Page 153 of Mark
“Why are you wasting your time on me?” I whisper. “I believed what Esther wanted me to believe. I didn’t give you the same trust as you have given me. I ran and didn’t even let you explain. I’m crazy, my family is crazy. I just don’t understand why you keep trying. Why you keep wasting your time. You need to let this go. Save yourself from my dysfunctional family.”
He steps closer, placing one hand on the side of my neck and the other on my cheek. I close my eyes as the butterflies fluttering in my stomach. It’s the same feeling I always get when I’m around him.
“I don’t see it as wasting my time. I see it as investing time into my future.” He sighs, pressing his forehead against mine for a moment. “You really don’t get it, do you? You make me crazy, but it’s okay because it’s your hand I’m holding, your eyes I’m looking into, and your body I’m lying next to. I don’t want to let you go. I can’t. So please, please don’t ask me to leave. Please don’t make me give up the one thing I want more than anything else. Please don’t ask me to forget we happened because I can’t.”
“Mark,” I whisper, placing my fists against his hard stomach.
“I love you, Freya,” he announces, then throws his head back as he says a little louder, “My god, I am so in love with you, I can’t think straight. I was ready to leave the cruise, bail on my family. Something I would never have done before you—a girl who, before that trip, stalked me.”
“Hey, I never stalked you.”
He glances into my eyes. “You were obsessed.”
I roll my eyes. “I think we’ve already proven it wasn’t me obsessed. Even your family agrees.”
“My point is, it’s not just my words that prove what you mean to me. It’s not a holiday fling or a passing moment. You aren’t just the girl I fell for, who tamed my sorry arse and captured my attention. You became a part of me. You became a part of the family, and it feels empty without you. My actions prove they aren’t just words to butter you up. I was willing to drop everything and everyone who means the world to me to chase you across the world. I went head to head with not just one member of your family, but a majority of them. I did it because you are worth chasing. You are worth more than the shit they’ve done to us. They don’t scare me. I’ll fight for you every single day if it means they leave you alone. I will never forgive your sister for what she did to you. To us. But I will not let whatshedid come between us. Because I love you.”
Tears gather in my eyes as I shakily step closer to him, resting the palms of my hands on his chest. “You giant, giant marshmallow,” I rasp. “I love you too. And before you argue, I’m not saying it because you’ve said it during a beautiful little speech. I’ve said it because I love you more than I have ever loved anyone. I love you even when you make my blood boil from annoyance. I love you even though you make it a habit to get me in a crazy situation or even when we argue over the most ridiculous things.”
His lips tug up at the corners. “You look so uncomfortable right now,” he teases. “Is the next part of your speech where you tell me I make you see colour in a world of grey or that you love the way my cock feels inside you? Because I’m down with it.”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Your ego is something else.”
He snorts. “My ego is just fine. But if it makes you feel more relaxed, I didn’t realise I was missing colour until I met you.”
I shove at his chest. “Stop with the corny lines.”
He loses the smirk. “I’m being serious. I’m serious about you. About us. About our future.”
“Then shut up and kiss me,” I whisper.
His lips reach mine, not even hesitating or savouring the moment. Our kiss is rushed, fired, and explosive.
And just like that, everything feels right in the world.
I feel like I am home.
He picks me up at the waist, slamming my back against the door. “I have missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too,” I whisper breathlessly.
He brushes my hair away from my face, searching, gazing. “We are about to have wild make-up sex. Are you okay with that?”
I roll my hips against him. “Have you ever had wild make-up sex before?”
“No, but I’m a quick learner. You like to teach. Teach me something I’ve never done before,” he orders huskily.
I run my fingers through his hair at the nape of his neck. “Ever had sex on a chair in front of a mirror?” I question.
“Fuck!” he growls, slamming his lips down on mine as he lowers my feet to the ground.
He tears off my pyjama top and I hear the buttons hit pieces of furniture in the room.
He ducks down as I rip his T-shirt up, making it easier for me to remove and throw it to the ground to join mine. Every movement is a blur. One minute we are by the door in just our bottoms, the next he has me against the wall in the hallway and I’m completely naked.
He lifts me back up, entering me in one fluid move. “What about the chair?” I breathe as he pulls my head back by my hair, kissing his way down my neck.
I can’t think when he does that.