“No, you’re not.”

She buried her face in the side of his neck, her breathing uneven. He could tell she was fighting tears. “Marc,” she whispered. “Oh, Marc.”

He loved the sound of his name on her lips, the brush of her warm breath on his skin. He kissed the top of her head, his lips pressing against her silky hair, his arms tightening around her. Her arms came up and slid around his neck.

“When you left, it hurt even more than when Marissa dumped me,” he said quietly. “But when I thought about it, how she broke up with me because I wasn’t romantic enough, I realized it was true. I’m not. Why would you have thought I wanted more than just hot, secret sex? I never even took you on a date.”

Her head whipped up to stare at him. “You thought I was the same as Marissa? Because let me just tell you this—”

“No, no. That’s not what I meant.”

“She was a stupid bitch to break up with you,” she continued heatedly. “Although, I’m glad she did.” Her frown turned into a smile.

“No, you’re not like Marissa. Fuck no.” He shook his head. “I just meant, I get why she said that. It wasn’t her…it was me. She said I wasn’t there for her, and…I wasn’t. Not totally. It wasn’t that I wasn’t romantic enough, it was that I hadn’t cared enough to be romantic with her. But with you…I’ve been planning all week how to show you how I feel about you. I actually got hold of Jillian and asked her for help.”

“Jillian?”

“I found her on Facebook. You two are going out tomorrow night, right?”

Her brow furrowed. “Yes.”

“It’s a setup. You’re the one going out with me.”

Her mouth dropped open. “What?” Then she started to smile.

“I had to make sure you were free, so I got her in on it. I have plans for us.”

Her eyes glowed. “Oh yeah? Like what?”

“That, you’ll have to find out tomorrow night.”

“Oooh. Make me wait. Okay. But you’re going to stay here tonight, aren’t you?”

Chapter 24

“Not going anywhere,” Marc growled. “Or only if you’re with me.”

“Awesome.”

He slipped his fingers beneath her chin to turn her face up toward him and touched his lips to hers. Sweet. Soft. His.

Her eyes met his, then fluttered closed. He closed his too as he deepened the kiss, fingers sliding along her jaw. He loved her taste, had missed it so much. He licked into her mouth, found her tongue, and slid his along it. He wanted to devour her, all of her, claim her.

He angled his head to go deeper still, her breathing quickening, her hands tightening on his shoulders. Her mouth was soft and warm, sucking at him, and she made hot little sounds in her throat, pressing herself against him. He shifted her on his lap so she straddled him, picking her up and setting her down easily. Then he kissed her again, sliding his hips to the edge of the couch, slouching down so she was nearly lying on him. His hands went to her hips, then her ass in those tight jeans, while their mouths ate at each other in hot, urgent, hungry kisses. Her fingers played in his hair, making his scalp tingle, making his dick hard.

“Cherie,” he whispered. “Tu me rends fou. Complètement fou. Je t’aime.”

“Je t’aime,” she whispered back.

He tipped his head back and smiled down at her. “You’ve been learning French?”

“Maybe a little.” She gave him a saucy smile. “I could learn better from you. I still have a hard time with those ‘r’s.”

“We’ll work on it. You’ll want to speak French when we go home to Rimouski.”

“Gah!”

He smiled and opened his mouth on the side of her neck. “Don’t worry, my parents speak English.” He used his teeth there, so gently, then touched his tongue to her skin. “T’es belle, Lovey. Mon amour. Ma belle.”

She shivered and moaned. “Marc.”

He slid his hands up under the thick sweatshirt, over the smooth skin of her back, then down and into the low waistband of her jeans. Her hips pulsed against his. He didn’t want to rush this. This time was special. Important.

Once more he swept his hands up her back under the shirt, this time whisking it off. He tossed it aside. Beneath it she wore that sexy, delicate lace bra, sheer with pretty scalloped edges and a pale pink bow in the middle. He traced a fingertip along the inner curve of one breast, lingering just above the bow, then up over the other side. “Beautiful.”

She smiled and shook her hair back. Then he reached behind her to undo the bra.

“Oh yeah.”

His hands went to the button of her jeans, then the zipper, and she rose up onto her knees so he could work them down her thighs.

“This isn’t going to work,” she said breathlessly.

“Nope.” Hands on her waist, he lifted her again, one arm going around her to swing her around to sit on the couch. She gave a shocked little gasp.

He went to his knees on the floor in front of her and tugged her jeans off. Her black panties had matching little pink bows on each hip. And if he remembered correctly, another bow at the back, right at the top of her ass. So sweet and sexy.

The Converse came off with the jeans, her feet bare inside them. He stroked his hands up her legs, over thighs, then hips, then back down. He eased her legs apart, caressed the inside of her knees, making her twitch and gasp.

“Ticklish?”

“No.”

“You lie.” He bent his head and kissed her there, stringing slow, openmouthed kisses from the inside of one knee up closer to the sweet softness between her legs. Her breathing became ragged and shorter. “I like these panties too.” He hooked his fingers into the narrow ribbons at her hips and eased them down and off.

“You need to get undressed too.”

“Yes. Yes, I definitely do.” He surged to his feet. To his surprise, Lovey pushed herself up and stood too. She slipped the knot of his tie lower and lifted the loop over his head.

“I want to do this,” she murmured. “You look so sexy in your suit.” Her fingers worked the buttons of his shirt, tugging it out of his pants as she got lower. “Any bruises tonight? Sore muscles?” She pressed a kiss to his chest between the sides of his shirt.

“I always have bruises and sore muscles.”

“Oh.” She sighed. “You play so hard, Marc.”

“I’m tough.”

Her mouth curved into a sweet smile that shot straight to his heart. “Big, tough hockey player. Yeah. You pretend you’re all tough and unemotional. I know how much you care about your boys. Your team.”

He wasn’t going to deny it. She knew him better than anyone, except maybe Duncan, but then she knew him in ways Duncan didn’t.

She pushed the shirt off his shoulders, following it with her mouth, leaving hot little kisses everywhere. His skin began to burn, his cock thickening even more. And then she went to her knees in front of him to undo his belt and his pants. She rubbed her cheek over his erection through the wool fabric, a look of such pleasure on her face his heart expanded hard against his sternum.

He filtered his hands through her hair as she opened his pants, then pushed them and his boxers to the floor. His dick sprang up and she circled it with soft fingers.

“Lovey,” he breathed. “Put your mouth on me.”

“Mmm.” She complied, first licking him all over, then kissing him, then taking him inside. Sensation poured over him and pressure built deep in his balls. He tangled his fingers in her silky strands, canting his hips to gently thrust into her mouth. Not hard…just fucking her mouth a little. She moaned her approval, cupping his balls. A shiver ran down the backs of his thighs.

This was awesome, amazing…but he wanted to make love to her, to show her how he felt about her, how precious she was to him. So he groaned as he withdrew and cupped her face.