From This Moment On (28 page)

He grinned. “I know. But you’re worth the risk, sweetheart. Any risk. Every risk. I’m going to enjoy joining you for as many of your tour dates as I possibly can, and I have a pretty good feeling that you’re going to enjoy the peace and quiet of being here with me as often as you possibly can. I have no doubt that this land, the beauty here, will feed your soul the same way it’s always fed mine.”

“How do you always see the things in me that no one else ever does?”

“I met Nicola long before I ever met Nico,” he reminded her. “Forget the stupid things I said to you on the beach. You’ve never hidden yourself from me.”

“I don’t know how. Even when I tried, I couldn’t hide what you were making me feel.” She paused. “Especially when you were telling me what you wanted me to do in the bedroom.”

Ah, it was just the lead-in he’d been hoping for. “Three weeks ago, I played by the book. And you left.” He pinned her with an unabashedly hungry gaze. “Today I’m not going to play fair. As far as I’m concerned, once you got on that plane with me, all rules were off.”

Her pupils had dilated and her breathing was already speeding up, both beautiful signs that she was becoming aroused...and that she wanted this as much as he did.

Knowing she’d greatly enjoy the anticipation, he told her, “I’m planning to use all the weapons in my arsenal to convince you that we belong together. I’m not afraid to play dirty this time, kitten.”

She licked her lips. “I like dirty.”

He grinned at her and it was a smile full of wicked promise. “I know you do. My sweet, sexy, smart, dirty girl.” He swept her up in his arms and kicked open the front door to carry her into his bedroom. “I want you in my bed.”

“I want to be there, too.” She cupped his face in her hands and pulled his mouth down to hers.

Needing to concentrate on kissing her, not climbing the stairs, he stopped halfway up, sitting down on the stairs so that she was straddling him.

There was no way they were going to actually make it all the way upstairs to his bedroom.

Not this time, anyway.

“Lift your arms for me, kitten.”

Heat flared in her eyes at the sensual command he’d given her that first night, and then again and again. She slowly brought her hands up and let him slide her long-sleeved T-shirt up her torso and over her head.

Her bra was wicked black and red lace with a sweet white bow in the middle.

“Until I met you, I always thought I had to be one or the other, the sexy pop princess or the sweet girl with the guitar. I want to be both, Marcus.”

“I first started falling for the sex goddess in the leather dress with the impossibly high heels...and I knew I was a total goner when you fell asleep on my lap like a contented little kitten.” He moved his hands to the small of her back, then around to cup her ass, and slid her closer. “I’ve always loved both sides of you.” Without skipping a beat, he said, “I want you to stand up and take the rest of your clothes off.”

Her eyes widened, but she quickly scooted off his lap and moved a step down to slip off her jeans and then her bra and panties.

He put his hands on her stomach, curving them up to cup her breasts.  “Gorgeous.”

She took a shaky breath that did fantastic things to her breasts in his hands.

“I think it’s time for that spanking I’ve been promising you,” he said as he brushed the pads of his thumbs over her beautifully erect nipples. “A little punishment for taking so long to come around and see that we can make things work.”

Her eyes glittered with arousal even as she made a soft protest. “What if I don’t want to be spanked? What if I don’t like it?”

Instead of answering her questions, he moved his hands from her chest and said, “Turn around, kitten, and hold on to the stair rail.”

He could see her heart beat pulsing through the soft skin on her neck as she paused and thought it over. Finally, she did as he bid
.

Sweet lord, her ass was a miracle, gorgeously heart shaped as she flared it slightly for him before taunting him with a naughty look over her shoulder.

Moving his hand over her stomach, he held her torso in place as he ran his other hand over the swell of her hips.

“So pretty. So sweet.” He pressed a kiss to the small of her back. “And all mine.”

His hand came down a moment later, a swat on her behind that left a faint pink mark on her tanned flesh.

She didn’t cry out, but he felt her nipples bead against his palm where he’d moved his left hand higher to cup her breasts again
.

A moment later, he was marking her other cheek with the flat of his palm, and this time he couldn’t miss her moan of pleasure, moans that only increased in volume as he made contact two more times.

But as erotic as the spanking—and her reaction to it—was, he’d have to continue their sexy game another time. Marcus didn’t know how he’d managed to skip going down on her in their previous lovemaking sessions, but he needed to rectify that right this second
.

“Let go of the rail, sit back against the steps, and open your legs for me.”

She was shaking with need as she did so and after she was spread before him, he gladly gave in to the urge to run his lips across her breasts, to continue down her taut stomach, to dip his tongue into her belly button
.

The first swipe of his tongue over her slippery, aroused flesh had her bucking into his mouth while her hands held onto his hair. He thrust two fingers into her and slick heat surrounded them, throbbing and pulsing around him
.

He blew softly against her mons, making her hips move on his fingers as she tried desperately to find completion
.

“I love you
."

He backed up his words with the slow move of his fingers out, then back into her pussy, which clenched and pulled against him so beautifully he was halfway to insane at the thought of having his cock in the same place soon.

Marcus pushed his fingers back inside at the same moment that he lowered his mouth between her thighs and covered her aroused flesh with his lips. He curled his fingers inside of her until she was gasping, arching, begging, crying out for more
.

He loved the way she held on to him as she came apart against his tongue and fingers.

“Oh my God, your tongue.” She inhaled a shaky breath and looked at him with that wonder, with the trust he knew he’d never grow tired of seeing. “And what was that spot you found with your fingers?”

He grinned at her reaction. “I’ll show you again soon.”

She licked her lips and said, “Yes, please,” and a few seconds later he was carrying her the rest of the way up the stairs to lay her down in the center of his big bed. She moved to reach for him, but he shook his head.

“No. Just let me look at you. I can’t believe I have the prettiest girl in the world in my bed.”

She blushed, but this time she didn’t try to hide any part of herself from him. Not her beautiful body...or the beauty that was inside all that luscious, creamy skin and mind-blowing curves.

He stripped off his clothes and put on a condom before moving over her. And then her arms were around his shoulders and her legs were wrapped tightly to his hips and he knew the rest of the naughty things he wanted to do to her would have to wait
.

Because right now all he wanted to do was make love to the woman he’d waited a lifetime to find.

“Love me, Marcus,” she whispered as their bodies came together.

And, oh, how he loved her.

Not just with his entire body, not only with every beat of his heart...but from the very depths of his soul.

* * *

The midday sun was coming in through Marcus’s bedroom window as they sat naked on top of his covers eating the picnic lunch he’d pulled together from the sparse contents of his fridge
.

Nicola had never felt so exhausted—or so happy—and with her stomach full of food and her body full of pleasure, she yawned and lay down in one of her favorite positions, her head on his lap and one of her hands in his. She never wanted to stop lying there looking up at his beautiful face
.

But her long tour hours—and the three rounds of incredibly acrobatic sex they’d just had—had her yawning.

He smiled down at her. “You sure tire out quick for a young thing. My sleepy little kitten.”

“Funny,” she said on another huge yawn, “I was just about to say you have surprising stamina for an old man.” She hummed a few bars of the Joni Mitchell hit
My Old Man
, ending at the line about “keeping away my lonesome blues
."

She loved hearing him laugh and hum along in a really off-tune voice
.

Looking up into his eyes, she knew it was time to admit everything to him.

“I didn’t push you away just because I was trying to save you from my circus life.” When his hand didn’t still on her hair and his leg muscles didn’t tense up under her, she knew it was safe to say, “That was a big part of it, but I was also scared of trusting. Scared of falling. So hugely scared that I’d be hurt again. Only this time I knew it would be so much worse, because I loved you. That’s why I ran that day after lunch at your mother’s house, because I thought it would hurt less that way. But running only made everything hurt more.”

“I missed you just as much,” he told her. “Although, I can’t help thinking that if you hadn’t run, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to chase after you.”

Just that quickly—as he made her burn up at the wicked thought of being chased through the vines and then caught in the most delicious way—Marcus erased any chance of recriminations, of making her feel guilty or selfish for what she’d done
.

And as he shifted them so that his naked body was pressed against hers and his mouth was moving over hers, she forgot all about fear and gave in to the most natural emotion in the world.

Pure, sweet love.

* * *

Sitting in the back of a limo with Marcus that night, Nicola wore a fantastic dress that managed to be classic and yet fun and flirty at the same time. All day she’d loved being with the man she loved, but as the driver pulled up in front of the Napa Valley mansion where the event was being held, panic gripped her.

“This is the big moment. Are you sure you’re ready for this? For not being my secret boyfriend anymore
?"

Instead of answering her with words, he put her hands over his heart, then leaned in to kiss her.

“As long as you’re by my side, I’m ready for absolutely anything.”

And as the door was opened for them and flashbulbs started going off, his kiss erased what remained of her worries...leaving sweet safety and boundless pleasure in its place.

Epilogue

Over the next two months, the weather cooled and the leaves turned color, falling from the trees throughout Northern California. Marcus racked up the miles on buses and planes as Nicola played dozens of dates on the first leg of her U.S. concert tour and he commuted back and forth between Napa Valley and whatever part of the country the woman he loved was in. For the first time since he’d purchased the winery ten years earlier, he left the bulk of the details of the crush to his staff. Ellen received an enormous promotion along with the matching salary to go along with her new duties.

It was early December when Nicola and Marcus walked into the fire station. The entire fire crew was there, along with their families, to meet her.

Gabe shook his brother’s hand, then hugged Nicola extra long and hard, knowing it would bug the crap out of his possessive older brother. Gabe didn’t bother to hold back his grin as he said, “Thanks so much for agreeing to play this concert, Nicola.”

“It’s my pleasure,” she said before turning to his brother. Going up on her toes, she pressed a kiss on Marcus’s cheek. “You’re scaring the kids with that scowl.”

Marcus put his hand on her chin and turned her face to his for a real kiss that said
Mine
loud and clear to any man in the room who might have been confused as to which Sullivan brother she was with
.

Gabe made sure his grin stayed in place, even though something inside his chest was pinching tight. Over the past months, he’d gotten used to seeing Chase, and now Marcus, as part of a couple. Their mother was beside herself with joy over her sons’ relationships
.

Jackie, the girl Gabe had been casually dating off and on for the past few months, was practically shaking with excitement at the thought of finally meeting Nicola. She’d been angling to be invited to Sunday lunch at his mother’s house to meet not just Nicola, but Smith, too. The thing was, Gabe just couldn’t see her around his family. She was too young, too eager. Sure, Nicola was young too, but there was a reason she and Marcus fit so well together. Nicola was far more mature than other twenty-five-year-old girls.

Especially Jackie, Gabe thought as she started toward them, stars in her eyes
.