Page 64 of Wicked Ends (Hellions of Hade Harbor #4)

It felt like too much to hope for, for a person who had learned that life only got harder, never easier.

I cried until my breathing was ragged, a release of tension I’d been carrying for more than a week.

For years, really. Marcus’ arms were strong around me the entire time.

He never loosened his grip, not even an inch.

His mouth was at my temple, pressing kisses to the hot skin there, and when my breathing slowed and the tension ebbed from me, he was moving his lips against my cheeks, gently kissing my tears away.

“Let it out, Ari. Stop being so damn strong and doing the so-called right thing every goddamn second and just let go. Fall. I’m here. I’ll catch you.”

Those words flowed through me, sealing up the tattered holes in my tired heart.

Slowly, the tears stopped, and I caught my breath. Marcus’ hand was carding gently through my hair, and I wished I could stay right there forever.

“So, it’s decided. You’ll agree to be my wife, wear my ring, and live here, and teach at HHU so I can sneak by to see you during school hours for a few years, until we move wherever the NHL takes us.”

“We—we can’t just shack up together!” I protested mildly.

“Why not?”

“What will people say?” I said and was rewarded with a chuckle.

Marcus, predictably, didn’t care about that.

“Everyone will say I’m too old for you.”

“Fuck,” Marcus growled and stood, bending sharply at the waist and hoisting me over his shoulder. “I’ve told you before, woman, your moral catastrophizing turns me on.”

“Marcus! Behave,” I yelped as he started upstairs and landed a stinging slap to my ass.

“Yesss… talk teacher to me, beautiful.”

He moved down the hallway and into the main bedroom. The old bed had been replaced by a huge one, with a wrought-iron headboard and a sinfully soft mattress.

“I know it’s no waterbed, but I think we can get used to it,” Marcus teased and lowered me to the bed.

I got up on my knees and looked up at him. He was threading his fingers through my hair, tugging on the strands in a way that made me swoon. My whole body was sensitive, desperate for this man’s touch.

Then he was on me, covering my body with his and bearing me backward, tugging my clothes down my body.

“I need my skin against yours, now. Do you know how many times I had to stop myself from driving back up north, climbing in the window of your sister-in-law’s place, and fucking you until you woke up?”

“And how would you have found me?”

“You think I didn’t put a new tracker on you, birthday girl? Stalking you is my new favorite hobby, didn’t you know?”

“That’s worrying but on-brand for you,” I quipped.

I gasped as Marcus lay next to me, fully naked, and grabbed me, tossing me over his body. I came to rest somewhere near his middle, head pointing toward his feet.

“Back up, baby. I want to drown in your cunt before I fill it up.”

“Wait, what?”

“Sit on my face, before I make you,” he demanded.

He dragged me backward so ruthlessly my hands went out from under me, and I landed face-first on his straining cock.

“Wow, two birds with one stone with that one,” Marcus chuckled, his voice muffled by my thighs.

I tried to lift up and keep my weight from his face, but he clamped his hands around my thighs and held me right where he wanted me.

His tongue moved up my slit and sent all rational thought from my head.

Jesus, that felt good.

He ate me like I was his last meal. I wanted to drive him just as insane. I leaned forward and took his cock in my mouth, sliding down as far as I could. The tip of him hit the back of my throat, and I gagged. I raised my mouth and then attempted the move again, Marcus groaning between my legs.

I pulled back when the feeling between my legs grew too much to take. He was relentless. No matter which way I moved, he was there, furiously circling my clit and giving me all the friction I needed to tip right over the edge.

I came hard, crying out around Marcus’ cock, and he lapped my pussy the entire time, drawing it out until I thought I might faint.

When my pussy was done twitching and pulsing, Marcus sat up again, lifting me effortlessly against his chest and kissing me hard.

“Tell me you’ll marry me, Ari,” he commanded.

“People will say it’s crazy,” I said.

He shook his head, lined his cock up at my entrance, and thrust inside.

“That wasn’t a no. I think I’m wearing you down.”

I laughed at his teasing tone. I felt like I hadn’t done anything but stress and cry from the moment Dale had shown up at the motel. Now, for the first time in weeks, I was laughing again, and it was because of Marcus.

He fucked me steadily, caressing my face as he went. I arched into his touch.

“Let’s be crazy together. Head over heels, batshit insane is the level of living I aspire to,” Marcus murmured.

He lowered his hand to my swollen clit and rubbed it, nearly sending me over the edge immediately.

“As long as I’m with you, I’m living the dream.”

He fucked me harder, and I held onto his arms, feeling like I could melt into the bed.

“Now, tell me you love me and that you’ll marry me. Say it.” He punctuated that last demand with a thrust for each word. “Say it, beautiful,” he insisted again.

He pressed deeper than ever and hit my G-spot.

“I’ll marry you!” I gasped out.

I came. I tightened all over, clasping his dick inside me. He growled in my ear and followed me, spilling hot and wet cum deep inside.

“And tell me you love me,” he continued.

“I love you!” I cried out.

He kissed me hungrily, his cock still hard inside me, despite him just coming.

“I know, baby. I know, just like you know I love you.” He grinned and slipped out long enough to let the cum he’d filled me up with slip free, before sliding back inside, ready to go again. “And like you know, I will never let you get away.”

I laughed, pure joy and love filling up my heart.

“Does that mean you don’t want me to even try?” I grinned up at him. “No more games?”

Marcus shook his head and started to fuck me again.

“Hell no, birthday girl. I’m looking forward to playing with you—for as long as we both shall live.”