Page 44 of All of Him
Marcus smirked and shook his head. He leaned in, tempting me with some kind of expensive cologne, and laid a kiss gently on my cheek. As he pulled away, I closed my eyes and thought about the potential consequences.
Noah wasn’t anything more than a friend, but why did it feel like I’d be cheating if I returned Marcus’s advances? I opened my eyes to find him standing closer, nodding toward my bedroom door.
Logically, I should have walked away and eaten some cheese cubes, but my drunk brain told me that sleeping with Marcus might get some of my sexual frustrations out. It’d been so long, and the thought crossed my mind that it might be easier to ignore the way Noah looked if I wasn’t so horny all the time.
Great logic, girl. Go get ’em.
That second line of thinking was exactly what led me into my bedroom, pulling Marcus behind me and bolting the door shut. If Delia hadn’t seemed to mind the first time, she certainly wouldn’t mind the second.
I just hoped that it didn’t come back to bite me.
Marcus pushed me up against the door, crushing his mouth to mine. He tasted like cheap whiskey and cigars, and I second-guessed my decision. Trying to remind myself that it didn’t mean anything and that I could really use somefun, I pulled his shirt off and pressed my palms firmly on his chest. It didn’t take long for him to reciprocate, walking me back to the edge of my bed once my top was off.
“Too fast?” he asked, his voice rough with desire.
“No,” I answered, pulling him down.
He hovered over me, hesitating as he caught his breath. His eyes bored into mine, revealing that he needed exactly what I did—a cheap thrill. I pulled his face back down to mine, kissing him again. He returned the kiss intensely, his stubble brushing firmly against my face, but then he fell to my side.
“Amanda.” He spoke between kisses.
I turned so that I was sitting on top of him, still connecting our lips, then lowered my hands to undo his belt.
Marcus groaned, grasped my hips for a second, then dropped his hands. “Amanda.”
“What?” I asked, irritated. My heart was racing, and all the blood had rushed between my legs. I could feel the same response under me from Marcus, so I wasn’t sure why he was stopping.
“Why don’t you ever have a boyfriend?”
“What?!” I hissed, shaking my head. “You want to discuss my love life right now?”
Marcus shrugged.
“Jesus Christ.”
“I mean…” he continued, looking around the room for the right words.
With every second that passed, my desire diminished. I wasn’t having sex that night. And for some reason, he didn’t seem to want to. Eventually, I gave up and fell to his side, waiting for him to continue.
“What is it, Marcus?” I asked, frustrated.
“Maybe…” he started. “Maybe we could go out sometime? Like for dinner?”
“No,” I answered, instantly regretting how fast my word had come out. Marcus raised his eyebrows and scoffed.
“Sorry,” I continued. “You’re a great guy, but I don’t reallylikeyou like that.”
“Okay…” he responded, clearly over whatever we’d started. He stood from the bed, retrieving his shirt from the floor. “I just thought maybe you’d want to spend some time with me outside of a bed. It’s the only thing we’ve ever done—sleep together. Buying you dinner is the least I can do.”
“You don’t have to be a gentleman about hookups,” I explained, sitting up. My words hit him harder than anticipated. “I’m acasual sexkind of girl. I’m sorry if it came across another way.”
“Oh, it didn’t,” Marcus mumbled. “Everyone knows you’re kind of a slut.”
What?
Suddenly, my heart dropped to my knees. I could—should—be angry. I should tell him to grow up and get over my rejection. Instead, I felt hurt. No one hadevercalled me that. Not in all of my years as a grown-ass woman had I ever even thought Icouldbe called that. But Marcus had gone and done it.
“Excuse me?” I said quietly, not sure he would even hear me. “Boys can do this all the time, and it’s fine. But a girl wants sex with no strings and she’s aslut?”
