“You’re both okay?” Marcello asked.
“More than,” Cat said and gave him a hug. “We’ve just got some scrapes. You’re much more bruised than we are. How are you?”
“I’ll be fine,” he said, his eyes still locked with Grace’s. Unable to hold back any longer, Marcello walked over to Grace and enveloped her in his arms. God, how he’d missed her. She’d been hurt, but she was okay. For some reason, he blamed himself for her injuries.
“Everyone’s watching,” she whispered against his ear, slightly terrified.
Marcello smiled and drew away slightly, keeping an arm around her. “Have you met everyone, then?”
“Yes, I have. Cat introduced me.”
“Good. Well, let me do it again anyway. Everyone, this is Lady Grace, the woman I’m in love with. Grace, this is everyone. You’ll meet the rest of the clan at an exhausting family dinner soon.”
Everyone had broad smiles on their faces while Grace blushed. God, he’d even missed her blush. “I’m exhausted,” Marcello said.
“Of course, dear,” Genevieve said. “You should get some rest. Should we hold dinner for you?”
“No, I’m just going to have it in my room tonight.” Was he seeing things, or was Grace disappointed by that news?
His mother came over and gave him another kiss, then gave Grace a kiss on her cheek as well, surprising her. “Just let me know if you need anything, dear.”
As the family left the foyer, Marcello held on as Grace started to pull away. “Where do you think you’re going?” Marcello asked her.
“You need rest.”
“I need you,” he said and pulled her close. “I need you.” His fingers delved into her long, soft hair and his mouth descended on hers for a greedy kiss. The lack of sleep had him on edge and he was letting it all out on Grace’s luscious pink lips and tongue.
He pushed her against wall, and let his hands roam down the sides of her body. He wanted to be buried inside her for hours, days, and forever.
When she let out a cry of pain, he pulled back quickly.
“What did I do? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she said breathlessly as she held up her hands. “I just forgot I’d injured these and I banged them against the wall.”
“Holy hell, I’m an asshole,” he said as he stepped away from her. “You’ve been injured and I’m taking advantage of you.”
She walked towards him and placed her injured hand on his injured cheek. “We’re both injured it seems. Why don’t we heal together?”
When he didn’t say anything, she joined her hand with his. “Show me your room,” she said.
After another moment, he nodded and they walked hand-in-hand down the twisting hallways.
***
Grace was nervous as they approached his door. Would he turn her away? Or hold her close like she longed for him to do again?
As they stepped inside, she noted once again the similarities between this and Cat’s rooms. The furniture was very similar, but the tones very different. Where Cat preferred lilac, Marcello preferred tones of slate gray and dark green. For some reason, it reminded her of the Temple of Emma back in England where they had made love and she had fought for her life; gray stone surrounded by deep green forests. Was that a sign? If so, was it a sign of things good or bad?
As the door clicked close, she turned and waited for him to notice. It only took a matter of seconds.
“Whose bags are those?” he said as he pointed to a stack of luggage nestled in the foyer of his royal apartment.
“They’re mine,” she said and watched his eyes widen. “I thought to stay here with you, but I can stay in the guest room if you’d rather.”
He pulled her against his warm chest and wrapped his strong, slim, toned arms around her. “You’re never leaving me again if I have anything to say about it,” he said.
“Marcello.”
“Don’t pull away, not yet. Let me hold you a little longer. I missed you like crazy.”
Her heart bloomed for him even more than she thought possible. “I missed you, too.”
“You did?” he asked as he nuzzled her hair. “God, I missed your hair.”
She giggled. “My hair?”
“Yes, I love your long hair, Grace. Don’t ever cut it. It drives me wild. Soft and golden. I swear the scent of it haunts my dreams.”
“It’s the shampoo I use,” she murmured. In the past, an order telling her to cut her hair was another form of control. This time, she knew that an order telling her not to cut her hair was a sign of love.
“Mmmm,” he said and dropped a kiss under her ear, then on her temple. “How long are you staying in Valleria for?”
“Let’s talk about it after you’ve gotten some rest,” she said as she rubbed her hands along his back to deflect the question for the moment. “You need to shower and eat something, too.”
He jumped back, leaving her arms dangling in the air. “I’m sorry. I probably smell terrible. I didn’t use the shower on the plane on the way back.”
“You smell fine,” she said as she stepped towards him. “Let me take care of you tonight.”
She could see his nature warring within him. He was always the giver, wanting to take care of her. Well, he’d just have to get used to someone else taking care of him.
“Please? I could even help you in the shower,” she whispered against his ear.
“Jesus, Grace.”
She smiled. “Is that a ‘yes’?”
“Yes, it’s a ‘yes’, damn it,” he said, a man frustrated but not angry. She’d gotten better at recognizing true anger as opposed to frustration. Particularly sexual frustration.
“Did you get a tour of the suite?” he asked as he took her hand gently and walked her through his rooms.
“Yes, Cat showed me around.”
“Good, then we can get right down to business.” When they reached the bedroom and his overly large bed, he gently sat her down on the edge. He spent some time running his hands through her long hair. She closed her eyes and just let the unexpected feeling of contentment wash over her. She was happy, she realized. The typically elusive emotion came much more quickly and easily now.
She lifted her hands to the hem of his shirt and slid her hands underneath, feeling his taut muscles and smattering of coarse chest hair.
“I love the way you touch me,” he said gruffly.
“You do?” When she looked up his head was tilted back and his eyes were closed. His hands fisted lightly in her hair. “What do you love?”
“Sometimes it’s soft and gentle, like it is now. Other times, like it was in the rain, you were holding onto me like an anchor out at sea.”
His eyes opened and connected with hers. He laid her down on the bed and hovered over her. “But no matter how you touch me, each one is like a little bolt of electricity on my skin.”
“It is?”
“Hot and exciting. It feels me with a need I never knew was possible. I crave it. I crave you and your touch, fair Grace.”
“Marcello.”
“Grace.” His lips fell to hers in a possessive kiss. It was rough and brutal, hard and unyielding.
And she wanted more.
Her hands started to pull his shirt off, and Marcello broke the kiss long enough to help her. Gasping for breath, he pulled her shirt off as well. The lacy bra she had worn, just for him, was admired with a lick of his lips, then followed their shirts onto a pile on the floor. When her eyes broke contact with his to take in his bare flesh, she gasped and sat up.
“Marcello,” she said, her voice filled with concern. Her fingers gently caressed the small circular bruises marring his skin. “What happened?”
Marcello took her hands and brought them to his lips. “It’s not a big deal. I was wearing a vest.”
“What do you mean?”
He sighed. “I was shot at, Grace.”
“What?” she said and he tightened his hold on her hands. “Shot?”
“There are five marks here!”
“Well, technically,” he started sheepishly.
“Where else?” When he didn’t respond, she said, “Marcello, please. Tell me. I need to know. I won’t break, I promise.”
He wrapped their joined hands around her to settle against her back. “One grazed my neck.”
“Holy shit, Marcello,” she said and he laughed. “Why are you laughing? You almost died.”
“Because, Grace,” he said with a kiss. “Love of my life.” Another kiss. “My beautiful, fair Grace.” Another kiss. “You just cursed, and it was positively adorable.”
She pouted. “Does that mean I was terrible at it?”
His face turned serious in a split second. “You’re not terrible at anything. I could, however, give you some lessons if you wanted to get better.”
“Lessons? In cursing?”
“I do have four brothers. We learned to curse in at least four languages by the time we were ten.”
“Four languages? By the time you were ten?”
“We had, um, very dedicated tutors after school.”
She laughed. “I’ll bet.”
He rested his forehead against hers. “Are we all right?”
She tugged at her hands and he let them go. Surprisingly, she had not seemed to mind having her hands, or any other part of her body, controlled by Marcello.
She rubbed her hands over his bruised chest and pressed a soft kiss to the bandage at his neck. She kissed the bruises on his cheek, and he did the same to the bruise on hers.
“I could kill him for hurting you,” Marcello said, his voice low and thick with emotion. “I could still make it happen, if I wanted to.”
Grace swallowed. She had sensed a darker side to Marcello before, but now saw it penetrating through in a weak moment. She wasn’t afraid of his darker side. She was, however, afraid for him.
“Don’t,” she said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I need you, Marcello. What happened to me, everything that’s happened to me, it’s all in the past. I don’t want to go back.”
“It’s easier to say it, than it is to do it.”
“I know. Some of it may never go away.” She took a deep breath and stared straight into his dark brown eyes. She wanted to say so much to him, but there would be time for that later. “I love you, Marcello.”
His hands tightened around her. Their chests were bare, and pressed firmly against each other. “Grace,” he said with a ragged breath.
“I love you. I never thought that I would love again. I never thought that I could. You’ve shown me so much, Marcello.”
“Oh, Grace. It’s you who has shown me so much. You’re so strong and caring, even after all you’ve been through. I know you doubt yourself, but you never have to doubt yourself again, not with me. I have total faith and trust in you.”
She gently wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight as she fought to keep the tears at bay. She took a deep breath, inhaling his musky, masculine scent, which seemed to calm her as much as it inflamed her at times.
“That was beautiful.”
“So are you,” he said and pressed a kiss just below her ear. She didn’t know if he sensed her hesitation but he said, “It’s been a long day. Why don’t we take a shower and get something to eat. We can talk then.”
She nodded and they slid off the bed. Despite knowing he had seen her naked - and quite liked what he saw - Grace was still shy about showing herself to him. He gave her a sly smile and helped pull off her pants and shoes, taking care to kiss and caress each inch of newly exposed skin before he worked his way back up her body.
He began to suck and lick her nipple, his mouth able to encompass almost her entire small breast. She had never felt more consumed in her entire life.
When her knees went weak, he held her up, arching her back over his arm so he could have more to taste. Her hair hung down, a golden curtain that brushed the floor. “One taste is never enough for me,” he rasped. “Never enough.”
He swallowed her moan with another possessive kiss and led her backwards to the incredibly spacious standup shower, surrounded with glass walls. “Lean on the handle while I get the water started.”
Since her entire mind seemed to go blank when he kissed her, it took her a moment to comprehend what he was saying before she gripped the handle for dear life.
Only a few moments later, he appeared before her naked as steam rose around them. The stark white bandage on his neck shined like a beacon against his tanned skin.
“We need to take this off,” she said as she raised her hand to it. “It shouldn’t get wet.”
“Thank you, Grace,” he said gruffly and cleared his throat while her slim fingers pulled it away. She winced slightly when she saw the line of healing skin. Fortunately, none of his injuries, nor hers, had required stitches.
“Let’s get wet, shall we?” she said as she led him inside.
Chapter 19
Marcello swallowed as he walked into the shower with her. He wanted to take her, needed to be inside her, and had to resist the urge to take her quickly against the cool tiled wall.
When the first punch of hot water hit him, he winced as it beat against sore muscles and bruises. He took care to keep the water away from his neck, but knew it would likely be impossible.
Grace stood in front of him, her head tilted back into the spray with her eyes closed, and he remembered making love to her in the rain. As if he could ever forget.
Her hair, getting wetter by the second and turning a darker shade of blond, stuck to the soft line of her back. The beast inside him wanted to fuck her like this, with his hands fisted in her hair, her ass slapping against his balls as the shower poured over them. Just the thought had him hard to the point of pain.
Grace turned and opened her eyes, startled by what must be a fierce expression on his face. “What is it?” she asked.
“Do you trust me, Grace?” he said in low voice.
“Yes,” she said easily.
“I want to make love to you. Are you up for that?”
“I can see you are,” she said with a small smile that Marcello didn’t return.
“I want to take you from behind, Grace. Will you let me?”
“Oh. Well.”
He stepped closer, fully into the spray with her. “Have you tried it before?” She shook her head. “If you don’t like it, we can stop at any time, all right? Will you try it?”
“Okay,” she said in a small voice that killed him.
He cursed internally. “We don’t need to, Grace.”
“I want to,” she said quickly. “I want to try everything with you.”
As he pulled her wet body against his for a fierce kiss, he wondered how he’d gotten so lucky to find her and love her. How lucky he was that she loved and trusted him back.
He broke the kiss and turned her around, caressing her body as he did so. “Place your hands on the wall,” he said.
As she did, he adjusted her stance, putting her tidy ass up in the air and pressing himself against it. With her small breasts hanging down, taunting him, he reached around to toy with them.
“All right?”
“Yes,” she said with a ragged gasp.
He caressed and tugged at her breasts, and her body started shifting against his. When her nipples peaked, he kept one hand on a breast and moved the other to her folds below. She was already slick and hot with both her own juices and the water pouring over them. When he pushed two fingers inside, she moaned and the sound echoed around the glass walls surrounding them.
He continued tweaking one nipple while his fingers emulated his cock. When he brushed her nub with his thumb, her orgasm ripped through her on a series of gasping moans.
He pressed a kiss to her neck and nuzzled her hair before
shifting his hands to her hips. “Still good, Grace?”
“God, yes.”
He chuckled. “We’re not done yet.” He pushed inside her with one swift movement and she slapped the wall with a groan. “Did I hurt you? Are you all right?”
“Not hurt. Don’t stop,” she begged. “Please don’t stop. It feels so good.”
Marcello & Grace (Royals of Valleria #2) Page 21
