Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It by Lucy Monroe Read Free Book Online Page B

been flirting in the office for weeks. He'd cajoled her into going out with him a few times and had kissed her on the occasions she did, telling her in graphic terms how much he wanted her. She'd held him off, instinctively knowing they wanted different things from a relationship.
     
    Namely, she wanted a future and he wanted a body.
     
    But she couldn't stop seeing him, couldn't resist the seductive lure of the flirting and attention from the man she loved. Inevitably, the yearning and desires that she had kept in check the three years she had loved Marcus from afar broke through the tenuous hold she had had on her self-control.
     
    And one night when he had kissed her, she had plastered herself against his body in mindless longing and need. Even in her innocence, she had recognized the signs that he was just as affected as she. She'd been amazed.
     
    That alone had been enough to send her beyond common sense and she had said one thing she knew she shouldn't have. "Love me, Marcus. Please, love me."
     
    Then, she had felt his hands on her face while his body stilled against hers. "Open your eyes."
     
    She had obeyed him, though she hadn't wanted to. She had wanted to hide behind the darkness of her closed eyelids, but he wouldn't let her.
     
    She'd known somehow that what he wanted to say was something she didn't want to hear. She'd been right.
     
    His eyes had turned the color of theCaribbean Sea . "It's sex, Ronnie. Not love. I don't believe in that fairy tale myth that other people use as an excuse to make bad decisions. I'm offering you sex.The best damn sex you've ever had ."
     
    She hadn't doubted that. Even if she'd ever had sex before, she would know that Marcus's brand of lovemaking would outshine any other man's for her. Because shedid believe in love and she loved him. There was really only one choice she could make.
     
    So, she had made it. "I want you."
     
    He hadn't resumed his overwhelming touching right away but had fixed her with an intense look. "I'm not looking for permanent ties, Ronnie. You understand that, don't you?"
     
    She had nodded, accepting that their relationship had no future. "No ties. No commitments."
     
    She would have him in the present and right then that was all that had mattered.
     
    "Right." He had smiled and then his expression had turned heated with blatant male desire.
     
    She had worried that he would be angry when he realized she was a virgin and think she was trying to trap him with her innocence. Instead, his eyes had flared with surprise when he felt her body's barrier.
     
    He'd stooped moving. "Baby, are you sure?"
     
    She'd known he would withdraw if she said no.
     
    She hadn't. She had wanted him too much, had desperately needed the brief time they could have together to stave off the fear and loneliness surrounding her life with Jenny at the time.
     
    He had finished the joining, binding her to him in a way that had been both physical and spiritual.
     
    For her, it had been an act of love so intense she still ached from the recollection.
     
    For Marcus, it had been just sex.
     
    He'd used a condom that first time, but she had insisted on going on the Pill. She hadn't wanted even that thin barrier between them. If she could only have him for a short while, she wanted every bit of him she could have.
     
    It was a decision that had far-reaching consequences.
     
    Any other form of birth control could have failed as well, and she'd refused to beat herself up about it.
     
    Her son had not been an accident.
     
    Regardless of how complicated her life had become, she considered her baby a blessed result of her love for Marcus.
     
    The sound of Aaron's laughter and Jenny's voice talking nonsense reached her from the other room, bringing her back to the present and the reality of her recent phone call with Marcus.
     
    As she replayed the conversation in her head, she tried to understand why Marcus had attempted to blackmail her back into his bed. The man had