as if our last encounter rendered him speechless. I knew the feeling.
He shook his head. “But nothing that would look like that after five days, let alone five weeks. The whole area is yellow, like a bunch of bruises almost done healing. Jesus, doll, you look like someone’s been smacking the shit out of you.”
My cheeks reddened. The tightening in his voice told me he was suspicious. He didn’t need to know how correct that was—some days, anyway. But not about this, at least.
“I—I might have helped it along,” I admitted.
Matthew raised a brow. “You helped it along.”
Sheepishly, I nodded. “I did.” I pinched the skin lightly, demonstrating how. “See? I wanted the reminder of you.”
Matthew frowned. “You wanted my…”
“Mark. Yes.”
It sounded so vulgar, so barbaric, but that’s how he made me feel. Matthew was in full inspection mode now, and I was torn by the desire to keep him from looking for other flaws—flaws I did not want him to examine—and the need to feel him close. Thankfully, they were both solved the same way.
I slipped a hand around his neck again and pulled him closer, so we stood only inches apart. His nose touched mine, and he nuzzled me with a sweetness that ached.
“I can’t stand this.” I ran my nose over his neck, then bit softly, enjoying the shivers it produced all over his body. “Don’t you know I want your marks everywhere?”
He shuddered. I shuddered. For a moment, I imagined what it would be like. How it would feel if I didn’t have to spend twenty minutes in the mornings slathering makeup all over my body to hide the evidence of my home life. How it might feel to spend an entire night together with nowhere to go the next morning. To wake up with the knowledge that the day would continue together, and the day after that, and the day after that…
What it might be like to live with my daughter again?
He looked equally despondent. “Nina, maybe we shouldn’t—”
“Please,” I interrupted before the sadness became too unbearable. “Please, Matthew. I know this is just for today. But I told you—I need you. I’m begging. Mark me again.”
Like an animal, he growled and yanked me close so my almost-naked body was flush with his. His erection pressed against my thigh through his pants as he set his teeth to my neck.
“With fucking pleasure.”
He whirled us around, and then I was flying through the air and landed on the bed with a very unladylike shout. With swift, efficient movements, Matthew removed the rest of his clothing, then fell on top of me. Caging me with his arms, his smooth, muscled chest, his sleek, solid body.
“Your legs, baby.” He dropped kisses over my face, then moved around to take my earlobe between his teeth. “Wrap them around me.”
Obediently, I hooked my ankles around him, causing the heels of my sandals to dig into his backside.
Matthew hissed, but with more pleasure than pain. Instead, he pressed against me, teasing between my thighs. His teeth bit harder. I arched in his arms.
“Is this what you want, Nina?” he asked, moving his mouth over my neck, my chest, my breasts, and around again, sucking hard everywhere before releasing the skin from his mouth with a pop.
I gasped for air, but at the same time felt like I was breathing again for the first time all week. “Yes, Matthew. Oh, please.”
He slid into me, and I arched against the intrusion. He was big—bigger than anyone would expect of his inch or two over six feet. Enough that it usually took a moment or two for me to get used to him.
His teeth bit into my neck, and I squirmed.
“Do it back,” he ordered as he thrust even deeper. “Mark me too, baby. The way you know I love.”
My hands slid over his shoulder and I dug my nails in, pulling them up his back hard enough to leave trails. He arched and moaned from the pleasure and pain.
“Fuck,” he grunted, losing the last vestiges of his gentlemanly control. “Fuck, just like that!”
I panted like a dog in heat as he started to move. But as pleasure vibrated through me, another thought echoed along with our hot, deliciously animal instincts.
The same I’d heard since the first time I’d met him. Since the first time I welcomed this man into me.