by Eva Charles
Mark pulled into a redone brownstone, in the heart of Back Bay. There was underground parking, where the cars were stacked on top of one another. A private elevator took us directly to his apartment.
“Teddy would go bananas over this.”
He laughed. “When I first saw it, I went a little crazy, too.” Mark tossed his keys into a tray near the elevator. “I’m going to grab a drink. Want one?”
“Water, please.” I nodded. “This place is gorgeous.”
“I like it. It only has two bedrooms, but it feels spacious because of the open floor plan and high ceilings. I can walk to work from here, which is a huge plus.” He took the water glass from my hand and placed it on the table beside his. “I’ll give you a tour. Let’s start with the bedroom,” he murmured, inches from my ear.
“Smooth.”
“I’ve waited a long time for you. My whole life.” He started to kiss me then pulled his head back. “Emmie, I need you to be straight with me.” He cradled my jaw in his hands. “Has anyone ever hurt you?”
He asked so tenderly, so gently, as if he were afraid all the cracks would sever, leaving a million broken pieces on the polished wood floor.
“You’re asking because I grew up in foster care?” I heard the squeak come from my mouth.
“No. Uh-uh.” He shook his head. “But you’ve said some things that made me…”
“Wonder if I had been sexually abused.”
He nodded. “Hurt in any way—sexually, physically. I know about the emotional hurts, but I need you to tell me about the rest,” he urged.
“No.” I shook my head. I could feel myself starting to retreat. “I was never beaten. Sexually, there were a couple close calls. But no one ever laid a finger on me in the way you’re thinking. Would that change anything?”
He jerked a shoulder. “I might be more careful with you. In the beginning.”
I could feel my head bobbing, as the shame stung my cheeks. Mark must have sensed me slipping away, deep into my head. He lifted me off the floor and tossed me over his shoulder as though I weighed nothing.
Stunned, I careened back to the present. “What are you doing?” I screeched.
“I’ve been dying to slap your ass since you gave me all that shit in the sandwich shop the day we met. Just wanted to be sure it wouldn’t have any bad associations.”
And then he did. He slapped my bottom, catching the skin right where it meets the thigh. I yelped, pounded on his back, and told him to put me down. But I didn’t mean it. And he knew it, and slapped me again. This time, my response was a moan—a long, sultry moan that surely couldn’t have come from me. And this time I felt the throb, even more than the last, between my legs.
When we reached the bedroom, he lowered me to the floor, near the bed, and savored me slowly, and thoroughly, while he divested me of everything but Wednesday.
He stepped back, and I swayed a bit. The heat spread over every inch of flesh while he gazed openly. His mouth eased back slowly, into a lazy smile that always gave me heart palpitations. “You’re beautiful.” His voice was hoarse and filled with awe.
And at that moment, I felt beautiful.
He let me fumble with his belt buckle for a minute, before taking it off. I slid my hands under his shirt, my fingers enjoying the taut skin on his stomach, tracing the patch of hair I first admired that afternoon at the pool. He placed his hand over mine, and lowered it to his erection. It was long and thick and my legs were starting to give way.
“I’ve been walking around like this since I met you. Every time I see you, or just think about you, I get hard.”
Mark curled his thumbs into my panties, and slipped them down my legs. He backed me to the edge of the bed, until my knees met the side, and eased me down onto the mattress.
Everything moved at a languorous pace. Slow and slower. It seemed as if we were floating, somehow defying gravity. At least that’s how my brain registered it.
Mark lowered himself between my legs. Tossing his shirt aside, while he kissed his way down my body, singeing the skin with his lips.
He nudged my legs apart, and when he wanted more, he lifted them up and over his broad shoulders.
I was completely open to him. At once mortified, terrified, and electrified.
His mouth skimmed leisurely behind my knees, over my inner thighs, blazing his own trail over the sensitive skin. I continued to float weightlessly, until his tongue met my center.
My body vibrated with pleasure. I bucked off the bed, grabbing fistfuls of linen. A strangled cry escaped from my throat.
Mark met my eyes. “Keep still, or I will tie you to the bed.” Amusement twinkled in his eyes.
He grasped my legs firmly, one in each hand, pulling me open again. He ate slowly, gnawed gently on the swollen flesh, laving and sucking the little bud into his mouth until my body quaked. I was frantic and overwhelmed by the intensity.
When two fingers joined his mouth in the sensuous assault, sliding and licking, curling and teasing, I stopped thinking. I might have even stopped breathing. I thrashed, gripping him in every way I could—squeezing my legs together, digging my fingers into his shoulders, clenching my inner walls around him. I clung to him as he drove me to the edge, until my release thundered, shaking me to the core.
I half remembered him pulling me up onto the bed and spreading my legs. He knelt between them, holding his erection in hand, stroking himself while I watched. He was so open and comfortable with his body. It was intoxicating, and I ached to touch him. I ached for him to touch me.
Mark gave me sexy smile, and reached inside the nightstand for a condom. He tore it open with his teeth, slowly strumming my clit, while I struggled with control.
Somehow, I found the presence of mind, and placed my fingers over his as brought the condom to the tip. “We don’t need to. Unless you want. I’m protected. And clean.”
He tossed the condom over his shoulder, found my mouth, and with a long, heavy slide, he filled me completely. I gasped at the sudden fullness, and he stilled, raining small kisses over my throat and chest.
Hooking my legs around his waist, he explored my mouth, rolling his hips while I clung to him. Deeper, longer, harder. I was climbing again. Up and up.
Mark was a talker. It should have come as no surprise. He murmured filthy things into my skin, and the sweetest endearments.
“Your pussy’s squeezing me. So tight, baby.”
“Beautiful. So beautiful. You take my breath away.”
“Do it again, Emmie. That’s it, baby. Just like that.”
“Your eyelashes are like butterfly kisses on my skin.”
He whispered into my throat, my shoulders, my ear. He looked into my eyes, blanketing me with a sensuous warmth and tenderness that spilled from every pore.
He coaxed and he nudged, “Come for me—one more time, baby,” and even though I was sure I couldn’t, that it was too much, I did. I denied him nothing that day in his bed while he seduced me with his words, his touch, his affection.
Sex with Mark wasn’t dessert: it was a multicourse meal paired with the perfect wine. Each course its own extraordinary experience, awakening desire and need I never knew existed.
His thrusts came deeper and harder. And I knew he was close even before I felt his body tighten. I wound my arms around him, holding him flush, while he growled his release into my skin.
Mark brushed the hair off my face, and kissed my bruised lips with the greatest care. He rolled over, taking me with him, away from where it was wet and sticky. There were no little jokes from him, and no teasing, while we caught our breath. Just his warm body curled around me.
“You okay?” he whispered.
I nodded, and fell asleep in his arms.
Emmie
“How about a shower before we pick Teddy up?” Mark murmured, waking me from a sound sleep. It took me a minute to get my bearings, and I started to sit up. “Not quite yet. Go slow.” His grip tightened so I couldn’t move.
“What time is it?”
“Only 1:30. We have plenty of time.”
“Are you sure? I feel like I’ve been asleep for a long time.”
He showed me his phone, and I relaxed, snuggling deeper. The safety of his body, the overwhelming warmth, rocked me more than I expected. It feels like a magical dream. Can we just stay here? I want to hold onto the magic a little longer.
He pulled me closer, if that was even possible, and I felt his smile on my head. “There can be magic in the shower, too. We’ll bring it with us.”
I must have been still half asleep, because I hadn’t meant to say any of those things about magic. But unless mind reading was another of Mark Harrington’s talents, I’d just had a bad case of verbal diarrhea. Oh God, was my first thought, and, whatever, was my second. I was that comfortable in his arms.
He was right about one thing. The shower had magic, too.
“Mark, you can do a cartwheel in here.”
“Now that I’d like to see. Go ahead,” he teased, turning on the steam.
“What’s that smell?”
“Eucalyptus. It doubles as a steam room and shower.”
“It’s amazing.” My nostrils filled with the invigorating scent.
“A whole other meaning to steamy sex.” He pumped some bodywash into his hand, and wedged me between his body and the tile, rubbing heavenly circles over my skin. “Let’s get you good and clean.”
“Maybe we should wait until after,” I mumbled incoherently, knowing exactly where this was going.
“After, we won’t have the strength.”
He was right about that, too.
We zapped every bit of strength from each other, draining the city’s water supply that afternoon. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn the mayor issued a water ban to preserve what little was left of the municipal reserve.
I was aroused and unashamed, while we washed each other, exploring everywhere. Nothing was off-limits.
“No time for another nap,” he said, as I collapsed in his lap on the shower floor.
“Let’s drop your car at the house, and we’ll take mine to pick up Teddy.”
“You… we… maybe.”
“We’ll tell him it’s the first day of school. That’s why we’re both picking him up. Special occasion. Then we’ll go and get a frappe or an ice cream sundae to celebrate.”
“Okay, we’ll both go. But no big ice creams to spoil dinner.”
“Come on. Don’t be like that. It’s the first day. We’ll celebrate the beginning of a brand-new school year.”
“All right. Small, one-scoop sundaes.”
“You can get a small sundae, but you wore me out, woman. I need the extra calories. And I have plenty to celebrate too.” He brushed his lips over my nose.
When we picked up Teddy, he leaped into Mark’s arms. Apparently, it’s okay to hug all over guys in public, but moms are a no go.
“Mark, can you be my friend at school?”
“Friend at school?” I asked.
“We can bring a special friend to school. So everyone can meet them. Robbie’s bringing his brothers. ’Cuz your brothers are your friends. He said they’re better than everyone else’s brothers. He said I didn’t have brothers, and that my mom’s not married so I can’t have brothers. He was bragging.”
Robbie was in Teddy’s class last year, too. He was always clamoring for attention. He had a hard time when Teddy arrived late in the schoolyear. On one hand, he wanted to be his friend, on the other, he couldn’t tolerate Teddy getting extra attention. He wasn’t really a bully, more like an insecure child who puffs out his chest and grabs any reason to be important. He had three brothers, who are significantly older. The second graders would be over the moon if they showed up.
“I’d love to go,” Mark said. “Just let me know when I’m supposed to come.”
“It’s in my backpack. A paper with all the important stuff about school. You have to sign it, Mom. We can’t forget.”
“We’ll figure it out later.” When Teddy was out of earshot, I said to Mark, “You might have something going on that day you can’t miss. You should check before you agree. He treats everything you say like it’s gold.”
“If I say something to him, it is gold. I’ll make it work. I’m dying to meet that little pip, Robbie.”
“Let’s go get some ice cream before you tell me why you’re dying to meet a second grader. Or before I’m foolish enough to ask. And stop smirking. He’s seven.”
He didn’t stop smirking.
Much to Ruth’s dismay, Mark stayed for dinner that night and nearly every night after. It marked a new frontier in our relationship, and a slight shift in family dynamics. One that made Ruth terribly unhappy. I tried so many times to discuss it with her, but she refused to talk about it. She believed I was making a dreadful mistake, not only for myself, but for Teddy, too.
I mostly tuned her out, but a small part of me took the warning to heart. A small part that knew it wouldn’t end well, because it never did. Not for me. I tried to keep those fears in check, and I mostly did.
The guilt that occasionally crept in about risking Teddy’s heart was overshadowed by the happiness and fun Mark brought into our lives: the fishing off the dock, apple picking. Even raking leaves felt like a special treat when he was involved.
There were also stolen pleasures, moments-turned-hours of bliss in Mark’s arms. I didn’t want to give any of it up. I desperately wanted to believe all good things were possible with him. Even for me. My child had fallen head over heels in love with him, and somehow, so had I.
21
Emmie
It was almost noon, when I looked up to find Jake Harrington at my office door.
“Come in. I feel like I never see you anymore now that the season’s in full swing.” I wanted to wrap him in a big hug. He hadn’t been quite the same since the woman had falsely accused him of rape and planted drugs in his apartment. She fully retracted all allegations, and pled guilty to providing a false statement to the police. But not everyone believed she’d done it willingly. There were those who were certain she’d been paid off by the team. His sterling reputation had taken a small hit, and as Mark predicted, Jake never fully recovered.
Sal had information that led back to another owner. He believed the woman was hired to frame Jake. It didn’t matter whether the charges stuck, Jake would be mired in a legal battle and distracted. But it didn’t work.
Although Jake was scarred, he developed a chip on his shoulder and tunnel vision about the season. It served him well on the field. As far as Jake was concerned, the Hawks were headed to the big game this year. This would be their season and for his part, he delivered. He was on pace to break all sorts of passing records.
I was hopeful everything would be out in the open one day soon. I couldn’t discuss any of it with Mark, and I hated feeling I was keeping something from him about his brother. I knew he’d understand, but it wasn’t hard to imagine the hurt in his eyes.
Sal was also worried that the other franchise owner wasn’t done causing trouble for us. He warned me to be careful. I shared everything about my past with him. Everything. Things that no one else knew—not Tim, and not Mark. When I finished, he patted my hand on his way out, but he didn’t seem particularly surprised. And it occurred to me he probably wasn’t. I’m sure the team thoroughly investigated my background before offering me the job. It was unsettling.
“What can I do for the player of the week?”
“Stop. You’re making me blush,” Jake teased. “I got some great pictures from today. Teddy practically wet his pants when we all walked into school.”
“Wait a second. You were there? All of you, who?”
“Yeah. We were all there. All my brothers.”
“What happened to Mark?”
“He was there. We were supposed to hang out for just fifteen minutes, but we ended up staying over an hour. Except for Cole. He had to get back to the hospital.”
I wa
s dumbfounded.
“From the look on your face, I’m guessing you didn’t know.”
“Nooo. I didn’t know.”
“It was a lot of fun, and that kid isn’t going to bother Teddy again.”
“What do you mean, that kid isn’t going to bother Teddy again? Someone’s been bothering him?”
“Robbie. He has older brothers who he brought in last week when it was his turn. High schoolers. Pft. Apparently, he’s been rubbing it in everyone’s face. Especially Teddy’s.”
My brain was having trouble processing all of it.
“Em, it was fun, and no one’s the worse for the wear. Luke even made a date with the first-grade teacher.”
“The first-grade teacher? What was she doing there?”
“Everybody was there. We ended up in the gym, and the whole school came.”
“Oh. My. God.”
“Don’t be too hard on him. He executed the plan beautifully. Even Robbie got a signed ball.”
“Your brother is going to turn my hair gray long before it’s time. How long had he been planning this?”
Jake shrugged. “He called me last night.”
“Let me see those pictures.”
There were lots of fabulous pictures, and my little boy never looked happier, but the one I would frame and cherish forever was of Mark and Teddy. Mark down on one knee and Teddy tucked between his legs, snuggled into his body. Mark’s strong arm wrapped around him, holding him safe. I fought hard against the deluge of emotion threatening. “Would you send me these pictures? I’d love to put them in Teddy’s second-grade scrapbook.”
After Jake left, I called Mark. As much as the pictures melted my heart, I needed him to understand he couldn’t make decisions involving Teddy without checking with me.
“Hey, Sunshine.”
“You invited your brothers to school today. That wasn’t the plan we agreed on.”
“Come on, it wasn’t a big deal.”
“It was a big deal. Which is why you didn’t tell me. You knew I’d say no.”
“I didn’t even come up with the plan until late last night. Teddy and I firmed up the original plan last night when I said good-night to him, and he kept talking about how mean Robbie had been all day. Then last night I started thinking about how to put that little bully in his place, and I came up with the perfect solution. I called my brothers and they all had fifteen minutes they could spare. No big deal. I was going to tell you. I actually took a ton of pictures you’re going to love.”
