He slid a gaze back to her and she went back to pulling things out as she mumbled to herself. Grinning, he stuffed it into the remaining space they had in the trunk and went back for more.
“How many things do you have in there, cara?”
“Just some food and stuff.”
He began to suspect that everything she owned was in this car. Marco resolved to find out exactly what her situation was. The thought of this paltry amount of things being all Natalie possessed in the world made him feel both sick and fiercely protective.
“Let’s get this into our car and you can relax. Perhaps nap, since I didn’t allow you to sleep very much last night.”
Natalie gave him a small smile and he considered it a victory. It was the first time her expression had changed from the grimace she wore when they pulled up. Without much struggle they got her and her belongings into the car and were back on the road within minutes. Marco pulled out his cell phone and dialed information, then realized he had no idea what to ask for.
He turned around. Natalie was already half asleep and he wished he could let her continue to doze, but they needed to take care of her car, preferably by pushing it into the nearest river. “Natalie?” She startled awake and blinked at him, her blue eyes showing her fatigue. “What do you call the truck that will come for your car?”
“A tow truck?”
Marco shrugged. “If you say so. I need to know what to ask for when I call the information number.”
“You really don’t have to—”
“I know I don’t have to.” He swiveled back toward the front. “But I am, so go back to sleep, amante.” Marco considered he probably shouldn’t be calling Natalie “amante” in front of his brother, as it wasn’t usually used outside of the bedroom, but his brother hopefully hadn’t noticed and Natalie didn’t know the difference. He glanced over at his brother, who wore a smirk as he drove. It appeared his brother had caught his slip of the tongue, but Marco ignored him and finished dialing the information number. He described the problem as best he could and the man promised to call him as soon as he’d been able to look over Natalie’s car. With that task completed, Marco settled down for a nap himself.
* * * * *
Natalie looked around the arena while Marco and Paolo registered for the night’s event. It was crazy how one event would end and the NBT expected all the riders to make it to a completely different city hours away for another competition starting the very next day. She supposed the female tour was like that too, but with her car broken down and no hope of being able to pay for an expensive repair, she didn’t want to think about how she would get from stop to stop.
Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she turned to see Jessica standing with another woman. Natalie tipped her head to the side. Why did she look so familiar?
Jessica grinned. “Yes, you know her. This is Leah Fitzpatrick, Brady’s girlfriend. She’s a figure skater.”
“Oh, okay. I’m Natalie. Nice to meet you. It didn’t hit me right away who you were in those clothes.”
Leah looked down at herself and said with a warm smile, “Probably not. Nice to meet you, too. Jessica tells me you’re traveling with Marco.”
Natalie felt her face flush. “Well, sort of. I mean, I guess I am now since my car broke down on the way here. It’s lucky for me Marco and Paolo left after me or I would’ve been stuck.”
Jessica and Leah exchanged a look, but before Natalie could ask what it was about Brady had slung his arm around Leah’s shoulders. Leah turned for a quick kiss and it was obvious those two were over the moon for each other. What an odd combination, though, a bull rider and an Olympic figure skater. Natalie made a note to ask Jessica what their story was later.
“Ladies. Stayin’ out of trouble?”
Leah elbowed him, but he just laughed. Jessica pasted an innocent smile on her face. “When have we ever gotten in trouble?”
Brady snorted. “How about that time a few months ago when me and Conner got held up at the arena and you two decided drinking on an empty stomach was a swell idea? I thought Conner was going to have a coronary when he saw you at the bar all giggly, practically falling off your chair with all the guys crowded around you.”
Conner joined them then and Natalie watched as his hand settled on Jessica’s ass. “Yes, I almost did have a heart attack. But I doubt that’s gonna happen again.” He patted her butt a couple of times and Jessica blushed. “I mean, you were pretty sick, right, darlin’?”
“I was. I’m pretty sure there was something in those drinks.”
“Yeah. A lot of alcohol,” Brady answered.
Marco and Paolo walked over and Marco promptly tucked her into his side. These men were awfully possessive. Natalie looked up and saw the smirk on Brady’s face. She wished she knew what all these inside jokes were about, but it seemed she was going to remain in the dark as the men began to compare notes on their recent performances and tonight’s competition.
As they continued to talk, Leah rolled her eyes. “How about we leave these guys to their preparations and go find somewhere decent to eat? I hate arena food.”
Jessica glanced at Natalie. “Sure, but I need to speak to Conner first.” She dragged him away and Natalie was about to decline the invitation when she felt Marco’s arm tighten.
He turned them away from the group and said, “Go with the women, cara. I will give you some money.”
“You can’t keep doing this,” Natalie hissed, but Marco just smiled.
“What? Taking care of my girl?”
“You know damn well what I mean. I’m starting to feel as if I’m a kept woman.”
“A what?”
“A whore.”
Marco took a step away, his dark eyes turning black. “You are not a whore.” His voice was no doubt louder than he’d intended and Brady and Leah both looked up before hurrying to pretend they hadn’t heard anything. Marco continued, his voice now soft but deadly serious. “You are not a whore. You are a beautiful, smart woman who I am happy to know and even happier to know well.” He backed her up to the wall and put a hand on either side of her head, caging her in. “I will take care of you. It’s how I was raised and I can’t be any other way. But that doesn’t mean I think of you as my whore, and it doesn’t mean you owe me anything in return. Do you understand what I’m saying, cara?”
Natalie nodded with a sigh. “I just don’t enjoy feeling helpless.”
“You are far from helpless. You are a strong person in a bad situation.” He reached for his wallet and withdrew several bills, pressing them into her hand. “Now take this and have a good time.”
Natalie accepted the money. It was far more than she’d need for a simple meal. No doubt he’d refuse to take the leftover money back, either. Marco wasn’t giving her much choice in the matter, but really, what choice did she have anyway? His hand returned to the wall and he leaned in, pressing his hard body against her softer one.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m about to kiss you. You didn’t think I’d just let you leave without kissing me, did you?”
“Uh…”
She didn’t have time for anything more as he kissed her, driving his tongue into her mouth. Her hands came up to bracket his sides as he braced himself on his forearms, continuing to feast on her. Natalie knew they were in public, and well within sight of several riders and their families, including his brother, Brady and Leah, and Conner and Jessica, but when she tried to halfheartedly push him away he plunged his hands into her hair and tilted her head. God, she loved kissing this man. He kissed with his entire body. She’d never felt anything like it.
Marco pulled away and she touched her fingertips to her ravaged lips. “Wow.”
“I need to stop,” he told her, his nostrils flaring as he stared at her with eyes of molten heat, “or I’ll drag you somewhere and make love to you until we both forget our own names.”
“Oh, my.”
He smiled then. “Yes, oh my.” Leaning
in again, he nipped her ear. “I want to be inside you, so deep inside you don’t know where you end and I begin. And I will, tonight. But right now I need to figure out how to get rid of the erection I’ve got or the guys will tease me.”
“Think about the bull.”
Marco laughed. “That will work. Stay here for a moment so I don’t have to turn around yet.”
“This is your fault, you know. You’re the one who grabbed me.”
“And I don’t regret it, tesora, but now I must work.” With a sigh, he pulled away and grabbed her hand. “Now she’s ready to go.” He smacked her on the ass as the group gathered together again and she shot him an indignant look, but then Brady and Conner did the same thing and the women just rolled their eyes at each other.
Conner leveled a gaze at Jessica. “Behave, darlin’.”
“Yes sir.” Conner’s eyes narrowed, but he turned and walked away with the other men. Jessica giggled. “I love annoying him.”
Leah looped her arm through Jessica’s. “Let’s go.” Jessica turned and held out her other arm to Natalie.
“You heard the woman.”
Natalie grinned. It had been so long since she’d had girlfriends she could just hang out with she’d almost forgotten what it was like.
The women had fun during their early dinner. Leah ordered a bottle of white wine and by the end of dinner Natalie was shocked to see they’d finished it. But when she rose to go to the bathroom and swayed a little she knew she’d probably had more than her fair share. It was the best wine she’d ever tasted and she hadn’t protested as Jessica and Leah both refilled her glass during the course of the meal.
When she returned to the table Leah and Jessica were standing to leave. “What about the check?”
“It was my treat,” Leah said. “I so seldom get to just go out and have a good time. Thank you for coming with us. I think you’re going to be good for Marco.”
“While I’m here, sure. And thank you for dinner. You didn’t have to do that.”
Leah waved her thanks away. “Like I said, I’m usually too busy training and competing to just hang out and talk to girlfriends. It was my pleasure.”
They made their way out of the restaurant and Natalie realized she was even more tipsy than she’d thought. “How many glasses of wine did I drink?”
Leah grinned. “Well, there are about five and a half glasses in a bottle. I had one glass.”
“I had one glass,” Jessica replied.
Natalie’s mouth dropped open. “So I drank the other three and a half? That’s hardly fair, why didn’t you stop me?”
Jessica shrugged. “We were told to behave.” She opened the back door of the car. “Now get in. We’ve got some men to cheer on.”
They drove back to the arena and there was still enough time to let the men know they’d returned from dinner, so they headed back toward the riders’ area. Marco was the first one to come out, and he took one look at Natalie and turned to the other two women.
“What did you do to her?”
Leah smirked. “We may have gotten her a little drunk.”
Natalie giggled.
“Okay, maybe more than a little.”
“What’s goin’ on?” Conner asked as he approached them.
“You told us to behave, so we let Natalie drink most of the wine.”
Conner’s gaze cut to Natalie and she giggled again, even as she thought of how silly she sounded. It was as if she couldn’t stop herself. She’d been tipsy before, but never on wine. Apparently wine made her silly-tipsy.
“Well, you’re gonna have to take care of her and make sure she’s okay.”
“We will. We’re just going to go sit in the stands, we promise.”
“You do that.” He regarded Marco, but jerked his head in Natalie’s direction. “She all right?”
“I think so.”
“I’ll see you afterward, then, sugar,” he told Jessica before planting a quick kiss on her cheek and returning to the riders’ area.
“Are you all right?” Marco asked Natalie.
She tried to nod, but her head didn’t seem to want to work that way. “I’m okay.”
He looked into her eyes and she tried to stare back, but he looked a little fuzzy. “If you’re sure.”
“Go.” She waved a hand toward the door for the riders’ area. “I’m fine.”
Jessica put her arm around her. “We’ll take care of her, don’t worry.”
With one more long, hard look, Marco nodded and the girls said goodbye before heading for the seats.
“I have an extra ticket,” Leah said. “So you can sit with us.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. Come on.”
Jessica grinned at Natalie. “I had no idea you were such a lightweight. I hope Marco’s not mad.”
“He’ll get over it,” Leah said with a wink at Natalie.
They sat and talked about inconsequential things until the event started. Natalie felt a little ill when the music, lights and pyrotechnics started, but her stomach settled down after that and she had a good time quizzing Jessica again and listening to stories from Leah’s time on the tour last year. She was too buzzed to write anything much down, which was a bummer, but there was no help for it.
The second group, including Marco, Conner and Brady, was announced, and they turned their attention toward the chutes. Marco was riding first since his ranking had fallen after being bucked at the last event.
He got situated on the bull and the chute swung open. The bull charged out and it looked as if Marco never got a good hold on the beast, because he got bucked after only a little over a second. Natalie winced. That wasn’t good.
Leah and Jessica both turned to her with twin expressions of sympathy. “That sucks,” Jessica said. “Hopefully he’ll do better tomorrow.”
“I hope so,” Natalie answered, suddenly feeling stone-cold sober. She felt eyes on her and looked up to see Marco trying to get her attention. He put up an arm and motioned for her to come to him, and she didn’t hesitate. “Good luck to your guys. I’m going to make sure Marco is all right.”
“You do that…” Jessica murmured.
When Natalie reached Marco he said, “Follow me.” Turning away from the riders’ area, he headed down a hallway as Natalie trailed after him.
“Where are we going?”
“Not sure.”
“Okay,” she answered, wondering what the hell he was looking for.
He opened a door and ushered her inside. It appeared to be a gym or training room of some sort, but it was hard to tell in the dim light, since Marco hadn’t turned on any lights when he’d entered.
“I need you.”
Marco walked her back until her knees buckled and she sat down on a low, padded table.
“Marco, what’s—”
“Let me inside you. I need to be inside you now.” His pleading tone surprised her, and she lay back. He groaned and began to work the snap and zipper of her jeans down. Natalie started to reach up, but Marco batted her hands away. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me, cara, but I need to fuck you.” Marco wasn’t normally so plain-spoken and Natalie knew he must not be quite himself. He left her jeans around her calves and went for his own belt buckle. When he had the buckle undone he hurriedly unzipped and pushed his own jeans and boxers down around his boots. Reaching into the pocket, he then drew a condom out of his wallet and rolled it on, his expression fierce.
He pulled her ass to the edge of the table and then thrust inside in one quick movement. Natalie gasped and he grabbed her head, looking into her eyes.
“You didn’t hurt me.”
“Good, because even though I would like to say this is going to be gentle, it isn’t.”
“That’s okay, Marco.” She met his gaze and said, “Fuck me. I’m yours.”
“Oh, cara…” He pulled almost all the way out and slammed back inside her, setting up a fast, hard rhythm. She stayed with him, spreadin
g her legs as much as she could, given the confinement of her jeans around her ankles. “Oh, yeah. Do you like it rough?”
“Yes,” was all she could get out as sensation flared through her, starting in her pussy and radiating outward.
Marco pulled out and slapped her hip. “Turn over. I want to watch my cock go in and out of your beautiful grilla.” He ran his fingertips over her pussy and she didn’t have to ask what grilla meant. She rolled over and he pulled her ass up so she was kneeling. “Do you want me to fuck you from behind? Tell me.”
“Yes, I want you.”
“Tell me what you want. I want to hear you use the dirty words, to be my dirty girl.”
Natalie didn’t know where this Marco had come from, but his words and actions were strangely alluring. “I want you to fuck me from behind.”
“Yes, oh yes,” he chanted as he pushed back inside her. “So tight for me.”
“All for you.”
He slapped her hard on the ass and she moaned. “Say it again.”
“All for you.” Her orgasm was building faster than she’d ever thought possible with no stimulation to her clit, and her breath caught. “Marco, fuck me,” she pleaded.
Marco sped up even more, fucking her so hard her entire body pushed forward with every thrust. “Come for me,” he got out through obviously clenched teeth, and she exploded, clamping down on his cock inside her. He let out a long groan and folded himself over her back as he continued to thrust through her orgasm.
Her body gave out and she collapsed on the table with Marco on top of her. He stayed there for a moment, but then pulled out and she heard him grab a tissue from a table nearby. She turned her head and watched as he yanked his pants up but didn’t zip them, and then dropped the condom in a trash can.
Marco sat down on the table next to her. She felt boneless. She knew she should get dressed again, but the post-orgasmic bliss combined with the lingering effects of the alcohol made it hard to care. Marco sighed and pushed her hair away from her face.
“Can you forgive me for what I did?”
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