Page 49 of My Merciless Don

It was a very different kiss from any we’d shared before. It said very clearly, ‘I know who you are. I want to get to know you better.’

We pulled away from each other, our gazes meeting and holding. The silence was loud.

I reached my hand out to her. “I'm offering you my hand, in partnership. Will you take it?”

She looked from my hand to my eyes and back to my hand. Slowly her hand rose, and she slid it into mine. “I do,” she said.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

AUDRY

Everything was very confusing at that moment. Marco had kissed me. Marco said he wanted to be my partner. That we could be on the same team. But what did that mean for my old team? What about James?

I tried to ponder this quandary but all I could do was feel my slightly swollen lips, reliving that kiss and asking myself why we had stopped. We could be kissing right this minute instead of me whirling in a sea of confusion and anxiety, questioning my actions and doubting the future. I didn't want to think about all that. I wanted to think about Marco kissing me.

Not some Amy avatar.

Me.

The way my stomach was bubbling with butterflies was frankly embarrassing. I began to wonder at my motives for everything. Did I put that virus in Marco’s system because he chose Amy over me? Was I that petty? I wasn't even aware that I wanted to be chosen, but with the amount of giddiness I was feeling at that moment, I had to consider that it was a factor.

I could only hope that Marco could not see how much I had regressed into a teenage girl, cheesing and bubbling with excitement over a kiss. I looked at his mouth and at that moment he licked his lips. Honestly was that not an invitation?

I grabbed his shirt and pulled him to me, fusing our lips hungrily together.

His mouth was hard on mine and he got into the groove of the kiss with no hesitation. His huge hands were warm on the skin of my back, holding me close but not tight. I could move away from him if I wanted to.

I didn’t want to.

His mouth had a chocolatey aftertaste as I sucked his lip into my mouth before allowing him to lick his way into it. The soft, slippery skin of his mouth brushed silkily against my bottom lip, as if he meant to suck my whole face into his mouth. I giggled at the thought and he pulled back slightly to look in my eye with an enquiring expression. I shook my head, grabbing his hair and pulling him back to me even as I dived forward to latch onto his lips.

His stubble scratched against the delicate skin of my cheek as we moved together, heads tilted to opposite sides to get the perfect angle. I swung my hands around his neck, enveloping him in the circle of my arms, arching my back so that I was flush against him. There was no such thing as too close. There was only not enough. I felt an urgent, immediate need to consume him whole, take him into myself and never let him go.

If I hadn’t been so swept up in the emotion of the moment, I might have been scared shitless.

He pulled back from me and I moaned in protest.

“I know, I know,” he said soothingly, and got to his feet. “Let’s take this somewhere more comfortable, hmm?” he gazed at me hopefully, as if there was a snowball’s chance in hell I would say no.

I leapt to my feet, took his hand and let him lead me to his bedroom.

It was a large space with a gigantic bed in the middle. Everything was decorated in shades of grey. It was clear that an interior decorator had had a hand in furnishing the space. But I didn’t want to dwell on that now. I turned and looked up at Marco to find that he was already staring at me.

“Are you sure about this, Audry?” There was a slight emphasis on my name, and I was grateful that he was making sure I knew that he knew who he was with.

I smiled a bit dopily. “I've never been so sure of anything in my life.” I felt a little drunk, so I wasn't even embarrassed saying it.

He nodded solemnly, taking my hand in his, and leading me to the bed, his eyes never leaving mine. I want him to continue kissing me so badly, my eyes stayed on his lips the entire time. He lowered me gently onto the bed and we shimmied up to lounge against the pillows. I wiggled about until I was comfortable, and then reached for my sweat pants, pulling them down. Marco was still standing at the foot of the bed, staring at me like I was a painting.

I squirmed with discomfort, not used to being seen like that. I put my hand up to cover my face.

“Don't,” Marco said, “let me see you.”

My face flaming, I lowered my arm, even attempting to meet his eye.

“You’re so beautiful, Audry. Do you know that?”

My face twitched and I had to look away as I got even redder and swallowed the lump in my throat. It wasn’t that he called me beautiful. Men did that all the time. It was the way he looked at me as if he saw more than my hair, my eyes and my body. It was like he saw me.

---