Up All Night (9 page)

This time Marco’s release came an
instant before Beth’s and they both flew into orbit with each other’s name on
their lips.

****

He wanted her again. Fuck. He didn’t
know where he found the energy, but he thanked the universe for it. Usually he
conked out after the first round of sex, at a stretch he could maybe manage a
second, but with Beth he was ravenous, greedy for her.

He trailed his fingers down over her
hip and Beth stretched. “You have to be joking.” Her sleep-heavy comment made
him grin. “You surely can’t be ready to go again.”

But damn it, he was. His cock was
already springing to vibrant life and blood roared in his veins. He nuzzled
against her, making sure to press his erection toward the soft cushion of her
pussy. “What do you think?”

“You’re insatiable. Don’t you ever
sleep?”

“Plenty of time for sleep when I
don’t have you snuggled in beside me. With you it seems I’m happy to stay up
all night. In every respect.”

She gave a throaty laugh, which
firmly established his emerging hard-on. He rolled her onto her back. Damn, but
the sleepy look in her eyes, the sexy pout of her mouth, and desire threatened
to drive him to insanity.

What the hell was it about her? What
made him want her with such unrestrained desire?

He tested her readiness by slipping
a finger inside her soft folds and was unable to stop the grin when he found
her hot, wet, and so damn ready for him his cock jerked with enthusiasm.

“Don’t you have to get back to lock
up the bar?”

“Not tonight.” From the heat of her
pussy and the sultry look in her eyes, he wondered if she was as glad as he was
that he didn’t. “Ethan’s staying over. He’ll lock up.”

“Has he done that before?”

He noticed the question in her eyes
and knew it wasn’t academic interest that prompted her enquiry. “A few times.”

“So you could stay over at a woman’s
house?”

Shit. Was this the sort of
conversation they should be having when he had his fingers inside her? “Not
always.”

“And you thought you’d stay over
with me?”

“Yeah. That’s what I thought. It’s
what I want.”

He watched her eyes narrow slightly
and that sexy pout intensified, but then she smiled. “Good. That’s what I want,
too.”

He held her gaze as he drove deep
inside her. Relief mingled with desire. For a second there he’d thought he’d
ruined it. The look in her eyes had been filled with distrust—her ex’s doing,
he imagined—and in that moment he knew he never wanted to lie to her. He wanted
no secrets between them.

But later, as he lay beside a
sleeping Beth, he wondered if it could be that simple. Life was rarely that
easy and he’d seen his older siblings wear themselves out trying to salvage the
remains of their marriages long after the rot had set in. Sometimes it was
easier to simply go with the flow, take your pleasures when they fell in your
lap, and never get close enough for a woman to be able to tie you in knots.
Never let down your defences, so that before you knew it you were sucked into a
relationship. Then not long after that there’d be talk of moving in together,
getting engaged, and—heaven forbid—marriage. It worked for some people. His
parents. His grandparents. Maybe even Ethan and Amber. But it was too much of a
fucking risk. If he needed proof that long term commitment didn’t work, he need
look no further than his siblings’ track record. The current generation Zutini
didn’t make it long term.

Which was the reason he’d set a
limit on his love life. One calendar month and he walked. Until that time he
enjoyed his women, made sure they had a good time, that their needs were met,
but he never led them to believe he was a forever after sort of deal.

But as he looked down at Beth’s
pretty face with her ripe mouth, peachy complexion, and lush dark lashes, he
knew that ending things with her would be hard. Already she held him
spellbound. He wanted to know more about her, wanted her naked body next to him
every chance he got.

Which was okay, seeing as their
month had barely started. He just had to keep the end goal in mind and know
that in little over three weeks, he’d be moving on.

Shit. Now he really did sound like
that hard-nosed fucking machine who didn’t care about the women underneath him.
A man who, using Beth’s terminology, could be fucking a sack of potatoes.

But he wasn’t that man, damn it. He
cared about his women. He always had. At least for the short time the affairs
lasted.

He cared about Beth. He would until
the time came to end it with her. Except that niggling little voice wouldn’t
let him off the hook, the one that told him this time it wouldn’t be so
straightforward. That saying goodbye to Beth would be the hardest break-up of
all.

Chapter Seven

Beth clipped the mastiff’s lead, and
together she and Roscoe trotted out for their afternoon walk. The day was brisk
but the sun had made an appearance and as they walked down the lane away from
the Center, she glanced down at the dog. “Good day, huh?”

Both Roscoe’s tail and his ears
pricked up as he looked adoringly up at Beth.

“Yeah. You think it’s a good day,
too, don’t you beautiful boy?”

The dog did what Beth had come to
call his happy dance, his back paws doing a little hop as his rear end
shimmied. It made her smile as it always did. Everything about the animal
warmed her, and he’d captured a special place in her heart.

He wasn’t the only one, Beth mused,
as a certain chocolate-eyed hunk of manhood had also taken up space there. She hadn’t
thought it was possible to let herself be swept up by a man again, having
thought her time with James had stymied that. Yet here she was falling for him.

She stopped in her tracks and the
dog tugged a little on his lead, eager to continue his walkies. But Beth needed
a minute to take a breath and consider what she felt. Was she falling for
Marco? Or was it just really good sex?

When Roscoe whined and gave her an
imploring look, Beth started walking again. Yet still she couldn’t shake the
question that spun around in her head. Damn. How had she allowed it to happen?
How could she have let down her defences, even for a moment, so Marco could waltz
right in and make himself at home?

Since it surely wasn’t possible to
fall for someone in the short space of time they’d known each other. She determined
it was likely the sex addling her brain and emotions. God knew they’d had
enough of it this past week. They’d seen each other every night. When Marco
could arrange cover at the bar, he’d stay at her place. On the nights he
couldn’t get away, she’d stayed at his.

It was pretty damn perfect.

Beth stopped while Roscoe explored
some shrubbery and found a spot to relieve himself. As she waited, she tried to
shrug off the vague disappointment that she wouldn’t see him tonight. He had
some sort of formal deal he couldn’t get out of and didn’t want to let Ethan
and Amber down.

She nudged Roscoe along, suffering
the flare in her chest that happened every time she thought of Amber. She couldn’t
shrug off the conversation when Marco had confessed how special Amber was to
him, nor could she ignore the way his eyes had softened.

He’d said he didn’t have a thing for
Ethan’s fiancée, and Beth believed him, she really did. It was just that look in
his eyes.

Bloody James
,
she thought as they came to the fork in the lane that signalled the way back to
the Center. Bloody James and her bloody sister. They were responsible for
putting
 
doubt in her head. They had
inspired her lack of trust, her ability to imagine infidelity in every
corner.
 

Her relationship with Marco was
good, so why did she have to spoil it by looking for things that likely weren’t
there? She had no intention of taking things to another level with him, and she
suspected Marco didn’t hold such aspirations either, so why didn’t she simply
enjoy their liaison for what it was? He was good company, they had a lot of
laughs, and they enjoyed blow the doors off sex.

She smiled. It always circled back
to sex. Probably because she had never actually enjoyed devastatingly fabulous
sex before. Not like now. But such thoughts about Marco weren’t doing her
comfort levels any good right then, and already her blood was heating and her
pussy was throbbing.

Damn. Even thinking about the man
and his talented fingers, mouth, and dick brought her body alive. Her heart
rate sped up, which had nothing to do with the way Roscoe picked up the pace.

She needed to stop thinking about
Marco. Her shift didn’t finish until six, and it would be a damn long afternoon
if she spent it wet and aching.

Since they were just around the
corner from her cottage, Beth looked down at Roscoe. “I just have to call in
and grab a biscuit, okay? This walk’s given me an appetite.” Although not the
sort of appetite that a biscuit would assuage, but food would have to suffice
in the absence of Marco’s skills. “Because you’ve been a very good boy, you get
to have a treat, too.”

“Sounds good to me.”

If she thought she was already wet
and aching, the sight of Marco leaning against his car outside her cottage made
her rethink. “What are you doing here?”

He pushed away from the car and
walked toward her. “Thought I’d take a drive into the countryside, see if I
could pick up a hot woman.”

Roscoe was currently pulling and
tugging at the leash in an effort to get to Marco, but Beth held him back. “Did
you find one?”

His sexy grin intensified as he gave
her a once over. “Looks like.” Marco hunkered down to enjoy Roscoe’s frenetic
welcome and seconds later the dog rolled onto his back and exposed his stomach
for a rub.

“Looks like you’re a hit.” Watching
Marco’s hands get busy didn’t exactly help her escalating libido. She forced
her attention away, but the sight of him in an open-necked navy sweatshirt and
khaki chinos didn’t improve her comfort levels.

“Big softie,” Marco crooned as his
hands continued to rub hard across the dog’s fur. “Want to play, do you boy?”

Oh hell, so did she. But she
couldn’t keep letting her own lustful needs take control every time he was in
kissing distance.
 

Marco straightened, looked at her,
and shoved his hands in his pockets. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head, aware she’d been
biting her lower lip as she contemplated her own licentious needs. “What are
you doing here, Marco?”

“You already asked me that.” His eyes
narrowed. “Are you okay?”

“Fine. I just didn’t expect to see
you today.” She smiled at him, determined not to let him think his arrival was
anything but a pleasant surprise. “How come Roscoe gets a welcome and I don’t?”

He looked at her steadily, making nerves
dance along her spine. Then she let out a breath as he reached for her. She
wrapped the hand that wasn’t holding onto Roscoe’s leash around his neck as he
pulled her close, and sank into the kiss.

Tongues tangled, teeth clashed as
they stood outside her cottage in a quiet country lane embracing like two
lovers reunited after months apart. By the time Beth drew away they were both
breathless.

His hands grabbed her ass. “Where
are your keys?”

She placed her free hand on his
chest. “I can’t. I’m on shift and I don’t think my employer would take too
kindly to a member of staff enjoying a quickie in work time.”

“Who said anything about it being a
quickie?”

His sexy grin always undid her. She
ran her fingers over the exposed V of his neck. “As much as I’d love to say
yes, I really can’t. I’ve got to get Roscoe back and then I’m on pen cleaning
duty.”

“Such a glamorous existence,” he
quipped and made her smile. Then his expression turned serious. “I want to see
you tonight.”

“You’ve got that charity function,
remember?”

He looked like a man who’d just been
handed a life sentence. “How could I forget? Amber keeps phoning every damn
minute to make sure I remembered to collect my tux.”

Oh, did she? Didn’t she have better
things to do, like remind her
fiance
to collect
his
tux? Hell. She was
turning into a jealous shrew. What was the matter with her? “And have you?”
Beth asked, her chin tilted into the air. “Collected your tux?”

Again that steady look, but he
didn’t release her. “It’s in the back of my car.” He squeezed her ass. “I want
you to come with me.”

“What? To the formal?”

“I figure if I’m going to suffer,
you can too.”

A little frisson played along her
spine. She wasn’t overly comfortable at formal functions, but the thought of
spending the evening with Marco was almost too much to refuse. She imaged how
he’d look in a tuxedo. She imagined how he’d look when she got him
out
of it. Wow. It was almost too hard
to resist. But she hadn’t attended a fancy
 
occasion for years and wasn’t entirely
comfortable with all that dancing and
 
proper
dining.