Miraculously, the bed frame was done, the mattress was on said frame along with the sheets, and Mark had tuckered himself out trying to be all manly, so there he was, lying on the righthand side of the bed.
Smiling, I walked over to him and gently laid the slice of pizza on his side.
Without even speaking, he sniffed, like a true predator, picked up the slice, took three bites, barely swallowed, then asked, “Are we done?”
“Um, do you not remember the last two hours?”
“Good pizza.” His answer. “C’mere…”
I had no choice, and honestly, he looked so cute I would have chosen the same. I crawled into bed.
He pulled me against his side. “Good teamwork.”
“Yup. Totally.” I smiled against his warm chest.
“I hate snakes.”
“I’m aware.”
“But I like you…maybe I shouldn’t say that, but I like you, Olive.”
I would take it to my grave as I smiled against his chest again and whispered. “I like you too.”
Chapter Eleven
Mark
“I’m scared of dragons, you know…” Olivia said in a sleepy voice. “No need to feel weird about the snakes.”
Instantly I was wide awake. Snakes? Aw shit.
All of last night came rushing back, swear I had an actual episode after seeing the snake head and skin. I mean, what the ever-loving hell?
I rubbed my eyes and checked my phone, set it down, then realized that Olivia was curled up against me.
Wait, how did this happen?
And why was I questioning her warmth and awesomeness?
I pulled her closer against me. “Does this mean you hate Pete’s Dragon? Because honestly,” I rasped, my breathing lazy, “I really like that bro.”
“Stop saying bro.” Her voice floated over me.
Swear on my life, she was angelic at three in the morning. HAH, my brain reminded me, but she’s the fucking devil during the day, so yeah, good trade, good trade.
“And yeah, I loved the movie they just did; I cried…why?”
“Aw…” I patted her on the head. “You actually have a soul!”
“Aw…” She twisted my nipple in her right hand. “You have feelings.”
“Damn it!” I batted her away. “Honest moment, if we had one parachute, would you take it?”
Silence.
“Good times,” I muttered after an uncomfortably long three minutes where she was one hundred percent not sleeping. “Thanks, by the way, for last night.”
She shrugged, still not pulling away. “What do you think Max has in store for the Emory Games tomorrow, or… I guess today?”
“Other than hell, you mean?”
“Maybe he’ll go easy on us?”
I burst out laughing. “And maybe you won’t kill me in my sleep to gain an advantage. Sure, yeah, okay.”
She wiggled against me then leaned up, her lips caressing my ear. “Could have done it way earlier, Mark, but I have this thing called…” Her tongue slid around the outside of my ear. “This thing called self-control.”
“So,” I choked out. “I’m alive because of you?”
“Yup.”
“Gee, how do I express my thanks to the psychopath in my arms?”
“I can’t even begin to imagine.”
“Mmmmmm,” I tugged her against me. “I can, I fucking can.”
I didn’t let her protest.
I kissed her.
I kissed her hard.
It wasn’t a tame kiss, one where you ask if it’s okay first. Nah, this kiss was all domination. This kiss was an end-of-the-world kiss, the one you give with full knowledge you may never get to kiss again, so you just fucking go for it.
“Mine.” I bit her bottom lip. “Dare you to say no.”
“No.” She bucked against me.
“Challenge accepted.” I grinned against her already growing smile as she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Damn, you feel like you belong to me, even when you hate me.”
“Meh.” She shrugged. “Office politics.”
“Right?” I laughed. “So crazy.”
“Insane,” she agreed.
“Also, I’m gonna rate the bed a ten, the room a ten, the sheets a solid nine, so it seems fair…great bedroom, but…am I also supposed to rate you?”
She threw her legs around my body and squeezed. “What do you think?”
I hesitated and then, “Eleven.”
She was silent for a breath. Then her mouth was on mine again before she pulled back and whispered, “Still hate you.”
I laughed. “Congratulations, you’ve just fallen to an eight.”
“Well, you’re a seven.”
“Seven, seven, seven.” I bucked my hips against hers. “If you don’t get that reference, you’re dead to me.”
“I mean, really.” She let me flip her onto her back and looked up at me with big blue eyes. “What was Monica talking about? Like which area did you think that, oh—”
I grinned. “Good question,” My fingers slid between her thighs as I pinched her clit. “It’s not rocket science, but…” I leaned down and pressed a heated kiss to her neck, then sucked her skin near her ear. “Still needs practice…though I weirdly only want to do it with my enemy.”
“Good…because…” She lifted her hips. “…I would hate to see how you treat your friends.”
I growled, and then both of us stopped talking as I gave her an orgasm that had both of us panting, with her hand wrapped around my cock.