Page 89 of Lonely Heart
Obviously, I already knew that was the case, but I still enjoyed teasing him about it. “Oh?”
“It’s all the other stuff,” he shared.
“What stuff, specifically?”
Marco laughed again and cocked a brow. “Fishing for compliments?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. It is my birthday. Don’t I get to make a wish?”
“Fair enough, considering you granted mine on my birthday.” He lifted one hand to the side of my head and brushed my hair back, ultimately settling his hand at the back of my skull. “It’s you. It’s the fiery personality, the fun-loving disposition, and the softness in your heart. It’s the way you love, and the way you let me love you. It’s the way you make me laugh and how my heart rate picks up every time I’m around you. It’s the way you look in your professional attire and how it’s almost as good as the way you look wearing nothing at all. It’s the way you keep things interesting and fun, and the way you get excited about spending time with me. So, really, it’s just you, Princess. You are the reason I feel so lucky. Because there’s just far too much about you not to love.”
I felt breathless, like my chest had expanded far too much to fill it completely with oxygen. “Why is it that today’s my birthday, and I feel like you’re the one that deserves a special treat now?”
Marco buried his face in my neck, his body vibrating with his laughter. “And there’s another reason I’m so lucky.” His arms tightened around me, and he lifted his head to look at me. “Tell me what you want.”
“What do you mean?”
“What is your birthday wish?”
I shot him a confused look. “Didn’t you just give it to me with all those things you said?”
He shook his head. “No. No, that doesn’t count.”
Funny. It meant everything to me. “Okay. Well, I guess my wish is that you never find any reasons to want to leave me.”
“Consider that wish granted. That’s not something you need to worry about, Ivy. Pick something else, something I can give you now. Tonight.”
I narrowed my eyes playfully. “Are you sure this is a wish for me? It sounds like you want me to choose something that’ll be for your benefit.”
“Can you blame me? And let’s face it, don’t act like you haven’t taken every opportunity you can to get your hands on me. I’ll remind you that you can’t even make it through the workday without needing to text me to meet you in one of the hotel rooms.”
“Okay, that was more than I needed to hear.” Marco and I both got wide-eyed at the unexpected voice and spun around to see Wyatt standing in the doorway. He looked uncomfortable at best.
“Are you okay?” Marco asked him.
His head moved slowly from one side to the other. “You know, when I walked in on Cooper and Skye in the bathroom at the lake house, or Tate and Ava in the conference room, it was all fun and games. But I didn’t need to know about my sister setting up lunch hour rendezvous in the hotel. I need to find Rhea and make sure she keeps me from stumbling into something like this ever again.”
I pressed my lips together to stifle the laughter as he walked away. Then I looked up at Marco, saw his eyes were shining, and the two of us burst out laughing. It felt wonderful, and honestly, I needed nothing else.
But since I knew it would make him happy, I came up with something. “Okay, okay. I know what I want.”
“Tell me, and it’s yours.”
“I want one more hour here with my family, along with another piece of cheesecake. Then I want you to take me home and ravish me until you’ve had enough.”
“Well, there’s only one problem with that.”
“Which is?”
“I’ll never tire of ravishing you.”
I beamed at him. “Looks like you’re in for a long night of work, then.”
He shrugged and smiled proudly. “I’m used to working hard, so that doesn’t scare me. Come on, let’s go get you your cheesecake.”
Before he led me out of the room, I urged Marco to give me a kiss, one that would last me at least until after I’d gotten another piece of cheesecake.
Then we rejoined the party for another hour before he took me home and gave me a night to remember.