When he pulled back they were both breathing hard. Let her think about that. He strolled to the front door with Josie right behind him. He pulled the door open and stepped outside then turned to look at her. “Don’t throw what we have away over some stupid misunderstanding, Jos.” With that he turned and walked away.
Chapter Seven
Josie closed the door and leaned against it. What was she going to do? She could still feel the lingering effects of Marco’s soul-shattering kiss. He was certainly right about that. Heat like they had was rare. She’d certainly never had anything like that with her ex. Even when they’d been in the new phases of lust she hadn’t felt like that about Dave. His kisses never consumed her, just the thought of his touch never made her wet like Marco did. Even now, as hurt and angry as she was she could feel the moisture in her panties, the side effect of Marco’s kiss.
She sagged against the wall and sat on the floor. Her mind raced in every direction. Was she being an idiot to let this bother her? Was she kidding herself that she’d be able to hold onto someone as sexy as him? Hell, once his picture was splattered over the cover of the firefighters’ calendar every woman in the tri-state area would be all over him and then what?
Maybe that was part of her problem. As much as she knew Marco wasn’t like Dave, a small part of her worried about whether she’d be able to hold onto him. She hadn’t been able to keep her ex and he wasn’t anywhere close to as sexy as Marco. She was in Dave’s league. She wasn’t even close to being in Marco’s.
Was that what she was really afraid of? She pushed herself off the floor. She needed to talk to her uncle and hear his side of things.
Josie grabbed her purse and keys off the counter and slipped her jacket on as she left her apartment. Twenty minutes later, she stood outside her uncle’s apartment waiting for him to buzz her in.
When she got up the stairs her Uncle Jack stood with the door open, waiting for her, his expression reserved and unsure.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hi, kiddo. Guess I don’t have to ask why you’re here.”
She looked at him and shook her head. “Nope.”
Her uncle took a deep breath. “All right then, let’s hash this out.” He stepped back from the doorway to let her in. “You want tea or anything before we sit down?”
“No, I’m good, thanks.”
Leading the way into the living room, Josie sat down in her favorite chair. The big, cushy brown suede wrapped around her. She always felt safe and comforted in that spot. It didn’t really make sense since it was just a piece of furniture but for some reason it always worked. He uncle smiled at her as she snuggled in deeper into the seat.
“Josie, I’m sorry about today. I never meant for you to hear that.”
“You’re sorry about what I heard?”
“Of course.” He raised his eyebrow at her questioningly.
“Shouldn’t you be sorry that you bribed someone to date me? Not sorry that you got busted doing it?”
“Oh, Josie, you always were a stickler for semantics,” he said and shook his head. “I’m sorry you got hurt, but I’m not sorry I asked Marco to ask you out.”
Her eyes bugged out at his audacity. “How can you not be sorry that you bribed one of your employees to ask me out?”
“It was for your own good.”
“Right, because I’m so pathetic I can’t get a date on my own.” Pain lanced through her as she spoke the words out loud. It hurt having her uncle think she was so needy.
“What are you talking about, girl? Of course I don’t think you’re pathetic.”
“Then why would you have forced Marco to date me?”
Her uncle’s head tipped back with laughter. “Force him? I didn’t force him to do anything.”
“He said you coerced him.”
“I kind of did.” He grinned. His eyes twinkled as if he were proud of himself.
Josie narrowed her eyes as she looked at the glee on her uncle’s face. Clearly she was missing something here. “’Kay, you forced Marco to date me and you don’t feel bad about that?”
“Hell no. Although I am a little pissed that he sweet-talked you into his bed.” His face turned red and he looked down and shook his head. “I’d kind of hoped all those talks about premarital sex we had when you were younger would have stuck.”
Even talking about sex now seemed to embarrass her uncle. Josie laughed. Unfortunately by the time he’d started having those uncomfortable conversations with her in high school, that ship had already sailed. They hadn’t stuck then and they sure hadn’t lingered on in her mind at this late date. “How can you not feel bad?”
“What do you mean? Why would I feel bad? You’re a great girl and Marco’s a good guy. I thought you’d make a nice couple.”
Josie shook her head, trying to clear out her ears because there’s no way she’d heard that correctly. “Excuse me?”
“Oh come on, Josie. I saw the way you looked at him at the shoot. You were interested and after that asshole Dave I thought you deserved a good guy for a change.” He grinned. “I happened to overhear him talking to Scott about you and how, umm…” He cleared his throat. “How attractive he found you so I thought I’d play matchmaker a little. Shoot me.”
“Matchmaker?”
“Yeah. When I started talking to him about you it became clear he didn’t plan to ask you out because of me, so I took matters into my own hands. I wasn’t about to let your relationship with me be the reason you missed out on a good guy, so I helped things along a little.”
“Helped them along. You made me sound like a pathetic loser who couldn’t get her own date.”
His eyebrows wrinkled. “No, I didn’t. I just told him if he didn’t ask you out I’d see if Rick wanted to take you out.” He laughed. “Rick has a bit of a reputation with the ladies, so I knew there was no way Marco was going to risk Rick asking you out. I never had any intention of talking to Rick. Hell, what kind of uncle would I be if I set you up with someone like that?” He snorted. “Marco should have known better than that.” He shook his head. “So you see, it wasn’t really a bribe when it’s what Marco wanted to have happen all along, now is it? This way works so much better than a blind date because you’d both already seen each other.”
How had she never seen what a crafty old romantic her uncle was? It was convoluted, but hearing him say it, somehow it made perfect sense. She shook her head. “Uncle Jack, you are an odd duck.”
He crouched down in front of her chair. “I’m sorry you got hurt by my matchmaking. That was not my intention.” He tilted his head sadly. “You should know better than that. You’re like a daughter to me, Josie. I’d never do anything to hurt you and somehow that’s exactly what I ended up doing.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
“I’m sorry, Josie.”
“I know.” She held onto him tightly. What if she’d blown her chance with Marco? She hadn’t exactly been nice to him tonight. Who was she kidding? She’d been a bitch, implying he was no better than a dog in heat, fucking anything that moved. She dropped her head onto her uncle’s shoulder and held on.
He pulled back and looked at her. “Did you talk to Marco?”
“Sort of.”
“Josie? What did you say?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Let’s just say I didn’t make things better.”
“Josie, Josie, Josie. What am I going to do with you, girl? Did you let that redheaded temper of yours get the best of you again?”
Heat ran across her cheeks. “I might have.”
He laughed. “Well, girl, I guess you’re going to have to do something to make it up to him.”
* * * * *
Josie eyed the bottle of forty-year-old Glenfiddich in her hand. She’d been given it as thank-you gift from a neighbor for taking wedding photos for them. And not being a scotch drinker, she’d never cracked the bottle. Marco had taken one look at the scotch and nearly had a coronary. She�
��d practically had to wipe the drool off his chin. She hadn’t even realized it was such a good bottle until she’d seen his face. Hopefully giving it to him would be the peace offering she needed to sway Marco.
She took a deep breath and knocked on his apartment door. Nothing. Damn it, he wasn’t home. She glanced at her watch. Where the hell could he be? Oh god, what if he was out picking up someone else? Pain lanced through her at the thought.
Okay, nope, she wasn’t going to think like that. Marco wasn’t Dave. He wouldn’t have moved on that fast. He said he wanted to make it work, and he wouldn’t have given up that easily.
She sat down and leaned her back against the door and set the bottle on the floor beside her. Popping in her ear buds, she flicked through her iPhone for the right song. Sometimes a girl just needed to listen to a little Heart. Growing up, she’d listened to it a lot. Her mom was a huge Heart fan and said they had a song to cure anything. God, she hoped her mom was right. Plugging in the song, she leaned her head back against the door and closed her eyes.
The song slowly spread through her, and she hit replay. She was humming along when she felt as if she were no longer alone. Josie opened her eyes and found Marco leaning against wall, watching her. Heat ran across her face. So much for being cool when she saw him. An amused smile spread across his face as he watched her stumble to stand up.
She ripped her ear buds out and shoved them in her pocket. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
She picked up the bottle from the floor and stuck it out toward him. “A peace offering.”
Continuing to lean against the wall, he didn’t take the scotch from her. “Why would you need a peace offering?”
“Umm…well…” she stammered. “Because I was a bitch.”
He shook his head. “You weren’t a bitch, Jos, you were hurt. I get that.”
She chewed the inside of her cheek as she watched him. His words said it was no problem but his body language spoke differently. If she was going to have a hope in hell of saving this relationship she needed to put on her big-girl panties and grovel if necessary.
She stepped toward him. His eyes lingered on her breasts and his nostrils flared before he raised his eyes to hers. Heat lurked in the depths. A thread of hope spread through her. He definitely wasn’t immune to her.
She nodded toward his door. “Any chance we can go inside and talk?”
Marco shrugged, moved past her and opened the door. “After you,” he said gesturing for her to go first.
She purposefully brushed against him as she walked by and grinned when she heard his sharp intake of breath.
Josie kicked off her shoes and walked into the living room. She sat down on the edge of the brown leather couch and ran her hands along the soft grain.
Marco sat down in the recliner across from her and rested his elbows on his knees.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” she said.
“Yeah, what was that about? I get what you thought you heard. I just don’t understand why it wasn’t enough after I told you what it really was.”
She sighed. “You know how my uncle said I was coming off a tough breakup?”
He nodded.
“Well…umm… God this is embarrassing.” She blew out a deep breath. “My ex umm… He cheated on me, and when I caught him he said it was my fault because I’d let myself go and I disgusted him.”
“Fuck.” Marco pushed to his feet. “And you believed him?”
She rubbed her hands together. “When I met him I was really slim and I put on quite a bit of weight over the past two years.”
“So? Why should that matter?” He shook his head and paced the room. “Don’t answer that. That explains why you were so self-conscious.” He stopped in front of her. “That explains the body image, but that doesn’t explain why you thought I would sleep with you when I wasn’t really interested.”
She groaned. “Come on, Marco, look at you and look at me.”
Marco flicked his hands up. “I have no idea what that means,” he said.
Josie rolled her eyes. “Marco. You are model gorgeous and I’m well…not.”
He grabbed her hand, pulled her up and pushed her in front of the fireplace, forcing her to look in the mirror over the mantle. “Look at yourself,” he demanded. “’Cause you sure as shit don’t see the same person in the mirror that I do. Do you know what I see when I look at you?”
Unable to speak, she shook her head.
“I see a woman with hair that has more colors of orange and red than I’ve ever seen in any fire. With eyes so green and pure I forget how shitty people can be to each other.” He pressed up against her back and she could feel his erection against her spine. His hand cupped her hip. “I see a woman with curves so soft and sexy that I want to bury myself so deep inside her I don’t know where I end and she begins because when I’m in you nothing else matters.”
She met his eyes in the mirror and the passion she saw there made her knees weak. He pressed his erection against her and shifted his hips. She dropped her head back on his shoulder.
“You feel that, Red? I can’t fake that. The second I get near you I’m hard. That sure as hell isn’t pity.”
She turned in his arms and looked at him. Arousal and compassion shone from the depths of his chocolate eyes.
“I’m crazy about you, Red, no two ways around it.”
She licked her lips. His eyes tracked the movement of her tongue and she grinned. “I’m crazy about you too, Marco.” Going up on tiptoe, she dragged his head down to hers and kissed him.
He groaned and sank into the kiss. His lips were soft at first, growing hungrier with each sweep of her tongue in his mouth. He pressed his tongue inside and she sucked it into her mouth, making Marco groan.
“Take me to bed,” she whispered.
He gripped her hips and hoisted her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist. The first time he’d done this she’d been worried it would turn him off to feel how heavy she was, now she just relaxed into him, and simply enjoyed being with a man who could handle her.
She ran her tongue along the length of his neck and he moaned.
“Don’t think you are out of trouble yet, Red. You’ve got a spanking coming for putting me through all that today.”
She shivered and rubbed her pussy against his hard cock. Even through two layers of jeans it felt amazing. He swatted her ass. “You’re playing with fire, Red.”
She nipped his earlobe and whispered, “Mmm, I knew there was a perk to dating a fireman. You know exactly how to put out the fire.”
“Fucking right.”
Marco carried her down the hallway and set her feet on the floor at the foot of the bed. He sat down on the edge and smiled. “Take off your clothes.”
At the commanding tone, her nipples beaded tightly. She slowly unbuttoned her shirt and spread it open. Her nipples were barely contained in the coral demi-cup lace bra. Marco hissed in a breath and beckoned her closer. She shed the shirt, dropped it on the floor and stepped between his legs.
He pushed the cups beneath her breasts. The underwire hoisted them up, putting them on full display. He ran his tongue around one nipple and sucked it inside his mouth. Josie threaded her hands through his thick, dark hair and held on.
Marco pulled back and shook his head. “Naughty girl, trying to distract me. You still have a punishment coming.”
If possible her nipples pulled even tighter. His eyes darkened until they were almost black. “We’re going to have to buy some clamps for those,” he said and flicked her nipple. The touch sent an arrow of heat directly to her pussy, making her panties even damper than they already were.
“You like that idea, do you?” he murmured.
Josie nodded.
A slow, sensual smile curled the corners of Marco’s full lips. “Good. Now lose the jeans and panties.”
Josie pulled down her pants and underwear and let them pool at her feet.
Marco groaned. “Damn, Jos, you are
so fucking sexy.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her across his lap so her ass was up in the air. The rough fabric of his jeans rubbed against her nipples, making them more sensitive, and she squirmed on his lap.
His hand landed on her right cheek and she yelped in surprise. “I wasn’t ready for that,” she giggled.
“You weren’t supposed to be,” he said and smacked her left cheek a bit more firmly. The smacks felt as if somehow they were sending a shock of arousal directly to her clit. She widened her legs.
Marco swatted her again. “Quit grinding my leg; you’re not getting off until I say you do.” He smacked her again, then his palm caressed her burning ass. She moaned at the contrast from pain to pleasure.
Marco trailed his finger through her slit. “Damn, Red, you’re so wet, you’re going to soak my jeans.”
She should be embarrassed about that, but with Marco it didn’t matter. He seemed to love the fact that spankings turned her on.
His next smack landed on the edge of her pussy and a small orgasm rippled through her.
“Damn,” Marco chuckled. “What happened to not coming until I told you?”
Breathing rapidly, she laughed. “Sorry, that one kind of snuck up on me.”
He pushed his finger inside her pussy and she groaned. “Yeah, me too.”
With his fingers still buried inside her, he smacked her ass again. The combination made her erupt again, this orgasm bigger than the last.
Marco laughed. “So much for this being a punishment, you seem to like it a little too much.” He lifted her off his lap. He stood and dropped his jeans and boxers in one swoop. His cock stood proudly erect. “Maybe I should make you suck my dick as a punishment instead.”
Josie groaned and squeezed her legs together.
“Fuck this,” Marco said a moment before he grabbed her, tossed her on the bed, and followed her down. “I need to be inside you.”
She giggled at his loss of control. Whatever this thing between them was, thank god it was mutual. She didn’t understand why he wanted her like he did, but holy mother she was happy he did.
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