Marked
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“Russell…I can’t breathe,” Tabitha gasped into his bicep as he continued to crush her. She reached out and smacked his arm as the circulation in her throat stopped. “I…need…air…”
After another moment of torture he released her. She fell to the side, too distracted by the sweetness of the air filling her lungs to mourn the loss of him between her legs. Russell gathered her into his arms, stroking her hair away from her face.
“You are an amazing creature,” he said, his voice soft, almost wistful.
“What I am is exhausted. And really hungry this time.”
He raised an eyebrow and stared down his nose at her. “Are you sure about that?”
To accent her declaration, her stomach rumbled loudly against his side. They paused long enough to stare at each other, then broke down into a fit of laughter. Tabitha couldn’t remember letting go like this in a long time. Magical Moments had nearly consumed her for the past three years, and to be lying in bed the morning—was it still morning?—after the biggest job of her career, naked, with her boss no less, and laughing like a fool felt good.
Better than good.
“Are you going to feed me or not?” she asked, poking Russell in the side. He grunted, but reached over toward the foot of the bed. When his arm returned, dangling from his fingertips was a plump, ripe strawberry. He held it above her head, just out of reach of her lips. “You are evil,” she snorted, watching the fruit swing back and forth from its fragile stalk.
“I’m hurt,” he said, feigning exasperation. “Here I am, offering you food from my very fingertips, and you want to call me names.”
“If you were offering it to me, you wouldn’t be holding it out of my reach!” she retorted.
“All you have to do is lean up and take a bite.”
“Monster!”
“Witch.”
She glanced up at him through narrow eyes. He was grinning again, the wretch. “Touché.” Giving in, Tabitha leaned up, opening her mouth to capture the fruit, only to have Russell pull it just out of her reach again. Growling, she flopped back to the bed. “I hate you.”
“If what you just did to me is considered hate, then I’m curious to know what you intend to do to me once you fall in love with me.”
She refused to answer that. Common sense told her to get up, get dressed, and get the hell away from him before she slugged him. Tabitha knew she was way out of her league with him… she had known that from the moment she answered the telephone to take his order. With a budget of over two hundred thousand dollars for a single event, she knew, even as he held her so tenderly by his side and teased her with fruit, that she would never make in five years the amount on the check he would sign for her later that day.
But Russell Tennyson, the eastern seaboard’s most eligible—and most wealthy—bachelor, did not appear at all willing to let her go yet. She was right when she told Cera she had no idea if it would last, but she was determined to stay on this wild ride as long as she possibly could. He was worth more money than she could even begin to imagine. He was the single most gorgeous creature she had ever laid eyes on. He was a werewolf, which she, as a witch, was more than willing to handle. And he was finally allowing her to take a bite of the strawberry he’d dangled over her for the last five minutes. The skin of the sweet, tangy fruit broke and sent juice dribbling down her chin.
Oh, yes… Tabitha thought as Russell bent and licked it away, a girl could get used to this.
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