Playing House

by Willsin Rowe

  Mark moved like silk, gliding around the counter and resting his hand on Mario’s shoulder. “Sir, would you allow me to help you?”

  “No, no, is my job.”

  “Honestly, I’d really like to if that’s okay. I used to manage a café in college.”

  That was news to me. He’d only ever mentioned working as a barista. Sometimes I got the feeling that being organized and efficient somehow embarrassed him.

  Mario put up a little more fight but it was clear he was exhausted. He should have retired long ago, but all of his kids had moved out of state or even overseas. And with his dear wife having passed, he had nobody to hand the business on to, and no reason not to come in here every day.

  In four minutes Mark had my tea made and delivered, flashing me that heavenly smile for a moment before turning to address the coffee machine. He made all the right moves, respectfully checking with Mario about how to run the machine, even though I could see he already understood it inside and out. The man was as smooth as a baby’s belly.

  I took a sip as I watched, and of course the tea was utter perfection. Mark made it better than I did. With every passing moment I felt my hard line rules about housemates turning softer. It wasn’t just his looks and his charisma. It was moments like this, where he showed he clearly understood people. Including me, which was no mean feat. Even I couldn’t claim to understand myself for the most part.

  Mark filled two tiny cups with liquid that was so black and thick I wondered if he’d actually struck oil. He handed one of the cups to Mario and took the other himself, walking back around to my side of the counter before sipping it.

  Mario closed his eyes and drew a long breath in through his nose. He gave Mark a look made up of three parts frown, one part wonder. Then he chugged the coffee and rolled it in his mouth for a moment. When he finally swallowed, he put the tiny cup on the counter and pointed to Mark.

  “You are a liar, boy.”

  “Sir?”

  “Nobody makes coffee like that if they not Italiano.”

  I saw a blush pass over Mark’s cheeks, which somehow made him seem even more endearing than ever. “Coming from you, sir, that is a compliment of the highest order.”

  The banter between two of my favorite guys in the world was both heart-warming and calming. I finished my tea and stood, ready to head back to my little store and take over the world again. It was a moment of sheer perfection.

  Mark paid our check and accompanied me out.

  14

  It was a short walk but I made it last as long as I could. Not so much because I was feeling weak—though I still was, a little—but because having Mark’s arm around my shoulders was a delightful sensation. All too quickly we arrived at my door.

  “Thank you, Mark. I should be fine now.”

  “You’re not staying, surely?”

  “Of course. This is my baby. I can’t just—”

  At that moment, I saw Patrick come out from Andrew’s bakery across the street. It was just his route, and he was delivering the mail. But he looked across at me, a skull-deep furrow across his brow, and out of nowhere, the world went black again.

  Thankfully, Mark was on it in a flash, grabbing me before I could hit the sidewalk. “Lucy? What’s wrong?”

  I was still conscious, the faint having passed almost as quickly as it began. With my feet still attached to the ground it was easy enough to stand, though staying up was a little more of a struggle.

  “No, that’s it, young lady. I’m pulling rank here.”

  “Wh–what?”

  “I’m taking you home. No arguments.” Mark put his arm around me and helped me walk to his car. He was everything from an old-fashioned gentleman to a caring father at that moment, as he eased me in to the passenger seat of his Mustang and lowered it so I could rest.

  He slipped into the driver’s seat and started the engine with a roar. From the outside, which was the only way I’d heard it until now, the car growled like a hungry predator. From within, though, it was a warm blanket of sound, the purr of a tigress doting on her cub. As we drove, the noise became a vibration, and it eased my mind into a calm, drifting state. Not so much toward sleep, just away from reality.

  Looking to the side, I saw a bundle of dresses and accessories lying across the back seat.

  “Nice,” I mumbled to him. “I bet those really show off your legs.”

  He glanced back over his shoulder, his expression darkening for a second. “Oh, those are… well, they’re not mine.”

  “Thanks, Captain Obvious.” No need to ask whose they were. They were fashionable and tiny, just like she was. “I thought you two were kaput.”

  “We are.”

  “Then why was she calling you?”

  Mark shook his head for a second. “I know your eyes literally are green, Luce, but that doesn’t mean you need to live up to the metaphor.”

  “Huh?” I couldn’t follow him in my current dream-like state.

  “There’s no need to be jealous. Not least since, y’know… I’m not your boyfriend.”

  “Don’t be all smart and logical.”

  “Your wish is my command.” He switched on the indicator and came to a halt. With a quick glance down at me, he continued. “Honestly, she’s just struggling to believe anyone could possibly have broken up with her. She’s used to sucking the life out of a man and moving on, leaving just a dry shell behind.”

  “Well, I just wondered. After last night, and then her calling you again today. It felt off.”

  He frowned as he finally seemed to understand me. “Oh, god, you don’t think I’m like that, do you?”

  “Like what?”

  “That I’d make a ham-fisted move on you last night if I was still with her.”

  “Don’t know. A lot of guys work like that.”

  He nodded slowly. “They do. I don’t.”

  We arrived home sooner than I would have thought, and I wondered if I had, indeed, fallen asleep.

  Mark scrambled out of the car and around to my door, opening it to help me out.

  “And they say chivalry is dead.” I smiled as I slipped my hand into his.

  “Nice to have you back, Luce. That was the quietest half hour I’ve spent in your company.”

  “Jerk.”

  He took me through to the sofa, holding my arm all the way until he eased me down onto it.

  “It’s okay, Mark. I’m not an invalid.”

  “I know that. I just hate that I couldn’t stop it earlier. It makes me feel guilty.” He pressed me down into a lying position, stuffing a cushion behind me before flicking on the TV. “May I get you some tea?”

  “Yes, please.”

  He knelt before me, taking my hand between both of his and gazing at my face. “Manners like yours, Luce, are such a rare treat these days.”

  I could have swallowed him whole at that point. Most of my adult life I’d felt uncool and boring, and it was only partially because of my quirks about having things just so. I’d never understood most slang, and trends whizzed past me like hoodlums on skateboards. To have this beautiful man compliment me over something most people considered old-fashioned was the most wonderful sensation.

  He went to the kitchen and busied himself while I laid back to rest. The safety of my home and the pleasure of having someone waiting on me was intoxicating, and despite the stress of the morning I couldn’t keep the smile from my face, even as I closed my eyes to rest them.

  The next thing I knew, Mark had me in his arms and was carrying me up the hallway.

  “Wha...?”

  He kept his eyes straight ahead as he spoke. There was a stiffness to his voice, and if my hip was any judge, it wasn’t alone in that. “You fell asleep while I was making tea. I didn’t want you to be cold or uncomfortable on the sofa, so I’m taking you to bed.”
r />   Oh, my god, that sounded so hot. I mean, I knew what he meant, of course, but the ideas that went dancing through my mind were so wrong. Which only made them even more appealing. I reached up and placed my hand on his cheek, dragging at him, trying to force him to look at me. For all his strength, he only resisted for a moment before turning.

  His soft brown eyes radiated their customary warmth as he scanned my face. When we passed the bathroom door, the sun shone through the skylight and glistened off his wavy brown hair as if he had a halo. It reminded me of the moment he’d become my savior and if I’d been standing I felt I would have knelt before him. Not so much in worship as from desperation to do all kinds of pleasurable things to him.

  For the first time in a long time, I acted without thought. Consequences, complications, rules… none of those things mattered. There was just this moment, this gorgeous man, and a big-boned girl who was nothing more than wet noodles in his arms.

  I arched my back, leaning up and pressing my lips to his, giving him the kiss I’d needed for so long. Mark tensed his arms around me, his entire body rippling with strength as my voice escaped in tiny mewling moans against the tightness of his mouth. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. He was supposed to open up to me, take my kiss and return it. He’d done nearly everything in his power the night before to make that happen. I couldn’t possibly have misread the signals. Could I?

  Oh, god. I had. He’d been drunk then, and now I was half-asleep. He’d just done what any decent man would do when he took care of Patrick, and then took care of me. And I’d turned it into something far more.

  “Oh, Mark. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

  In a blur, he swooped down and captured my mouth, dominating me in an instant with the raw heat of his passion. His ravenous growl of desire pummeled my lips as he squeezed my body so hard I couldn’t breathe. I opened up to him, swimming in the heady sensation of his tongue dipping into me, rolling against mine.

  He kicked my door open, the deep growl of want in his chest reverberating against me. With my blinds down, my room was dusky, even with the late morning sunlight outside. As he strode inside it felt as if we’d stepped back to last night. As if the universe was giving me a second chance to take everything Mark was offering. Only a frigid fool would turn her back on that. And as big a fool as I undoubtedly was, my insides were practically volcanic.

  Mark carried me across to my bed as if I was no heavier than a kitten, and I grabbed his neck to keep his mouth where it was. All over mine. He placed me with a gentleness that seemed to belie the desperation in his eyes. With his hands free, he drove his fingers up into my hair and squeezed, setting fire to every nerve ending and bending me to his will in the most perfect way.

  Then he pulled away from me and I whimpered at the loss. I’d lusted for him since basically the moment I’d seen him, and it felt all too likely that if he stopped kissing me now, then he’d never come back to it. He’d look at me, with my round belly and thick thighs, and come to his senses.

  As he stood tall, though, the only expression on his face was wonderment. “I can’t believe I finally have you here, Lucy. I’ve wanted you since… well, since the first time I saw you. You were gorgeous as a brunette. As a redhead, you’re a goddess.”

  Before I could reply he pulled his shirt off, revealing the amazing toned shape of his chest and arms. My god, he was an Adonis. Of course, I’d known that since he moved in, and he’d never been shy about walking around in next-to-nothing. But watching the way he moved as he dragged his clothing ferociously from his body, and knowing it was all for me, made the moment even sexier. I rolled up into a sitting position, his obvious need for me giving me more confidence than I could recall having before. I reached for his belt, but got distracted by those heavenly abs, and the sweet indentations of muscle that ran diagonally down from his hips, diving teasingly inside his jeans before they could meet in the middle.

  As I ran my fingers over the ridges of muscle on his belly I couldn’t hold the moans of lust inside me. Mark put his hands over the backs of mine and rested them there a moment, but grew impatient long before I was ready to stop ogling and fondling.

  He released my hands and pulled at his belt, getting his jeans open in seconds and yanking them down, along with his boxers.

  His cock was even more beautiful than his abs. Thick and hard, long but not so long it was scary. I realized I’d been thinking about this moment far more than I ought to have been over the past month. It seemed I should be showing some kind of reverence, rather than the steamy desperation that ran the length and breadth of my skin. Quite simply, I needed this perfect piece of man-flesh inside me, as soon as possible.

  Slowing myself for a moment, I scooted forward on the bed, moving into orbit around that lovely cock. It was rich and tangy with masculine heat, and flexed like a body-builder. I curled my hands around the shaft and squeezed, forcing Mark to pull a rapid breath in.

  “Please, Luce… I need you so much. There’s no time for games.”

  “I don’t play games.”

  He speared me through the chest with that incredible smile of his, and eased my hands away from his cock. Searching in his pooled pants, he came back up with a condom. I took it from him and tore the package open with my teeth.

  “Oh, god, you’re a bad girl, Luce.”

  “I’m the naughtiest librarian in the house. Come here.”

  I rolled the latex sheath down his gorgeous cock and squeezed, his deep moan sounding like a symphony to me.

  Beneath the rampant arousal streaming through my blood, there was still more than a hint of the fear and danger from Patrick’s assault. Far from cooling my desire, it pumped the heat up to a crazy level. Seeing the fierce want engraved all over Mark’s face had me scampering backward on the bed, once again short and soft and defenseless. And with a large male animal prowling up the bed, ready to bite into my throat.

  His eyes shone in the low light, and as he held himself above me I saw a scintillating flash of his white teeth in the last instant before he swooped on me, possessing my lips in a kiss so hungry it nearly swamped me. I was powerless against his strength and it was more delicious than I could have hoped. He growled and moaned, his mouth dominating mine as he curled his hands down around my waist. With a hard tug he dragged my ass forward, and laid my body flat on the bed, his meal prepared.

  I was caught in two minds. Whether to lie back and take everything he had, or whether to put my hands on him. He wrenched that decision from me when he seized my wrists and pressed my hands to the pillow, either side of my head. Gliding his mouth off mine he rose and licked his lips, the predator searching for a weak point. If only he knew… I was weak everywhere when it came to him.

  “God, you smell so good, Luce. And you taste even better. I can’t wait to devour the rest of you.”

  The fierce look on his face stole my voice. The hunger in his words stole my breath. I had nothing left but my eyes to beg him to come down and take me.

  Thankfully he read my expression perfectly, diving to meet my mouth with his in an embrace that was even hotter than before. He glided out over my cheek and sucked on the side of my jaw before finding my throat. His breath was steamy all over that tender spot before the heat of his open mouth pressed to me.

  My voice finally returned as I moaned with need. Mark’s kiss against my skin was crazy hot, and I managed to curl my legs up over his ass. As he drove his free-swinging cock against my still-covered pussy, he sank his teeth into the side of my neck, and my moan turned into a wail of need. The need to strip off my skirt and panties, and to get this man inside me. By force if I had to, though that hardly seemed the case, given the swollen flesh pressing against me.

  He drove his hand up my skirt, scratching at the tender skin of my inner thigh and making me jet out a tiny scream. If anything that seemed to fuel his predatory hunger as he hooked my panties and tore
them off.

  The solid weight of his powerful body pressed down on me, forcing the air from my lungs and adding to the sensation of being more prey than lover. Every move he made seemed precise, and was made even sharper as my mind screamed prehistoric warnings of danger, of savagery. Mark’s mouth pulsed against my throat, his hands held my arms still, and the sweet spear of his cock was pressing into the core of me. And though my skirt was still blocking him, I was completely, blissfully at his mercy.

  The growl of desire that reverberated through Mark’s chest and into my body turned into a roar of frustration. He released my neck and raised himself, reaching down to pull my skirt out of the way. For a moment he froze, the ravenous look of desire turning into one of reverence.

  “Oh, fuck… you’re goddamn beautiful all over, Luce.”

  If I hadn’t already melted into a puddle of need, that would have done it. With one hand already free, I eased the other one from his grip and leaned forward, grasping at the magnificent hard globes of his taut ass and pulling him forward. The desire written on his face was nothing compared to the need in my mind.

  He guided the thick head of his gorgeous cock right into place and I held my breath, tightening and relaxing my muscles and loving the way it felt as if my pussy kissed at him, begging for him to come inside.

  Mark thrust his hips forward, driving his glorious length deep inside me and stilling my heart for a moment. All the air inside my body slipped out in a long, wet moan of ecstasy, and it entwined with the deep, beastly growl of passion rolling from Mark’s throat. If not for the hard and searing weight of his muscle and bone I might just have floated off into the sky.

  It was perfection.

  He rested his forehead on mine and pressed so hard it hurt, but none of that mattered when he pumped his hips against my body. Mark speared his hand up into my hair and made a loose fist. I hauled in a breath, then took the hot skin of his shoulder between my teeth. As I sank in, he shot out a groan that seemed a perfect blend of pain and pleasure.