Page 44 of Love By Design

“What did he say to that?” I asked.

“He wished me luck,” Marshall said. “Told me not to fuck it up.”

“What isit? What shouldn’t you fuck up?” Something that felt a lot like hope sparked to life in the middle of my chest.

The sound that left Marshall next was primal, low and rumbling like a thunderstorm that had me falling onto my back and covering my eyes with my forearm. It was unfair almost, the way he could take me apart without even trying, without even being in the same room as me. We’d been together once.Once. Was I already so fucking ruined for other men? Suddenly, none of it even seemed worth it. The peacocking and the game playing, the flirting and the teasing. Without a shadow of a doubt, I knew no person would be able to handle my body as steadily and correctly as Marshall Covington did. There was no point in pretending another man would ever compare. No point in pretending I wanted anyone except for him.

But then Marshall said the last thing I’d expected from him, “I don’t…it’s been a long time since I’ve dated someone, Silas.”

“What then?”

“I want to see you again, the way I saw you Friday night.”

“You want to fuck,” I said.

He hummed. “Is that what we did?”

Yes.

Maybe.

“Not entirely,” I admitted. “You want to scene again?”

“Isthatall we did?” he asked again, and then a sigh. “I haven’t dated anyone since college, Silas.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I want to earn the right to hear what it sounds like when you call me Sir. I’m saying I want you to trust me enough to let me take you bare. And I want to see you again,” he went on. “I want to see you soon. Ionlywant to see you.”

“In what way?”

“All of them.”

“But you don’t date,” I whispered.

“I corrected myself. I said Ihaven’tdated.”

“And you would date me?”

Marshall paused. “I’d do everything with you. For you.”

“You don’t even know me,” I said, even though I was already absolutely as gone for him as he apparently was for me. I would have knelt at his feet and kissed the tops of his shoesand then thanked him for the privilege if that was what he wanted. If that was what he allowed.

“I know what you look like when you come apart for me, Silas. Everything else is unimportant.”

“What about my dad?”

He let out a disgusted noise. “What about him? This has nothing to do with him.”

“You know what I mean.”

“You mean that you’re the son of my biggest competitor? That you’re almost fifteen years younger than me?”

I wanted to dig a hole in the ground and bury myself in it. “Well, when you say it like that.”

“I’m not going to tell him anything,” Marshall said simply. “It’s not his business.”

“If we’re together, he will find out.”