Page 80 of Best Man Speaking

I can feel the blush that begins to encompass me at the words.

Marcus’s eyes spark, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as he swallows at my softly spoken desire.

“You want me here?” he murmurs, dragging blunt nails over what I can guess is incredibly damp lace.

“Yesss,” I hiss.

He moves back and forth over my clit, the friction of the lace shooting pleasure through me. Curling my fingers into the sheets, I gasp as sensations gather, low and hot, in my belly.

“Right here, Hallie?”

He presses a long, thick finger against where I’m weeping for him through the fabric. Arching my hips up toward his hand, I’d do anything for him to be inside me, to ease the aching emptiness within me.

A sound of absolute desperation leaves my lips.

“Please, Marcus. Please,” I beg again, too far gone to care.

“Shhh, beautiful girl. Okay. Okay. Do you still want this? Do you still want me bare?”

And I know no matter what my answer is, it’ll be okay.

“Yes.” I gasp the word, rocking against him as he brings his lips to my now-damp forehead, the kiss he plants there a small but beautiful show of affection.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Marcus

For the first time ever, I don’t want to fight. I don’t want to fuck.

What I want is Hallie under me, over me, and beside me, absolutely and completely.

Those few hours without her—the break in routine that didn’t see our day revolving around one another—were too much. It’d pushed too far.

I hadn’t been jealous, not worried about the slew of men who no doubt looked at her and saw something that they, too, would enjoy. Instead, I’d spent the better part of my day and evening wanting her company, her touch, her smile, and apparently, I’m willing to break all the rules for it.

Hallie’s eyes soften as she looks up at me. She’s spread out on the white sheets of the bed as I drag my thumb over her lower lip. I’d asked her if she knew how long I’d waited for this, the question leaving my mouth without my full consent and attached to a meaning I knew she’d come looking for eventually.

Part of me had expected her to back out of her request for me to take her bare. Part of me maybe even wanted her to, because there’d be no coming back from this, not for me. I’d been her first all those years ago, and I’d found a way to let her go.

I don’t think I’d be able to do it twice.

There’s something in her gaze that wasn’t there before, a recognition that causes her to still beneath me for just a moment, and I want to consume it. So I bring my lips to hers. The gentle moan that leaves her as our kiss deepens reaches inside me, grabbing hold of a loose thread of my control and pulling ever so slightly.

Sliding my thumbs over the delicate skin of her hip bones, I grasp the sides of her panties, dragging them slowly down the seductive curves of her plush thighs. When I drop them on the floor, I catch a glimpse of how the lace glistens, and my mouth waters at the knowledge of just how wet and wanting she is. How soaked the thought of us together has made her. It’s filthy, but I have the urge to pick them up, to use the slick material to rub along the length of my cock, and to have her watch me do it.

I think she’d like it.

But I refrain. This time.

“Hallie?” I call her name gently. Her eyes are lust-filled, slightly dazed, and I need to make sure she’s still with me.

“Yeah?” she whispers back, dragging her fingers down the tightly wound muscles of my stomach.

“Do you know how sweet your skin tastes? Do you know how much time I spend thinking about being here between your thighs?” There’s no laughter in my voice; I’m not teasing. “I want my tongue here.” I press my thumb exactly where I know she needs it. “Are you ready for that?”

Her consent is a jerky nod.

I pull one of her hands into my hair, making sure her fingers are buried within the strands. “I like it when you pull, Hallie,but if you don’t like it, you pull me straight off. I’ll know the difference.”

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