Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
GYPSY
Butterflies were rioting in my stomach. The longer we drove, the antsier I got, until it was almost impossible to stay in my seat.
I couldn’t believe I’d actually let Marco talk me into this. A night away from home, away from the kids. The thought had terrified me, but when he’d looked down at me with those sweet hazel eyes and told me he wanted to do something special for me, I hadn’t been able to resist him.
We’d been together for a month and a half now, and while that niggling of doubt was still firmly tucked in the back of my head, I’d gotten pretty good at ignoring it. Whether that was the right choice or not, I couldn’t find it in me to care whenever he was around.
Looking toward the driver seat, I took in Marco’s gorgeous profile. He was completely at ease, one hand lazily gripping the steering wheel, his other forearm resting on the center console. Meanwhile, I was fidgety from being in such close quarters and wondering where he was taking me.
“So, you really aren’t gonna tell me where we’re going?” I asked over the music playing softly from the speakers.
He turned his head and hit me with that beautiful white smile. “I’m really not, girasol. Like I said, it’s a surprise.”
I flopped back in my seat with an annoyed huff, crossing my arms over my chest and pouting out the windshield. “I hate surprises,” I grumbled sullenly. “They give me anxiety.”
His warm chuckle coasted over my skin like the softest blanket, and when he reached across the console and rested his big palm on my thigh, a shiver worked its way through me.
No matter how many times this man touched me—and he seemed to need to touch me whenever I was near—I reacted the same way.
Marco Castillo was just so potent, so intoxicating in every single way, that I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to it.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to get used to it, because the truth was, I loved the heady feeling he aroused in me.
I relished the loss of control, like I was free-falling into him and never wanted to land.
But what was more, I loved that I seemed to bring out the same feelings in him.
Stripping could sometimes make you feel powerful. But getting a reaction from the men in the audience was nothing compared to the knowledge that I could drive Marco wild with need. I’d never felt anything like it.
His thumb began tracing lazy circles on my inner thigh, and it took everything in me not to combust on the spot. However, my mind was pulled away from his touch when we passed a freeway sign.
“Um….” Worry began to tug at my subconscious. “Marco? Did that sign just say we left Virginia?”
His thumb never stopped its motion. “Uh-huh.”
The prickling along my skin now had nothing to do with his touch and everything to do with the panic beginning to choke me. “And why exactly are we leaving Virginia?”
“’Cause we’re staying the night in DC.”
“What?” I screeched, spinning toward him so fast my hair slapped me in the face. “Marco! I can’t spend the night in DC. I have the kids! I thought… I thought you were just taking me to a B she’d definitely do right by me.
And Odette was practical, so she’d make sure I had stuff like face wash and toothpaste.
“You just thought of everything, didn’t you?” I asked, my voice holding a hint of awe as I turned to look back at him.
Marco’s hand left my leg, coming up to take my own and lacing his fingers through mine.
“You deserve a night where you don’t have to worry about anything,” he stated casually, bringing our clenched hands down on the console.
“You might not need anyone to take care of you, but that doesn’t mean I’m not up to the task.
I like taking care of you, Gypsy. Especially when I watch you run yourself ragged.
” My heart swelled so big it hurt, and I worried there wasn’t enough room in my chest to contain it.
“I know you’re all about controlling every aspect of your life, but you need a break, baby.
And I’m gonna give you one, even if I have to cart you around over my shoulder while you’re kicking and screaming. ”
My head fell back on a burst of shocked laughter. God, he was incredible. “So what you’re saying is you’re willing to kidnap me in order to force me into having fun.”
He shot me a wink that made my nipples hard and my heart rate spike. “Pretty much. You’ll learn one of these days.”
“Learn what?”
The playfulness fell away, and when he turned from the road, those hazel eyes sparked with such intensity they stole my breath. “That you can trust me. I’m not going anywhere, girasol. One of these days, you’re gonna give me all of you.”
A whole new wave of panic crashed into me with that statement. We still hadn’t discussed labeling what we were. Hell, we hadn’t even been out on an actual date. But his declaration told me he was gearing up to take us somewhere far more serious than I thought myself capable of.
I’d already given more of myself to Marco than I had any other man, and he still wanted more. He wanted everything.
Straightening in my seat, I gave no response as I shifted my eyes back to the windshield and worked to regulate my breathing.
He might think he wanted all of me, but he’d change his mind. He was perfect, and I was… just me. He’d get tired of the baggage that came with my life and eventually walk away, moving on to something better and easier. It was only a matter of time.
The unhappy sigh that radiated from him grated at my skin and made my stomach sink. His disappointment killed me, but I somehow managed to push the pain it caused to the back of my mind.
This was all he was going to get. Incredible sex, good times, and lots of laughs. It was all I could afford to give him. I’d already given too many pieces of my heart away in the past. If I gave him anything more, there’d be nothing left when he was finally done with me.
Marco
The rest of the drive had been made in silence after she shut down on me earlier. I shouldn’t have said what I did. I knew goddamn good and well she’d close herself off, barricading herself behind that fucking fortress she used to keep me out, but I hadn’t been able to help myself.
Rhodes’s words from weeks ago kept beating into my brain.
“Force your way in, Marco.”
“Force your way in.”
“Force your way in.”
That was exactly what I intended to do. But no matter how hard I beat at those walls, no matter what I did to try and dispel those shadows in her eyes, she was determined to keep me at arm’s length.
She’d given me just enough of herself to tie me up in knots, making me desperate to have it all, but she refused to hand over the rest.
Stubborn woman.
She might not have realized it yet, but I’d do anything and everything in my power to protect her heart.
She took in the luxuriousness of the hotel lobby with her lips parted and eyes wide while I checked us in. When I finished and moved back to where she was standing, frozen to the floor, it took every ounce of willpower I had not to grab her by the back of the neck and slam my lips down on hers.
“Ready?” I asked softly, lifting a hand to tease a thick tendril of her soft hair. It was fucking impossible to keep my hands off her when she was near.
My question pulled her out of her dazed state, and she gave her head a little shake, clearing her throat to answer. “Uh, y-yeah. Yes. Ready when you are.”
Christ, she was adorable.
I hooked my duffel over my shoulder and grabbed the handles of hers before placing my free hand on the small of her back to guide her toward the elevators.
Her whole body shivered the instant my palm touched her, and I couldn’t hold back the small grin that pulled at my lips.
Her brain might have been putting up a good fight, but her body was desperate for me, and as long as that was the case, I still had a fighting chance.
“Wow,” she breathed the moment I pushed the door open and she stepped into the hotel room I’d booked for us. “Marco, this place is…. It’s incredible.”
I forced my eyes off her—a nearly impossible task—to scan the room, wanting to take in what she was seeing.
I’d made the reservation with the intention of giving her a night she wouldn’t forget.
When she’d made the offhand admission a while back that she’d never ventured far from Hope Valley, my mind had run wild with all the places I wanted to take her.
If I thought I could’ve gotten away with it, I would have whisked her off to Paris or Italy in a heartbeat.
As it was, the suite I’d booked was nothing to sneeze at, but from the expression on her face just then, you’d have thought she was standing in the middle of The Louvre.
“Glad you like it, baby.”
That honey gaze came back to me, and I felt my dick stir to life behind my fly. “I love it. But… it’s too much. You didn’t need to do all of this.” She threw her arms out to indicate the room. “Not for me.”
The skin between my eyes bunched with a heavy frown. “If not you, then who, huh?”
Her eyes swam with doubt, and I could feel her uncertainty like a hot brand against my skin as she shrugged, whispering, “Someone worth it.”
My chest vibrated with a rumble of displeasure as I closed the distance between us.
“Christ, you’re fuckin’ hardheaded,” I said with a grunt, reaching up to rest my hands on the sides of her neck, tangling my fingers in that mass of silky hair.
“In all this time you’ve been pushing me away, have I given you a single goddamn indication that I want anyone but you? ”
“I—” Her breath hitched, making her chest rise and fall dramatically. “N-No,” she answered so quietly that if I hadn’t been standing an inch away, I wouldn’t have heard her.
Blowing out a breath to release the pressure building in my lungs, I dropped my forehead against hers and closed my eyes. “I’m right where I want to be, and I’m with exactly who I want to be with.”
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. I’d have rather been in that massive king-size bed with Gypsy’s naked body lying beneath mine, but that would have to wait.
Pulling back, I shifted my arm so I could see the time on my watch and then let out an unhappy grumble. “We got a little over an hour. Think you can get ready in that amount of time?”
Her eyes narrowed on me suspiciously, but she didn’t pull from my grasp. “Depends,” she stated.
“On?”
Her face flashed with humor as she grinned cheekily. “On what I’m getting ready for.”
My head fell back on a laugh, and I pulled her flush against me.
“Nice try,” I said once I got a hold of myself.
She was gazing up at me, those full, pouty lips calling to me, so I did the only thing I could.
I bent my head and gave in to the need with a quick kiss that made her sigh and smile against my lips.
And that was all it took. One contented sigh and a smile, and she proved once again that she was more than worth the effort.
“You’ve got an hour, girasol. I have faith you can make that work.”
She wiggled from my embrace, and as hard as it was, I let her go so she could head toward the bathroom. But not before I gave her ass a satisfying slap.
She let out a little yelp and turned to give me a playful scowl before disappearing into the bedroom.