All is Lost (All Series, Book 2) (21 page)

Cautiously rises up on his knees, Marcus’
large body towers over me and I also move gradually, mirroring his
position. Facing each other, our bodies lean in simultaneously,
like a force beyond our ability to see is pulling us together. I
tilt my head back and wait impatiently while he teases me by moving
only one damn inch at a time, lowering his face down to mine. He
inhales deeply while closing his eyes, drawing strength in securely
locking his hands behind his back too. He really is trying to be
good and stay in control. Ohgod, I crave both his kiss and touch so
wantonly.

My heart beats frantically driving me near
cardiac arrest before Marcus finally touches his warm lips to mine.
He presses down a feather light kiss, barely caressing me. Sliding
from the left corner of my lips to the right, he sips on every
tender piece of my mouth. Sucking and tugging slowly and
seductively as he goes, he uses his lips and teeth expertly. Unable
to continue with his own damn slow seduction, Marcus promptly
becomes more aggressive with his actions. His mouth tortures,
entices, and greedily begs for more from this kiss. I groan softly
at the pleasurable assault which causes him to freeze
suddenly.

My eyes flutters open sluggishly, finding him
staring with darkened irises at me longingly. Finally unlocking his
hands from behind his body, Marcus grips me by my upper arms. He
pulls away from me, raggedly exhaling with several heavy pants.
Searching my face, Marcus takes several slow and cleansing breaths
before leaning forward, placing his forehead against
mine.

“
Baby I honestly can't take
anymore. As much as I fucking hate saying it I have to stop
touching and kissing you now,” he says.

DAMMIT
!

Chapter
Fifteen

Marcus

A twenty minute cold shower helped take the
edge off my need to have sex with Breesan, but sleeping with her is
going to be my damn death. However, the need to have her close to
me is worth my own demise. Lying back on the bed with her snaking
across my body, her head snuggling on my shoulder and leg draping
over my thigh is heaven on earth. Currently lying here trying to
calm our desires, we have promised not to tease each other, but I
know we will fail miserably or at least I will. Whether she's lying
on me or on the other side of this damn island, caressing her
porcelain skin will always be a burning desire and I'm fucking
combustible at her slightest touch. Her hand stroking my dick
earlier nearly unmanned me completely.

Not once in my life have I been so turned on
by a woman touching me. Actually I was turned on before that. When
Breesan climbed onto the bed, displaying her ass to me, my cock was
completely ready to slide between her creamy thighs. From the
moment I locked us in the room together I felt like I was reliving
a dream that I’ve had repeatedly, even before I laid eyes on
Breesan Maxwell. It's such an unbelievable and overwhelming feeling
to hold my dream woman.

Now I just need to get my mind off of her
hands and fingers lazily skimming over my body. It will take a
miracle for me to forget her fingernails scratching my scalp and
ears.
Mygod that's sexy as fuck
. I suppress a groan,
thinking about my itchy need. Focusing on anything but that sexy
torture session, our conversation seems to help distract me a
little. Unfortunately, not all of me can be so easily
distracted.

“
That was a nice attempt at taking
my mind off all this bullshit I found myself in. Thank you.”
Breesan says, following a yawn.

“
Is that what you think I was
doing? Baby you give me more credit than I deserve.”

I draw her hand up and kiss it and then place
it over my chest. Her eyes flare with passion when she glances at
her fingertips lying on the head of my dragon tattoo. I chuckle
smugly knowing that she is turned on by my ink.

“
Who is Rhys' roommate?” Breesan
asks, drawing her hand away from my chest and lifting up on her
elbow. Hovering over me, she stares into my eyes, intentionally
keeping them from drifting back to my chest.

As her hair slides down, draping loosely over
her silky shoulder from her quick movement, I smile and slide a
wild lock behind her ear.
Any second now I'm going to wake up
and my dream angel will be gone.
Lost again in the thought of
heavenly groping, I forget the question she’s asked but get drawn
back to reality quickly when she tickles my stomach. I nearly leap
off the bed and she laughs out of control.

“
Oh, oh, oh! You're so ticklish.”
Breesan snorts, leaping back at me with her wiggly little fingers.
“Come back over here.”

“
No,” I shake my head, capturing
her hands. “You startled me.” I lie bravely staring into her eyes.
The truth is I am ticklish as all get out.

“
Mm hmm, if you say so big guy,”
Breesan says.

Smiling ridiculously, I am completely
enthralled that she is comfortable enough with me now that she is
calling me a playful nickname. Seeing the panic rush across her
face, I realize she thinks I took it sexually and so she stammers
through an explanation.

“
Big guy because you're so
huge…tall, I mean tall. With big muscles…from working out and,”
Sighing she says, “Oh mygod I'm going to shut up now.” Crossing her
arms over her eyes she hides while giggling softly. Pulling her
arms away from her face, I kiss her cheek and join her in laughing.
Breesan’s nervousness adds to her panic and makes her even more
adorable.

Sliding off the bed, Breesan grows quiet
before she walks over to the window. Placing a hand on the glass,
she looks like a lost little girl staring into the dark night.
Everything in me screams to protect her and I won't fight the
demanding persuasion to safeguard her at all cost. No matter what,
keeping Breesan Maxwell from harm is my first concern over
everything and anyone. Not only for her, but I need it this way. I
never dreamed she would be mine, but I knew it the first night she
touched my arm at the Renaissance Castle. Where I thought I was
dead inside, Breesan makes me feel alive again. I know I will never
find a connection in another living soul, like the one I share with
Breesan; and I will fight for it.

“
Ensley is Rhys’ roommate,” I say.
“She's the manager at Club Toxic and his connection to get you the
job. She won't know anything about what's really going on with you
and she damn sure doesn't know about our real jobs. Rhys took her
in a couple of months ago when she needed a place to live.” Still
staring out the window, Breesan smiles and I add, “There is
something about Ensley that sets my nerves on edge. Don't let your
guard down around her.”

Nodding, Breesan turns away from the window,
slowly raking her eyes over me. “Are you going to tell me what Sam
discovered in Julia's boxes or about my text messages?” She says in
a shaky voice. I smile, seeing her visibly shudder at the effect my
shirtless body has on her. She reaches over the back of the chair
beside her, retrieving my discarded shirt and tossing it at me.
“Well?” Her mind never stops. I'll learn one day that even though
she may appear sad or lost she is actually cautious.

Bending at the waist I raise up on the bed. I
pull my old, tattered U2 tee shirt over my head then lie back on
the large stack of pillows. I cross my arms and place them under my
head, seeing her calm almost instantly. She pads over and crawls
onto the bed next to me, keeping her feet tucked under her body she
leans back on them with her hands gingerly lying in her lap. Her
eyes zero in on the logo stretching across the front of my shirt
and she bites down hard on her bottom lip. Her innocent look begins
to arouse a need in me again. I shift on to my side placing my hand
under my head to prop. Still clearly affected by me, she blinks
then forces her eyes back to mine.

“
Sam skimmed through the boxes.” I
state. Breesan quickly becomes engaged with my explanation. “She
wants to make a more thorough sweep through the journals again
soon, but she was more interested in doing research on the text
messages.”

“
Is there relevance in the
texts?”

“
She said the first text message
search came back with information on satellites matching those
names with the respective dates that were launched to Mars. Of
course she found it odd, as do I.”

“
Mars? Yeah that is
weird.”

“
So she entered the second text
message information and this is when it got really odd.” She sits
up straighter, intrigued. “The information on Google search reveals
when you type in those two names together it directs you to a wiki
link for Ares, Greek god of war. Ares sons were Deimos (Fear) and
Phobos (Terror).”

Laughing, she asks, “What?”

“
Okay so that doesn't really
explain anything, but during Sam’s research she discovered that the
Roman god of war is Mars.” I pause, checking to make sure she’s
still with me. She narrows her eyes at me, like she thinks I’m not
going to finish, or that I was editing to keep the truth from
her.

“
The only thing that doesn’t make
sense is the correlation of Mars with Tristan being alive, but Sam
also doesn't believe that your last text was about Tristan. And I
agree with her. The text messages must be about something other
than Julia and Dr. A.”

“
Who? I don’t really know anyone
except for Anna and Tristan.”

“
Right, well.... Unless by some
chance Dr. A's real name is Ares and we've wasted time going around
the world trying not to make all this hell surrounding you about
him just because Rhys won’t buy it.” I snort at the thought. “We'll
keep searching through what we have, but we need to get more boxes
from your attic soon.” Judging her reaction about all that I have
shared, I see that she really isn't shocked.

“
Okay. You can get a copy of my key
made. Unless you already have one.”

“
No,” I shake my head. “Julia would
never allow someone on her payroll to have access to her personal
world. She was extremely paranoid. I know she didn’t trust me
completely. But she was right about one thing. I do have a bit of a
crush on you.” I smirk, but her expression grows harder
suddenly.

“
Tell me what you really think
about me working at Club Toxic. I understand that you're bothered
by Ensley, but is there some other reason you don't want me doing
this? Because I feel like I
need
to do this for Anna and
Waverly. And I really want your support.” She sighs, glancing at me
from under her long lashes.

“
You will always have my support. I
don't like the idea of you working at the club. It’s not just a
teen hangout anymore and it makes me crazy thinking about the kind
of men that hang out there, who might try something with you.” She
gasps, hearing my explanation. Defensively, she crosses her arms
over her chest and frowns at me. “I know you can handle yourself.”
She nods still eyeing me suspiciously. “It's not even about that. I
just can't stand the thought of how you'll be dressed, and every
man in that damn place ogling your sweet little body–which by the
way, belongs to me.” I tease, stroking a finger down her thigh. She
shudders under my touch then grabs my hand placing it back down on
the bed.

“
Stop,” Breesan whispers in a husky
voice.

“
Honestly, I don't know what damn
good it's going to do sending you in there. With the description
you gave earlier we should be able to find them and handle it
without risking your life further.” I sigh, rubbing my hand over my
face then pinching the bridge of my nose. “All this shit is giving
me a fucking migraine. If something happens to you I will literally
lose it.” She covers her hand over mine and I frown. “Will you
promise me that you'll only observe the people there and let me or
Kole handle everything?”

Nodding, she covers her mouth with the back of
her hand, letting out a long, squeaky yawn. Realizing I'm exhausted
too, I stretch and my body protests. Currently lying on top of the
comforter, I turn back the top edge then shift around until I'm
under it. Stretching my arms above my head I lie on my back then
pat on the space next to me indicating my desire for her to lie
beside me. She wiggles under the covers, staying on the opposite
side of the bed and disappointment seeps into my chest. Breesan is
entirely too far away from me, but I don't want to make her
uncomfortable.

Turning my head searching for a clock, I spot
it glowing on the desk across the room and notice it is well after
midnight. I haven’t slept with a woman in months and typically
stand behind my rule of not staying over for the night, but between
the chaos and being so damn wound up in desire for her, none of
that seems to matter. Having Breesan in bed with me makes every
fucked up part of all of this worth it.

Cool air on my arm makes me aware of her hand
snaking under the covers toward me. I smile like an idiot, pleased
that she needs me too. I retrieve her tiny hand, hauling her over
to me. She snakes her entire body around me and we fall into a
comfortable, deep sleep.

It is after twelve the next day by the time
Ensley wakes up and finally meets Breesan, aka Beatrice. It's an
odd name that Rhys chose for her alias while working at the local
Goth club, Club Toxic, but Breesan doesn't seem to mind. Keeping
her identity hidden until we can locate and apprehend the other two
men involved in the abductions is vital in keeping Breesan alive. I
fucking hate using her as bait, so more than anything her safety is
my top priority.