Page 66 of Just Say (Hell) No
After what felt like approximately an hour, Marko discovered that he’d regained his breath. Also the power of speech.
“On the one hand,” he said, “that may not have been the… wisest set of decisions of my life. On the other hand…” He ran his hand down the hourglass that was Nyree’s wonderful bare back and slid it over her rounded hip, then gripped one of those luscious thighs. “You look so bloody good from behind. And I’d been waiting too long to see it. And making you give it up like that… ” He sighed. “Oh, yeh. Worth the wait.”
“Not so… protective, though, were you?” she asked, not sounding like she had much breath left to say it. One white arm flung over her head, one knee in the air, her body canted towards him in absolute abandon, and he wanted her again already. “Not so perfect.”
“Never said I was perfect.” He couldn’t have kept his hands off her if he’d tried, and he wasn’t trying. “But too bloody right I’m protective. If I hurt you, if you don’t like it—tell me to stop. I’ll stop.” He rolled on top of her and got her on her back again, propped himself on his elbows, and kissed her soft mouth, keeping it gentle this time, getting a hand on her breast and feeling the nipple pebble under his fingers, just that fast. “It’s only good if it works for you, too. If you don’t like it, say so. We’ll do it a different way.” He smiled into her eyes. “I’ve got more, no worries.”
She scowled at him, her inky-black eyebrows drawn together over her straight nose. “When did I say I didn’t like it?”
“Dunno.” He was still smiling, and he was kissing her again, too. “I’m going to take that as a green light. Idowalk on a green light.”
She was still stretched out under him with her arm flung over her head, making no effort to look like anything but the receptor of anything he wanted to give her. She managed to sound severe all the same. “Boy, you do more than that. I’d say yourunon a green light.”
He laughed, twisted a dark curl around his finger, tugged it the tiniest bit, and said, “Could be. Or you could say that you’ve frustrated me to breaking point. Been wanting my hands on you since the first day I saw you, and it’s only got worse.”
She heaved in a breath, and all of a sudden, her body wasn’t feeling relaxed beneath his anymore. “About that first day thing—you actually haven’t. I need to talk to you about that.”
Which was when the front door banged, Ella called out, “Oi! Nyree!” and he heard her feet on the wooden stairs, coming fast. And also when Nyree let out a gasp, rolled off the bed onto the floor, looked around wildly, and finally settled on slamming the door two seconds before Ella knocked on it.
He wanted to laugh. He didn’t, because for some reason, she was acting like her parents had just caught her in the back seat of his car. Which was a lovely little thought. Was there anything better than a woman sprawled across your back seat with her clothes coming off, piece by delicious piece? Oh, yeh. He could do that. A challenge, when you were as big as he was, but they could make it work. He could…
On the other side of the door, Ella said, “Oi. Nyree. There’s a huge fella outside. Says he needs to talk to you.”
“Uh… what?” said Nyree. “Who?”
“Can’t remember what he said,” Ella said. “He surprised me, and I forgot. Super Rugby somewhere, because I’ve seen him before. He says you didn’t tell him you moved. And that you won’t answer his texts, and what’s going on. Is Marko still around? I think he should come down.”
Marko was up. Finding his clothes and starting to pull them on. “I’m right here,” he informed Ella. “And no worries. I’m coming down.”
A lot of things happened at once.
Nyree hissed at him, “Wait. I mean it. Wait for me,” and told Ella through the door, “Tell him to wait.” Ella said, “OK, but hurry,” and Nyree threw open her closet and apparently grabbed the first item her hand touched, since it turned out to be a sleeveless red dress that was reasonable in the front, but laced all the way up the back from the low waist, allowing her creamy skin to show through. And Marko thought,I’m going to have to kill this bastard.That wasn’t a dress, or a body, that a man would walk away from without a fight, and Nyree wasn’t going to be the one doing the fighting. That was his job.
She shot a look at him he couldn’t interpret, then opened the door and headed down the stairs ahead of him. No undies, no bra, and her hair a curly, wild mass. And some beard burn and flush on her neck and chest that she hadn’t bothered to cover up. Like it didn’t matter, because she knew he’d be right behind her. At least he hoped that was the reason.
Out the front door, now. Ella was hovering on the steps, and the bloke was on the driveway talking to Kors, the two of them leaning up against the wall of the house like mates.
Bloodyhell.
You could say that Marko knew him. You could also say that he’d spent a thousand hours or so in the scrum with his arm around the fella’s back, both of them wearing the black jersey, and had lifted him in the lineout to steal the ball from some Springbok or Wallaby or Scot more times than he could count. You could also say that the surge of red was rising in his chest, up to his throat, and choking him.
Jealousy. Protectiveness. Whatever. It all felt the same.
Nyree said, sounding very nearly cheerful, “Hi, Kane. How’d you find me?” As if this were going to be casual. Marko was pretty sure she was wrong. Kane Armstrong could look like a mild fella, especially at times like this, when he was wearing his spectacles. As mild as a six-foot-nine block of muscle could possibly look, anyway. But he wasn’t that way once the whistle blew, and he wasn’t going to be that way about Nyree.
Marko hadn’t thrown a punch, on or off the rugby field, since he’d sent Ella’s dad on his way for good at twenty-one. He knew his size, and he knew his strength. Now, though? He was going to need them both, because Kane was standing up to his full height, his eyebrows slamming down hard.
“Dantz atu nahi ez dana, ez doula dantz ara,”Marko told him, and possibly himself. “If you don’t want to dance, don’t go to a dance. Last chance to get off my driveway.”
“That meant to scare me, mate?” Kane asked. “I don’t think so.”
They stared at each other, and Kors had backed up and moved behind Marko. Up the stairs, Marko guessed, gone to stand with Ella. He couldn’t think about that now.
Nyree sighed, walked up to Kane, put her arms around his waist, and said, “Stop glaring at Marko and give me a cuddle.”
What. The. Bloody. Hell. Marko didn’t go in for the sharing plan. He sure as hell wasn’t doing it with Nyree. He didn’t think Kane was, either, from the look on his face.
He was right. Kanedidn’tgive her a cuddle. Instead, he asked her, his lips barely moving and his eyes not leaving Marko’s, “Why are you here?”
