“Thank Marly,” Cade’s voice was amused. “It’s her home too, Greg, and she brings who she wishes. Thankfully, she has good taste in friends.”
Marly wondered why Cade had glowered at Greg ever since they arrived if that was the way he felt? The man was such a contradiction she wanted to smack him.
“Thank you. She’s a good woman, Mr. August. A good friend.” Greg’s voice retreated from the room.
“Yes she is, Greg. You take care, and we’ll see you again sometime.” Marly would have peeked to see the expression on Cade’s face, but her eyelids were just too heavy.
She knew Greg had left, though. His steps were muffled as he went down the hallway, and soon she heard the front door close as he left the house. She hoped he would be okay. Their housemates were away for vacation as well until Sunday, and Greg would be all alone at the house. He forgot to eat sometimes when he started studying.
“Come on Sleeping Beauty.” Cade lifted her into his arms gently. “You can sleep downstairs where I can keep an eye on you.”
On the couch, where she had spent most of the nights during her childhood, curled up, waiting on Cade to finish his bookkeeping before going to bed. He had always had to carry her to bed. Tucking her in tenderly, kissing her forehead, sometimes sitting by her bed for long minutes as she drifted off to sleep once again.
“Are you my Prince?” She asked him softly as he carried her down the hall.
She felt his heart race at her question. Oh yeah, she thought, he wasn’t totally unaffected.
“Is that what you want, Marly, a Prince?” He asked her as they went down the stairs.
“No,” she sighed. “I just want you, Cade. All of you.”
“And what would you do once you got me, Marly-love?” There was an edge of sadness in his voice. “You’re too young to want someone as hardened as I am.”
Her hand curled into the edge of his shirt, the heat of his skin burning her fingers. It was a strange sensation, caught somewhere between waking and dreams, her body cradled against his as he carried her to his study.
“You could show me what to do,” she suggested, a smile curving her lips at the thought of that.
Marly felt his body jerk as though a shock of electricity had shot through him. His breath caught, just as hers did, at the thought of that.
“You’re dangerous.” He lowered her, her body sinking into the plush contours of the blanket-covered couch, her head lying gently on a soft pillow.
“I can get worse.” A smile curved her lips.
Her favorite fantasy. She would sneak into his bedroom while he slept, naked and warm. She would slip silently under the blankets, her body pressing against his heatedly. He would turn to her. Kiss her. Touch her. She wanted to moan at the need such an image generated in her body.
“I have no doubt you could,” Cade growled.
Suddenly, she felt his lips at the corner of her mouth in a brief kiss. No, not brief. She hurt, she needed more. Her head turned slowly, her lips seeking his hesitantly. Cade stilled, though he didn’t pull away. Marly’s eyes opened, her gaze meeting his as she fought to keep them open. He was staring down at her, the color swirling in his eyes as her lips trembled beneath his.
Then she did something she had always longed to do. As long as she could remember she had wanted to taste him. Her tongue slid between his lips, touching his as she watched the pupils flare in his eyes. His lips opened, his tongue meeting hers as his head slanted, his lips covering hers experimentally.
Marly didn’t close her eyes, she couldn’t. Her gaze was snared by his, held in a trance-like fascination as he caressed her lips softly.
“Is that what you want, Marly?” He raised his head enough to whisper against the rounded curves.
Marly was breathing harshly, fighting to draw air into her lungs, to convince herself this was real and not another erotic dream come to taunt her.
“More,” she whispered against his lips, the headache nearly forgotten as his tongue slid slowly over her lips.
Marly cried out. She shook with need.
“We have to think about this, Marly,” he whispered as she felt his hand at her waist, the other braced by her head. “We have to talk about it. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
He spoke against the lobe of her ear, then his lips slid slowly down her neck. Marly groaned with the sensations of it. Hot, like fire racing across her skin, making her crazier for him than she already had been.
“Shh,” the sound whispered over her skin. “I want you to rest, Marly. To get better, so we can talk about this.”
His teeth sank gently into the skin bared by the fallen sleeve of her blouse. Lightning raced from her shoulder to her thighs, making her arch her hips.