He set the pizza out on the coffee table and tuned into the latest Mission Impossible movie. He sat back and enjoyed the night completely. What’s not to love about an evening like that?
When Erin was done with her slice, she rested onto Marcus’s shoulder and let him finish. Four slices later, he closed the box. He put his arm around her and pulled her up against him. They snuggled up on the couch for the rest of the movie. As soon as the credits started rolling, Erin made an announcement.
“I brought dessert,” she said with an ornery smile. She clicked off the tv and walked to the mini-fridge. She pulled out a can of whipped cream and walked over to the bed, shaking the can as she went. He watched with amusement as she tossed the whipped cream on the bed, dropped her robe, and motioned with one finger for him to join her.
He walked over to her gladly, dropped the sweats and boxers, and crawled beside her as she laid down. She picked up the can as she did. She smiled and squirted a bit of the whipped cream into her navel.
“This is the best dessert I’ve ever been served,” Marcus said with an ornery grin before he licked every bit from her belly button. She giggled again at the ticklish feeling.
“Where next?” she asked provocatively.
“Give me that,” he smiled at her. She handed the can over to him and he kissed her deeply before tipping both of her breasts in white. He sucked and licked at each nipple in turn while she squirmed and made soft pleasure noises.
Her neck was his next target, followed by her inner-wrist.
“Open your mouth,” he said to her. As soon as she complied he dabbed a small bit on her tongue and kissed her again. He moved to look her in the eye with a heated smile, then moved his hand to her inner thigh. He placed a trail of whipped cream dots and left himself an over-sized dollop directly between her legs.
She moaned as he slowly worked his way to her sex. By the time he was enjoying the last of the whipped cream, Erin was moaning and writhing beneath him. He licked and sucked long after his dessert was consumed.
“God, Marcus,” she purred. She stretched contentedly beside him while he continued to run his hands along her body, stopping at her belly to trace the butterfly with his pinky.
“Baby, you are So. Damn. Hot.” he said to her.
“Mmmm. My turn. Hand me that.”
He let her play as long as she wanted. She took her time enjoying the whipped cream along every strong muscle of his arms, chest and abs. By the time she reached her final destination, Marcus was moaning with as much need as she had.
Both were sticky and satisfied by the time dessert was over. “Take a shower with me,” Marcus said. He swept her up off the bed and carried her to the double shower of their deluxe room. They shared more kisses under the steamy spray. The clean smell of the hotel’s bodywash surrounded them as they lovingly washed each other.
By the time they were done, the two of them were satisfied and sleepy. Marcus took her hand and walked her to the bed and tucked her in beside him. “Thanks for the vacation. We need to do this again,” he said with a grin.
“I totally agree,” she said in her happily tired voice.
“Good night, baby. I love you.”
“I love you, too. Marcus…don’t let go of me tonight, ok?”
“Never.”
The two woke up Sunday morning and stretched and yawned lazily together in bed for a long while. Erin rolled him to his stomach and straddled his hips to give him a back rub. She wanted to pamper him, but just as much she wanted to admire and feel all his strong muscles. His physique was beyond perfection.
“So tell me more about your partnership with Bill,” she said while she worked on his lower back. “I can’t tell you how excited I am for you about having your own gym. That’s perfect for you.”
“Well, like I said, the first two years are mostly for me to keep training and fighting. He’ll be teaching me the business side that whole time. He already gave me a project to work on. Then after two years, I’ll start taking over bit by bit until the gym is completely mine. I still can’t believe it.”
“What’s your new project?” she asked with a smile. Bill was so good to Marcus and she loved that even in the first weeks of their partnership, he was already letting Marcus take ownership of his new role.
“I’m not sure if I should tell you yet. I thought I could surprise you. But then again, maybe you can help.”
She squeezed the muscles of his shoulders and pushed her thumbs along his spine. “How can I help?”
“You inspired me on this one. After what happened at your office, I lost it, Erin. I didn’t want to admit it to you, but I raged. Hard. I drove straight to the gym and was ready to beat down any trainee who would spar with me. Bill about had my hide because of it, but he got me thinking instead.
“If you had been able to get away from that creep, you wouldn’t have gotten scared all over again. So I’d like to teach you some self-defense, and I asked Bill if we could start a whole class for women. We’ll clear the gym and use the sparring mats for the training. I’ll have to do some research to teach that, but I think it’ll work out well.”
Erin was choked up. “Marcus…”
“Hey, don’t cry, baby,” he said as he turned over slowly. He sat up and held her tight against him. “This is a good thing. Don’t let what happened this week get you upset again. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“No, that’s not it. You just take really good care of me and I love you for it.”
He smiled at her genuinely. “It’s because I love you, too. So what do you think?”
“I think it’s a great idea. I’m assuming you’ve never written a business plan before?”
He chuckled. “Uh, no.”
“Then I can definitely help. I did some for my classes at Emory and I’ve reviewed a few of them for clients before submission for bank loans. Come on, we have some time now. Do you want to brain storm? I love this plan,” she said with a twinge of excitement.
He grinned at her enthusiasm. “Sure.”
They ordered room service and made coffee in the kitchenette. Erin pulled a legal pad out of her computer bag and titled the first page “Self Defense Business Plan” and smiled widely at Marcus. “I’m really proud of you.”
“Truthfully, so am I.”
They spent the next hour eating breakfast and bouncing ideas off each other. Erin grabbed her laptop and did some basic research on self-defense classes. She jotted down a few websites on the legal pad.
“I can help Bill with some tax options, too. If he takes some of the proceeds from this and donates them, maybe to a women’s shelter, it will help offset the profits.”
“What about donating some training sessions to the women at the shelters? Would that count as charitable donations, too?”
“Absolutely. What a great idea. There’s a few other tax laws that have recently changed that may affect things for Bill. I can go over them with the two of you this week if you want. I can stop by the gym.”
“See, you take good care of me too,” he smiled.
By the time they were done, they had the basic framework for Marcus’s proposal and several ideas on how to teach the class. There were a few others already offered in Atlanta and Marcus planned to talk to the instructors for ideas and insight.
“Do you want me to write this up for you?” she offered.
“No, I think I need to, but I’d love for you to look at it when I’m done. If I’m going to run a business, I should do this myself. I might borrow your laptop, though.”
“Of course. Anytime. In fact, I can bring home my work computer if I need one and you can take mine so you can work on the write up whenever you have time.”
He stood and walked over to her. He pulled her up to stand next to him and kissed her lovingly. “Thank you, baby.”
“You’re welcome,” she said right before she kissed him back. “And now, unfortunately, check-out time is looming. Will you move the couch and table back where they were?”
“Sure.”
They reset the room and packed up before Erin completed the in-room check out. They shared one last, loving kiss before heading out to the parking lot. “Are you coming home with me?” she asked.
“I wish I could, but I have to get to the gym. I have that fight in two weeks and I need to get my ass in gear. I’ll try to see you some time this week, though.”
“Ok. I love you.”
“You too, baby,” he smiled.
Chapter Fifteen
Tuesday at noon Marcus met Erin and Cassie downtown for lunch. Erin invited them both to try the new pub across the street from her office. She told Marcus that her coworkers raved about the place and she was ready to be out and try new things. His butterfly was in full force.
He walked into the aptly named
Wings Joint
and found his girl and his sister already seated together and laughing. What a great sight. He joined them at the table and leaned over to kiss Erin on the cheek.
“Get a room,” Cassie teased.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Marcus returned. “So how are my two favorite ladies?”
“Good,” Erin said. “We were just talking about you.”
“And laughing? That can’t be good…”
Cassie laughed again. “I heard you got your butt kicked in the hotel MMA league.”
Marcus rolled his eyes. “Funny. That’s not how I remember it.”
Erin grinned a guilty grin and Cassie just laughed again. The three of them ordered their wings and enjoyed their lunch together. Marcus thought again how lucky he was to have so much good around him and to no longer be controlled by anger.
Cassie filled them in about her new job and her friend Jenna who was hired at the same time. She had been in a few classes with her and they had become fast friends.
“Erin, I think you’d really like her. We should all go out shopping together or maybe just hang out sometime. Coffee at your place or something.”
“I’d love that,” Erin said sincerely with a smile. “I liked going to that thrift store. You should introduce me to more of them.”
“I know Jenna will be in. We’ve been to a few together already. Marcus, want to join us?” Cassie asked with doe-eyed innocence.
“No. Not at all. Not even a little bit. No,” he said with a definitive smile. “You may borrow my girl for your shopping trip but only if you promise to bring her back and not make me go.”
“All three of us will be
so
disappointed,” she said with an over-stated mock pout.
“Obnoxious,” Marcus muttered with a big grin for his sister.
Cassie winked at Erin who shook her head. Marcus ate a few more wings and let them set their plans. He was actually glad Erin would be occupied for the weekend. He had to hit the gym hard if he wanted any chance of winning his match. The fight was only a week and a half away. He had eight days of brutal work outs, two days of recovery, and a fight the next day. That was his life for the next eleven days.
When they were asking for the check, Marcus heard a conversation from the bar getting a little loud. He turned to see what the issue was and saw two men arguing. A frightened-looking woman stood between them. Ever the protector, he stood up and readied himself to get involved if necessary.
Neither Erin nor Cassie said a word once they saw what was going on and the look on Marcus’s face as he watched intently. He appreciated their giving him the chance to focus. He quickly discerned that
drunk-at-noon jerk
had been hitting on the woman and wouldn’t take the hint to back off.
Potential
jerk
had gotten involved and was apparently coming to her aid. Marcus could appreciate that.
However, the tension of the situation was rising and the bartender was calling his manager out in case the confrontation turned physical.
Drunk jerk
wouldn’t let it go and
potential jerk
was getting angrier by the minute. Marcus immediately recognized the rage building up in him. The look in his eyes was like staring at his old self in the mirror.
Just as Marcus suspected, that look was immediately followed by a sharp, angry blow to
drunk jerk’s
jaw.
Drunk jerk
was laid out flat. The woman flinched and managed to move out of the way.
Potential
jerk
morphed into
real
jerk
when he jumped over the guy on the floor and starting pummeling his face further without any need to. The guy was already down. Marcus sprinted over to the scene because he knew this would only get worse.
Once that kind of anger is let loose, there is little chance of reining it in. He got behind the raged-out man and put him in a headlock. He pulled him back into the very hold he had jokingly used on Erin just days before.
The man thrashed and struggled to get out of his grip. Marcus simply held on to him calmly and said, “It’s over, man. Let it go.”
“Fuck you! Get the hell off me!”
“Not going to happen.”
The man continued to fight and try to make purchase with his fist on any surface of Marcus he could reach. He couldn’t get enough leverage in his position to do any harm at all.
“You done yet?” Marcus asked, still calm.
“Fuck off.” The man was losing steam, obviously embarrassed and humiliated.
The bartender only watched and the manager was reaching for the phone.
Drunk jerk
left, not wanting the police involved to follow up on his harassment.
“You don’t need to call the police,” Marcus calmly said to the manager. “This is over.”
The manager didn’t dial, but held onto the phone anyway. The man in Marcus’s hold finally let the tension go from his body. Marcus helped him up and looked him in the eye. He assessed every aspect of him in that moment.
The man was probably twenty-four, obviously strong and fit. He was only an inch or two shorter than Marcus. He was tattooed and wild-eyed, but at least well-intended when he came to the rescue of the woman being harassed. Seeing the rage displayed before him and the angry set of the man’s jaw really was like looking in a five-year-old mirror.