Chapter 28
Colette sniffed and blew her nose in the tissue once more.
“It’s like I always know Meg is going to die. I’ve read this book multiple times, but it still sneaks up on you,” she said, and Marshall wrapped an arm around her as they walked out of the theater.
“Maybe Little Women wasn’t the best choice for a first date,” he said, squeezing her shoulder before crossing the street to the truck.
Colette wiggled into him, trying to bury her face deeper into his warm, muscular chest. She tipped her face up to him.
There was no way she was going to let him think anything about this night was a bad idea.
It had all been perfect. He made her feel like no one else ever had.
Like being a stopping point for each other wasn’t a bad thing if they were both melting. Together.
Giving her head a shake before her thoughts went into dangerous and foolish territory, she pulled away, wiping away the last of her tears with her tissue.
She hugged her arms around her chest to keep warm.
It was much colder when he didn’t have his arms around her.
Nuzzling him had been a bad idea. He smelled way too good.
Maybe she would have to buy his deodorant when she moved back to the city, so she could cry and sniff in mourning of what could have been.
Shivers racked her body, and he reached for her hand.
Again. The sensation of his fingers wrapping around hers made her heart race.
Alarm bells rang in her ears, and she ignored them, leaning into his arm, absorbing some of his warmth.
Colette wasn’t a girl who fell in love easily.
No man had ever given her a reason or stayed long enough for her to take the leap.
The ways in which Marshall was different from any man she had ever dated was terrifying.
In the silence of Main Street that evening, all she needed was to feel him next to her, and she was exactly where she was meant to be.
Grateful for the seats warming her behind in the truck, she scrolled through her various playlists and picked the next song that would take them home.
Unable to resist, she closed her eyes as she listened to the music and rested her hand on Marshall’s thigh.
Her body vibrated with excitement for what was to come, and she tried to lock this sensation deep in her mind so she could capture it.
Squeezing her thighs together, Colette ached for the closeness, as though she had waited for this night all her life.
And maybe, she had.
She had patiently waited for someone to see her. Truly see her. Not just as a girl for a good time. Marshall looked at her as though he saw her value. As though she could be special to him, if their time together didn’t have a limit.
Doubts swirled in her mind, a storm of nerves and thoughts that ran through her head all the time. What if she wasn’t enough? What if they were together one night and that was enough for him? Could she be Marshall’s stopping point on the way to his happy ending with someone else?
She turned to look outside the passenger window, sighing as the beauty of the stars sprinkled across the night sky took her breath away.
It wasn’t up to Marshall to decide she was good enough.
Only she had that power. And sure as fuck, Colette knew she was good enough.
Intelligent, cute and bookish, maybe slightly introverted, but not enough to hinder getting to know people.
It was a daily habit for her to remind herself that she had value, even if people sometimes made her feel like she didn’t.
“You okay?” Marshall said, breaking into her thought spiral.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” she answered in a quiet voice. “The sky is beautiful tonight.”
“When it gets warmer, I’ll take you out, and we can look at the stars.
There’s nothing like lying on your back in the grass and taking them all in,” he said.
“You can’t see the stars like this in the city.
” His hand clasped over hers and he squeezed.
Her heart warmed at the thought of him planning the future.
With a few words, he brushed aside any thoughts of expiration dates and brought her back to the present.
If this wasn’t her forever, she would enjoy every drop of happiness she could get.
They pulled up to the guest house, the air in the truck thick with tension and expectation. Her body was already overheating from the newfound closeness developing between them. Baring their souls, even a little, had built a trust that was foreign to her.
They both understood what would happen next, what their bodies were screaming for, but she was still nervous. What if he backed out or decided it was all too much?
It did feel like too much at times.
Marshall King didn’t strike her as a man who ran in fear.
When he opened the door and held his hand out, she stepped out of the truck and into his arms. When he pressed his hand to the small of her back, she let him lead her to her house.
It was as though their bodies had an understanding and the time for thinking was over.
As she stepped up to the door with him hot on her heels, she turned.
“Are you sure you want this? I don’t want to pressure you,” she said in a breathy voice, her heart racing as she waited for his answer. Tilting his head and shaking it, he twined his arms around her waist and pulled her close.
“I wouldn’t be able to leave, if my life depended on it,” he rasped, nuzzling her neck and sending electricity skating over the surface of her skin. “Are you sure about this?”
Nodding silently, she pressed her lips against his to dispel any doubts.
Reaching a hand behind her, she turned the knob, opening the door. A gush of heat came from the house, a welcome warmth against the chilly spring night.
“Want to have a drink or something first?” she asked, hanging her jacket on the hooks in the entrance.
She turned as he was hanging his own coat, wedged between Marshall and the wall.
Her cheeks flushing, he left his palm on the wall and leaned, his face hovering over hers.
Marshall inhaled sharply, their noses touched, and electricity shimmered in her chest.
“No, I would not like a drink.” His deep voice rumbled against her lips as they brushed together. “There’s something else I want.” At his words, she melted into his hardness, her body sensitive to each breath of air against the side of her face. Her core throbbed in anticipation.
“Okay,” she breathed, slowly kicking off her boot. She licked her lips. It was an invitation, and she hoped he would accept.
Reaching to tangle his hands in her loose curls, he slanted his mouth over hers in a gentle kiss. The second boot forgotten, she twined her arms around him, clinging like a vine, melding their bodies. Inhaling a breath, he pulled back.
“You sure you want this?” he barely choked out.
“I can’t imagine wanting anything more,” she said, stroking her hands up and down his back and reveling in the connection. The heat beneath her palms, the rhythm of his heartbeat, echoing the rapid drum of her own. “But like, let me take my boot off.”
Marshall backed away with a chuckle. “Right.” He stroked his beard, then knelt to pull the boot from her foot, running his fingers along her calf as he removed it.
Marshall stood, dusting off his hands.
“Now, where were we?” Colette cupped Marshall’s face and raised up on her tiptoes to resume what they had started.
Leaning into the kiss, his hands slid down to her ass, pulling her closer.
Her arms reached around his neck as he gripped her tighter and lifted her off the ground.
Heat flooded her core as her legs curved around his waist, leaving no mystery as to what Marshall was feeling.
The length of him pressed against her center, the delicious friction of their bodies rubbing against each other sending her into a frenzy.
Never had she experienced a hunger so visceral, it was almost painful.
Marshall ambled into a room, her office. Colette shook her head, and he backed out of the room, crossing the hall to the one where her bed was waiting.
A chuckle rumbled in his chest as he stepped into the bedroom, gently lowering Colette to the floor. “I think you’re scrambling my brain.”
“My mind isn’t working either,” she replied, slowly unbuttoning his shirt. Aching to touch his heated skin again and feel his body, she slid a hand across the taut muscles, so strong and powerful beneath her fingers.
Marshall buried his face in the crook of her neck, moaning.
“I’ve been thinking of doing this all night.” Lifting his head, he dragged a finger along her shoulder, pushing aside the thin strap of her dress and watching it slide down her arm. Tingles raced down her spine, her breath shuddering under his touch. Her nipples tightened as he exposed them.
“You’re not wearing a bra?” he choked, reaching a hand to cup her breast.
“It’s a perk of smaller boobs,” she said with a little moan, leaning her head back as he brushed his thumb back and forth over the aching nipple.
Marshall kissed the column of her exposed neck, making quick work of her other shoulder strap and torturing her other breast with the same enthusiasm.
Tugging at the sides of her dress sitting at her waist, Colette dropped the silky garment to her feet.
Marshall groaned as he took in her white lace panties.
“Fuck,” he said. “Those should be illegal.”
“They have a full bottom, so they’re not that sexy,” she said with a small laugh. Marshall dropped to his knees and fingered the little pink bow sitting beneath her belly button.
“Are you kidding me?” Looping his fingers along the waist of her underwear, he pulled them down, dipping his head to kiss between her legs. Colette gasped, shivering as he nuzzled between her legs and explored with his tongue.