Her Tender Tyrant (9 page)

“I’m starving,” she said as she walked down the stairs a long time later. She was wearing yoga pants and one of his shirts, feeling more lethargic than ever before. But the hunger gnawing at her belly couldn’t be ignored any longer. It was well past lunchtime and it wasn’t possible to be a passive lover with Marcus.

“I thought I was satisfying all of your hungers,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her waist and bit her earlobe gently.

Juliette smiled and stopped, feeling that nibble all the way down to her toes. But then she realized what was happening and she stepped out of his arms. “No!” she laughed. “I need food. You can’t touch me until I have food.”

He raised a dark eyebrow with that statement. “You keep using that word ‘can’t’” he commented, his eyes looking at her in his shirt and thinking she looked delectable. “I think I’ve proven repeatedly that you can.”

She rolled her eyes and held out a large, wooden spoon. “You sit on that side of the counter and don’t cross over. I’m going to fix us something to eat and then…” she blushed and shook her head.

Marcus caught her blush and loved it. “And then I can have my wicked way with you some more?”

“No,” she told him firmly. “And then we’re getting out of this house so you will behave.”

Marcus’ eyes followed her bottom, enjoying the view as she bent over to get vegetables out of the bottom drawer of the fridge. “Oh honey, you really need to understand the depths of my imagination if you think that going outside is going to stop me.”

He leered at her as she dumped vegetables and the carton of eggs onto the counter. Juliette wasn’t really sure how to respond to that so she just ignored him. “What do you like in your omelet?” she asked.

“Everything,” he responded and watched as she cut up the vegetables and sautéed them in the pan. “Do you like to cook?” he asked.

She shrugged her shoulder slightly. “Probably too much,” she said and patted her bottom.

He shook his head, amazed and more than a little shocked by what her comment implied. “Juliette, please tell me that you’re not one of those women who thinks she has to lose weight, are you?”

She couldn’t look up at him so she focused on the pan. “Probably every woman thinks that.”

“You shouldn’t be one of them. You’re gorgeous and your butt in those jeans has been driving me crazy ever since I saw it that first night.”

She glanced up at him and started to look away but the heat and sincerity in his eyes captured hers and wouldn’t release her. “I love your figure, if you hadn’t noticed.”

She bit her lower lip, trying very hard not to blush but his deep chuckle told her that she’d been unsuccessful. “I also love the way you do that. It’s adorable.”

She sighed and looked back down at the pan. “Great, just what I want. Adorable.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “Adorable in a sexy, hot way.”

She laughed as well but poured the eggs into the pan. “You’re pretty gorgeous yourself,” she finally said, but couldn’t look at him. Instead, she focused intently on sprinkling the cheese over the egg mixture so that it was perfectly covering every part.

“Thank you, my beautiful lady,” he said and ignored her order to stay on the other side of the counter. Getting up, he came around and kissed her neck. “Those are wonderful words to hear.”

She shivered when he kissed her neck and sighed, no longer able to ignore his enormous presence any longer. “The eggs are going to burn,” she cautioned even as her bottom pressed back against his hips. She wasn’t surprised to find him already hard and ready for her. It had been like that all night.

In response to her warning, he turned off the stove and shifted the skillet to another burner. A split second later, he spun Juliette around in his arms and lifted her onto the counter.

“Now I can have my wicked way with you,” he groaned.

It vaguely occurred to Juliette that she should protest. This was his parents’ kitchen counter, after all. She suspected that she’d have trouble looking Jemma in the eye the next time they had lunch. But by the time that thought had formed in her mind, Marcus already had her shirt off and his lips were doing things to her breasts. She was lost to his touch once more and no protest was forthcoming.

“Let’s go for a ride today,” he suggested as he picked up their breakfast plates, putting them into the dishwasher.

Juliette tugged his big shirt around her, loving the way it smelled.

She looked up at him, going over those words again. He wanted to do something with her outside of a bed? She couldn’t suppress the wave of happiness that came over her when he suggested doing an activity together other than what they had already been doing for hours.

“Um….I don’t really know how to ride,” she finally admitted.

Marcus halted from rinsing off the cutting board to stop and stare at her. “You mean you’ve worked your entire thesis around an animal that you don’t know?”

She shrugged one delicate shoulder. “I have been watching them, working through my argument. So I think I know them a little bit,” she argued. “I study human beings as well but that doesn’t mean I’m going to jump on their backs and ride them as they make their way to the subway station.”

Marcus laughed and nodded his head. “Okay, fair comment. But really, you’ve got to learn to ride a horse.”

She pulled herself up onto one of the counter stools. “Really, I don’t.”

He finished wiping down the counters before moving over to her. “Really, you do.”

She raised one brown eyebrow. “Are we back to the arrogant-giver-of-commands-Marcus?” she asked, referring to how, except for last night, they’d been fighting with each other, mainly with him trying to boss her around.

He slid his hands underneath the big shirt. “Have I ever stopped giving commands?” he asked with that wicked look in his eye.

Okay, she’d give him that much. He was a very demanding lover. But things were going to have to change. “Sorry Marcus, but learning to ride a horse has never been on my bucket list. I don’t want to do that to the poor animals. I feel like they are my friends now.”

He chuckled. “I’m going to tell you a secret about horses. They actually like being ridden. They like connecting with humans.”

“But they run away from me most of the time.”

“Not when you give them treats.”

Juliette liked the idea of getting to know the horses a bit better. Dennis and Butch were wonderful, but they had jobs to do so she tried to limit her questions to them. Perhaps if Marcus had time to go out to the pasture, she could ask him a few questions to clarify some behaviors. Not that she was going to get on one of them and ride.

“Don’t you have to work?” she asked, pretending to agree.

He shrugged. “It can wait. Let’s get you on a horse.”

She bit her lower lip. “Why don’t I just watch you ride?” she suggested, not wanting to admit how nervous she was of the enormous animals. Surely there was some way to get out of getting on top of a horse. “Why don’t you get on your own horse and I’ll watch you as you ride?”

“Why don’t you come down to the stable with me and I can teach you how to ride your own horse? Who knows,” he said as he pulled her closer, “you might learn more about the horses once you become better friends with them.”

Juliette knew there was a way out of this if she could just think fast enough. Unfortunately, with him standing between her legs and one of his giant hands on each of her thighs, it was hard to concentrate. “Why don’t you check in with your office just to make sure things are okay and we can discuss this later?”

He laughed softly before bending down to kiss her neck. “Because I’m the boss and I’m going to take a very beautiful woman out on a horse. My office staff can figure out any crises without me for a few hours.”

Juliette cringed. Maybe something would come to her as they walked down to the stables. “Let me get my notebook,” she said.

“Let’s get your adorable butt into a pair of jeans and I’ll grab a pair of my sister’s boots for you. It looks like you both have tiny feet so something of hers should fit you.”

Juliette hopped off of the stool and followed him, not really having much of a choice since he had her hand in his and was tugging her along. Maybe she could entice him back to bed, she thought. A skimpy little dance, a flirtatious look….

“Not going to happen,” he said as he pulled her up the stairs.

Juliette looked at his broad back, her eyes wide with shock. “What isn’t going to happen?” she asked.

“You’re going to try and seduce me when we get upstairs.” He turned on the stairs and looked down at her. “You’re welcome to try,” he said with a grin. “But even if you’re successful, we’re still getting you on a horse.”

Juliette grumbled as she pulled on a pair of Adriana’s boots, surprised to find that they really did fit her.

For the rest of the afternoon, he showed her how to groom the horse, saddle and ride. Initially, they stayed at a walk but after she started to feel comfortable, even amazed, on the back of the horse, he showed her how to trot and Juliette had to admit, it was quite thrilling.

Afterwards, he took her through the woods and she loved being with him even though they were both still on horses. It was a different view from this high up, she realized. While walking through the woods, she noticed certain things but from the back of a horse, her eye level was different. She saw the sun dappling through the trees differently and she noticed the trees more than she looked at the ground.

But the whole time, she smiled because of the simple pleasure of being with Marcus. He was a good riding instructor, a funny and intelligent companion and an ingenious and untiring lover.

“What do you have on your agenda today?” Marcus asked as they slowly woke up.

Juliette heard the strange tone in his voice and looked behind her. He had held her in his arms all night and made love to her with an intensity that shook her to her soul. Right now, his fingers were sliding along her bare skin, making her body tingle. But there was something in his eyes, something that scared her. They’d been together for more than a week and she found that it was becoming harder and harder to keep her feelings out of this relationship.

She thought of her plans, of what she wanted to do versus what she needed to do. In the end, responsibilities came out ahead in her mental debate. “I really need to finish my thesis. It’s due next week but I need time to edit everything.”

“How much more do you have to do?” he asked.

She rolled over until she was on her back and he was looking down at her. “I’m almost finished. I need to write a few more observations on women’s issues, how to interpret some of the body language…but most of the formatting is done, the bulk of the text and…” she thought through what remained of her study, trying desperately hard to think of anything else she could do that would keep her here in this house, in this man’s arms.

But that was unrealistic. Jemma and Damien would be home soon and she’d have to clear out. She’d been living here for a whole week longer than what she’d originally planned. Her friends were calling, wondering where she was, her professors were demanding a final submission or at least an update and, if she were perfectly honest with herself, she was stalling. She was so in love with Marcus and she just kept waiting, hoping and praying that he might feel something for her as well. Even a small emotion that could nudge him towards asking if she might want to extend their relationship after everything was finished.

But nothing. He was silent so she had to start accepting that this was a moment in time. A beautiful, loving moment that she’d never forget, but that she would have to savor in her old age as the love of her life.

“I’m basically finished,” she finally admitted, holding very still as she waited to see what he would say.

“And what do you do after you are finished?” he asked, his hand sliding along her smooth skin.

Juliette’s heart broke with those words. He had no plans to ask her to see him. No hope that he might ask her if she wanted to continue with this affair. It was love only on her side of this relationship. Marcus was probably just as removed as he’d been with all of the other lady loves in his past. Not that she knew what he’d gone through in his past affairs. But at least those women had gotten more of him than she had. She’d looked him up one afternoon. And she’d been right. The women he normally dated were tall, super-skinny blonds with irritatingly beautiful features, all of whom dressed like glamorous celebrities. Meanwhile, Juliette struggled to keep her butt warm enough while she sat on a hard rock, watching horses and trying to make parallels between herds and social groups.

The glamour in her life was firmly pointed towards the frumpy side of the scale.

“I’ll graduate. Get a job,” she said, looking up at the ceiling, trying hard not to cry, not to show him how devastated she was by his rejection.

“Where would you want to work? What do you want to do?”

She shrugged, not sure how she was even going to live after he moved on to his next mistress. Which was really all she was to him, she realized. Yet another in a long line of mistresses. “Oh, I’m sure there will be something out there. I might have to wait tables for a while. Jobs for psychology graduates aren’t plentiful in this market.”

He pulled her on top of him. “Will you let me help you find a job? I have a lot of positions that might work out well for someone with your education.”

She bit her bottom lip, trying hard not to cry even while his hands woke up her body. She arched into his hands, desperate to feel him one more time stroke her and fill her up with his incredible body.

“Well, you don’t have to look for a job now,” he told her with a deep, husky growl. “And you’re not finished, so you’re just going to have to stick around here until you are finished. I demand that, at least.”

She smiled, thinking that maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe he wasn’t ending this quite yet. The elation she felt at that moment threw her body into overdrive and, when she finally collapsed against his chest after the most mind-blowing orgasm yet, she snuggled down closer to him, savoring these moments. And when his arms wrapped around her, she honestly couldn’t remember a happier moment in her life.