Free Up All Night by Faye Avalon Page A

herself be swept up by a man again, having
thought her time with James had stymied that. Yet here she was falling for him.
    She stopped in her tracks and the
dog tugged a little on his lead, eager to continue his walkies. But Beth needed
a minute to take a breath and consider what she felt. Was she falling for
Marco? Or was it just really good sex?
    When Roscoe whined and gave her an
imploring look, Beth started walking again. Yet still she couldn’t shake the
question that spun around in her head. Damn. How had she allowed it to happen?
How could she have let down her defences, even for a moment, so Marco could waltz
right in and make himself at home?
    Since it surely wasn’t possible to
fall for someone in the short space of time they’d known each other. She determined
it was likely the sex addling her brain and emotions. God knew they’d had
enough of it this past week. They’d seen each other every night. When Marco
could arrange cover at the bar, he’d stay at her place. On the nights he
couldn’t get away, she’d stayed at his.
    It was pretty damn perfect.
    Beth stopped while Roscoe explored
some shrubbery and found a spot to relieve himself. As she waited, she tried to
shrug off the vague disappointment that she wouldn’t see him tonight. He had
some sort of formal deal he couldn’t get out of and didn’t want to let Ethan
and Amber down.
    She nudged Roscoe along, suffering
the flare in her chest that happened every time she thought of Amber. She couldn’t
shrug off the conversation when Marco had confessed how special Amber was to
him, nor could she ignore the way his eyes had softened.
    He’d said he didn’t have a thing for
Ethan’s fiancée, and Beth believed him, she really did. It was just that look in
his eyes.
    Bloody James ,
she thought as they came to the fork in the lane that signalled the way back to
the Center. Bloody James and her bloody sister. They were responsible for
putting   doubt in her head. They had
inspired her lack of trust, her ability to imagine infidelity in every
corner.  
    Her relationship with Marco was
good, so why did she have to spoil it by looking for things that likely weren’t
there? She had no intention of taking things to another level with him, and she
suspected Marco didn’t hold such aspirations either, so why didn’t she simply
enjoy their liaison for what it was? He was good company, they had a lot of
laughs, and they enjoyed blow the doors off sex.
    She smiled. It always circled back
to sex. Probably because she had never actually enjoyed devastatingly fabulous
sex before. Not like now. But such thoughts about Marco weren’t doing her
comfort levels any good right then, and already her blood was heating and her
pussy was throbbing.
    Damn. Even thinking about the man
and his talented fingers, mouth, and dick brought her body alive. Her heart
rate sped up, which had nothing to do with the way Roscoe picked up the pace.
    She needed to stop thinking about
Marco. Her shift didn’t finish until six, and it would be a damn long afternoon
if she spent it wet and aching.
    Since they were just around the
corner from her cottage, Beth looked down at Roscoe. “I just have to call in
and grab a biscuit, okay? This walk’s given me an appetite.” Although not the
sort of appetite that a biscuit would assuage, but food would have to suffice
in the absence of Marco’s skills. “Because you’ve been a very good boy, you get
to have a treat, too.”
    “Sounds good to me.”
    If she thought she was already wet
and aching, the sight of Marco leaning against his car outside her cottage made
her rethink. “What are you doing here?”
    He pushed away from the car and
walked toward her. “Thought I’d take a drive into the countryside, see if I
could pick up a hot woman.”
    Roscoe was currently pulling and
tugging at the leash in an effort to get to Marco, but Beth held him back. “Did
you find one?”
    His sexy grin intensified as he gave
her a once over. “Looks