“And you’re Mr. Bad Ass, aren’t you?” She wasn’t so sure about that. He tried to act tough, but then she’d catch him holding the doors for people, smiling at little kids, being so gentle with kittens.
“You want me to prove it?” he growled, pinned her to the wall, and kissed the breath out of her.
She sagged when he stopped, noticing the arousal he could never hide with her.
Breathing hard as well, he warned, “After the movie, your ass is mine.”
Marlie bit back a grin. Promises, promises.
CHAPTER 27
Damon watched Marlie out the corner of his eye as much as he watched Santa chopping people and wrapping them into small packages.
The woman was making him crazed. He wanted her all the time, and it was all he could do not to confess how much he loved her. Everything about her made him happy. Seeing her win, watching her with the girls on the basketball court, showed a woman who gave her all. She understood competition and the thrill of victory. And she lived to win.
They had so much in common. He’d been trying to show her how great he could be as her partner—her equal—in little ways. Marlie worked hard. Teaching, coaching, and she had time for her parents or Jeff whenever they needed her.
Jeff had been doing a great job with intel. Like tips about where to go for Marlie’s favorite drink or treats. What she liked to eat, things she enjoyed doing.
The woman loved her family. That meant a lot to Damon. He’d been raised to be loyal as well. His parents drove him nuts, but he’d do anything for them and Grace. He loved that Marlie was the same.
The kittens curled up next to them, one sitting in his lap and one in Marlie’s. He had trouble telling them apart, but Marlie said Larry walked with a definite curl in his tail. For all that he was fostering them at her place, he had a feeling they’d become a permanent fixture with Marlie. Enamored with the furballs, she catered to them like the big old softy he knew her to be under all the bluster.
“If you stare at me any harder, your eyes will dry out.”
“Whatever. I was just looking at your boobs. It’s not my fault they’re perfect.”
She snickered.
Not that he was lying. Her tits were full and ended in perfect, rosy nipples begging him to suck.
The movie wrapped up, and he took the kittens to their tiny pen in her bedroom, a spot he liked to think of as their bedroom. He appreciated the size of her queen bed. They had to sleep close together so he wouldn’t fall off.
Her whole house charmed him, mostly because it felt like Marlie. Would she like his place in Portland? How would she feel about living in both until he retired from hockey? Would she mind that he had money? Marlie, unlike a lot of woman he’d dated, wasn’t impressed by wealth. Jeff had already warned him about that.
Yet that wealth allowed him to buy her dinners and treats. And it would help when they had to find a new place to live together in Hope’s Turn, because as much as her cottage charmed him, it was way too small for them and the kittens.
No way Marlie would let Larry and Bird go. And if for some reason she did, he planned on keeping them. Who knew he liked animals? He’d always thought himself a dog guy, but the cats and their cute viciousness charmed him.
“You’re thinking pretty hard over there.”
He turned around to see her standing in the doorway of the bedroom, totally naked.
He groaned. “I’ve been hard half the night. Why are you torturing me?”
“Because I can.” She gave an evil laugh and cupped her breasts. “Want some?”
He dragged her with him to the bed and stripped down in seconds. Then he took a good long look at Marlie Reynolds, committing the image of her smiling eyes, full lips, and gorgeous body to memory.
“You want to get fucked, woman?” he growled.
She spread her legs. “Why? Know anyone who can get the job done?”
“So brutal on my ego.”
She snorted. “I doubt anything can get that monster down.” She nodded to his dick, that was full and thick.
“What do you think it’ll take for me to come inside you?” he mused.
