Free Monster: Made & Broken (A Mafia Bad Boy Romance) by Nora Ash Page B

keenly aware of the dull throbbing in every part of my body from Leo’s abuse.
    When Marcus was within reach, I put my hand on his chest and slid my palm up to his shoulder in a gentle caress before I curved it around his neck and pulled him down to me.
    He let me guide him, though from the faint resistance in his body, I could tell he wasn’t sure what I was doing. When our lips connected, however, it seemed to click.
    His hands came up to rest around my back, and he brushed his lips gently against mine once, twice, three times until I arched my neck back to lead him to the sensitive spots there.
    Marcus hesitated for just a moment, then obliged me.
    His lips on my throat sent sharper tendrils of arousal down my spine and into my thighs, causing my muscles to contract and pain from my many bruises to bloom up through them. I winced, and Marcus paused, his lips hovering just above my skin.
    “ Where does it hurt?”
    “ Everywhere,” I said, sliding my hand up to his jaw to try to pull him back. “It doesn’t matter.”
    He made a rumbling sound deep in his throat and drew away from me. “It matters.”
    Irritation washed over me, dampening my growing arousal. “Why? You want a baby—this is how they’re made. Let’s just… get started.”
    Gently, he raised a hand to skim the tips of his fingers over my eye and cheekbone where Leo had hit me. “Take off your clothes.”
    Finally, we were getting somewhere. I shrugged out of my jacket, undid the buttons on my shirt, and pulled it off a little stiffly. The pants were harder, but I managed without aggravating any of my bruises too much, and after a few minutes I sat in just my bra and panties in front of him.
    Marcus reached out for me again, and I thought he was going to slip my bra straps off my shoulders—until he gently pressed two fingers against a bruise on my clavicle.
    “ Ow,” I whimpered, flinching from the unexpected touch. “What are you doing?”
    “ Seeing if you need a doctor,” he said calmly, his eyes fixed on my body—but there was no fire in them, just clinical focus.
    “ I don’t need a doctor!” I snapped, though I wasn’t sure how true that was. I hadn’t taken much time to look over the damage Leo had done, but I figured that since I hadn’t collapsed yet, I probably wasn’t going to die.
    Marcus ignored my anger and trailed his fingers down my body, testing every inch of it with light pressure.
    I groaned in pain when he got to my stomach and hips where Leo had taken out most of his fury, but despite the discomfort, my frustration slowly began to wither. It had been a long time since anyone had taken the time to care for me like this, and there was something very soothing about letting Marcus tend to me so thoroughly. My mind wandered back to how he had painstakingly pulled every shard of glass from my raw feet when he saw the blood on my sock. Who would have thought the man capable of utter carnage, whose sheer presence spoke of danger and violence, would be so gentle with me?
    “ Do you do this to all the girls you get naked?” I asked when he was hunched down looking over my shins and calves. “Because someone should have told you you’re playing doctor wrong. Just saying.”
    Unsurprisingly, he ignored me. Only when he had checked every inch of my body did he finally return his gaze to mine, straightening as he rose. “You’re very tough.”
    “ Thanks?” I arched an eyebrow at him. If there was one thing I didn’t feel after today, it was tough.
    “ I’ll make some food,” he said, ignoring my questioning tone. I assumed that meant I didn’t need a doctor.
    “ I just want to sleep,” I said, frowning at his back as he returned to the fridge. After his thorough, but kinda detached examination, I was no longer feeling particularly amorous, but his attentiveness had soothed me so much the exhaustion finally overwhelmed my mind, numbing out all the horrors almost as efficiently as a dose of endorphins could