by Arianna Hart
“I’m not much of a dancer, but I think I can manage a slow one.” Marley flowed into his arms, the wine buzz making her feel like she was floating on air. Or maybe it was Hunter.
They danced in slow circles, Hunter gently rubbing her lower back. Marley’s head rested on his chest, she could hear the steady beating of his heart. She breathed deeply of his scent, enjoying the mingled smells of his soap, aftershave, and pure male. “This has been a wonderful night.” Marley smiled into his chest.
“That’s a little damaging to my ego, considering we haven’t gone to bed yet tonight,” “I think your ego can handle it. Thank you for going to Mama’s with me, I missed her.”
“With cooking like hers, it wasn’t exactly a hardship.”
“Yeah, but I know it isn’t your usual type of restaurant.”
“Honey, you have no idea the places I’ve eaten while crossing this country,” Hunter chuckled.
“Well, thank you, for everything.” Marley hoped he understood what she wasn’t saying.
“Marley, stay with me tonight,” Hunter coaxed.
“I thought you’d be too full to have another round tonight.”
“I’m never too full for you, but that isn’t what I mean. I want you to spend the night with me, all night.” Hunter looked into her eyes while he waited for her response.
Marley looked at him, saw the insecurity in his eyes, and felt her heart go down for the third time. If she was going to fall, she might as well go all the way.
“I think you can convince me,” Marley whispered as she pulled his head down for a kiss.
She had meant for it to be a gentle, teasing kiss, but it didn’t stay that way for long. At the first touch of her tongue on his lips, Hunter groaned and pulled her up against him. She could feel his erection pushing against her stomach and felt her body’s answering response.
“Let’s try this slow and easy for a change. And here’s a novel idea, let’s start in bed,” Hunter murmured against her neck as he bent down and lifted her in his arms.
“You are the soul of romance, aren’t you?” Marley snuggled against his chest.
“What are you talking about, I’m very romantic.”
“Oh, yeah, you are just a regular Lothario. What kind of romantic tells a girl he loves her, then yells at her?” He hadn’t said it since that afternoon in the entryway.
“You aren’t one to talk. You told my father’s grave stone you loved me before you told me.”
“You heard that, did you?” Marley asked sheepishly.
“Yup. I figured my mother had something to do with it. I never even thought about going to her gravesite before, to me that isn’t where she is. So anyway I’m driving around today, mad as hell, and I get this idea to go talk it out with my mom. Now, I have never done this in my life, and when I do what do I see? You picking weeds as you rant and rave to my father and mother complaining that you love me. I chalked it up to divine intervention.”
Hunter had been slowly moving towards the bedroom while telling his story. When he got there he laid Marley down on the enormous bed that had once been his father’s.
“So the lady wants romance, does she?” Hunter asked her as he removed his clothes, never breaking eye contact.
“I wouldn’t turn it down.” Marley enjoyed the sight of Hunter’s gorgeous body being revealed bit by bit.
Hunter didn’t say anymore, just knelt next to her on the bed and lightly stroked her face. His fingers feathered her cheeks, her forehead, her lips.
Marley sucked his finger into her mouth as he made another pass by them. She gently tugged on it, enjoying the salty taste of his skin. The fact that he was naked while she was still fully dressed was quite a turn on as well.
“Stop that, this is all about romance—you have to behave,” Hunter said as he pulled her shirt out of her shorts and slowly shimmied it over her head.
His magical fingers trailed a path over her black lace bra, dipping down in the deep valley of her cleavage and back up the other mound. He continued to tease and torment her with butterfly touches, never coming close to her sensitized nipples.
“Marley, I want to hear you say it again,” Hunter urged as he slid her shorts down her legs and fluttered his fingers along her calves and thighs.
“You first,” she challenged arching up as he grazed his fingers over her mound.
“I want to hear you say it like you mean it, not like you’re pissed off about it.”
“You’re asking for an awful lot.” Marley groaned as he finally released the front clasp of her bra and cupped her breasts.
“I’ll be asking for even more before this night is through.” Hunter ended the conversation by pulling her nipple into his mouth and sucking on it. The tugging sensation sent a thrill straight to her center.
Marley’s head began to thrash about on the pillow as he made love to first one aching breast and then the other. His fingers played lightly over her ribcage, caressing the smooth undersides before flitting off to tease and torment somewhere else.
His lips began a path down to her navel, where his tongue darted out to make a foray into that erogenous zone. The feel of his hot breath so close to her center lifted Marley off the bed.
“Say it, Marley,” Hunter commanded, his lips working their way down to the waistband of her panties.
Marley only groaned in response, her hips bucking as he ran his tongue along her underwear. She was so close, she could feel his tongue adding to the dampness of her panties, she was swollen and so very aroused. When he nipped the edge of them with his teeth and started to draw them down, she thought her body was going to scorch the sheets.
Hunter spread her legs and worked his fingers along the inside of her thighs, creeping them slowly towards her center. One touch of his finger and she almost sobbed in anticipation. He slipped his finger into her molten depths, and stopped.
“Say it,” he breathed, lips poised over her nub.
“I love you, Hunter!” she cried out, then screamed again when he used his lips and tongue to send her over the edge.
—
Hunter held himself on the razor edge of control waiting for Marley to come down from the heights he had worked so hard to bring her too. When her spasms stopped gripping his finger, he withdrew it and kissed his way back up to her neck.
“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“You tell me, you are the one trying to be romantic,” Marley challenged running her hands lazily along his body. Her hand looked so small and delicate on his chest.
“I just wanted to hear you say it.” He had to hold back a groan as she fondled his delicate sack.
“Hunter, I love you,” Marley said, moving up to kiss him on the forehead.
“I love you, Hunter,” she said again, kissing him gently on the lips, sucking his lower one into her mouth. She kissed her way down his neck, and rubbed her nose in his chest hair. She teased his flat nipples until they grew pointy, then sucked them into the warm cavern of her mouth.
Hunter was losing control fast. The caress of her hair trailing along his body was like a thousand tiny fingers touching him at once. As her lips trailed their way on the same path of torment he blazed on her body, she interspersed her tiny kisses with “I love you”. When she reached his throbbing member she stopped and repositioned herself between his legs.
“Hunter. I love you,” she said as she pulled his length into her mouth and nearly set his body on fire.
“Thank God!” Hunter had to stop her or this evening would have the ultimate unromantic ending.
Hunter pulled her to him and rolled her over so she was beneath him.
“Marley, I want you to know that I love you. It has nothing to do with sex, but if I don’t get inside your body in the next ten seconds I’m going to die.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” Marley eased him into her center and gasped as he slammed himself to the hilt.
Once in, Hunter had to stop and collect himself, if he moved an inc
h it was going to be all over. He kissed her face, watched as her half closed eyes opened to look at him, and felt his love for her filling him.
“I love you so much, honey.” And he proceeded to show her how much, all night long.
Chapter Seventeen
By unspoken agreement, Marley and Hunter didn’t talk about the future. Marley accepted the fact that Hunter was going to leave, but still hoped they could work something out by Christmas. It was unlike her to pin her hopes on such an uncertain outcome, but then again, she’d been doing lots of things that weren’t normal for her theses days.
Marley couldn’t believe how much she enjoyed spending her nights with Hunter. Besides the obvious benefit to having a gorgeous hunk of male perfection in her bed to wake her up in the middle of the night, it was also heaven to wake up in his arms every morning.
If someone had told Marley that she would enjoy spending every waking minute with a man, working, eating, sleeping, and playing with him, she would have laughed in his face. She thought for sure the honeymoon was going to have to end soon. She kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but instead of getting restless, Hunter seemed to settle in to the routine of the bar.
She no longer had to tell him what to do—he just did it. He asked questions about the management end of the business, learned about ordering the correct amounts of food and alcohol, even made sure they were up on all their fire codes. It warmed her heart to see him take an interest in O’Malley’s, but there was still a cynical voice in the back of her head telling her it couldn’t last.
When Marley found Hunter going through the boxes of things from Seamus’ house, she thought he was beginning to come to grips with his grief over the loss of his mother. The sight of Seamus and Mary Kate’s wedding picture displayed proudly on the wall of the pub made her thumb her nose at the voice trying to ruin her happiness.
Once a week, like clockwork, Pete would come into the bar and try to convince Hunter to go into business with him at the school. He even went so far as to show Hunter the intended enrollment, and his plans for expansion. Hunter was polite about refusing the offer, but he always refused.
Marley wanted to shake him and ask what was wrong with teaching; he’d still be driving cars, which is what he loved to do. She wisely held her tongue, she couldn’t force him to stay, and wouldn’t use the emotional blackmail that was her mother’s stock in trade.
Marley had to trust that when the time came either Hunter would make a decision that she could live with, or she could recover from his departure. Just the thought of him leaving sent stabbing pains through her heart. She thought about pulling back a little and trying to protect herself, but with an uncanny instinct, Hunter always managed to pull her back to him. He seemed to sense her attempts to distance herself and worked twice as hard to keep her swept off her feet.
There was no use dwelling on it. She could get run over by a bus next week. What would be would be, and if he left, well she’d survived worse. When Hunter would look at her with that devastating smile, and melt her heart as he mouthed the words “I love you” she knew that this was worth whatever costs she had to pay later.
Old Tom was telling another tale about his 'Sainted Mother' and her antics in the old country when the door blew open with a bang. Marley looked up expecting the worst, another visit from her mother, but was relieved to see a man instead. He was on the short side, skinny, and had thinning blond hair. He wore Ray Ban sunglasses, a Polo shirt, and khaki pants with top siders and no socks.
She pegged him as another yuppie come to slum, and rolled her eyes at Tom. Tom chuckled into his pipe and his eyes twinkled as he gave her a wink.
“Good afternoon, what can I get for you?” Marley asked the man as he swaggered up to the bar.
“I’ll have a scotch on the rocks and your phone number,” the yuppie said with a smarmy smile.
Marley knew his type and took it in stride. She hadn’t worked behind the bar for years without hearing lame pick up lines like that on a regular basis.
“Here’s the scotch, and my phone number is printed on all these little matchbooks lying around,” she said with a smile as she handed him an O’Malley’s Pub matchbook.
“A feisty one, I like that. Actually, I’m here on business, though. Can you tell me if Hunter James is staying here? I’ve been trying to track him down but he isn’t returning my calls.”
“Hunter O’Malley is working here, if that is who you mean.” Marley was getting a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. This couldn’t be good.
“Yeah, Hunter James is his P.R. name. O’Malley is a little too ethnic, if you know what I mean,” he gave her a wink and a nudge across the bar.
Marley almost choked as she looked around the bar at all the 'ethnic' regulars that could wipe the floor with this little man with the big mouth.
“Hunter isn’t here right now, but I can take a message for you. Whom may I ask is looking for him?” Marley asked coldly, the sinking feeling was getting worse.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t introduce myself, name’s Rick, Rick Stevens. I’m Hunter’s agent,” he clarified at her confused look. “You mean Hunter has never mentioned me to you?”
“I don’t believe your name ever came up in conversation, no, Mr. Stevens.” Marley was glad Hunter had gone to the farmers market to get some produce. She wished this Rick would just leave before Hunter came back, she knew nothing good could come of his being here.
“I can’t believe that. Hunter and I are this close,” he said crossing his fingers. “He must have been distracted by other things.” He looked pointedly at Marley’s chest.
“I’ll be sure to give Hunter your message, Mr. Stevens. Don’t worry about the drink, this one is on the house,” Marley said, trying to get him to hurry up and leave.
“I can’t let a pretty lady like you do that, I’ll pay for my drink.”
“No really, any friend of Hunter’s is welcome to a free drink. It was nice meeting you.” Why wouldn’t he just leave? He seemed to be as equally oblivious to her attempts at pushing him out the door as he was to the fact she didn’t respond to any of his come ons.
Tom was giving her a strange look, but she was starting to get desperate. She just knew his arrival could mean nothing good. The sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach was getting worse by the minute.
Marley felt the door closing on her time with Hunter with every word this man spoke. She had the frantic feeling that if she could just get him out before Hunter came back nothing would happen. The little voice in her head told her she was acting like a child who closed her eyes and thought no one could see her.
Rick was writing down his phone number for her when Hunter came in the door arms loaded down with paper sacks full of produce.
“Hey, Slick Rick! What are you doing here? I never thought I’d see you in the city,” Hunter said clapping the man on the shoulder after he dropped his burden on the bar.
“Hey, man, I was just trying to find you. You know I wouldn’t come this far north for any other reason.”
“So you found me, what’s up? Do you want a sandwich, another drink? Did you meet Marley?”
“I wouldn’t say no to a sandwich, I never say no to a free drink, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the beautiful Marley, although I didn’t know that was her name. I’m trying to convince her to meet me at the hotel bar when she gets off work.”
“That might be a problem, Rick, you see, she’s with me,” Hunter said with a tight smile.
“Hey, man, she said no, you don’t have to kill me. You know I would never poach,” Rick assured him.
How dare Hunter try to lay a claim to her like she was some sort of cattle to be branded? “Since I’m not a dumb animal, I don’t think that will be a problem. I’ll go get Mr. Stevens his sandwich,” Marley said coldly.
Marley stormed into the kitchen to make a sandwich for 'Slick Rick'. He was slick all right. Like a snake oil salesman. She was sure he was a good agent; he had the smarmy act dow
n pat.
She brought his sandwich out, minus the fries that she would normally include, and dropped it in front of him. Neither man noticed her surly display as they were engaged in an excited discussion.
“You are so close man. What, New Hampshire is only a few hours away? You could race there and be back wiping tables by Monday. Come on, man. I had to bend over backwards and make all sorts of promises to get an invite to this race.”
“I can’t, Rick, I have to stay at the bar for six months or I lose everything,” Hunter told him firmly.
Marley’s heart froze in her chest. Slick Rick the snake was trying to get Hunter to go racing. She should have put rat poison in his sandwich instead of spicy mustard. She stepped back unobtrusively so she could hear their conversation.
“Come on, man, you’re committing career suicide here!” Rick implored.
“I can’t chance it, Rick. With the money I stand to get from the sale of the house and the insurance, I’ll have enough money to upgrade the engine, plus pay for a whole tour of races. I got it all planned out.”
Marley moved away, unable to listen to Hunter wax poetic about his plans for racing. She had thought he was beginning to like staying here, but apparently he was just biding his time. He had his future all planned out for the moment he could leave.
Tears stung the back of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Marley knew the day was coming, hadn’t she told herself that all along? She was just surprised that he didn’t take Rick up on his pleadings to drive in the race in New Hampshire.
She moved back to the bar, unable to stay away.
Listening to their discussion was like probing a sore tooth. It hurt but she couldn’t help herself from touching it.
“That’s the thing, man. You have to drive in this race, I’ve got a sponsor on the hook, you just need to reel him in,” Rick tried to convince Hunter.
“What kind of sponsor?”
