Page 86 of Tripped By Love

He grinned, kissed me gently, and then we reached down to tear open and share the stock pile of muffins, trail mix, chips, and bottles of water that were before us. It was the furthest thing from a Michelin-starred dinner you could get, but it was one of my favorite meals I’d ever had—eating naked with Marco in a hotel room in the middle of Texas.

When Marco opened a bag of hot Cheetos, I couldn’t help wrinkling my nose. It was the only thing in the entire stack he’d bought that I didn’t like. He smirked. “Not your thing?”

“The orange goop is slightly off-putting.”

He looked at his fingers and then showed them to me. “These? You don’t like these?”

I shook my head.

He moved his hand toward my face, and I laughed, pushing it away and bending backward at the waist to try and escape. My legs were wrapped crisscross in front of me, and I couldn’t get far. Marco moved swiftly, sweeping the food and wrappers away from us before placing orange fingers on the swell of my breast where they left a mark.

“But look how much fun it is to clean it off,” he said, voice low and deep as he bent his head to lick the mark away. Then, he left more trails of orange along my body that he proceeded to lap and suck and clean away. My breath was coming in pants again. Desire pooling through me. Flames flickering against my insides once more, ridiculously seeking another release after having already had more in several hours than I’d had in a lifetime.

I wrapped my legs around his hips, drawing him closer.

“I’ve changed my mind,” I whispered against his neck, sucking on the lobe of his ear, happiness filling me at the little grunt of pleasure that escaped him.

“Yeah?”

“Hot Cheetos are now my very favorite.”

And those were the last words we spoke for several more hours as our bodies found their way back to each other.

???

A phone ringing brought me into the land of the living. I was still tangled in Marco’s arms, but we both bent automatically in opposite directions to try and find the offending device. I came awake enough to realize it wasn’t mine. The ringtone was completely off. I settled back down on the pillows while Marco moved to sit at the edge of the bed.

“Hey,” he answered it quietly, as if to not wake me, which made me smile because it was obvious I was already awake.

As I watched, his body stiffened, back going taut, shoulders drawing backward as he listened to whomever it was on the other end. His muscles got tighter the longer he listened.

“What the hell, Jo-Jo?” he grunted out.

I sat up, moving so that I was right behind him, arms surrounding him, cheek resting against his back. He was so upset. I could feel him trembling with the emotions. Fear or anger, I wasn’t sure which because I couldn’t see his eyes. My heart pounded as worry flew through my veins. Worry for Marco and Jonas and Maliyah.

“I’m on my way. It’ll be at least an hour, but I’m coming.”

He clicked off and bent his forehead to the phone as his elbows rested on his knees.

“What happened?” I asked.

He lifted his head, slowly turning to me with a face full of guilt and fear. Self-recrimination. As if whatever had happened was his fault. My heart fell, hoping beyond hope that it wasn’t Maliyah. That she hadn’t had another episode that had left her in even worse shape.

“He’s in jail. He was arrested,” Marco croaked out.

My face fell, shock filling me. It was the last thing I’d expected to hear.

“What? Why?”

He shook his head and then was moving, pulling away from me and heading toward his adjoining room. I picked up his T-shirt from the floor, yanked it over my head, and followed.

“Talk to me.”

“I have to go. Arrange bail. Get him the hell out of there.”

“Of course. Let me get my things together.” I turned back to my room, and he caught my hand, stopping me.

“You have to finish with Ralley. Sign the contract. I hate to take the car, but I need to get back. I’ll figure out something for you—a way to get a rental delivered to the hotel.” He was rambling, and I was sure it was exactly how his insides felt. Emotions flinging around inside him.