. But still, she agreed with him on the birth control issue. "Okay."

He held his hand out to her and led her to his private restroom where she cleaned herself up. She walked out and met him once again in his office. "So, I'll see you later."

"I'll walk you down."

"Okay."

She lifted her bag off the floor where it had fallen earlier when he'd picked her up. He held her hand and led her to the elevator and down to the actual bank itself. She noticed a few female tellers surreptitiously watching them, even as they continued to work.

Marco was about to lean down--she felt a kiss coming--when he was halted by a man who neither one of them were pleased to see. Mathew Kennedy strolled from a side office and spoke in a jovial mood that was exceedingly unpleasant. The man just didn't get it. He just didn't get that Marco detested him. It was certainly apparent for Natalie to see.

"Where have you two been hiding out?" He asked the question of Marco, but Natalie felt a sensation much like bugs crawling on her skin as the man looked her over.

"Haven't been hiding out, Kennedy." As he said the words, Marco moved to stand in front of her, taking her out of the other man's line of vision, but continued to hold her hand in a tight grip behind his back. His motive must have been plain for anyone to see, but Kennedy just wasn't that smart.

"No? Well, when you two get bored at home, y'all need to come and join the land of the living. You've been missing some damn good parties, my man."

Natalie felt Marco's breath seize up in his lungs and his shoulders stiffen with tension and pure rage. From her vantage point behind him, she could literally see the hairs on the back of his neck stand out, and she knew she had two choices. She could either let him do something really stupid in his own bank, like pounce on the man, or she could interrupt and draw his attention away from the vermin standing in front of them.

She didn't hesitate to try to mitigate the situation. She popped her head around Marco's arm and forced her tone to be pleasant, "It's nice to see you, Mr. Kennedy, but Marco promised to walk me to my car, didn't you, babe?" She glanced at Marco and then back around to the other man, her eyes flashing. She knew she sounded vain and spoiled, but she didn't really give a flying flip. The other man was an ass and she liked his eyes on her even less than Marco did. Well, maybe not. "Marco likes to take care of me that way, you know?" She flashed her eyes at Marco in pure adoration. "He likes to protect me from, well, from everything. It was nice to see you."

With that, Natalie began to walk away, clutching Marco's hand to her. She had only one second where she thought her idiotic behavior might not have worked, but then Marco gave the other man an abbreviated look that meant they would meet another day and another time, and then he followed her from the bank.

When they reached her car, she saw Mathew Kennedy turn and leave the bank in the opposite direction from where they stood. She breathed a sigh of relief, and pressed the remote to unlock her car doors. Marco reached the door before she did, and opened it for her. She slid in and looked up at him. He stood with his arms and the car door making a cage around her and was staring down at her as if he'd never seen her before.

She looked steadily back at him, waiting.

His gaze narrowed on her as he ran his eyes up and down her body before landing back on her face. "Babe?" He drawled the one word in a firm, humorous question, making the one syllable stretch into three.

Her eyes twinkled and she smiled up at him. "It worked, didn't it?"

He puffed out a laugh and shook his head. "You be careful. Got your damn phone this time?"

"Yes."

"You sure?"

"Yes,
babe,
"
she teased.

He rolled his eyes heavenward and shut the door carefully.

Chapter Ten

Eight months later

Natalie took refuge in the upstairs powder room of the mansion in River Oaks and held her tube of lip gloss with hands that shook. She desperately tried to control the trembling in her fingers so she could reapply the color to her lips.

As she looked at herself in the mirror, she knew her inner turmoil was well hidden behind a façade of soft silky hair, a sleek designer dress, and perfect make-up that lacked only the gloss she sought to repair.

The door began to open with not even a tiny sound of warning and her eyes flew to the knob that she had sworn she'd locked. Her breath lodged in her throat as Marco slipped inside, secured the door that she had failed to lock only minutes before, and came to stand behind her in the tiny room.

He pressed his chest against her back, propelling her forward a few inches until she was crowded against the vanity. Her nerves shifted restlessly, and the impact of his body against hers made her lipstick fall from her fingers and land in the sink in front of her.

Her eyes tangled with his in the mirror. The look on his face jolted her heart and her pulse skittered and began pounding in her chest.

He towered over her, and the muscles beneath his designer suit were corded and strained. His eyes were furious, and he held his lips tightly closed over teeth she knew were gritted in anger.