Chapter Twenty-Four
Gigi
T he afternoon went by too fast. Groceries, cleaning my room and bathroom. I like to get all of my weekly prep done on my first day off so I can just be a vegetable on the day before I have to go back to work.
I’m diffusing my curls when I hear a knock on the bathroom door.
“G, you about ready?”
I turn off my blow dryer, peering at my waves. With some serum, they’ll be good enough for dinner and watching the game.
“Yup! Just need to get dressed.”
I put everything away and spritz some perfume. Wrapping a towel around my body, I open the door. The air leaves my lungs when I run straight into Marcus. My hands raise to his arms to steady myself and in the process, my towel loosens.
No, no, no.
“I’m sorry, G.” Marcus’ voice sounds strained as he starts to back away.
“Don’t move,” I blurt out.
“Why?” He looks confused until he looks down, and I’m sure he sees one side of the towel swinging away from my body. His eyes shoot up to the ceiling, then squeeze shut. We stand there, bodies pressed together. His chest starts moving with quick breaths and I swear I can feel his heart pounding against my chest.
“Let me fix my towel.”
“I need to buy you a robe.”
“I have a robe.”
“Then fucking use it.”
“Swearing won’t solve this situation, prince. You were the one standing outside my door!”
“Gigi, I swear if that towel falls…”
“What? What do you swear?”
He finally looks at my face, and I pull the towel the tiniest bit further away from my side, raising my eyebrow in a challenge.
“Princess.” His voice is deep and sharp like a warning. His eyes darken, and that transformation, the sound of his voice, causes my clit to pulse. Fuck, why am I turned on by pissing him off? I think better of testing the situation.
“Okay, don’t get your boxers in a bunch.” I gather the fabric and tuck it in, once again secure. I cross my arms to make certain it stays in place. “You’re safe.”
He backs away, eyes focusing down the hallway. “I’ll wait in the kitchen.”
“It’s just boobs, prince!” I yell after him as he walks away.
“Shut it, Genevieve.”
I force a laugh, walking into my room. I close the door and take a moment to catch my breath. I know I should be glad he didn’t see anything, but hell, if I don’t think about what I would want to happen if my skin was bare to him. I take a few deep breaths, exhaling one last time to calm myself. I finally move to get dressed. I want to be comfortable this evening, so I throw on some cutoff shorts and my softest sweatshirt. Bra be damned.
Walking out to the kitchen, I find Marcus sitting at the island, staring at his phone. He doesn’t even look up at me when I enter the room. We’re so awkward. We need to fix this before we spend time around his parents.
“Let’s hit it, mister.” Grabbing my purse, I follow him to the garage.
We get in his truck and head down the driveway. We’re about halfway to Jax and Audrey’s when I can’t stand the silence anymore.
“Sorry you almost saw the goods earlier.”
He exhales. “Sorry I swore at you.”
“I’ll be sure to start using my robe.”
He shakes his head. “I want you to be comfortable, G. My home is yours for the foreseeable future. I’ll be sure to give you a little more space.”
“Alright.” I try to come up with a different subject. “Are you nervous about telling the group?”
He rubs his jaw. “A little. I know they’re going to try to talk us out of it.”
“Is there a chance they could?”
“What? Talk me out of it?”
“Yeah.”
“No.”
My shoulders relax with his confirmation. “Good. They love us, and I think they’ll just be concerned that we’re getting ourselves into a mess.”
“I know. I just don’t want them to freak out. I don’t want a bunch of questions.”
“Then let me answer them.”
He nods, then glances at me. “I guess I should let you know Linc already knows.”
“He knows?”
“It wasn’t hard for him to come up with questions after he took us home the other evening.”
“What did he say?”
“That it was a bad idea.”
“Well, he’ll have to get over it.” She shrugs.
“He was mainly concerned about you. He’s worried you could be the one to come out of this with less than you came in with.”
I shift in my seat to fully face him. “This is my choice, my offer. I know what we’re getting into here, and I know you will make sure we do this properly. I’ll be fine, prince.”
I place my hand on his on the console and his eyes dart to where we’re connected for a split second. He nods as we pull into the parking garage for Jax and Audrey’s building. Once we find a visitor’s spot, we get out and head up to their penthouse. Marcus is still quiet on the elevator ride up, and it’s making me uneasy.
“We should use this as practice for telling your dad. Like go into it like we’re telling them we’re really together. Then explain further once they freak out.” I give him a devilish grin.
“That wouldn’t be nice, G.” He grins.
“Just an idea.” I shrug and playfully punch his arm.