Page 45 of Secret Baby for Mr. Grump

“S-sorry,” I had stammered, embarrassed, as I began to pull back. But he wouldn’t let me go. I tried to tug my hands out of his grip so I could go and bury myself somewhere and get out of his apartment due to the mortification, but he stubbornly held on.

“Ah, Allie,” I heard him murmur, and I felt my skin burn even hotter. He must have noted my humiliation because he suddenly tugged me until I fell against his chest, then wrapped his arm around me.

“What the hell am I going to do with you?” he whispered into my ear, holding me. But I couldn’t really focus on his words. About a million butterflies were dancing in my stomach, and bells were clanging in my head.

Oh my God.

Marcus is hugging me. The reality was so much better than every fantasy I’d had up until that point, the feeling of his strong arms wrapped around my body.

My heart beat at an endless rhythm, and I barely knew my name at that point. All I could feel was the feeling of his body pressed against mine, his strong heartbeat under my ears, and his heated breath in my hair. The scent of him surrounded me, and I breathed it in, feeling it start things in my body, stirring me to my very core.

The same way it did now.

Despite everything that happened today, or maybe because of it, my body began to respond. I felt my heart begin to beat faster, pounding for a whole new reason. Awareness filled me, and I noted all the points of contact where my body touched his—my breasts, the back of my thighs, my butt.

I was also aware of the fact that he was feeling the same thing I was.

At least the blatant bulge under my thigh told me so.

It was the thing that set my heart racing because it felt impossibly huge under me.

And I knew from experience just how huge it was.

I shifted imperceptibly and felt him hiss subtly through his teeth.

Excitement raced through me, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to do it again.

“Stop,” he said, but his voice was hoarse. It was a plea and an order wrapped up in one.

I leaned back and smiled at him. “You said the same thing last time too.”

His expression revealed his torture, and he didn’t look pleased with the reminder.

I didn’t know why I brought it up. I also didn’t know why I was playing with him today or why the sexual tension that we’d been having seemed almost unbearable all of a sudden. Maybe it was just that the day had been so bad, and I needed to distract myself. I needed something good to mix in with the bad. I needed to feel the way he’d made me feel with that kiss when I was pressed up against the wall.

Or maybe there was no reason for it. Maybe I was just finally ready to give in to the madness because I was so tired of fighting it and everything around me.

I leaned forward and stopped with my lips only an inch away from his, the move a blatant dare. His eyes darkened as they dropped to my lips, but he didn’t give in. His jaw tightened instead, and I felt the strain in his muscles, but he didn’t move.

Embarrassment threatened at the back of my mind, but desire washed it out. He was just so strong all the time, so controlled. I wondered what happened when he broke that. When he just let himself act.

I’d gotten a hint of it that night when he’d entered me. His eyes had been blazing with ferocious desire, and his snarl was animalistic. Brutally instinctive.

And he’d needed to keep his hands around my neck to center himself, not quite choking me but close to it.

It was so deliciously depraved, and the mere thought of it made my core squeeze wantonly.

I knew the whole thing freaked him out the next morning. He didn’t want to talk about it, even though I assured him that I wasn’t scared and found it kind of hot. I might have been inexperienced, but I wasn’t exactly naïve either. I knew Marcus was a dominant man and what that meant. Having sex with him was intense, and I got the feeling I had only scratched the surface so far.

But I wanted more.

I didn’t know how to get him to do more now until he suddenly brought his hand up, ran it down my cheek, and then finally wrapped it around my neck. His expression was hard as he did it, but not in a seductive way.

This was a warning.

I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to scare me, but it didn’t work.

Instead, I felt my nipples pucker up painfully and felt a little tingle between my legs. I deliberately pushed my throat even deeper into his grasp, and his eyes flashed with something dark and dangerous.

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