by Ali Parker
"Um, no." She laughed and turned back to the stove, scrambling eggs.
He moved behind her, pressing his fingers into the tense muscles of her shoulders. "Why aren't you sleeping well, momma? Nightmares or too much racket in the neighborhood?"
"It's my fault, actually. I flew in at midnight." Lisa's voice almost had him choking on the remnants of the bacon he had been chewing. He moved back until his back bumped into the counter.
"Shit, Lisa. You scared me to death." He glanced at his mom. "You couldn't tell me she was here?"
"Nope. I didn't want to wake you this morning as I know you like your sleep." His mom looked over her shoulder and winked. "Lisa, come finish these eggs while I go wash up. We're almost done."
Lisa walked to the stove, her light blue summer dress fitting her beautifully. Her copper-colored hair played along her shoulders, half of it up and the rest beckoning him to touch it. He gripped the counter, unsure of what to say or do. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. Damn if he didn't want to cry at the fact that she was standing there in his momma’s kitchen, cooking breakfast.
"Don't be angry with me for just showing up. I'm too worn out for it." She spoke softly, her voice filled with reserved emotion. She was holding back and he hoped like hell he could too.
"Why are you here?" His tone was filled with the pain he didn't want her to see. He had wanted so badly to feel the desire lessen in him over the last week, and it had only grown. How many times had he called out her name in his sleep, groaned for her in the shower, moaned at the delight of fucking her mercilessly in his head?
"I needed you to know the truth. I'll say my piece and then I'm heading on an adventure for the weekend. After that," she glanced over her shoulder and he was sure his heart stopped, "I'll go home and leave you alone."
"What adventure?" He didn't want to hear the truth of whatever she was referring to. If the truth was that she was in love with the rich guy and was getting married or whatever... he couldn't take that. Crying in front of her was out. He released his hold on the counter and turned his back to her, picking up the coffee and watching her reflection in the window in front of him.
The curve of her hips in the dress almost tore him in half, and he stifled a groan at how badly he wanted to drown in her. He hadn't even begun to start getting over her. If she confessed to still having feelings for him, would he make their reuniting easy for her? The end result was that he would do anything to have her as his own, but he needed to protect himself. She had been in the arms of another man. She would have to do more than apologize.
He had to hold her to that and make her prove herself, right?
"I'm going on a biker’s weekend here in New York."
He whipped around and spilled coffee on his arm, yelling out in pain as she turned and grabbed a cotton hand-towel from beside the stove.
"Oh Marc, are you okay, baby?" She ran cold water in the sink and pulled him toward it, taking his arm and running the icy liquid over the burn.
"I'm fine. Just surprised that you're here and that you're going this weekend. You know I gave your ticket to Drayer. I didn't know you would still want it with... with..."
"I got my own. I figured you were taking someone. I just hoped it wasn't another woman. I would hate to have to go to jail for manslaughter." She winked at him, her confidence not as pronounced as usual. He almost liked the thin layer of humility that sat over her.
"Oh..." He wasn't sure what else to say. She took his breath away with her nearness. The sweet smell of her rolled over him and he breathed in deeply, his heart contracting in his chest. He needed to tell her, wanted to say it - or better yet, scream how much he loved her.
He would never be himself again without her beside him.
"I hope you don't mind." She patted his arm with the towel carefully and moved away from him, the loss of her warmth causing his lip to turn down.
"I'm not sure how I feel, actually. You and I didn't leave each other on the best of terms. Now you're here in my mom's kitchen and going on the weekend getaway I had planned for myself." He shrugged, tucking his own emotions into his belly.
"I wanted to tell you what happened."
"Yeah, well I'm not ready for that just yet. It's been a week, Lisa. I still haven't processed anything but the feeling of having my heart stomped on. Forgive me if I don't rush to hear that your life is great and Daddy Warbucks has you a new mansion by the bay." He pulled his arm from her and let out a long sigh as he ran his hands through his hair. "I need some air."
He turned and walked toward the front of the house as he heard his mother talking to Lisa. He wanted to pull the wicked bitch close and stain her lovely skin with his scent, with his fingerprints and teeth marks. If they moved past this she wouldn't be able to walk for a week. Love was new to him, but lust was an old friend. She might be there for repentance, and God he prayed she was, but he was going to make her earn it.
Marc closed the door behind him and pressed his fingers to his eyes, the overwhelming need for this to be real crushing him. He sat down on the concrete stairs and gulped in air in waves, finding some small comfort in the fact that the only thing in the world he wanted was at least going to be close enough to reach out and touch for the next few days.
It was sure to be heaven or hell, of which he didn't care.
Lisa was there.
Chapter 26
"Where did he go?" Marc's mother walked back into the kitchen, reaching out to touch Lisa's arm.
"He's outside getting some air. This isn't a good idea. I shouldn't have just barged into his life like this. I'm not sure why the fuck I let everyone talk me into it." Lisa flinched at the realization that she had cursed in front of Marc's mom. The pretty older woman had a deep dislike of curse words and wasn't scared to scold anyone that used them.
"It's not a mistake at all. He's been a zombie for weeks. You're the only one that can make it right. Lisa, go out there and tell him what you told me about Michael."
"He's not going to listen to me. He's hurt and angry." Lisa tore off a paper towel and pressed it to her eyes.
"If you don't say anything at all then my boy will believe a lie. You get your ass out there and tell him what you came to say. Make him see you. Force him to believe."
Lisa stood shocked at the other woman's vigor.
She pulled Lisa into a tight hug and rubbed the back of her hair. "Marc and you are meant to be. Get out there and make it happen. Period."
"I'll try." Lisa moved back and blotted her eyes again before walking toward the door. How many times was she going to have to suffer the pain of his rejection? She stopped before going out, the screen showing Marc sitting on the steps with his face in his hands.
He was beyond handsome, his expressions thrilling her, his voice undoing her from the deepest parts of her soul. She wanted to do far more than come clean. She wanted to open herself up to him and pour out every fear and dream, every bad memory and hurt. She wanted his arms to offer healing and his heart to complete hers.
"Fuck me," she whispered and walked out into the sunny morning.
Marc sat up, his shoulders stiffening as she moved past him. She turned and tried hard not to cross her arms over her chest as she faced him. The need to protect herself washed over her in large waves and she fought against it.
"I love you," she whispered as tears filled her eyes. She hadn't expected to say anything of the sort, but her heart had its own desires. "You came in when Michael kissed me. He and I had been on one date and slept together once between the time you left in April and me coming to New York. You and I had decided that we wouldn't see each other. We hadn't so much as kissed. Are you telling me that during that time you didn't see anyone?"
"You love me?"
"Yes, you mother fucker. Answer my question."
Marc stood and took the last few steps to stand in front of her. She gripped the side of her dress with her fingers, trying like hell not to reach out and take him in her arms. H
e was everything she wanted. No amount of money or position in the world could change that. Love was so different than lust, the power of it almost overwhelming.
Was there anything she wouldn't do to get him back?
No.
"You're right. I guess I miscalculated, but Lisa... what I saw that night. His arms around you. His lips pressed to..." She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down, pressing her lips to his and letting out a long sound of desire as he tightened his arms around her waist.
He pulled back and growled, though his arms remained around her. She answered him.
"You didn't see him lean in for that kiss. You didn't see me push him back, because you didn't want to. You think this is going to fail and leave you holding the empty bag." She pulled back as tears rolled onto her cheeks. How badly she hated the broken need that pulsed through her. "I didn't want him then, and I don't now either. I told him that I was in love with you and then I got my ass on another plane to come tell you that it wasn't what you thought."
He wiped away her tears, his face softening slightly as his eyes searched her. She reached up and slid her fingers along the side of his face, trying to discern how to tell him everything she wanted to.
"I need you," she whispered as more tears fell. "Nothing leaves me more open and broken than to admit it. I've never, ever, ever needed anyone. I don't want to need you or anyone else, and yet I desperately need you in my life. Every day. Not just today, but tomorrow and forever. I want my life spent beside you, in your arms and on the back of your bike. Can't you even begin to see how badly I'm lost without you?"
"I'm not the man you need in your life. I'm still in college and I don't have my shit together. I talk like a sailor and I don't think I'll ever grow tired of trying to make you scream my name in the most inappropriate of places." He leaned down, tightening his grasp on her. His actions were in contrast to his words, his worries.
"Ditto... to all of it. I know that when God made you, he was thinking of me, Marc."
"I love you so much. My life has been a fucking joke since I left Maine. I haven't slept or eaten worth a shit. I kept thinking it would get better and I needed it to, Lisa. I'm not willing to share you with anyone. I have a year of school left. I can't feel like you being there and me being here is going to..." She pulled him down for another kiss, cutting him off again.
She slid her hands down his back, cupping his perfect ass. She was done talking. They weren't good at it anyway. There was no better way to show her man that she was his than with her body. Her want to tease him and draw him in dissipated as quickly as the idea had begun.
He pulled back, his eyes filled with carnality. "I love you so much, girl. I would take you in the house and tear your fucking clothes off with my teeth if my mom wouldn't have a damn heart attack."
Lisa laughed, her heart breaking at the idea of another chance. Tears poured down her face and Marc pulled her into a tight hug as the smell of him rolled over her. She pressed her face into his chest, knowing that this time was forever. He would need to heal and learn to trust her, but she was going to spend the weekend sharing herself with him. If he understood her better than anyone else, surely they could repair the damage done.
"No more tears, pretty girl. Let's go on this trip together and get to know each other all over again."
"Forgive me for what you thought happened." Lisa looked up at him as he leaned down and brushed his lips over hers.
"Forgive me for being a total dickhead about all of it."
"No." She shook her head. "I would have stabbed you, so your ugly-ass words were nothing."
"You would stab me for cheating on you?"
"I didn't cheat on you, but yes. If you ever sleep with another woman, or love anyone but me, I will chop you up and bury your ass in snack size bags in my backyard."
Marc laughed. "Is it odd that my cock’s dancing at the thought of you being violent?"
"You're a sick man, Marc Martin."
"Can I be your sick man?" Marc asked, licking at his lips as his strong gaze held her in place. The air was so hard to breathe as he brushed the tip of his nose past her ear. "Please, baby... give me another chance."
"Yes. I want you forever." Lisa reached up and captured his face with her hands. "I don't want another day without us being together. No one else ever, for either of us. Agreed?"
"And you're good with all my shit I gotta do for the next year?"
"Yes. I'll move back here if it will help rebuild your trust." Lisa ran her thumb over his bottom lip, her breathing growing ragged as she thought about how good it would feel to have him sink deep inside of her.
"No, baby. I'm good with you being in Maine and me here. We'll visit a lot. We can work out the details later. Forgive me..."
"Always," she whispered and wrapped her arms around him as his fingers dug into her rear. She pulled up and he gripped the back of her thighs, pushing the dress up as she wrapped her legs around him and pressed her lips to his.
Lisa opened her mouth and groaned loudly as his tongue rubbed along hers, the sweet taste of him better than she remembered. She rolled her hips, rubbing the soft part of her body against his erection. He slipped his fingers into the back of her panties, cupping her bare ass as he growled into her mouth. Lisa sucked softly at his tongue, before pulling harder, as desire tore at her center. He walked them to the side of the house and pressed her against the wall, grinding himself against her over and over.
"Oh God, I need you inside of me," she murmured against his lips.
"Yeah, baby. I need you so bad." Marc moved down her neck, licking and sucking at her skin as the fingers of one of his hands spread her open, the contact enough to cause her to scream. "So hot and wet, Lisa. I need to taste you, baby."
Lisa moaned and pressed down on his fingers before realizing that they were still out in public in his mother's neighborhood. She pulled back, sliding down his body and letting him go as she worked to get her dress back down.
"What's the matter?" He rubbed her shoulders as she looked around.
Several teenage boys had stopped on their bikes across the street and were staring. Lisa nodded toward them as her cheeks began to burn. Marc looked over and nodded.
"Get the fuck outta here before I tell your momma you're a pervert."
"You're the one fucking the girl outside, dude," one of them yelled and they rode off, laughing loudly. Marc turned back to Lisa as a smile lifted his mouth. "Have I told you that you take my breath away?"
"No, but I hope I always do." Lisa pressed her back to the house, the coolness of the shade still sitting on the wood helped to slow her racing pulse. The wicked thumping deep between her legs made her want to crawl back up Marc's body and say fuck it to whoever was around.
He slipped his fingers in his mouth, closing his eyes and sucking on them as Lisa felt herself go weak in the knees. He pulled his fingers out and tongued them in front of her. "First place I get you alone... I'm going to make you scream my name until your throat hurts."
He pressed her against the house, leaning down and kissing her passionately. Lisa pulled him closer, her imagination moving from love to lust, softness to depravity. She needed to explore every inch of him and have him return the favor.
Time to make the bikers blush.
Chapter 27
Marc worked at the straps under Lisa's neck, the extra helmet at the house a godsend. She watched him closely. He had to work hard not to throw her over his shoulder and find a place to lay her down and ravage her. Sex was their language of love, and if she was aching to show him how badly she needed him anywhere near what he was feeling... he felt sorry for her. He brushed his hands down her arms, the leather bomber jacket she wore looking wicked hot on her.
"Did you really have to wear a black leather tank top and tight jeans as well? Is it not enough that you have on those sexy leather boots?" Marc lowered his voice as he moved his hands to rub down the outside of her taut thighs. She looked like sex incarnate. He would be b
eating the men off of her all weekend.
"Yes, actually. I was going to make you physically suffer if you denied me."
"Is that so?"
"Absolutely. There wasn't a length to which I wouldn't go to make sure you were back to being mine by Sunday night."
"Shit. I should have played hard to get. That was the plan, but you make it so fucking hard."
"Marc Martin. Watch your filthy mouth." His mother walked out and pulled Lisa into a hug before walking over to Marc and squeezing his middle with her arms. He kissed the top of her head and agreed to all the rules she laid out about the bike. The woman thought he was still twelve, but he couldn't fault her for it.
"You ready?" Lisa asked as she picked up a small backpack and walked to the door.
"Way more so now that you're here. We are meeting up at Joe's Biker Bar on the edge of town. You'll get to meet my best friend, Drayer. He's a dick, so prepare yourself."
"He doesn't like me much, I assume?"
"If he's any kind of friend to me, then probably not." Marc laughed and moved Lisa in front of him as she opened the door. He slid his hands down the back of her jeans, cupping her luscious butt and growling softly.
"Marriage before babies, please," his mom yelled behind them, and Marc felt the burn of embarrassment. Lisa laughed loudly as they walked to the bike, the sound of her delight bringing more joy to him than he ever thought possible.
Damn, he loved her.
***
"So this is the infamous girl who tears out hearts." Drayer extended his hand and shook Lisa's as Marc shook his head for his friend to lay off.
"That's right, and if you're not careful, I'll tear yours out too." Lisa winked. She nodded to the restroom and looked over at Marc. "I'm going to the ladies room. Come in there and tear my panties off with your teeth? Oh wait... I'm not wearing any. Maybe next time, baby."
"Be careful... it's only a matter of time, pretty girl." Marc watched her go, his body straining against the jeans that hugged his hips. He glanced back to Dray, who had a mixed look of emotions on his face. "I know what you're thinking."
