Page 23 of His to Keep
The golden sunlight sprinkled the wooded path, peeking through the tall trees that swayed gently. He wasn’t sure if she had meant to reveal her feelings. She’d been half asleep, after all. Perhaps, they were a mistake and best left floating around in the past unaddressed.
He had hidden her away from reality, even keeping his chef, Freddy, at arm’s length until she was ready to have visitors. Now, it was time to introduce her to the world again and lessen her growing reliance on him.
She clung to him like a broken animal. It was both welcomed and fucking claustrophobic. His head was telling him to back off, but his heart was revelling in her need for him. In a weird turn of events, he almost got off on the power of her dependency.
“I asked Freddy to make lunch for us…you okay with that?” He watched her from the corner of his eye. She dragged her gaze from the sprawling fields from where they had just come from.
“I can’t wait to see him again!” Lana said, twirling under his arm before slamming back into his chest with a girly giggle. He loved hearing that little giggle, it was sweet and cute and fucking sexy.
When he thought about it, it wasn’t just the colour of her eyes that was so incredible. Sure, they glittered like the sun reflecting on an azure ocean, dilating with passion and fortitude but it was the inner strength that hid behind them.
They stopped by an electric wire that partitioned a couple of chestnut coloured horses. Lana ripped up a clod of grass and held it in her tiny palm, letting the horse’s big lips fumble messily.
He rested his hand on her shoulder blade. Turning into him, her breasts pushed into his ribs. The soft mounds felt so damn good. The muscles in his back were rigid, holding back the urge to throw her on the ground and fuck her senseless.
She leant back, hesitating before him. He circled her shoulders with his arms and tugged her back into his chest. He wanted to ask if she still loved Rory, but how could he ask if she loved an alleged murderer and get a clear answer?
He had never considered commitment before and had no clue how to maintain a monogamous relationship, but with Lana, anything was possible. That thought alone gave him hope. Hope for some sort of togetherness.
She gazed up at him like a vulnerable, sexy temptress. “Why did you bring me to Fermanagh?”
Marcus cleared his throat and gave her an uneasy smile. Was he ready to have this conversation? Especially after she knocked the wind from his lungs with those fucking three words last night.
“I wanted to see where this would lead to.” He sighed softly as a pang of uncertainty twisted in his stomach. “I’m not making any promises, Lana. I’ll be shit at this stuff. I never wanted a relationship. Well, not until I met you.” His voice became unintentionally firm.
“But you want to try?” She licked her dry lips and looked up with her fucking big eyes that instantly made his gut wrench. Hope was written all over her pretty little face.
“All in good time, beautiful. The most important thing is getting you back on your feet. Then we can work on the rest, but yeah, you have this way of reeling me in.”
* * *
Lana cravedthe sensation of his wet lips blazing a heated trail from her mouth to her belly button. The need crackled through her core, right to the tips of her toes.
Her stomach flipped as the sensation of his body tight to hers fired up the synapses in every muscle. An intense look flashed in his eyes as her tongue darted between her lips.
His warm breath sent a flurry of chills down her spine. She closed her eyes, anticipating his touch.
A low buzz from his pocket snapped them apart. Marcus adjusted the bulge in his trousers and pulled his mobile from his back pocket. He sighed loudly and accepted the call.
After a second, he covered the mouth piece with his palm and nodded towards the house. “You go back in. Freddy’s in the kitchen. I’ll join you after I take this call.”
Lana ambled up the path and into the house. The savoury smell of herbs and spices wafted up her nose and she found Freddy adding the finishing touches to a poached salmon.
“Nice to see you again,” he called out, as she approached the large island unit.
“Hey, Freddy.” She beamed, her cheeks blushed pink from her almost intimate encounter. “This looks too good to eat.”
Lana was so happy to see his delightful handsome face again, with sparkling amber eyes and a roguish grin.
His eyes popped. “Don’t say that, I’ve spent all afternoon prepping. You ‘have’ to eat it.” He rested his hands on his hips. “Take a seat.”
She perched on a bar stool and unzipped her track top. The late sun had penetrated the glass dome roof and heated the room like a greenhouse. The herby aroma intensified in the heat and shards of light reflected on every surface like splintered rainbows.
“How are you holding up?” he asked.
She shrugged loosely. “Fine, I guess. Marcus has been amazing.”
Freddy tossed a final sprig of garnish on the fish and looked up. “You’re such a trooper. I’d have been carted off to the asylum by now.”
