Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Layla
I ’d considered mood music, candles everywhere, and some sort of cliché set up to go with it, but in the end, my nerves wouldn’t let me do that. I also had a puppy who knocked into things, and with Mark’s house still in need of a deep clean, we couldn’t go and live there if mine burned down to the ground. So, candles everywhere were out.
I had lit my three wicked one in a glass bowl, though, and put a couple of other versions of it on the surfaces I could in my bedroom to light once we got up there. Mood lighting was a must, and so long as we were in the room with them while they were burning, it’d all be okay.
But, as I stood in my silk and lace nightie waiting for him to come through the front door, I started to doubt my plan.
I was just turning to go and get my big fluffy robe when the door opened, and I saw his eyes widen as he took in what I was wearing.
Faster than I knew he could move, he shoved the person talking behind him and slammed the door in their face.
Whoever it was began banging almost immediately, but he just turned the lock and put the chain on for good measure.
“Let me in.”
“Oh, God, is that Ren?”
“Layla? Layla? Tell him to let me in.”
Mark started walking toward me slowly, his eyes moving from the top of my head down to my toes. “He wanted to tell you about a movie Maya thought you’d like.”
Seeing the heated appreciation on his face, I made a mental note to thank Cyn.
“She can text me about it.”
He rubbed his chin, the rasp of his five o’clock shadow sounding overly loud, even with Ren still knocking on the door. “That’s what I thought.”
He didn’t pause his steps as he got to me. Instead, he just swooped down and picked me up as he walked toward the stairs.
“Layla, I need to talk to you,” Ren yelled. “I’ve still got the plastic container you gave me to take the cupcakes home in.”
That’d been five months ago, and I knew what he was doing. Being a shithead like my brothers had made it their vocation in life to be.
“I don’t care. Now bugger off and go home,” I screamed, then burst out laughing as Mark carried me up the stairs, with Zeus practically dancing around his feet.
“Did you just say bugger off?” he asked as we got to my bedroom.
“It felt a good choice of word for the situation.”
Carefully, almost like I was made of glass, he lowered me onto the bed. “I need to have a shower. Work kind of makes us dirty, so I should shower first.”
I nodded happily and shifted on the mattress until I had my back on the pillows.
He didn’t move during it and stood watching me with a soft smile on his face.
“I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my life.”
This was the Mark I’d fallen in love with. The one who looked at me like I was something special. Then he’d shown the side of me that was a protector, who listened, who was loyal, and who loved that I was the same way with him. Yes, there was a slight disadvantage because I was the type of woman who wanted an alpha male, but I wasn’t submissive in the slightest, and I needed that fact to be respected.
Then again, I’d known all of that about him because I’d grown up seeing him and experiencing his personality from day one. Maybe that’s what had made him my perfect man because no other male would even come close to Mark Montgomery for me.
My legs began shaking slightly when the shower cut off, so I got up and quickly lit the candles and crawled back onto the bed.
Zeus started pawing at the side of the mattress, so I rolled onto my side and gave him scratches. “Not right now, buddy. I don’t know if they have puppy therapy, but I’m betting it’d cost a fortune to do it.”
The bed dipped behind me, making me jump and look over my shoulder at Mark, who was still wearing a towel.
“Therapy for animals exists, but you’re right about the cost.”
I grinned and rolled onto my back, the nerves dying down slightly now that he was back.
“I think we’ll avoid it if we can.”
Mark leaned over me and gave Zeus an under-the-chin scratch that made him groan. “You’ve got an expensive bed in the corner, man. Why don’t you go and play with your toys for a bit?”
Reluctantly, Zeus ambled over to his bed and lay down with another groan, this time not sounding as happy as his first one had.
Seeing as how he was already lying on top of me, I opened my legs so that he could settle in between them.
With his weight on one elbow, Mark reached up and skimmed his thumb across my cheek. “This is my happy place. It feels like I’ve got no problems and stress in my life when we’re like this.”
I could understand that completely.
Taking a deep breath for courage, I admitted, “Any time I spend with you—just the two of us—makes the world disappear.” The second the words were out, I shut my mouth so quickly that my teeth hit each other. Then, for some ungodly reason, I put my hands over his ears. “Wait, forget you heard that. It was cheesy and weird and not what I meant to say.”
Mark looked surprised for a moment, but then his head tipped forward as he burst out laughing.
Shit, shit, shit.
Because of how we were lying, it felt like my whole bed was moving with the force of his laughter. Why had people paid for beds that vibrated back in the 70s? Or maybe it was the 80s? I just didn’t see the appeal of it. Wasn’t it like when you hit turbulence in a plane, and after you got off, your body was out of whack for a while?
Finally, he stopped laughing and lifted his head again. “I loved that.”
“Yeah, you could love it because you said something suave and awesome. I just sound like an idiot.”
One side of his mouth was still tipped up in a smile as he watched me, his eyes not missing one part of my face. “Yeah, but you’re my idiot, and I like hearing you say things like that.”
I rolled my eyes and thought back to the time he’d mentioned that he loved my nose. I’d tried to return the compliment and had told him I liked his ears. It was my reasoning why that’d highlighted my ability to be a romance goober extraordinaire—'because he listened with them.’
In its own way, it was romantic because I’d meant he listened to me and gave a shit about what I was saying, but could I get those words right? No.
Lowering his head until his nose brushed against mine, he whispered, “I remember everything you said to me. Every time you tried to say something romantic, and it went wrong, is seared into my brain. I don’t care if other people don’t find them romantic. They don’t know you like I do, so they wouldn’t get what you meant, and explaining it would take some of the romance away from it.”
Running his nose gently down the side of mine, he stopped when his lips were just touching mine. “Don’t ever change, Layla Montgomery. I love you just as you are.”
Could your heart break with happiness? Like just crack into pieces like confetti?
“I’ll do my best. But one day I’m going to get it right and knock your socks off.”
I couldn’t stand the infinitesimal distance between our mouths anymore and leaned up to kiss him. Instead of taking over, he let me take the lead on the kiss, something I hadn’t known I needed. There was still an air of uncertainty between us—Jesus, how could there not be?—and being in charge of this kiss, in this situation, made me feel like I still had control over myself. It gave me some security that I hadn’t realized I needed.
Flicking the tip of my tongue over his upper lip, I remembered the first time we’d kissed. There’d been no tongues, just him kissing me and assuring me he was mine while we were on vacation with our families in Bimini.
When he opened his mouth, and I got to taste him for the first time in four years, I moaned.
“I know, baby,” he murmured against my lips, only pulling away far enough to say the three words before he kissed me even harder and took over.
I was happy to relinquish control by this point. In fact, I wanted him to take it back. Mark’s version of control was out of this world.
As he kissed me, he skimmed his hand down my side until he met where the fabric of the nightie ended on my thigh. In slow, methodical movements, he dragged the palm of his hand back up again, then wrapped his fingers around one side with his thumb on the inside of my leg and moved them under the material.
I’d just wrapped my other leg around the back of his thighs when he lifted his head and stared down at me. “Still okay?”
I could feel that I was shaking, but it wasn’t out of nerves. I was excited as hell.
“I need you to hurry it up,” I begged him.
He smiled softly at me and continued his journey, dragging it out for as long as he could until he reached where my underwear began.
Running his finger down the elastic edging, he raised an eyebrow. “How long have you had these sexy panties?”
I could lie, but at no point did I want to deceive or hurt him by implying I hadn’t been thinking of him or that I hadn’t bought them especially for him. That was a child’s game, something neither of us had ever been with each other.
So I told him the truth.
“I went shopping with Cyn today, and she took me to a store in Palmerstown called Lexie’s. I decided I deserved a birthday treat, so I stocked up on sexy underwear for you.”
His head tipped to the side as his finger dipped under the elastic. Would he notice that I’d gotten waxed?
“You decided your birthday treat was to buy me sexy underwear and nighties?”
I nodded. “The plan seems to be paying off.”
He chuckled as his finger moved farther under the material covering my crotch, and I felt the change in him the instant he realized what I’d done. The muscles in his body had tightened as he moved his finger from side to side across my mound.
Not saying a word, he straightened onto his knees, so suddenly I gasped and then pulled my nightie up and stared at my panty covered crotch.
His mouth moved, but he didn’t say anything audibly, so I had no idea what was going through his mind until he grabbed the waistband of my underwear and pulled them slowly down until they were bunched up at the top of my thighs.
“Holy shit,” he breathed. “So many dreams. So many, and not one of them was even close.” He sounded almost tortured, and it hurt my heart to hear because I could sympathize with him on it all.
I’d dreamt of him every night, but the dream version was nowhere close to the reality. They’d just brought me pain.
With him on his knees staring down at me, I began to feel slightly self-conscious, but I decided to embrace what I’d managed to do to him and knock his socks off.
Lifting my legs, I braced my feet on his stomach and then pulled my underwear to my knees before lifting first one leg, then the other, and pulling them over my feet slowly before lowering my legs back down to the bed on either side of his hips.
“Jesus.”
I fisted the silky garment in my hand, then whispered, “Give me your hand.”
Not even questioning it, he held it out for me to put them in and closed his fingers around the material until he had them squeezed tightly in the palm of his hand.
“Dreams definitely didn’t do you justice.” He shook his head and gave me a disbelieving look as he chuckled.
Turning his hand so that his thumb was at the top of my folds, he slowly slid it down until he brushed over my clit, making me cry out softly.
Then, having reached the limit of his control, he lowered himself back down and kissed me, stealing the breath out of my lungs. I’d never understood it when people said that’d happened to them, but sure as hell, it was possible. And it wasn’t an unpleasant experience like I’d assumed it’d be because as I sucked a breath back in through my nose, he deepened the kiss even more, licking into my mouth and teasing my tongue to follow his.
“I’ve missed this,” I murmured, pushing my fingers through the hair on the back of his head.
It felt like everything was a rediscovery. Kissing him, feeling Mark pressed against me, how he touched me, and how silky soft his hair was. There were also new discoveries like the fact that his lean body had even more muscles than he’d had four years ago and the new tattoos on his arms that I’d asked him about the other day and had almost cried when he’d explained their relevance to me.
I needed to get a Mark tattoo, but I’d do that later.
Pulling his mouth away, he moved lower on the bed, dragging his chin between my tits and using the stubble on it to tease me. When my thighs clenched around his hips, his eyes flicked up to look at me.
“I wonder…”
He didn’t complete the sentence. Instead, he nipped the lace edging of the nightie and moved it away, uncovering my nipple. Then, watching my face, he slowly and gently skimmed his stubble over the tip of it.
Now, it had to be said, I wasn’t a screamer or a moaner during sex. It was something that always annoyed me when I watched sex scenes in movies because it seemed so contrived when the woman screamed or cried every time the guy did something. But those bristles rubbing over my nipple? It drove me out of my mind, and I did the one thing I never believed I would—I moaned loudly and only just managed to stop myself from crying out loudly.
“I love that noise,” he whispered as he flicked the tip of his tongue over the area. “I want to hear it more.”
I licked my dry lips and tried to focus on what he’d said. “You’ll be lucky.”
A mischievous grin lifted his lips, and then he crawled backward until his face was directly over my crotch.
“I think luck’s on my side, baby, don’t you?” he asked as he trailed his lips from one side of my mound to the other. “I’ve got a beautiful wife who wrapped herself up in the sexiest lingerie I’ve ever seen, and I’ve got this gorgeous body all to myself.”
One finger skimmed over my entrance, and then it continued its journey between my folds until he got to the bundle of nerves that was so primed that it wouldn’t take much to send me over the edge.
He trailed his tongue down until it met the finger, and then he used the tip of it to rub against one side of my clit, while his finger rubbed against the opposite side. The sensation blew my brain for a moment—soft and silky versus slightly rough, both working for the same result but in vastly different ways.
I didn’t even know it was coming, but when my orgasm hit, I threw my head back with a startled cry and tried to roll my hips to control the movements of his tongue and finger, but his shoulders stopped me where they held me open for him.
In the middle of it, I felt a finger enter me, and my body clenched down around it, wishing it was something bigger.
“Still so tight, baby. So silky soft,” he murmured against my clit, his lips rubbing over it and making me shudder.
Feeling that my orgasm had left me, he grinned up at me. “That’s number one.”
“I want you inside me,” I whispered. “Please?”
He looked at my pussy, then back up at me, looking torn by the decision. How good was that for my confidence?
“One more, and then you’ll get me,” he promised. “I need this.”
And then he proceeded to blow my mind yet again.
Pressing two fingers inside me, he sucked down on my clit and rubbed. That’s all he did—he freaking rubbed—but he did it on the direct line to the Holy Grail, the lost city of Atlantis, or the lost gold bullion from the Civil War. Whenever he pressed it, miracles happened, and the result on my body was nothing short of amazing.
Within minutes I was writhing and begging him to make me come, and when it crashed over me, I thought I’d actually died because I couldn’t breathe or control my limbs. My whole body went into some kind of shock and shook as all the sensations made their way through me.
As it left this time, I looked down and about died of embarrassment when I noticed I’d clamped my thighs on either side of his head and was holding him in place, with his face pressed against my crotch.
“Oh, my God. I’m so sorry.”
He started laughing as he crawled up my body, taking the nightie with him until he pulled it over my head.
“Baby, if I die being smothered by your pussy, trust me when I say I’ll only do nice things when I come back to haunt you. I’d have to have a closed casket, though, because I’m not sure Mom would understand if I died with a smile on my face.”
I started laughing at the absurdity of what he was saying. “Shut up!”
He sobered up as he watched me laughing, then clenched his eyes shut. “I hope I die before you, Layla. I don’t know if I could live without you again, and knowing you wouldn’t even be part of this world…” he shook his head. “I know it’s stupid to think like it, but I don’t want to live like that.”
Wrapping my arms and legs around him tightly, I held him for a moment.
“Sometimes things hit us, and we just need to say them. The timing might not seem right for some, but only the people in that conversation know if it’s true or not.” He nodded his head, keeping it buried in my neck. “I personally hope I get taken down in some totally awesome way seconds before you die. Like, flying a plane to kill thousands of aliens and being the one to save the world by flying into the mother ship.”
I was winging it, but I wanted to bring Mark back. Plus, it didn’t actually sound like a bad idea.
He huffed out a laugh and pressed a kiss to my neck, hitting the sensitive spot which always made me break out in goosebumps.
“That’s our deal, then.”
I patted him on the ass. “Deal.”
Lifting his head back up, he grinned down at me. “It might have been bad timing on the death conversation, but it’s still not the most random one we’ve had during sex.”
I snorted, thinking over the ones that immediately came to mind. “No, you’re right there.”
He buried his hand in the hair on the side of my head, anchoring me in place. “I love that we march to the beat of our own drum. It makes what we have unique.”
“It makes it special.”
This time when he kissed me, he did it gently, teasing me again and taking my mind off our morbid conversation.
Remembering I needed to mention something and dreading the answer, I tried to pull myself away… but did I really want to know?
Lifting his head, he scanned my face, a slight frown appearing on his forehead. “You stiffened up.”
I licked my lips and grew a pair of lady balls. “I’m clean, and I’m on birth control. There’s a mean bitch who sticks a needle in my ass every three months who can confirm it.”
His eyes squinted slightly. “You’re clean?”
I would have thought he was questioning my honesty if it hadn’t been for the slight hurt in his voice.
“There’s only ever been you,” I admitted.
He slumped down like someone had sapped all of the strength out of him. “Thank Christ.”
I blinked up at the ceiling, wondering if I should tap out because I needed oxygen or just wiggle slightly to see if being able to reinflate one lung would suffice. Fortunately, I didn’t do either because he quickly lifted off my chest.
“Fuck, sorry. I’m just fucking relieved, baby. I had nightmares about you being with another guy, then I’d go and work out until I had to go to work. I think I averaged about two hours of sleep a night while you were away.” I felt my eyes widen at this new information. “I haven’t touched another woman unless trying to pass by them or arresting them counts?”
I grinned up at him. “Uh, no, I’ll let you live. That doesn’t count.”
He leaned down until his forehead was pressed against mine, holding eye contact the whole time. “Fuck, but I love you, Layla.”
Heart confetti or palpitations—either or, it filled my chest.
“I love you right back,” I told him before I turned my head slightly to the side and used my hand on the back of his head to pull his mouth back down to mine.
The kiss was heated from the second it started, and I began tugging at the towel to get it off him as quickly as possible. With him pressed against me, though, all it did was hurt my arm, which was infuriating.
“Towel,” I growled, pulling at it to remind him. “Get it off.”
All he did was lift his hips so I could remove it, and then he was pressed against me again—skin to skin.
Pulling his hips back slightly, he notched the tip of his cock at my entrance without using his hands, a pretty neat magic trick if ever there was one.
“Like this,” he breathed, moving so his forehead was against mine again and then pressed inside, his eyes focused on me the whole time.
He took it slowly, pressing, then withdrawing, until half of him was inside me.
Then it hit me what Mark was doing—we’d been just like this during the first time we’d ever had sex. He was recreating it for me, like a new beginning.
Squeezing him with my thighs, I jerked my hips to try and get more of him inside me. Our first time had been just that, but sometimes you can mix the old with the new and get something just as special.
Telling him this, Mark tensed his jaw as he withdrew, and then he thrust back inside me, using more force and speed than he had been previously. The feeling of him stretching me made me clench down around him and cry out.
“Did I hurt you?” he barked as he grabbed a fistful of the sheet next to my head, like he was trying to hold himself back.
Grabbing him by the ears, I snapped, “No, you didn’t, and if you dare to stop doing it just like that, I’ll—”
Whatever I was going to say was cut off by a quick withdrawal and an even harder thrust back inside me that moved me up the sheets slightly. Mark watched me constantly, making sure he didn’t hurt me, and when I clenched down around him, not even needing his finger on my clit to make me come, I did it pressing my nails into the skin on his back, marking him the way he loved.
Just as my muscles began to relax, the tempo of his thrusts went out of sync until he slammed back inside me and groaned, his body shaking with the force of his orgasm.
There was a massive difference between how we’d had sex previously and now—no condom. I’d expected to be able to feel it, but all I felt was the slight twitching of Mark’s penis as he came inside me.
While he was panting through the aftermath, I pulled him closer to me and just hugged him. It was a ridiculous thing to do after sex, but I needed it. Not that Mark minded. In fact, he slid his hands under his back and wrapped me up right back.
It was beautiful.
And it was us.