Page 46 of The Spare
His voice was soft and welcoming. The more time we spent together, the more I gotthisMarcus. The one whose laugh was joyful, whose serious façade was easily broken with a sly joke, the one who went out of his way to care for me. It was making it more difficult to extinguish the sparks that threatened to set our lives alight.
I grinned uncontrollably and grasped the coffee mug with both hands. “How dare you, sir? I’ve never been accused of such a thing.”
He smiled, turned back to his laptop, typed a few things, and closed it. Hefinallylooked at me. Upon closer inspection, his gray eyes had the most enticing flecks of green.
“Does this mean I get to call in a favor, no questions asked?” His eyes sparked with envy. Was he jealous of the I-owe-you game I had with Xander? He was beingdifferent, and it made everything in my body short-circuit.
“What exactly do I owe you for?” I put the coffee down, folded my legs onto the chair, and turned my body slightly to face him directly. “I thought I was a perfect lady.”
“Well, if it weren’t for me, you’d have probably gone home with Ashton.” There was an almost possessive undercurrent in his tone.
“Maybe I wanted to go home with him.”
“No.” He smiled wryly and leaned in. His eyes searched mine, and his voice lowered to a whisper. “You didn’t.”
My mouth went dry.
Dammit, he was right. That was obvious now. At least between the two of us. I honestly couldn’t pick Ashton out of a lineup. My only regret from last night was drinking too much. Maybe if I had my wits about me, I would have woken up in Marcus’s bed, feeling satisfied and not hungover.
“Yikes. I just ditched him, didn’t I?” I winced at the thought. Ashton was a perfectly nice man with whom I had no chemistry. It was bad form to leave without at least acknowledging him.
“Don’t worry. I gave him your regards.” His smile radiated a knowing arrogance. A shiver sailed up my spine.
That was when I saw a familiar brown journal at the corner of the table, hidden.
It was the one I got him years ago when Xander and I were in Paris. Marcus was impossible to shop for; he didn’t want anything. The journal caught my eye because it reminded me of the ones their mother wrote in. I saw it and instantly thought to get it for him. I expected it would be on a shelf collecting dust. Marcus would never throw away something any of us got for him. Instead, they’d get neatly tucked away out of sight.
I wondered if he remembered I got for him. “You still have that?” I wondered aloud.
He looked down to the journal in question. “There are still blank pages.” He shrugged. “I have to do some work. Are you going to be okay?”
I nodded. “You can’t steal me away from all my dates. You know that, right?”
“I guess we’ll have to see.” He got up from the table, stopped behind my chair, and rested his hands on either side of me. His hot breath skated across my neck when he leaned down and whispered in my ear. “Feel better, Counselor.”
My toes curled beneath the table. My entire body trembled as his footsteps receded down the hallway.
* * *
I fell asleep at the table.
I couldn’t help it. I never slept well when I drank, and the soft upholstery on the dining chairs was surprisingly comfortable. The combination of the two quickly lulled me to sleep.
My head rested in my folded arms. I didn’t know how long I had been sleeping, but I was awoken when someone’s hand ran slowly up and down my side.
“Sloan,” a hot breath said in my ear. The heated tickle along the hollow of my neck made me regret the hangover even more. That would have been nice to wake up to.
I could tell by the way he said it that he was smiling. Marcus drove me crazy, and he knew it. His large body loomed over me.
My eyes stayed closed, and I savored the feeling. “Mmmm.”
He chuckled softly. “Henry will be here in twenty minutes.”
I sprang up and nearly hit him in the process. The banging in my head returned tenfold.
“Relax.” He went on. “I told him you were exhausted and stayed here.”
“That was mean.” I rubbed my head and wondered what Henry could want. Then I reminded myself that they were, in fact, best friends and had their rituals just like me and Xander.
