Chapter Seven
Ava had expected to wake up the following morning to find Knox gone. It was rare for him to leave a job, come back to the house, recharge, and leave again. She wondered if he had missed her.
She held the breakfast tray in her arms, and Marshal had already been up and nearly breaking the coffeepot to get it loaded. She was slowly teaching him how to take care of himself. It was a slow process, but one she refused to turn her back on.
“You don’t have to keep staring,” Knox said.
“I should have known you were already awake.”
“I’ve been to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, but I didn’t take a shower.”
After the long bath they had last night, there was no reason to.
“I went and got breakfast for us, and he asked a gazillion questions. He wants to know if you’re staying long. He asked me to beg you not to leave. If you’re ready to go home, then we can leave, but I was thinking maybe it would be worth taking Marshal with us?”
Knox laughed. “You’ve grown fond of him?”
“I don’t know if it’s that I have grown fond of him, but I don’t want to .
.. leave him behind. He seems so helpless, and I just know the first woman that looks at him as if he’s some kind of king, he will be right back where he started.
He needs to learn to be independent. Or do you think I’m worrying too much? ”
“You like him, and it makes sense for you to worry.” He shrugged. “It is what it is.”
“True.” She put the tray in front of Knox. She had prepared a variety of fruit, which she knew he loved, but there was also a nice, large stack of pancakes, syrup, and bacon. Knox loved his bacon. She picked up a glass of fresh juice.
Last night, they had slept together in this bed. They hadn’t had sex. Knox had held her in his arms, and it had been so sweet, so ... magical. She pushed those thoughts to the side, because she needed to have her wits about her right about now.
“How are you feeling?” Knox asked, taking a bite into the pancakes.
“I’m good.”
“Are you sore?”
And her face started to heat. She shook her head. “No, I’m not sore. You don’t have to ask me questions like that.” She wanted to put her hands to her face, but she resisted the urge.
“I’m not sure what we do now?” Knox said.
“What do you want to do?” Did he mean about their relationship? Had they crossed a line he didn’t want to cross? Was he hoping to get rid of her?
“I want to fuck you, Ava. I want to look into your eyes as I sink balls-deep inside you, and I don’t see another speck of pain in your eyes.”
“Oh,” she said. Now that sounded like fun. “I’m not in any kind of pain. No soreness.”
She wanted to have sex with him again.
“Hello, people,” Marshal said, stepping into the room.
“It is another glorious day, and I have checked the weather forecast, and it is going to be a scorcher.” He let out a little blow of wind.
“I already feel how hot it is. So, I was thinking we could have a little barbeque later and a campout at the pool. What do you say?”
Ava looked toward Knox. She didn’t know what he was going to say.
“I’m enjoying my breakfast.”
“I know. Ava makes some mean pancakes, doesn’t she? Are you going to eat those?” Marshal asked, stepping closer.
He reached for one of the pancakes, and Knox hit him with the flat of the butter knife. “They’re not your pancakes. They’re mine.”
“Wow, you and Ava sound exactly alike. Only she hit me with her pancake flipper thing, and then glared at me because she had to wash it.” Marshal sighed. “Anyway, I figured us three best friends could hang out with each other. I know you probably won’t be staying long, but we can dream, can’t we?”
Marshal was lonely. Ava got that. He surrounded himself with people who didn’t know a thing about him. It was sad.
He had inherited money, but he had also been good at investing, and he’d made a fortune.
Ava knew Marshal also worked, it was one of the few things he was competent at, but he never needed to go into the office.
She’d seen him walking around his office, or his dining room, or even his pool, with a little headset at his ear, as he gave orders.
He was an expert in getting what he wanted on a business front.
Privately, the man was a mess, and all she wanted to do was take care of him.
“How about we join you at the pool?” Knox asked.
“A pool party. I will get the sangria going.”
“No alcohol,” Knox said.
“No alcohol, not even a smidge?” Marshal asked.
“Not even a drop.”
He scrunched up his face, and Ava tried not to laugh. She tried not to, but it was so cute.
“Fine, fine, iced, nonalcoholic drinks it is. I’ll see you guys down there.”
Marshal left them alone.
“I think we’re going to have to hold off on the sex until after we’ve spent a little time with Marshal,” Ava said.
“We will.” Knox moved his tray of food out of the way, and then reached over, grabbing her by the neck and pulling her in close. Within seconds his lips were on hers, and she lost all thought. Not that there were any relevant thoughts to have.
The feel of him was everything—the way he held her, pulling her in, she felt her body respond, and there was no way she could stop.
“Tonight, you will be mine,” he said.
It sounded like a promise, and it was one she hoped he would keep.
****
“I am sorry about my wife being a pain in the ass,” Marshal said.
“Ex-wife.”
“Shit, yeah, ex-wife. I’m going to have to get used to that.” He let out a laugh. “You would think seeing as she tried to kill me, it would be easy for me to rectify.” Another laugh came out of him.
Ava had gone into the house to prepare them some lunch. They had spent most of the morning hanging out at the pool. Ava had done some swimming, and Knox had done everything he could to control himself and not dive straight in after her, although that was exactly what he wanted to do.
He didn’t want to swim with her. No, he wanted to remove that swimsuit, wrap her legs around his waist, and take her right there, thrusting balls-deep inside her.
Instead, he’d stayed enjoying the rays of the sunlight, waiting for his guy to get back in touch. He was not a man known for sitting in the sun and relaxing. Not when there was a threat close to home and he needed to remove it.
Ava was too much of a call.
“She’s in love with you,” Marshal said.
Knox turned to look at the other man. Marshal laughed. “Don’t look so shocked. I may not know everything, but this I know.”
“You’ve been married three times.”
“Exactly, and that makes me an expert. I never at any point claimed to love the three women I married. They seemed competent in running a house and taking care of all of the chores I didn’t want to do.
I didn’t want to handle staff, or laundry, or even taking care of my food.
How was I to know they would all end in disaster?
Apart from Anna, she is a true sweetheart.
She didn’t try to take half my money, and in all honesty, she cheated on me because I did kind of cheat on her first.” He winced.
“She tried to love me, but she said I was a baby in a man’s body. ”
Knox frowned. “How do you kind of cheat on someone?”
“I didn’t say no, and the woman climbed right on top, and my dick was hard, and I didn’t mean for it to be hard.
” Marshal shrugged. “We’re arguing semantics.
Anyway, Anna had promised to be faithful to me, but I pushed and I pushed, and then she cheated, and we got divorced.
At least she didn’t try to rob me blind.
” He clicked his fingers. “All she asked was for some investment to her own business and some guidance, as well as the country house. I hated that house, so it was a good way of getting rid of it. Her business is sound. She owns a makeup brand, and it is fucking sweet. Probably one of the best investments I’ve ever made. ”
He didn’t realize how much Marshal talked. No wonder Ava kept asking how long they were going to keep him around.
“Do you think anyone could love me? Or love the baby inside a man who needs taking care of?” Marshal asked, and pouted.
“I’m sure there is a woman out there for everyone,” he said.
“You’ve got to be right. You’re a killer by nature and Ava is in love with you.” Marshal let out a laugh. He opened his mouth as if to say more, and the man’s cell phone went off.
Knox had never been more thankful to hear the buzzing of a cell phone as he was at that moment.
“Duty calls. Money does not make itself.” Marshal was already walking away as he answered.
Knox was not going to stay out by the pool, so he made his way inside to find Ava draining water out of a pot. He moved in behind her and saw she was draining some potatoes.
“I thought you were keeping Marshal company?” Ava asked.
“He’s working.” He put his hands on her hips. “You know what that means?” He pressed his pelvis against her ass. His cock was already hard.
“No,” she said, a little breathlessly. “What does that mean?”
“It means that you and I get to have some fun.” He pressed his lips against her neck. “Don’t you want to have some fun?”
“We don’t know how long he is going to be.”
Knox put his hand on her thigh and started to slide it up, going beneath the fabric of her costume.
“We don’t even have to leave the kitchen.”
She put the saucepan down and gripped the edge of the counter.
“I can do all the work. You just have to enjoy it.”
She let out a moan, and it was such a soft sound.
He pressed his hand against her pussy and slid a single finger between her slit.
She was soaking wet. He glided down and pressed a finger knuckle-deep within her.
She was still so tight. He pulled his finger out, pressed it back inside, then added a second finger.
“I love that no other man knows how good this pussy feels,” he said. His lips danced across her neck. “This pussy belongs to me, Ava, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
His cock was so hard.
He took hold of one of her hands and moved it behind her so she could touch his dick. “Do you feel that? Do you feel what you do to me?”
She moaned.
He let go of her hand, and she continued to hold his length as he cupped her tit in his palm. She let out a cry, and the sound was so fucking heady. There was no faking it with her. It was all natural.
“Do you know I’ve thought about doing this to you so many times?” he asked. He brushed his lips across her neck, nibbling down on her collarbone.
“You have?”
“Yeah, I wondered if your pussy would be as sweet as I imagined it to be. Guess what, it’s even better.”
He pulled his fingers out of her cunt, drawing them back, and he started to stroke her clit, going back and forth. She whimpered.
Using two fingers on either side of her clit, he massaged gently, wanting to give her the right amount of pressure to get her exactly where he wanted her. Sliding a single finger across her clit, he moved back and forth, taking his time, drawing her orgasm higher.
As he bit down on her neck she rocked against him, and her grip tightened around his length.
“Knox, please,” she said.
“Tell me you want to come.”
“Please, I want to come.”
“Then come, baby, come for me.”
His name spilled from her lips in a pleasured scream and it filled the air. It was a magical sound. Perfection.
He pushed her over that edge, holding her close, keeping control of his own arousal.
There wasn’t going to be enough time to take care of his arousal, but he was more than happy to wait.