The longer the choir sang, the closer she felt to him. They could enjoy Christmas together. That didn’t mean they would ever take this thing any further. She would go home to California, and he would become a nice memory.
She hugged his arm. He shook her off to drape his arm over her shoulders. He held her close, and his voice vibrated through her. He was a nice guy, a hot guy, a smart and successful guy. Plus that masterful guy was in there somewhere too. She was glad she shared a night of passion with him.
He at least knew how to do it right.
When the music ended, it took a long time to get out of the crowd. They stayed locked together while the people around them dispersed. When enough space opened up for them to walk away, Ash took her hand. “So where do you want to go first to look for Colton’s present?”
They strolled down the street.
Marlee surveyed the windows. “I’m not sure. I don’t know what to buy him. I’m sure he has everything he wants.”
“That’s why you shouldn’t get him anything he could buy for himself.”
“That doesn’t leave much.”
“Well, we can rule out clothes, jewelry, watches, cars....”
Marlee snorted. “Like I could afford to buy him a car. Besides, where would he park it?”
“He wouldn’t. If he wants a car, he can get that for himself. Can you think of anything he liked when he was a kid?”
Marlee beamed at him. “I know! I’ll buy him a kite. He used to love flying his kite. I’m sure he hasn’t flown one in years.”
Ash laughed. “I’m sure he hasn’t, and I’m sure he doesn’t own one now.”
Marlee set off. “That’s perfect. Thanks. I would never have thought of that on my own.”
“Good. I’m glad to help.”
Her face fell. “So where do we get one?”
“We can go to Toys R’ Us. They’ll have one.”
Once again, they set off, this time hand in hand. All the tension melted away.
“What are you giving Colton?” she asked.
“Nothing. Colton and I don’t give each other birthday or Christmas gifts. We never have.”
Marlee gasped. “Why not? I thought you two were best friends.”
“We are. We have been for years. I suppose that’s why we don’t give each other presents. We give each other the gift of our friendship. That’s enough.”
Marlee shook her head. “That’s too bad.”
“Not at all. It’s wonderful. Did he get mad at you for going out with me the other night?”
Marlee cast a glance at him with this sudden question, but she couldn’t divine anything from his expression. “No, he didn’t get mad. But he got madder at me for trying to avoid you afterward.”
“So why did you?”
Marlee cringed. She should have known she couldn’t get out of discussing this with him. Well, the sooner she got her cards out on the table, the better off everybody would be. “He said you were a player, that you changed women faster than your underwear—all that sort of thing. That was just fine with me. We had a fling. The end.”
He stole a peek at her. “Is that what you think?”
“Isn’t that the way it is? I thought that’s what you wanted, and I’m the same way. You don’t want to get involved with anybody, and neither do I.”
“What makes you think I don’t want to get involved?”
Marlee yanked her hand out of his grasp. “If you want to get involved, that’s all the more reason I don’t want to be anywhere near you. We had a good time. That’s all. That’s all it’s ever going to be. We’re not getting involved.”
“Yeah. We had a nice time, so who says we can’t keep having a nice time?”
She threw up her hands. “Now you’re starting to sound like my mother. Colton said you were the most notorious bad boy on Broadway. I probably wouldn’t have had anything to do with you if I thought for two seconds you would turn this into some kind of relationship.”
“What’s wrong with a relationship?”
“Why do you keep asking those idiotic questions? I don’t want to get involved with you. I don’t want to get involved with anybody. I’m going home after New Years, and we’ll never see each other again. That’s what’s wrong with a relationship. If you want a relationship, why don’t you pick one of those women you change faster than your underwear? I’m sure one of them would love to bag you.”
He turned away and started walking. “I’m sure they would.”
She caught up with him. “Don’t get all down in the mouth about this. It was just sex. That’s all.”
“To you, it was just sex.”
“So what was it to you?”
He stopped walking to confront her. “Look, Marlee. No one has ever picked me up the way you did. No woman has ever submitted to me the way you did. You made me push it all the way. Mosr t women would have run or fallen to pieces. Not you. You lured my beast out and you took all I gave you and mewled for more. God dammit! No one has dragged me back to my house and fucked me silly the way you did. I was sure you had to have felt how I did that night about you. But you just dumped me in the morning. I...I don’t know what to think. What am I supposed to think?”
“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing to all these women?”
He turned bright red. “I guess it has. I never really thought about it. Colton tried to tell me more than once that’s why they always got their feelings hurt when I didn’t want to continue anything with them.”
“Well, there you go. Now you know what it feels like. I never planned to get involved with you. I wanted to jump you, and I did. I want that beast out and to take me to those heights,” she admitted. “We had great sex, and now it’s over. Can you get that through your head?”
“I don’t see how I can. You’re the most perfect woman I can imagine. You’re smart and funny, and you’ve got a body to die for. Then your taste in sex? Most women would cower at what I need… If I were going to get involved with someone, it would be you.”
“No, it wouldn’t, because I wouldn’t get involved with you.”
He fixed his smoldering eyes on her face. Faster than lightning, he grabbed hold of her. His arms strapped around her, and he planted his lips on her mouth. In seconds, he was kissing her harder and deeper than anything she could remember in her life. His tongue slithered into her mouth and quickened her desire all over again.
He hooked one muscled hand under her thigh and pulled it against his waist. He shoved her back against the wall and jammed his hips between her legs. He pulverized her crotch with his hard-on while his tongue tickled her insides to dripping passion.
He moved so fast she couldn’t stop herself. Before she knew what she was doing, she responded to him. Her tongue met his, and her hips arched forward to meet him. She moaned into his mouth, and a squirt of hot juice saturated her panties.
That fast, he pulled away again. He locked his eyes on her panting face. “You can’t tell me you don’t feel something for me. You couldn’t kiss me like that if you did. You want this. You want this just as much as I do.”
Her leg dropped to the ground. She stepped back, but she couldn’t get away from the aching need between her legs. She wanted it, all right. She wanted it now, more than ever. She wiped the saliva from her mouth, but she couldn’t think of one intelligent thing to say. Her face burned with pent-up desire. Would he ever release it again? Why, oh why, didn’t she let herself receive it from him?
He straightened his jacket and took his place at her side. “Aren’t you even a little bit curious what it would be like if we took this a little bit further?”
She shook herself awake. She couldn’t let him get the better of her with one little kiss. “A little bit further? You don’t want to take it a little bit further. A little bit further would be more sex like we had the other night. You don’t want that. You want to get involved. You want a relationship. Admit it.”
He held up both hands. “All right. I’ll admit it
. I do want all that. I want that and a lot more. I never felt this way about anybody. I want to keep on going with you and never stop. You made me feel like no other woman has ever. Have you ever thought I went through so many women looking for you?”
Marlee stared at him. No. No. he cannot be serious. “I’m a free agent. I want to come and go as I please. I wanted to have a good time in New York and then go home to California where I belong. I thought you were a free agent, too. You’re supposed to be some sex king. You’re just nailing me and kissing me goodbye. You’re not marrying me.”
His face contorted in agony, and he spun away to hide from her.
Marlee stared at his back disappearing into the sea of passers-by. She didn’t just see that twist of pain on his face when she said those words. She couldn’t have.
He kept walking. He didn’t turn around. Holy God! It was true! She hurried after him. She caught up enough to walk at his side, and when she glanced at his face, she saw his features set in a firm mask of determination.
She murmured low. She didn’t want to hear those words coming out of her mouth again, “You don’t want to marry me, do you?”
He didn’t even look at her. He clenched his jaw. Now she was certain. “You want to marry me?”
Marlee’s mind whirled. What in the name of heaven, was she going to do now? She couldn’t marry Ash. She couldn’t even think of him that way. She stopped dead in her tracks and let him walk away. That was the kindest thing she could do. Let him walk on out of her life. Let him nurse his broken heart and never see him again.
Marlee waited until Ash vanished altogether into the crowd. She let out a shaky breath. She had to get out of here before he came back. She asked directions to Toys R’ Us and bought the best kite she could afford. It was a high- speed racing kite with two handles for turning it in the air. It flashed bright red and blue in the package. Colton would love it.
She paused near the front door. She scanned the sidewalk outside, but when she saw no sign of Ash in either direction, she hustled out and hailed a cab. She hurried back to Colton’s apartment and wrapped the kite as fast as she could. She hid it near the back behind the other presents where he wouldn’t see it until Christmas morning.
She got settled into the couch to wait for Colton to come back. To hell with Ash! She would stay indoors for the rest of her vacation if it meant not seeing him again. If he were going to pull something like this, she would sacrifice anything to avoid getting mixed up with him.
Colton took a lot longer getting back than she expected. She made dinner and put it out on the table in the kitchen, but he still didn’t come. She went back to his living room and watched the news on TV. He didn’t get back until dark.
She heard his footsteps ringing down the hall. He blew into the living room and flopped onto the couch. He tossed his phone on the coffee table and propped up his feet. “Jesus! What a cluster fuck! You wouldn’t believe the state of things down at the docks.”
Marlee smiled. “Did you get it all worked out? Is everyone playing nice for Christmas now?”
He rolled his eyes. “They better, ‘cuz it costs them $10,000 every time I have to drag my tired ass down there to wag my finger in their faces. You wouldn’t think grown men could act so much like spoiled children.”
Marlee switched off the TV. “Well, it’s over now. Now you can join me for dinner because I’m starving.”
“Not so fast, you,” he called out. “I’ve got something to say to you.”
“Can’t it wait?”
“No, it can’t. I finished at the docks around four. I’ve been talking to Ash in the park ever since.”
Marlee froze. “What about?”
“About you, of course. After I left the docks, I got a text from him asking me to meet him at Strawberry Fields. He always goes there when he has some serious thinking to do.”
“So what does this have to do with me?”
“What did you do to him? He’s a mess. I’ve never seen him like this before.”
I shrugged. “I didn’t do anything to him. I just fucked him. That’s all I did.”
“He says he’s in love with you. He says he can’t live without you. He’s ready to throw away our whole working relationship over this.”
Marlee threw up her hands and whirled away. “Aw, God, don’t you start with that stuff. He’s off his rocker. You told me he wouldn’t want anything more. You made a big deal about him never sticking with one woman for long. Now he goes and pulls this.”
Colton shook his head. “I can hardly believe it myself. He says he’s never met anyone like you before and he doesn’t want to lose you. He wants to go all the way with you. He wants you to quit your job in California and move in with him so he can—do whatever with you all the time.”
Marlee collapsed into the nearest chair and hid her face in her hands. “Can we please drop this? I’m not getting involved with him. He told me all this already, and I told him there’s no chance. Can’t we just leave it at that?”
Colton frowned. “When did you talk to him about this?”
She waved her hand. “Just before. I started to...Aw, what the hell. I might as well tell you. I wanted to go out to buy you a Christmas present. I’ve been going crazy trying to figure out what to get you. I was just about to walk out the door when he turns up on your doorstep. He convinced me to go with him to the caroling, and then we’d look for a present for you. It all came out, and I had to shut him down hard. I let him walk away, and I haven’t seen him since.”
Colton stared at her. Then he shook his head. “You really know how to wreck a guy, don’t you? You should see him.”
“I have seen him. That’s the problem. I won’t see him again. That’s for certain.”
“He’s an emotional disaster. He’s all wound up over you. He’s never been like this—ever—not in all the years I’ve known him.”
“That’s because no one ever picked him up the way I did. He’s always been the player, loving and leaving ‘em behind. Now the shoe’s on the other foot. He’ll get over it, and maybe he’ll be nicer to women in the future, now that he knows how it feels.”
Colton smacked his lips. “You can’t honestly be thinking of kicking him in the teeth like that. How can you be so cruel?”
Marlee rounded on him. “Isn’t this what you warned me about? Isn’t this what you were worried about him doing to me?”
Colton shrugged. “I admit I thought he would break your heart. I thought he would screw you and leave you hanging out to dry. I never thought you would be the one to do it to him.”
Marlee stood up. “Look, Colton. I like Ash. I like Ash a lot. He’s exactly the kind of guy I could get involved with—if I were in the market to get involved with somebody…which I’m not. We have no future together, and letting him know that sooner rather than later was the nicest thing I could do for him.”
Colton relaxed. “Yeah, I understand that now. I just hate to see him hurting like this. He’s my best friend. If there’s any way I can make it better for him, I want to do it.”
“Well, there isn’t. I’m not doing anything with him, especially not freakin’ marrying him.”
Colton’s eyes widened as he lost color in his face. “He wants to marry you?”
“Well, he didn’t actually come right out and say so. He didn’t have to. His face said it all.”
Colton whistled. “Holy hell! I didn’t realize it went as far as that.”
“It didn’t. It never could, and it never will. Now can we please eat something?”
He burst into a grin. “Sure. Why don’t you bring the food in here? We can have a TV dinner.”
“All right.” She collected all the food and spread it on the coffee table. They watched a little TV. Then Colton turned off the set and switched on the radio. They listened to more carolers on Times Square.
Colton reclined on the couch. “This is the nicest Christmas I’ve had in a long time. I forgot what it’s like having family around. I co
uld almost wish you were moving in with Ash. Then we could spend Christmas together all the time.”
Marlee cocked her head to look at him. “Is what Ash said true that you are having deals going behind the scenes?”
Colton snorted. “He’s not supposed to know about that. He’s supposed to think I can’t live without him. He’s supposed to think we’re joined at the hip.”
“So I’m not the only one giving him the slip.”
“I guess I’m not giving him the slip if he knows about it.”
“So it’s true, isn’t it? You’ve got irons in the fire all over the place.”
“I’d be a pretty shoddy businessman if I didn’t.”
“I’m not so sure Ash doesn’t have his own thing going on the side, too,” she remarked. “Judging by the look of his house, I would say he’s doing pretty well for himself.”
Colton stared at her. “You went back to his house?”
“Sure. What did you think? Did you think I bonked him the alley behind the bar?”
Colton made a face. “I didn’t want to think about what you did. I didn’t think he took you back to his house, though.”
“Doesn’t he usually take his conquests back to his house?”
Colton coughed. “I don’t know what he does with his conquests, and I don’t want to know. I just never thought about him taking somebody to his house before. He seems more like a motel room kinda guy.”
“All right. I won’t talk about it anymore.”
“You’re hardly one of his conquests. It seems to me you conquered him, not the other way around.”
Marlee stole a peek at him where he relaxed on the couch with his eyes half open. “Listen, Colton. I’m really sorry about all this stuff with Ash. I never wanted to mess things up between you two. I should never have screwed around with him in the first place.”
“You didn’t mess things up between us. He came clean to me. He’s sorry he got mixed up with you, too. He doesn’t want this situation to interfere with our friendship. He wishes he’d stayed away from you. Then this never would have happened.”
Marlee hung her head. Neither she nor Ash kept their distance from the other the way they should have. Now they both had to live with the consequences.
His Royal Majesty : A Royal Wedding Romance Page 27
