Chapter 24
24
ENNIO
T he whole weekend had been magical, like something from a Hallmark movie. From the spectacular sex on the day we arrived to him claiming me at the party and then that romantic stroll we’d taken through town, everything had been picture-perfect. Something had shifted between us, changed into…
I wasn’t sure into what, but we were more than friends with benefits. We were together—Marnin had said so himself. He might not have made any promises, but I didn’t need them. Would I want to hear that he loved me? Of course, but I wasn’t counting on that happening anytime soon. Marnin wasn’t a man of words. His actions showed his character. He cared for me more than I had expected, and for now, that was enough.
Sadly, all good times must come to an end, so late Sunday night, we’d made the trek back to Seattle, where the streets were a mushy, slippery slush, and the sky was endlessly gray. I missed Forestville, though I didn’t tell Marnin that. My guess was he knew anyway. The man missed very little.
“We have a charity gala on Friday,” Marnin said during dinner, which was a simple but delicious risotto.
“For your work?”
He nodded. “LeClerc Robotics hosts one every year, and the proceeds benefit several charities the company supports, ranging from research into glioblastoma to group homes for queer kids. It’s pretty awesome, actually, and we usually raise a fuck ton of money. It’s a whole show where everyone dresses up fancy and they serve ridiculously expensive finger food, but it draws the rich and famous. Hell, they even have a bachelor auction.”
“Do you participate in that?”
He looked at me with an expression of sheer horror. “Fuck no, and if Sebastian made me, I’d quit on the spot.”
I snorted. Classic Marnin answer. “But you do attend?”
“It’s… I won’t say required, but let’s just say Hadley, Sebastian’s husband, is the most persuasive person I’ve ever met. It’s easier to go along with whatever he wants than to fight him since that is a waste of time and energy.”
“I want to meet him.”
Marnin rolled his eyes. “The two of you together is a recipe for disaster, but you’ll have your chance on Friday…if you’ll come with me.”
My mouth ran suddenly dry. “You want me to come with you?”
“Yes.”
“As your…?”
He swallowed. “As my date.”
Pure joy exploded inside me. “Are you sure?”
His face filled with a puzzled expression. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because…” I hesitated. Maybe I was overthinking things, but I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t say it. “I’m not exactly corporate safe, you know. My appearance, I mean. I’m very…gay.”
Understanding dawned in his eyes. “I’m out at work. Always have been.”
“Sure, but there’s a difference between knowing someone is gay or bi or pan or whatever, and seeing it with your own eyes. I don’t blend in, Marnin.”
“No, you stand out…as you should. You’re fucking gorgeous the way you are, and I’m proud to have you on my arm.”
Tell me that was not a declaration of love right there. My whole heart jumped inside me, recognizing the emotion behind that statement. “Thank you.”
“I’ll never be ashamed of you, sunshine. Ever.”
I had to clear my throat before I could speak again. “That means a lot to me.”
Marnin, obviously uncomfortable with my visible emotions, looked away as he dug his wallet out of his pocket. He took out a credit card and slid it toward me. “Buy something pretty for yourself. The dress code is formal.”
I felt like I’d somehow gotten stuck in a real-life Pretty Woman . “I don’t need?—”
“You need to outshine everyone. Please allow me to do this for you. I’d buy you something myself if I wasn’t the most boring dresser on the planet.”
He was, and I had every intention of adding some color to his wardrobe, but that could wait. “Formal wear isn’t cheap.”
“I’m aware.”
“I don’t want to spend too much money.”
He studied me for a few beats, then crooked his finger at me. “Come here for a moment.”
Hesitantly, I got up. What did he want? When I stepped close to him, he pulled me onto his lap, which was so unexpected I squealed. “What are you doing?”
He opened his phone and swiped a few times, then looked into the camera to open an app. Another few swipes, and then he held the screen in front of me. “See that?”
My eyes narrowed to make sense of the insane amount I saw, then widened. “That’s your bank account?”
“It’s the total value of my investment portfolio plus my savings, and it doesn’t include my checking account, which is another twenty thousand easily. I’ve been working extremely well-paying jobs since I was twenty-four, sunshine, and LeClerc paid off my student loans as part of a sign-on bonus. I don’t have a family, I rarely take time off, and other than this condo and my car, I haven’t spent a lot of money on things. I don’t care about clothes. I can’t remember when I last took a vacation other than a work trip, and other than the occasional splurge for presents for friends, I don’t spend money. So yeah, I have plenty to buy you a great outfit…and then some.”
He was a millionaire. Marnin was a millionaire…a few times over. If I wasn’t staring at the evidence with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. I mean, of course, I’d known he had a great job, but I’d never realized that… “I’m not after your money,” I said weakly. “I need you to know that. I wasn’t?—”
A firm hand over my mouth cut me off. “The thought never even occurred to me. You’d never do that. You’re much too honest for that, too sweet. So don’t even go there.”
That, at least, brought some relief. “I needed to say it.”
“Now you did, so let’s move on.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
He could be so dense sometimes. “For giving me money to shop for an outfit.”
“Oh, that. You’re welcome, sunshine. Pick something pretty and sparkling, okay?”
“What’s my budget?”
He gave me a pained look. “As if I would have any clue what clothes cost.”
“Don’t you buy a suit from time to time?”
“Yes, and I use a personal shopper who knows exactly what I want. I text her I need a new suit, and two days later, there’s a delivery. I have no idea of the cost, nor do I care.”
“Well, I’ll need a little more guidance than that.”
“I think the limit on that card is twenty-five thousand?”
I nearly choked on my own breath. “Jesus, Marnin, I’m not spending that much on an outfit! Are you fucking insane?”
He laughed sheepishly. “Spend whatever you want is what I’m trying to say. Consider yourself Julia Roberts on Rodeo Drive, okay?”
How funny that he’d made the exact same association. Didn’t mean I couldn’t play with him a little. My eyes narrowed. “She was a hooker. Are you calling me a hooker?”
He instantly panicked, and I wished I had more of a poker face so I could’ve kept it up longer. “No! That’s not what I was trying to— You’re messing with me. That was a joke.”
I burst out in laughter. “Of course it was.”
“You had me worried there for a moment.”
I changed position, straddling him and moving until his hardening cock was right under my ass. Keeping eye contact, I pressed down on him. “But you’d still like me to pay you back in sex, I assume?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again, considering. “That’s one of those questions that doesn’t have a correct answer. I’m fucked either way.”
I leaned forward until my mouth was right near his ear. “Mmm, wrong. If you play your cards right, I’m the one who gets fucked…”
Don’t ever let it be said that Marnin Rosser couldn’t take a hint. It took him all but five seconds to stand, yank my pants down, lower his own, and sit again. Before I realized it, he had two fingers coated with lube—where had that magically come from?—and was pressing inside me.
I welcomed the burn, the exquisite sting radiating outward until every cell in my body had come alive. He forgot all about finesse and prepped me with brutal efficiency, then wiped his hands on the tablecloth—ew, we would so have a conversation about that later on—and put his hands on my hips.
I helped him raise me, then lowered myself on his cock, which was gloriously hard. It speared inside me, staking its claim with insistence until he was buried to the hilt, his pubic hair scratching my tender skin.
“Ride me,” he said hoarsely. “See me, take your pleasure from me.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I sank down on him until our pelvises were flush, every inch of muscle and sinew pulsing with power and readiness. ““You feel so good inside me,” I whispered, rolling my hips in a circular motion that had his eyes darkening.
With a slow, sensual gyration of my hips, I started moving up and down on his cock. He filled me completely, every thrust sending pleasurable shocks throughout my entire body. A slight shift in the angle, and oh god, yes… He hit my spot perfectly.
His eyes followed every movement, every sway of my body. His breathing quickened, and he pulled me closer to him with every thrust until all I could see was his face, his lips parted as he panted, his eyes the deepest brown. The intensity of it all made me feel like I was the only person who ever existed.
He groaned, his hands digging into my hips as though he wanted to pull me even closer. “You’re gonna be the death of me, you know that?”
“But what a way to go…”
The next time I sank down on him, he thrust upward, and the breath whooshed right out of my lungs. I savored each stroke of his cock, so hard, so warm, so perfectly filling me. My body was tingling in anticipation, my orgasm building rapidly. But it wasn’t enough. I could only do so much, and my muscles were getting tired.
“Marnin,” I moaned, “I need it harder. Please…”
He picked me up and placed me on the dining room table on my back, then yanked me forward until my ass was hanging over the edge, my legs spread wide open for him. He surged inside me, immediately picking up speed until he was slamming into me with a brutally exquisite intensity and pace.
His cock pistoned in and out of me, each thrust harder than the last. The table shook and creaked under the force of his movements, but I couldn’t have cared less if it collapsed right then and there. All that mattered was the coil of pleasure winding tighter and tighter inside me with every slap of his hips against mine.
“Touch yourself,” Marnin growled, his eyes dark and wild as he gazed down at where we were joined. “Let me see you come on my cock.”
I wrapped my hand around my cock, fisting it tightly. Usually, I preferred to come hands-free, but this time, an almost desperate need to come had me jacking myself off hard and fast. My other hand gripped the table’s edge, white-knuckled, as if that could ground me against the onslaught of sensation.
“That’s it, sunshine. Just like that. You’re so fucking gorgeous, so perfect. I can’t get enough of you.”
His filthy words spurred me on, and I increased my rhythm. My head thrashed on the table, my back arching as I chased my release. When it came, it barreled into me like a tornado, my entire body seizing up as wave after wave of ecstasy crashed over me. Every muscle contracted and shook, and I cried out Marnin’s name, my release spurting over my fist and onto my stomach. My hole clenched around him rhythmically, milking his cock.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Marnin chanted, his thrusts becoming erratic. With a final, brutal snap of his hips, he buried himself deep inside me and stilled, a guttural groan escaping his lips as he spilled his seed into my body.
For long moments, the only sound in the room was our heavy breathing as we tried to catch our breaths. Marnin collapsed forward, barely catching himself on his elbows to avoid crushing me. His forehead rested against mine, his eyes closed as he savored the aftershocks.
When he finally pulled out and helped me sit up, I couldn’t contain the satisfied grin stretching my lips. “That was amazing.”
“Not half as amazing as my view right now. Look at that dirty little hole of yours, leaking my cum…”
I pulled my legs up and spread my knees wide. Not the most comfortable position, but totally worth it as Marnin’s eyes instantly darkened with lust. “Wanna see if you can fuck it out of me?” I whispered. “And maybe put another load in there?”
“Fuck yes.”
Before I knew what was happening, he lifted me off the table and threw me over his shoulder. “Marnin!”
His deep, booming laugh made me even happier than the orgasm I’d just had.
Though I wouldn’t object to another one…