Page 26 of Forbidden Bride (Forbidden 1)
Lights are on in the second story, otherwise, the house is dark. He’s probably out with her. Or maybe she’s here, in his room. Nausea burns my throat. I didn’t think this through enough to consider that he might have company. That redhead could be sprawled naked in his bed for all I know. Oh, Marco. I hope like hell it’s not true. I’m not sure I could survive seeing that with my own eyes.
A sudden noise makes me go still. Just ahead, a light turns on on the first floor, revealing an enclosed patio. A figure steps out and takes a drink from a glass in his hand. It takes my eyes a moment to completely adjust to the change in light, but then I see him clearly. It’s Marco, looking out into the night. His face tips up to the sky. My Romeo. It’s as if this moment was meant to be.
“Marco?” I whisper his name as I approach, sticking to the shadows.
He jerks to alertness, his head swiveling toward me.
“It’s me.” I lift my chin and walk to him with purposeful steps, seeing disbelief on his face. I’m a bit pleased with how much I’ve shocked him. That’s exactly how I felt to find him with a woman on his arm.
“Karina?”
“Are you alone?” It seems like the most important question right now, even though I dread the answer.
“What are you doing here? Jesus Christ. Get over here, hurry, before someone sees you.” He waves me over to the ornate iron rail around the patio.
Sweeping him with my eyes, my breath catches in my throat. Is this even happening right now? “I had to see you,” I tell him. “But only if you’re not…entertaining anyone.”
He grins, shaking his head. “I’m alone. Take my hand.”
Our fingers entwine, heat pumping through me as he helps me over the short rail and tugs me inside the patio doors. He shuts and locks them, pulls the heavy curtain, and spins to me. I barely get a glance at the room—his bedroom, it appears—before he gathers me in his arms.
“Karina, bella,” he murmurs, dipping his head toward me.
Instead of letting him kiss me, I push him away. “You acted like you didn’t even know me today. I want to know why.”
This was not the plan—confronting him like this, wasting what few precious minutes we have—but now that I’m here in his arms, I can’t hold back my jealousy.
His eyes narrow. “It killed me.”
I scoff. “It didn’t look like it to me. How do you think I felt, seeing you with that…” I can’t finish the sentence.
He smooths my hair and presses his warm lips to my forehead. “She’s nobody.”
His words do nothing to assuage my anger. She’s not nobody. She’s somebody to him, somebody close enough to hold his hand and touch him possessively.
Pulling away, I put some space between us as my heart breaks all over again. “You’re tearing me apart, Marco. I don’t know what to do, what to think. Who is she? Do I even get to ask that?”
His eyes track from my eyes to my lips, then trail slowly down to my bare feet and back up my body again. Even in this moment of conflict, the heat crackling between us is undeniable.
“It’s a nice dress,” he says.
“Thank you,” I say, keeping the edge in my voice.
With his eyes on mine, he steps closer and closer, until his hands drop to grab my hips. I let him. A deep, appreciative breath empties his chest as he rakes me once more with his gaze. My anger begins to soften, though I still want answers.
“You look incredible.”
“Marco—”
“She’s no one, Karina,” he says, more forcefully this time. “You have a nobody guy and I have a nobody girl. What’s the difference?”
“That doesn’t work for me,” I burst out angrily. “I won’t have a nobody guy anymore.”
It’s a promise I know I can’t keep, but I don’t care. I won’t give him up. I’ll do anything to keep us together.
Lifting up on my tiptoes, I press my lips to his. Marco’s hand digs into my hair while he draws me tight against him with the other. My dress suddenly feels too thick and heavy, too much of a barrier between us. I crave this man with every inch of my being, aching to be naked against him. Oh, I want that so badly. I’m on fire.
As our kiss deepens, his hands rove over my curves until he finds the zipper on the side of my dress and starts to slide it down, as if he’s reading my mind. He wants to undress me…and I want him to, so desperately, but our limited time is at the forefront of my mind.
I recall a scene from one of the countess’s adventures and drop to my knees.
“Karina.” His uncertain tone is only for my benefit because what man doesn’t want this, right? Sure, I’ve got no experience in this department, but that’s not going to stop me.
“I want to,” I whisper as I pull down his zipper. And then I gasp as his cock springs free into my hand, the pure size of it taking me by surprise. I’ve…I mean, I’ve never…
Okay, I’ve never seen one like this, so thick and so…perfectly formed. Just random dicks on the internet and that time a few years ago when I found my cousin’s stash of dirty magazines.
“Karina,” he groans and puts a hand to my head. I’m not sure if he’s trying to push me away or pull me closer, so I lean forward and take the tip of him into my mouth. I don’t overthink it. I just feel…
The warm plumpness in my mouth, my tongue running over the little slit at the tip. The skin there is like silk. Opening wider, I take him in more, enjoying the feel of his ridged shaft against my tongue, the way the heat of him pulses in my mouth. Marco gasps, but I can’t take any more. He’s filled me to the back of my throat, and I’ll gag if I keep going. Do I try, or do I ease up a little? My head is spinning, my chest going tight as I consider how to proceed.
What would Jane Austen say about this?
Run mad as often as you choose, but do not faint!
I choke a little as the words fill my mind, blinking back a few tears. Marco pulls back a bit, trying to be gentlemanly, but I’m quick to take him back in. Glancing up, I catch him staring down at me. His fingers wind into my hair as he pulls his hips back again and I push forward, moaning a little. We repeat this dance until I’m the one pulling back and pushing forward, letting him nearly escape from my mouth before sucking him back in. The pleasure in his fast, harsh breaths spurs me on, filling me with a kind of satisfaction I’ve never known. I relax my throat the best I can and try to find a rhythm that he likes, not too fast and not too slow.
Letting out another groan, Marco starts thrusting in time with the bobbing of my head, his cock swelling in my mouth, pumping faster and faster until he’s scraping lightly against my teeth, but he doesn’t seem to mind. I may not know exactly what I’m doing, but it’s obvious that Marco likes it anyway. Our eyes lock again, and even though my jaw is starting to ache, I feel a fresh surge of lust. This is power. This is control. This is…incredible.
With a sharp gasp, he grips the sides of my head and tries to pull out of me, but I grab his ass in my palms and hold him tight. He’s about to come. I can feel it.
“Karina—” but he doesn’t finish his sentence.
Hot, salty fluid explodes into my mouth and coats the back of my throat, Marco groaning softly, me echoing him. My eyes go wide as I try to decide what to do…but before I can make a choice, my body takes over on instinct, and I swallow it all down, holding back a tiny smile.
Because I did this to him. Me. He couldn’t even hold himself back at the end. I win.
And if I never see a more satisfied look on a man’s face, I’ll die happy.
