Chapter 37 #2
He pulls back, staring into my eyes. “I didn’t expect this to happen, Marietta.
Not at all. But I’m in love with you. I kept seeing you.
” He pauses again, and I tighten my hands on his neck.
“So vibrant and colorful, laughing and happy. Throwing your damn bra away on the pole. I honestly don’t care who else sees you, as long as I’m the one who gets to take you home. ”
I nod, shaking my head so fervently that hair falls in my eyes. “I want it to be you. I love you, Merrick. I didn’t realize it until tonight. I thought it was wild fun. But it’s not just that. It’s everything.”
He jerks my body against his, his hands pressing my head to his chest. We stand there, rocking slightly, hanging on to each other like the only safe harbor in a storm.
I grip him until my fingers feel numb. We’ve made it here. We’ve done it. We figured it out.
When he finally releases me, his lips find mine again. It’s different this time, gentle, questioning, like we’ve only just really discovered who each other are.
I don’t know exactly how or when our clothes come off, but then we’re on the bed, skin to skin, him over me. “I want to feel you,” I tell him. “Just you. Inside me. Nothing in the way.”
And he enters me like that, his body as close to mine as can ever be. My back arches, tears in my eyes, overwhelmed with both the ardor of it and the emotion.
He rains kisses down the side of my face as he moves ever so slowly, in and out, one hand on my breast.
I hold on to his head, letting every sensation wash over me. Passion, pleasure, love. I never knew it could be like this.
“Come live with me at my house,” he says. “Let’s have our time.”
I nod, a tear escaping each eye. “Okay.”
“We’ll finish out this week and then take a break from living at the club. Still be a part of it, but add some distance.”
“Yes.”
He increases his pace, only slightly, but it sends me up into the next level of need. I want him fiercely, to catch that wave of ecstasy, to reach those peaks with him.
He understands me and moves faster, his breath quickening. And the energy gathers in me, building, tightening.
He watches my face, and I look into his. When the words start coming from me and the stars fill my vision, I hear him, too.
Our names, our real ones, not Prospect, not Mouse, but Merrick and Marietta, come from our lips. We’re real, actual people, not two players in some strange story.
We drift together in this airy place we find in these moments. He curls me into him, and I relax against his chest like nowhere else I’ve ever known.
“I love you, Marietta,” he says, kissing my hair.
“I love you, too, Merrick.”
And we drift to sleep, happy, sated.
And safe.
When morning comes, I squint at the light at the window. Merrick sleeps, his arms around me, hands protectively on my breasts.
There’s a noise edging into my awareness.
My phone.
I shift carefully to pull it from the small table just within reach.
It’s a text from Bailey.
At first, I think it’s kind of early for a message, but then I realize it’s almost ten. I click through to read the whole thing, then have to stop myself from sitting up and gasping.
Bailey: I had no idea Greta was a plant. Yes, I called Uncle Sherman. I know Merrick and Diesel were mad about his interference with the bar, but they got it back, didn’t they?
There are a few minutes between messages, like she was waiting for my reply. Then, another one.
Bailey: Greta told Sherman, and he made that raid happen. We didn’t realize the Wild Hair would be there when they arrested everyone. We haven’t heard anything. Please tell us Merrick is all right.
Oh no. The Pickles got involved because I blabbed.
I turn to Merrick. I can’t hide this from him. Will he be mad? I told Symphony too much, and she talked to Bailey, and look what happened!
Will he hate me? Will Iron Jack kick me out?
I set the phone down and slip back in his arms, forcing myself to be calm. He’ll be upset. Of course, he will.
Will this ruin everything?
My movement makes him stir, and he opens his eyes. “Morning, beautiful.”
“Morning, my love.”
He grins at that, and I feel my whole world open.
But the text. I can’t wait.
“I have something to tell you.”
At my tone, he tilts his head. “That sounds serious.”
I can’t say the words, so I show him the text.
He reads it, and then does the last thing I expect.
He laughs.
It starts small, then gets bigger and louder. I laugh with him almost automatically. Finally, I lift a pillow and smack him with it.
“Would you stop that and tell me what’s going on?”
He shakes his head. “Figures Sherman would have figured out a way to get involved. Does Greta think we didn’t know what she was doing?”
“You didn’t know the arrest was going to happen. You could have been caught up in it!”
He drags me close. “But we didn’t. And the Kin will be ousted for sure. If Sherman’s on the case, even Lucifer himself would find himself on the wrong side of the fiery gates.”
“So, it’s a good thing.”
His mouth presses against my neck as his hands roam over my body. “Mmm,” he says. “It’s a good thing. How about we start this morning the way we ended our night?”
All the tension drains from my body. We’re okay. I didn’t screw up.
I shove the phone back onto the table. I can write Bailey back later.
“Do you promise to pound me so hard these nonexistent boobs actually bounce a little?”
He grabs them with both hands. “Challenge accepted.”