Page 54 of Fool's Gold

“Is that what you think I’m trying to do?” Indignation has goose bumps erupting along my arms and legs. “You asshole.”

“I know. I’ve never claimed to be anything but an asshole. Now you’re seeing it. And I’m telling you point-blank not to expect sex from me again. It stops today.”

He refuses to turn around and face me. It’s just as well. I know myself, and the second he meets my eyes, I’m gonna start crying. My skin is clammy and tight, the back of my neck prickled by emotions I’d rather not name.

I’m overworked, and no matter how great I feel like I do on set, it doesn’t help now. Not when it’s almost impossible to calm down.

“I must have done something wrong if you’re taking sex off the table. I’ve been through enough.”

He must have come to the same realization as well.

With a sigh, he shifts, and in the darkness, he’s haunted. His eyes are black pits with shadows creasing deeply above his cheeks. “You have. This has nothing to do with you.”

I stiffen when he crosses the room and wraps me up in his arms. His cologne is the bane of my existence and the only thing that calms my soul. I want to hit him; I want to hold him.

The tears are close to the surface and ready to burn their way from my eyes.

“I’m not something you can put on a shelf and ignore until you’re ready to play again.” My voice is muffled by his shirt, and damn me, but I cling to him, grabbing great handfuls between my fingers and clenching tightly.

I should let him go.

I should show him just how angry I am when these horrible emotions are a windstorm inside me.

But I hold on.

And Marcus molds me to him. “I shouldn’t want you. That’s the problem, okay? It’s not you.”

I shouldn’t want him, either. There’s too much shit behind us for a relationship to work. Not like we’ve got one. He tossed me away, and I still trail behind him like a toy on a string, helpless to move on my own.

Then he finally gave me what I wanted, and now I’m even deeper into this hole. Sunken where I can’t really see the light because there’s only Marcus.

Don’t let go of me.

“It’s not you, Empire.” He slowly releases my arms to drag me toward him, and his lips find mine. “I don’t deserve you.”

“I’ll be the judge.” My chest heaves, and I take my time kissing him, memorizing the strong planes of his body, wrapping my arms around his neck and locking them to make sure he doesn’t get away. “Let me decide whether you do or not.”

“I have to give you up.” His dark tone sends me straight to the edge of chaos.

Give me up? Hasn’t he done it already?

I run my hands over his chest. “Touch me.”

I’ll never beg for a man.

“No.”

Yet Marcus smiles, something feral in the gesture, before reaching down to bite my lower lip. I shiver. I can’t stop staring at him, just like there isn’t a damn thing I can do about walking away.

What’s stopping us from being together besides his own fucked-up thoughts?

Hunger flashes in his gaze before he runs his tongue over the lip he just nibbled. My heart lurches into my throat as he slides his tongue deeper into my mouth, tasting me as though he’ll never have the opportunity again.

I’ve got no patience when it comes to him. I’m already reaching down for the buckle on his pants when he stills my hands, running his thumb over the top of my hand.

“You need to stop,” he warns.

“Why?” I lay my hand on the hardness of his cock. “Why do I need to stop when I’m yours?”

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