All's Fair in Lust & War (9 page)

A primal growl rumbled in his chest as Mark tore the black lace panties off her body. Seconds later he was plunging a finger deep into her core, a ferocious look on his face. Although he was only touching her in that one sensitive place his gaze pinned her down, making her feel strangely, wonderfully helpless. This wasn’t a man giving a woman what she wanted. It was a man taking what he needed—and she was happy to give it to him. Feeling the delicious pressure mount inside, she let her knees slide out to the side, giving him even better access.

“Come for me,” he said gruffly. “I want to see you do it.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth she felt herself doing exactly that, her body clenching around his hand in an orgasm so intense that it left her shivering and shaking.

Quickly Mark shrugged out of his own clothes and fumbled with a condom, hands shaking as he rolled it on.

Desperate to feel him inside her, she scooted to the edge of the bed and tried to wrap her legs around him, but he shook his head.

“No. Not that way. Flip,” he said, still using that strangely authoritative tone.

She just looked at him, confused.

“Like this,” he commanded, rolling her on to her stomach and propping her up on her hands and knees. Becky found herself looking down at the bed, unable to see what was going on behind her. The suspense thrilled in her blood as she waited, her whole body crying out for his touch.

Suddenly she felt his hands on her hips, grabbing the tender skin possessively.

“I want you to feel how deep I can go,” he growled from somewhere behind and above her, his manhood nudging at her sensitive folds. “I want you to know that it’s me, reaching into the center of you, making you mine.”

He slid deep inside her core, burying himself to the hilt. She gasped, loving the feeling of complete possession, wanting him to take even more. He was claiming her, and every cell of her body celebrated, wanting to feel his imprint on her.

She rocked back against him, signaling her silent acceptance. He slammed into her, filling her to capacity, his hard thick length rubbing against all her most sensitive spots, and as he did something primal roared to life inside her. This man was hers, and she was his, in every way that mattered.

He reached down and grabbed her hair in his hands, pulling her head back. “You. Are. Mine,” he said, thrusting even harder, and she shattered into a million tiny pieces, her orgasm hitting her more strongly than any ever had.

With a tortured-sounding moan he let himself go, shuddering as he came apart inside her. Then he collapsed sideways on to the bed, their bodies still connected.

She followed him down, breathing hard, trying to wrap her head around what had just happened. She had intended to get through his defenses and get him to touch her. And, boy, had she succeeded. If only he hadn’t managed to get through so many of hers, as well...

Something monumental had happened here tonight. She only hoped she had the strength to cope with whatever came next.

Suddenly exhausted, she closed her eyes and started to drift into sleep.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to use that take,” a sleepy voice said behind her.

Alarm bells rang in her head. “You filmed that?”

He laughed. “No. Of course not. That would get us both fired.”

“Oh. Good,” she said and yawned.

“Close your eyes, Sleeping Beauty,” he said. “It’s time to rest. It’ll all still be here in the morning.”

That sounded like the best idea she had ever heard.

* * *

The next thing she knew it was morning. She yawned and stretched, reaching for the warm male body she knew must still be beside her. Except...it wasn’t. His side of the bed was empty and cold.

She sat up, alarmed. “M-Mark?”

Surely he hadn’t run again. Not after what had happened last night. “Mark? Are you here?”

For a long moment there was silence and she began to panic. He couldn’t be gone. They needed to talk. She needed to make sure none of those last scenes had been captured on film.

“Mark?” she yelled. “Where are you?”

Still nothing.

She was fumbling for her flimsy excuse for a nightgown, swearing quietly to herself, when she heard the suite’s door open. “Mark?”

“Yeah, babe. I’m here,” he said, coming to stand in the bedroom door. “I just went to get you some coffee. Venti soy, right?”

Relief flooded through her system. “Yep. I’m impressed that you remembered,” she said, padding over to where he stood.

He handed her cup to her, then swooped down to give her a tender kiss. “I try to remember everything about the people who are important to me,” he said.

Important? She was important to him? That was a switch. Suddenly she felt vaguely ashamed of her behavior the night before.

“Look, I know you didn’t want to be physical anymore,” she said, looking down. “So if you want to forget what happened last night I understand.”

He sighed.

“I couldn’t forget it if I wanted to,” he said. “Becky, look at me.”

Reluctantly, she looked up, expecting to see derision in his eyes. Instead there was only happiness.

“Look, I know I’ve been an ass. And I don’t blame you if you want to forget
me,
”
he said. “But that’s not what I want.”

“It’s not?” she asked.

“No. Truth is, I did nothing for those three days other than wish I could be with you, and laugh with you, and touch you. I was useless. You had it right all along.”

“Well, of course I did,” she said, trying to catch up to him. “What was I right about, exactly?”

“There’s no harm in what we’re doing. We’re just making the best of a crazy situation and enjoying ourselves along the way.”

“So you want...?”

“I want you. For as long as we’re both into it. No strings, like you said. Just fun.”

Just fun. That was definitely what she had wanted. But, remembering the way her heart had flipped the night before, Becky was pretty sure she was getting into deeper waters.

But he didn’t need to know that.

“Okay, you’re on,” she said, injecting a smile into her voice. “But if you freak out on me again, I reserve the right to do serious damage.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What kind of damage?”

She gently caressed his penis through his pants, bringing it roaring back to life.

“I’m not going to tell you. Where’s the fun in that? But it would be in an area that’s precious to you.”

She waited for the shocked expression to cross his face, then turned her back.

“Last one in the shower’s a rotten egg,” she called as she pulled the gown free of her body and headed for the bathroom.

Seconds later, Mark sprinted by. “Nope, last one in the shower’s the first to get taken advantage of,” he said, laughing.

At that, Becky slowed. She’d never heard a better reason to take her time.

* * *

Becky plopped down on to the red vinyl seat across from Jessie, unable to keep the smile from her face.

“Wow, you look happy,” Jessie said. “Did Mark suddenly drop out of the competition?”

Becky laughed. “Of course not!”

“Did David finally come to his senses, realize you’re the most amazing copywriter who ever lived, and promote you?”

Becky could only snort. “As if.”

“Did he have a heart attack and die and leave the agency to you?”

“Who?”

“David, of course,” Jessie said. “Who else?”

“Oh,” Becky said. “No. Which is good. I wouldn’t want someone’s death on my conscience. Besides, I want David to have to admit that I’m talented and worthy of promotion before he kicks the bucket. If he doesn’t, I may have to chase him into the afterlife.”

“All right, then, I give up. Why are you so smiley? Did you forget you have the biggest pitch of your life in less than two weeks?”

“I wish I could,” Becky said, scooting to the window side of the booth and stretching her legs out on the seat. “But there’s not a chance of that.”

Their favorite waitress bustled over with a gap-toothed smile. “Well, if it isn’t my two favorite advertising ladies,” she said. “You’re looking good today.”

Becky giggled up at the matronly woman. “Thank you, Rachel. Your uniform looks pretty fetching today, too!”

Rachel cocked an eyebrow at Becky. “You look different,” she said. “All glowy and stuff. Are you in love? Are you finally going to bring me some eye candy? We could use some good-looking man flesh to pretty up the place around here.”

Becky felt herself pale. “In love? N-no. Farthest thing from it. I haven’t got time for anything like that,” she sputtered.

“Mmm-hmm,” Rachel said. “Whatever you say. Should I bring you two the usual?”

Becky felt her stomach flip uncomfortably at the idea of pancakes.

“I’ll just have a piece of dry toast, if you don’t mind. And maybe some tea?”

Rachel gave her another piercing look, but just nodded and turned to Jessie. “How ’bout you? Are you going all rabbitlike on me, too?”

Jessie shook her head. “Nope. In fact, you can bring me her stack of pancakes, if you want. Working all these hours has made me hungry!”

“You got it,” Rachel said, and walked away.

“So what did you do this weekend?” Becky asked, desperately trying to deflect the question she knew was coming.

“Doesn’t matter. Right now, I’m interrogating my best friend.
Are
you? In love?”

“No,” Becky said, “I most definitely am not. I’m making plenty of love, but not falling into it.”

“Ah. So you and Mark are at it again, huh? That didn’t take long.”

“No,” Becky said, “It didn’t.” Even though it had felt like an eternity.

“And how is it? The sex? Still good?”

“It’s...amazing.”

Truth was, since the night of the videos they’d spent almost every nonworking hour together—and some working ones. On Friday she’d cooked him dinner in her tiny apartment and fed him dessert in bed.

Then, on Saturday, he’d taken her to his favorite Vietnamese restaurant, fed her drinks in his favorite dive bar and introduced her to the dirty high that was sex in a public bathroom.

And they’d spent yesterday in the production studio, editing videos and teasing each other. It had been the most amazing weekend she could remember having in a very long time.

“Hey, space cadet?”

Becky blinked, bringing herself back to the present. “Yeah?”

“You sure this is just a fling?”

“Yes. Positive,” Becky said, trying to convince herself it was true. “We both know the rules. We’re having a lot of fun.”

“Hmm,” Jessie said. “It’s just I haven’t seen you look this happy...well, ever. Maybe you should rethink where you’re headed with this thing. This guy’s good for you.”

Becky glared at her friend. “No. When this pitch is over, this thing with Mark and me ends, too. I’ll be too busy after I get promoted to bother with a man.”

“All right, you know I support you, girl. But there’s more to life than work.”

Unfortunately that was something Becky was becoming all too aware of. Good thing she knew that Mark had no intention of starting a “real” relationship...

Otherwise she might find herself tempted to take Jessie’s words to heart.

* * *

Mark hit Stop on the remote and flipped the lights back on, pride snaking through his belly. The videos had turned out well. Really well. If David didn’t like them—well, he was an ass.

“So what do you think?” he asked.

David blinked slowly for a moment, silent. Then he smiled.

“I think you two deserve congratulations. If Eden doesn’t sign on the dotted line after seeing these, then nothing will convince them. These are deal-closers,” David said.

Mark looked at Becky and grinned. “I’m glad you like them. We worked hard to put these together.”

David looked at Becky.

“I had no idea you had it in you to act like that, my dear,” he said, leering slightly. “If you didn’t work for me, I’d be tempted to ask you out for dinner.”

Mark felt his hackles go up. Instinctively he moved closer to Becky, even though he knew she didn’t need protecting.

“Wow, David, that’s quite the compliment,” she said. “But if you asked me I’d say no. I don’t date married men.”

David flushed. “Well, uh, I was just speaking hypothetically,” he stuttered.

Mark decided it was time to step in.

“I’m glad you liked the videos,” he said. “But we’ve got a lot more work to do. Far too much to think about even hypothetical dates.”

David took the out he’d been offered.

“I’m sure you do,” he said as he headed for the door. “So, uh, I’ll leave you to it! Keep up the good work.”

After the door closed Becky kissed him on the cheek.

“Thank you, Magic Man.”

“No need to thank me. You were doing a fine job of putting him in his place.”

“Yeah, but if you hadn’t spoken up it may have come to blows,” she said. “And I don’t feel like going to jail today.” She stretched and yawned. “But you know what? I
do
feel like I need a break.”

“One that involves taking your clothes off?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. He hadn’t had her in his arms in...almost eighteen hours. They were overdue.

Becky laughed. “Nice try. Actually, I’d like to go on a picnic.”

“A picnic?” That was definitely not what he’d had in mind.

“Yeah. Have you been outside today? It’s beautiful,” she said, opening up the window shades.

He turned to look outside. Sure enough, the sun was shining, and if he looked down he could see that the people below seemed to be wearing warm weather gear.

“Well,” he said slowly, “it has been several days since I’ve seen the sun. But I have to admit I’ve never been on an actual picnic. How does this work?”

“You’re a picnic virgin? At your age? Huh! Leave it to me, big boy. I’ll take good care of you,” she said, smiling.

* * *

A short time later they were outside in the warm October sunshine.

“First we need to get some eats,” Becky said, pulling him into an upscale bodega. Grabbing a shopping basket, she headed for the dairy section. “Cheese,” she said. “We need cheese.”

“How ’bout this?” Mark asked, holding up a package of precut artisan cheeses.