Page 85 of Black Hearts
“His name is Sebastian. He is one of the few my father wanted me to reach out to to see if we could bring them in. He and his brother have no interest in joining us, but it’s always nice to have connections and a face to the name. They’re well off thanks to the Collector.”
“The Collector?”
“It’s what their father likes to be called. Ridiculous, I know.”
So Sebastian was Markus’s cousin, another Scott, which meant the Collector was Markus’s uncle and Johnathan’s brother. Man, this family was weird.
Markus lifted a finger. “Come here and tell me what you want.”
I pouted a bit as I walked around his desk and crawled onto his lap. His arms encircled me. “What makes you think I want something?” I mean, I had an idea, but he didn’t know that. And as for the other thing… I had no idea what Markus wanted. He never really talked about it with me before. Not in a serious capacity.
He smirked. Just a small smirk. It was gone in a second, but I saw it. He tucked some of my hair behind an ear, trailing that finger along my jaw. “You always want something, Juliet. Anytime you come storming in my office, I prepare myself to hear whatever it is you want.”
A chuckle left me. “I didn’t storm in,” I started to explain myself, but I knew my explanation fell on deaf ears, so I switched tactics and got straight to the point. “I was with Tori, Killian, and Klaus.” My fingers went to fiddle with his tie, running up and down the fabric slowly. My legs hung over the side of his chair, my body curled up on his.
His dark brows lifted. “And?”
“Would it be so bad if we had one of our own? Not today, and not tomorrow, but someday. I think… I think I want to.” I knew, of course, the idea of being a mother and actually being one were two totally different things, but I liked to think I’d be good at it. I’d be the mother I wished I had growing up.
Markus didn’t answer my question, instead asking one of his own, “And what of the others?”
“I haven’t told the others. I wanted to come to you, first.”
His chest hummed, one of his hands roaming up my back. “I suppose I wouldn’t mind, provided I was the one who put it in you. If your body bears a child, it will be mine.” He frowned somewhat. “Although, I suppose I should say it will be mine, first. You know the others would want to do just as Ed wants with Stella.”
I didn’t know if I wanted to have that many kids, to plan for each of them to father one and raise them all as brothers and sisters. I knew I at least wanted one, though.
“Well, we can talk about that later,” I said.
The way Markus touched me started to feel a little different, and I knew where we were headed. “Is that all?” His voice was so low, so rough, it took me a few moments to gather myself. He had that power over me.
“Um, actually—”
Markus let out a groan. “Let’s hear the other thing, then.”
“Please just listen. Don’t get mad. Hear me out, okay? I have an idea. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while now. I know you’re all used to what you do, out there and in the basement, but what if there were other things we could do? And by we, I mean you guys.”
His eyes narrowed at me. “Are you trying to do my job for me?”
“No! No, I just… I think there are other things we could do. Things that don’t have to involve… you know.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “The thing that starts with a K.” For some reason, saying it out loud made it too real for me, so I did my best not to.
“Like what?”
“Like, I don’t know. Protecting someone who has someone else trying to go after them. You guys can be good at digging up secrets, too. You could go after thieves—”
Markus said, “We only take jobs when there’s money behind it.”
“I know that. I’m not saying to do anything for free, but… but there has to be other things.” Just staring at him, I knew he thought my idea was crazy, and yet I couldn’t let it go. “Please, just think about it. For me?” And then I batted my eyelashes at him in the way that got him to melt.
Well, melt as far as Markus Scott could, that was—which was to say, not very far at all.
He let out a sigh, his grip tightening around me. “I will think about it.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that, and I was so happy I had to do something, so I kissed him. I brought my mouth to his and kissed that scowl right off his face. Though his stubble made my chin a little scratchy, I didn’t care. His chest rumbled with a primal sound, and I swallowed it up.
When the kiss finished, Markus mumbled against my lips, “What am I going to do with you?” The way his arms locked around me, the way his lap had gotten a little harder in a certain spot, I knew he already had a few ideas.
Still, I found myself grinning. “I could think of a few things.”
