Present
We enter the warehouse that Marco’s family uses as a gun range and my body thrums with excitement the further inside we get.
Marco seems to think he’s got this in the bag. I’m about to prove him wrong.
“So, what are we wagering?” Marco asks as we step inside of a room that has one wall filled with different weapons while the opposite wall is filled with targets.
“Wagering?” I ask.
“Uh huh. You said you were a better shot than me, so let’s make a bet.”
Ugh, men.
“Fine,” I say with a sigh. “What do you want if you win?”
“When I win, I want you to move your stuff into my apartment and stay with me until the threat against us has been neutralized.”
I don’t even bother to try and contain my eyeroll.
“There’s no need for that, there’s nothing wrong with my apartment.”
“You need more guards around you, Sloane. At the moment, we only have a few positioned around the building. Any more than that and it would be too suspicious. At least if you were to stay with me, we will have the best security in the city.”
“Fine. If you win, I’ll move in with you,” I say, and he gives me a triumphant grin. “But if I win, you get rid of all the guards and let me take care of myself,” I say with a nod, inwardly smiling as the grin slides off his face, turning into a scowl.
He considers it for a moment, the gears turning in his head before he finally mutters, “Fine.”
I gesture for him to go first, and he gives me a mocking smirk before pulling a gun from his waistband and stepping in front of a target. Marco keeps his usual, calm demeanor and stance casual as he aims and shoots. He empties the magazine into the target, hitting it perfectly each time, only to be slightly off center on the last shot before turning back to me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
I scowl at him before storming over to the other side of the room and picking a weapon. I choose a Glock, wanting to keep it fair between us, and head back over to the targets where he’s waiting for me, leaning back against a support beam with his arms folded across his chest like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
“It’s not too late to back out,” he says, a pitying smile on his face.
I shake my head. “Not a chance.”
I head for the target beside his and perfect my stance before pulling the trigger. The bullet hits the target perfectly, and I can see the slight tic in Marco’s jaw from my periphery. He grumbles under his breath before kicking off the beam and heading towards me. Once he reaches me, he circles me and stops behind me, pulling my hair over one shoulder and pressing a kiss behind my ear.
“You’re good,” he murmurs with admiration. “Go again.”
I adjust my stance and aim again, only this time, Marco’s hands grab my hips, and he steps forward so his body is flush against mine, just as I pull the trigger, distracting me and making my shot land an inch to left of the center of the target. I curse under my breath and turn to confront him, only he pushes his hips against my ass, knocking the breath from my lungs as I feel his hard length against me.
“Again,” he demands, and I’m helpless to do anything other than what he asks.
Once again, I take aim. This time, he plants a kiss to my neck and I miss the target completely.
“You’re cheating,” I grunt as I lean into his touch.
“There wasn’t anything in the rules about me not being able to touch you,” he says and squeezes my hips. “Taste you.” His tongue swipes up my neck and his mouth finds my ear before his teeth clamp down on the lobe. “Bite you.” He thrusts his hips against me as his hands find the button on my jeans. He quickly undoes them before slipping a hand inside my panties. “There was nothing in the rules saying I couldn’t make you come.”
I let out a breathy moan as his fingers find my clit and he circles it slowly.
“Take another shot, baby.”
“You don’t play fair,” I groan as I pull the trigger, barely even looking at where I’m aiming because he pushes a finger inside of me just as the gun goes off.
He chuckles darkly. “All’s fair in love and war, little warrior.”
Fucking asshole.
Marco makes me fire shot after shot as he continually pumps his fingers inside of me, bringing me closer and closer to the edge.
“M-Marco,” I stutter as I fire the second to last bullet. “I’m close.”
“Mmhmm, come for me, baby. And only when you’re falling right off the edge will you pull the trigger one last time. Be a perfect little slut and come all over my fingers as you hit that target.”
His words light a fire in me, and I do as he says. Just as my orgasm reaches me, I take the shot. I don’t even bother to see where it landed as my eyes close and my head tips back. I let out a loud moan as my pussy squeezes around his fingers and I shift back and forth, riding his hand as we stand.
“Fucking perfect,” he curses, only it isn’t the awe infused tone he usually uses. My eyes flicker open, ready to confront him. But the second I see the target ahead of us, I know exactly why he was pissed. I somehow managed to make a perfect shot right as I came. Only the second shot on target out of all of them since he was fucking teasing me, trying to distract me.
Fuck, I lost.
“This doesn’t count,” I mutter.
“Like hell it doesn’t,” he says with a grin. “You’re moving in with me, baby.”
I sigh in resignation. I suppose moving in with Marco would be lesser of two evils. If I were to stay at my own apartment, Marco and my brother would only drive me insane hovering around me all the time.
“Temporarily,” I grunt with a pointed look.
He raises a brow and stays silent, but I don’t have it in me to fight with him right now, so I just shake my head.
Was he always this goddamn annoying?
“Absolutely not.”
Marco sighs in exasperation. “What the fuck do you mean, absolutely not? You agreed to move in with me.”
After leaving the warehouse, we headed to my place to pack my things before coming to his apartment. Marco—chivalrous, as always—wouldn’t allow me to carry my own bags, only rather than take them to the spare room for me to put my things away, he took them to his room.
“I agreed to move into your apartment, not into your bedroom. My things are going in the spare room and staying there, just like I am.”
He stands next to the bed that’s piled with my bags on top of it, arms crossed and a scowl marring his handsome face.
“I’m not ready, Marco. This is all… a lot,” I admit reluctantly. His posture softens as his expression turns understanding. He approaches me and pulls me into his arms.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “You don’t have to stay in here, just having you back in my life is more than I ever dreamed of.”
My body melts into him and I nod against his chest. So much has changed in such a little amount of time and I’m struggling to wrap my head around everything.
“I love you, Sloane,” he whispers and tears spring to my eyes. He’s said it multiple times since last night, and each time the words make my stomach flip. I haven’t said it back, but he keeps saying it anyways, as though once the words fell from his lips the first time was a dam opening, and now, they just spill out. I also think he just needs me to know how he feels, since I spent so long thinking he never loved me at all.
I never stopped loving him, but I know that once I say those words aloud, everything will be real.
I won’t make him wait forever, I’m just not strong enough to say them yet.
