Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
M arius
I swipe my hand across the mirror to clear away the fog left over from the steam of the shower and take a good look at my face. It’s the same face I’ve seen all my life. Just a little older now. The question for me today is do I want to shave?
After seeing Ronan with that scraggly ass beard, I thought I’d never want to stop shaving.
Leave it to my baby brother to have a good looking woman shave him and he makes no move to have her.
Then again, that King has only loved one woman in his entire life, and that’s Kate, so I guess it’s not surprising he didn’t want to get busy with Sabrina.
Oh, little minx thought she had a golden ticket for the gravy train before I came along to ruin her plans. Like I told him, she would have switched her affections to me if she thought she had a chance, but alas, I wasn’t available either.
Nobody knows that, though, so let’s keep that under our hats for a little while. Everyone can find out in due time about my private life. For now, I want to keep it to myself.
I’d bet a hundred bucks it ran through Sabrina’s mind to try something with Matthias too, just like I told him.
He naturally assumed I was crazy and had watched too much porn.
Sure, I watch porn, and the nanny and single dad is a popular theme, assuming anyone gives a fuck what people do for a living in those movies.
That doesn’t mean I was wrong about Sabrina.
I reach for my razor and slide a new blade in before I look around for the shaving cream. Nothing seems to be where it should be in this bathroom. Then again, I haven’t lived here long, so maybe that’s the problem. I just closed on this penthouse a few months ago.
With a face full of shaving cream and a fresh blade in my razor, I set about cleaning myself up. That’s what you do when the woman you adore is joining you for dinner.
Ten minutes later, my beard is no more, so I head down to the kitchen to find my phone. I check but don’t have any messages, which means she’ll be here soon.
I hear the elevator doors open and turn around to see her kicking off her three inch heels from work.
Honestly, how does she wear those things?
She claims they don’t hurt and she loves them, especially the red soles.
Why women buy shoes because of the color of the soles will always be a mystery to me, but I do have to admit her legs look incredible in them.
“You’re not dressed,” she says when she walks into the kitchen and stops in front of me, that beautiful mouth of hers turned down in a pout. “I thought we were having dinner.”
“We are,” I say with a smile, happier now that she’s here with me. I take a step toward her and stare into those gorgeous green eyes looking up at me since she’s almost a foot shorter than I am when she’s not wearing her shoes. “How was your day, dear? Tough time at work?”
As she slides her arms around my waist to pull me to her, she groans. “You have no idea. You standing here in nothing but a white towel low on your hips is the best part of my entire day, baby.”
I’ve been with a lot of women, but none of them have ever made me want them more than this woman. It’s like she has some kind of hold on me.
Not that I mind. I had no idea love could be something so great until this relationship.
We’ve been together for two years, and I have to say they’ve been the best two years of my life.
It’s like I never wanted another woman after the first night with her, and that’s saying something considering what my life was like before her.
Leaning down, I kiss her beautiful mouth. “I’ll be ready in a couple. It’s not like it takes long. I’m a guy. We throw some clothes on and voila! Ready to roll.”
Turning out of her hold, I look back and chuckle. “I promise I won’t take more than five minutes.”
I hear her padding across the floor following me up to the bedroom, so I spin around and walk backwards. “Need something from me?” I joke.
She levels her gaze on my face and stares directly into my eyes with such intensity I know the answer before she says a word. “You know what I need, Marius.”
That I do.
“Duck, I think that job of yours is too stressful. You should leave it,” I say as she steps into my embrace.
Smiling, she shakes her head. “First of all, I want you to know I don’t hate that nickname anymore.”
“It’s a great nickname, and even better, it’s wisdom that you can never go wrong with. When someone’s throwing punches around you, duck. Or as you should have that night, just a little duck.”
She ignores my concise explanation as to why the nickname I gave her still works and continues. “And second, I can’t quit my job, Marius. What will I do then? Hang out here all day?”
I slide my hands down her back to cup her beautiful ass. “I love that idea!”
That gets me an eye roll. “You would.”
“What’s so wrong about wanting to be with the woman I love more often?” I ask as I dip my head to nuzzle her neck.
She runs her fingernails over the back of my head, making a shiver go down my spine as I pepper her collarbone with kisses. “You’d see me more often if you didn’t stay at your brother’s every night, you know.”
I lift my head and gaze into her eyes as she gives me a look that says she knows she’s right. “Fair enough. You know I haven’t had much of a choice in the past couple months, don’t you?”
Her gaze softens, and she nods her head. “I know. I just wanted to make sure you were seeing things clearly. Sometimes you don’t.”
This woman challenges me more than anyone else ever has. And I love it. I’ll take a woman who speaks her mind any day over those meek and mild types.
“I know, but I had to keep an eye on Ronan.”
Trailing her fingertips down over my chest, she smiles and stands on her tiptoes to kiss me on the lips. “I think it’s great that you wanted to watch out for him, baby. Honestly. I’ve never given you a hard time about that, have I?”
“No. In fact, that’s just one of the million reasons why I love you.”
She looks up at me and smiles. “I understand why you feel so protective about him, Marius. I’m just saying you’d see me more if you were here every night.”
“I still think you should quit your job. It stresses you out, Duck. Forget that. Life is too short to be stressed out. Quit that job and we’ll travel the world. What do you say?”
Her eyebrows shoot up into her forehead. “So you’re going to be sleeping in your own bed here from now on?”
“Soon. I’m still concerned about Ronan, but as soon as I know he’s okay, absolutely.”
She slides her hand down over my stomach and cups my hard cock through the towel. “Then soon is when I might quit my job.”
I know she’s right. Ronan is a grown man, so he probably doesn’t need me worrying about him. It’s just that after finding him bleeding out on his bathroom floor that terrible spring night, I can’t help looking out for him.
“This is why I love you, Duck. You’re not like other women. You don’t yell when you’re angry.”
She shakes her head at my compliment. “Marius, women yell because they’re frustrated. Nine times out of ten, if a woman is yelling, she’s tried to get her husband or boyfriend to hear what she’s saying too many times to count. Maybe if you men listened to us you wouldn’t hear so much yelling.”
“Well, whatever the reason is that you don’t yell, I like it.”
“I don’t yell because of my father. Nobody ever yelled at him.
He’s commanded respect all his life. I decided when I was just a little girl that I wanted to be like him, so I watched and learned.
He never gets flustered. He says what’s on his mind and goes about his life.
If someone has a problem with him, he listens, but if he doesn’t think he’s wrong, he stands firm.
However, if he’s wrong, he doesn’t wait to apologize. That’s why people respect him.”
I’ve always gotten the feeling my Duck is a daddy’s girl.
She’s the only daughter with four brothers, and every time she’s mentioned her father, it’s in almost adoring terms like right now.
Let’s hope when we finally let the world know about us that he doesn’t hate me because we’ve been hiding our relationship.
Walking away, she heads for the steps. “You coming, or am I doing this alone again tonight?” she asks with a wicked grin.
The thought of her masturbating while I’m not here to give herself what she needs makes me even more excited, and I quickly move to catch up to her. “No need to go it alone tonight since I’m here and ready to roll.”
Reaching back, she takes my hand in hers. “Good. I prefer the real thing. Silicone isn’t my groove.”
As we climb the stairs to the second floor, I say, “Did I ever happen to mention how sexy I think it is that you’re so open about everything?”
She glances back and me and laughs. “One of these days, you’re going to have to tell me about the women you were going out with before me because they sound like a bunch of puritans.”
I never thought I was spending time with uptight women, but compared to Duck, I guess they were pretty puritanical. Maybe that’s why I’m not with them anymore.
“Well, forget them. All I want to think about is you and me and how many times I’m going to make you come before dinner.”
When she hits the top of the stairs, she turns around to face me, and I see she’s unbuttoned her dress. I do love a woman who’s ready for fun.
“By the way, if I knew we were going to get busy before going to the restaurant, I would have worn a different bra and underwear. You’re catching me unmatched,” she says with a smile.
I stop one step below her and slide my hands over her ribs. Does she really think I care that her bra is black but her underwear are pink?
“Duck, you do know men don’t care about matching bras and underwear, right? We’re pretty base creatures, so all we care about is what’s underneath.”
She moans when I unhook her bra and slip my hands under it to cup her breasts. Her skin is petal soft but hot, like she’s burning up.