Changing His Game (Entangled Brazen) (Gamers) (12 page)

“Oh God,” she whispered, because she could feel her orgasm building but she needed more. She couldn’t let go of the mirror or she’d fall. His eyes shot to hers and he watched her face in the mirror.

While still connected, he pulled her up, clutching her throat with one hand, his other dipping down, those fingers swirling over her clit. With her in her heels, their heights matched up so he could continue pumping in and out of her. His breath panted into her ear, the slick skin of his chest was hot on her back.

His fingers worked magic in tandem with his cock, and she was close, oh so close. If his stuttering rhythm was any indication, he was too.

He kept his gaze locked on hers as he lowered his head and sucked on her neck, and that added bit of pressure, along with a squeeze to her throat, was all she needed to send her over the edge. She cried out as she came. And came. And came. On his fingers, on his cock. The spasms echoed all over her body.

This was it. This was the moment where she let go, where she flew, where she lived. Where nothing was her responsibility but pleasure—for herself and for Austin—and when they were together, it was like second nature.

This was when she was alive. And this was what she’d been missing.

She clutched his hips as they faltered behind her, and then he shoved his face into her neck and groaned against her skin. He pulsed inside of her, and she let her eyes close as he found his release.

She breathed deeply, registering that her feet were killing her and her legs were noodles.

Austin raised his head off of her neck, and looked at her in the mirror. Their gazes met and held. His one hand was on the top of her chest, the other splayed along her belly. He closed his fingers and then opened them again, pressing them into her skin. She raised an arm weakly and curled it around his head, sifting through his hair.

He blinked slowly, like he’d been drugged. “You’re incredible.”

She smiled. “You’re pretty okay, yourself.”

One corner of his mouth curled up. He stepped back slowly, separating himself from her, and she wondered if that felt as wrong for him as it did for her.

He picked her up with an arm at her back and one under her knees. He took two steps and laid her down on the bed. She watched as he slipped off her heels and rolled down her thigh-highs and garter belt. Then he pressed a kiss to her hip. “I’ll be right back.”

She nodded and watched as he walked into her bathroom.

The toiled flushed, the sink ran. And then he walked back in the room, sans pants. Sans anything. His hair was mussed from her fingers and his chest was damp from sweat. The muscles in his thighs bulged with each step and she made a mental note to bite one later.

“Do you sleep naked?” she asked.

He paused, eyes on her, with an intense expression on his face. She opened her mouth to ask him what he was thinking, but then he shook his head, and his face relaxed. He closed the distance to the bed and put a knee to the mattress. He lifted up the comforter, helping her scramble underneath it then sliding in beside her. He wrapped an arm around her waist. “I do now.”

She reached out and cupped his cheek, rubbing her thumb over the stubble on his jaw. Then she pressed a kiss to his lips. “Thank you for a wonderful date.”

His eyes were half-closed. “It wasn’t a comic convention but I hope it was sufficient.”

She laughed. “Quite sufficient.”

He tucked her into his side. “Good, now go to sleep and we can do some more sufficient things tomorrow morning.”

She nestled into his chest, her fingers slipping down his ribs to rest on his hip. “I’d like that.”

He kissed the top of her head, and she pressed closer, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart. She’d get up in a minute and wash her face and brush her teeth. But for now, she didn’t want to move.

Chapter Eleven

Fingers traced over his skin in small circles, swirling the short hair on his chest. At first his body tensed, and those fingers paused. He willed himself to relax his muscles, one by one. Because he remembered now where he was—in Marley’s bed, her hands on him, her hair tickling his shoulder.

It was a weird sensation to wake up next to anyone. He hadn’t done it since…college maybe, and that had probably been when he lived with Grant. Waking up next to a warm body was unfamiliar, but he’d made the decision last night. His first instinct had been to put on his clothes and go home, but then he’d seen Marley in her bed, naked, with a flushed face and small smile. And he hadn’t wanted to leave. He wanted to stay in her presence.

Now, as her hand lowered to the furred ridges of his abs, he knew he’d made the right call. One lone finger traced the trail leading down to his cock. Which was also awake. Very awake.

Her weight beside him shifted, and he still kept his eyes closed as the sheet shifted from around his hips. Cool air hit his cock and balls.

Then those fingers wrapped around his shaft and the head was engulfed in a tight, suctioning heat.

He opened his eyes then on a groan to the sight of Marley between his legs. Her hair was a riot of curls, and the morning sun streaking through the curtains glinted off the highlights of red in the strands. Her lips pulled off of his cock, and she looked at him from under her lashes.

She stuck her tongue out and swirled it once around the head, then smirked. He shoved a pillow under his head so he could see better, then reached down, his thumb at the corner of her mouth, hand on her chin. “Do that again.”

She lost her smirk at his command, and her eyes glazed. Fuck, she was perfect. One order from him and he bet anything she was getting wet. She stuck out her tongue and swirled it again, slower this time.

“Take it in your mouth now. Suck me.”

Her eyes fell closed as she wrapped those lips around his cock and descended on a moan.

“Look at me.”

Her eyes popped open, then fell to half mast. Her ass was in the air as she kneeled between his legs and her hips pumped. “Are you touching yourself?”

She made a sound around his cock and then her hips stopped moving.

“That’s what I thought. I want to see both of your hands while you suck me. Trust me to take care of you.”

She brought her one hand in sight and gripped his thigh, while her other hand gripped the base of his shaft. He reached around and tangled his fingers in her hair. “Go on. I want to come in that mouth. I want to see those lips wet with me.”

She worked him harder, humming a little under her breath. The vibration traveled down his shaft, into his balls, and down his legs.

His cock disappeared between her lips, her cheeks hollowing as she took him inside her mouth, and he knew she was his oasis. She was life in the desert that had been his existence.

The orgasm started in his spine, rolling throughout his body. He squeezed her hair once in warning, but she didn’t pull off. She kept working him as he arched his back and came into her mouth. The orgasm was slow moving but it seemed to go on forever, each aftershock as intense as the last. By the time he was finished, he was wrung out and boneless. She took what he had, sucking him until he let go of her hair. Then she let his shaft slip from her mouth. He lay flat on his back, staring at the ceiling.

She crawled up his body and collapsed on top of him. He only had the energy to wrap an arm around her shoulders.

“Good morning,” she said, her breath hot on his skin.

“Jesus.”

“Actually, it’s Marley.”

He groaned. “I think you might kill me.”

She propped herself up on his chest. “Can’t keep up with me, old man?”

He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not that much older than you.”

She raised an eyebrow.

Well, shit, how old was she? “Am I?”

She laughed. “I’m twenty-seven.”

“Thirty-two, so you can’t call me old man unless there’s at least a decade between us.” She pressed her lips together and it was his turn to raise an eyebrow. “Did an old man give you two orgasms last night?”

She blushed and tucked her head into his neck.

He laughed and ran a hand up her spine. “That’s what I thought.”

She squirmed on top of him and mumbled something into his neck.

“What?”

She raised her head. “I think you’re forgetting something this morning.”

He frowned and tapped his finger on his lips. “No, I definitely don’t think so.”

She squirmed again. “Austin…”

He reached down, slipping his hand over her ass then dipping between her legs. And hell yeah, she was wet.

He circled her entrance and she squirmed more, pushing against his fingers. He pulled his hand back and smacked her ass. She yelped and then threw back her head and laughed, her hair whipping him in the face.

He grinned. “How about this? I make us breakfast, then I’ll come back and take my time with you.”

She cupped his face and rubbed her thumb over his lips. Her face softened. “I like when you smile.”

He squeezed her hip. “Well, I seem to do it a lot around you.”

Her gaze met his. “I’m glad.”

He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t want to move, really. Marley’s weight and heat were pressed into him, her legs straddling one of his. He could have lain there forever staring into her eyes. But he was hungry.

He gently rolled her off of him and she fell onto the bed on her back, her curls in a mass around her head. She smiled up at him and he pressed a kiss between her breasts. “I’m going to go hunt around your kitchen for breakfast.”

“I can come out, ya know.” She smacked him lightly on the arm.

He shook his head. “Nope, you stay in bed.”

“Yes, sir,” she said sternly.

He stood at the end of the bed and stretched. “Don’t get fresh.”

She stuck out her tongue at him.

Austin tugged on his boxer briefs and made his way out to the kitchen. Marley seemed to have a lot of refrigerated cookie dough and not much else. He managed to scrounge up some eggs, bread for toast, and strawberries that were about a day away from going bad.

After making the coffee, he popped the bread in the toaster and cracked some eggs into a pan to scramble. While the eggs were cooking, he sliced up the strawberries.

He’d been cooking for himself since he was tall enough to reach the knobs on the stove. His dad worked odd hours and even when he was home, preferred takeout. Austin became quite adept at throwing an odd assortment of ingredients together—whatever they had on hand or was on sale at the store—into something quite edible. He still preferred to cook. Although he preferred his kitchen at his house. He’d have to take Marley there sometime and cook her dinner.

The thought of bringing Marley to his house rolled around in his brain and settled into his gut.

A woman. At his place.

But Marley wasn’t any woman. She was Marley, and after last night, it was clear that this was getting big, really big. This wasn’t just about fulfilling Marley’s fantasies anymore, was it? That was what he’d been telling himself, that this was all for her, but it was for him, too. That was clear now.

He still hadn’t told her about the biggest parts of his life. He’d let this go on and now there was no easy separation, no way to get out of this without her finding out the truth.

He paused, his knife mid-slice on a strawberry. If he sold
Gamers
, though, before he told her, maybe it would lessen the blow. And then he’d no longer be involved in her job in any way. She’d probably still throw things and yell at him, but there could be forgiveness. He hoped.

Because Marley was worth holding on to. And he was a selfish bastard for wanting to keep her.

He dropped the strawberries into a bowl and began to scramble the eggs.

The date had been great, better than great. Everything about Marley turned him on, from her humor, to her body, to the way she responded to him, with her parted lips and red cheeks.

The way she trusted him. She deserved some of that trust back. But damn, it was hard for Austin to do that. As soon as he trusted people, let them in, they had the power to hurt him. And Marley… she could crush him, he knew. She had more power than she thought. Maybe all of it.

He slipped the finished eggs onto two plates, found a tray in a lower cabinet, and placed everything—along with two coffees—on it.

When he walked back into the bedroom with the loaded tray, Marley was on the bed, reading glasses perched on her nose, silk robe hanging loosely on her shoulders.

The robe was blue silk.

He was hard again already.

She looked up from the ereader in her hands then set it aside on her nightstand, along with the glasses. She smiled when she saw the food. “Wow, I’m really impressed.”

He shrugged. A monkey could make scrambled eggs.

“I can’t make scrambled eggs,” Marley muttered, gaze on the tray. “I always manage to burn them.”

He didn’t voice his monkey-chef opinion.

He motioned for her to sit back against the pillows on the headboard, then handed her a plate of eggs with a side of strawberries and her steaming cup of coffee. She set her mug on her nightstand and shoved a forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth. She moaned around the bite.

He raised an eyebrow. “Are they satisfactory?”

She nodded and forked in another bite. “Could use ketchup though,” she mumbled, her mouth full.

Despite her manners, she made a beautiful picture. Cross-legged on her bed, hair wild, face fresh of makeup. Her robe gapped at the top, so he saw the top swell of a breast. He looked away and focused on his food.

“So,” he stabbed a strawberry and put it in his mouth. “What changed your mind? About us? I was surprised when I got that email from you.”

She took a sip of her coffee. “Well, I realized I’d denied myself for a lot of years. I’d worked really hard, and I don’t regret it. But you…” She licked her lips and blushed. “You make me feel a way I’m not sure I’ve ever felt.” Her eyes darted up to meet his, widening a little. “I mean, I know we just had one date, I’m not—”

He held a hand up to stop her. “I didn’t take you out with the intention of only one date. And I’d say it’s going pretty well, right?”

Her lips stretched into a smile. “Yeah, I would say so. Well, anyway, I decided I was just being paranoid. You’re not a coworker, and there are no rules against that anyway. And while you might be a distraction, I’m a big girl, and I can handle it.”

The weight of his lie sat in his stomach along with his eggs and coffee. He should tell her, come clean.

He looked down at his plate and picked at a large chunk of egg. “What’s your background before you were hired at
Gamers
?” He had no involvement in the hiring of the employees, so he’d never seen her résumé.

She talked about her journalism days and told a funny story about covering a senior home’s Olympics competition. Marley was engaging when she talked, her voice full of inflection, her hands flying as she demonstrated an event.

“So. I don’t know much about you,” she said, when she was finished talking.

He set his fork on his plate and leaned back against the pillows on the headboard, feet crossed at the ankles. “No, I guess you don’t.”

She watched him, her gaze on his face. “I get the sense you’re private.”

He pressed his lips together. “That sense would be absolutely correct.”

She blinked, and he didn’t miss the disappointment that flashed over her face.

This hurt, a lot. Opening up wasn’t something he did. It felt unnatural. He’d learned at a young age how to hide the fact that his family didn’t have a lot of money so he wasn’t teased at school. It was embarrassing if other people found out how little his father paid attention to him.

But Grant was right. His need to keep everyone out was turning him into a lonely man, and it wasn’t comforting anymore.

So he took a deep breath and ignored the barbs that accompanied the words as they left his mouth. As he spoke, he stared at the blank screen of the TV on Marley’s dresser. “My…uh…mother left shortly after I was born. I’m not sure where she is. Or if she’s alive. So my father raised me. We didn’t have a lot of money and he was gone a lot, working odd hours as a shift supervisor at a warehouse.”

He waved his hand toward his plate. “It’s why I can cook. I earned an academic scholarship to attend MIT, and for the rest of my tuition I took out loans. It was rough. I…” He glanced at Marley now. Her attention was rapt. “I made some investments that paid off.”

He didn’t mention one of those investments was making and selling
Aric’s Revenge
to a large software developer. Or starting
Gamers
. “And it was fine, until I found out my father was taking money from me. He’d had access to my accounts and I’d been helping him out but he…well, I guess he thought I should be helping him more. But he didn’t ask, he just took, and I didn’t realize until my tuition check bounced.”

“Oh, Austin,” Marley said, her voice not full of sympathy, really, but anger. For him.

“So, I cut him off. I was twenty-one and I thought I was hot shit. We didn’t speak after that. He was stubborn as hell, and I inherited that. He died of pancreatic cancer a couple of years ago. I hadn’t spoken to him since college.”

She shifted closer now, and slipped her hand into his. “I’m really sorry.”