The Love Of Money - S01 E278

Story 22 hours ago

The Love Of Money - S01 E278

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 278

Marcos needs to fill that hole after Natalie.

“What?” Natalie asked, her brow wrinkling cutely.

“I don’t want you to go with him,” I said.

She didn’t say anything, only stared at me, chewing on her bottom lip—hardly sexy in this circumstance. Dark eyes shone with questions and unexpressed emotion. Of course, she looked confused. I’d ambushed her the day before she left.

“Natalie, I might be in love with you,” I admitted before I could fully process what I was saying. “Maybe for a while, and I can’t just let you leave town with some guy without telling you.”

Her eyes had been bright before, but now they shone with unshed tears, and I could see the effort she was putting into keeping her lips compressed so they wouldn’t tremble.

“Why are you telling me this now?” she asked, quiet and subdued.

“Because—”

“Why now, Marcus!?” Natalie repeated, much less subdued this time.

“I—”

“You felt this way while with Jessica, didn’t you?”

I was reluctant to admit it. “Yeah.”

“Then why didn’t you break up with her and ask me out a month ago?”

If I was being honest, it was because I would have felt like an asshole for ending my relationship with Jessica to pursue another girl. However, if I was being really honest with myself, it was because I’d been too much of a coward to ruin a relationship born of comfort and convenience. With Jess, I got my dick wet and filled my intimacy meter regularly. Ending that in pursuit of someone I wanted only to have it not work out had been too much of a risk for old Marcus.

“I would have said yes,” Natalie said before I had a chance to decide how honest I wanted to be with her. “Fuck, I liked you, Marcus. Way before you had money!”

God, that felt good to hear. “Then why did you jump in bed with this other guy? We were just starting something—”

“Because I like him, too, Marcus,” Natalie yelled. “I like him, and he doesn’t come with all the confusing extra baggage you come with.”

“Extra baggage?” I asked.

“The other women,” Natalie said. She counted them off one finger at a time, “Helen. Your assistant. Danielle. That cute little brunette.”

Cute brunette? I wasn’t sure who she was talking about.

“And don’t even get me started on Bobbi and that fucked-up situation.”

“You were—”

“I’ve never considered myself a jealous woman, Marcus, but this is a whole other level. Tyler isn’t doing whatever you’re doing with all these women. He’s living a normal life. He has a normal job, and we go on normal dates. He doesn’t have a harem, and I don’t work for him.”

There wasn’t real heat in Natalie’s gaze despite her raised voice. There was more sadness than anything, and I realized that I’d really fucked up my chance by not going after Natalie sooner. She genuinely looked hurt.

“Natalie…” I said. I needed to navigate this minefield carefully if I had any chance of keeping this from blowing up in my face. “I would have given all that up for you. Why didn’t you say anything?”

Clearly, that was the wrong thing to say. If Natalie could shoot lasers from her eyes, I was sure I’d be a blackened corpse right about now.

“Why didn’t you say anything a month ago, Marcus!” she shouted. “Fuck! I gave you enough signs!”

“I—”

“Why now?” Natalie asked.

“What?”

“Why are you telling me this now? I’ve been dating this guy for a few weeks. You had plenty of chances. You could’ve told me not to date him the moment I said anything! Instead, you just rolled over and accepted it. You didn’t fight back at all! So what’s changed? Why now?”

I’d always been a straight shooter with Natalie, so I decided to keep it that way. “Danielle asked me to be in a relationship with her.”

Natalie huffed. “Congratulations.”

“I should take her up on it,” I confessed. “But… you sent me that message about leaving, and I couldn’t stop thinking about you going away with someone else. I hated it.”

Natalie crossed her arms across her chest, pushing her impressive breasts together and giving me a lot of caramel-colored cleavage to look at. I wanted to take a chance to appreciate the view, but I did my best to stay focused.

“Danielle’s offered me an open relationship,” I admitted.

“Sounds like quite the gal,” Natalie said, her voice tinged with ice.

“She told me there was only one person who would be off limits,” I hurriedly continued so I could get to the point of the story. “It was you.”

That took her entirely by surprise. “Me? What the fuck? Why?”

“She could tell how much I liked you,” I said.

“We met once,” Natalie said.

I shrugged. “That was enough, I guess.”

Turning to pace around the room, Natalie sighed. “Marcus… god. You haven’t done me any favors here.”

“I know,” I said, “But if this isn’t what you want, just say so.”

“Part of me does want it, you idiot!” Natalie snapped, stopping mid-step to glare at me.

A swell of hope blossomed in my chest. “Really?”

“Yes!”

“Then just stay here with me. I’m going out to my grandpa's place this weekend.” I closed the distance between us and reached up to place my hands on either side of Natalie’s face. She let me.

God, she was gorgeous. Her high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes suggested the influence of her Native American background. At the same time, her plush lips and coffee complexion were inherited from the African American side of her family. Besides being exotically stunning, she was level-headed and had a good heart. I wanted desperately to whisk her away to some distant location, fall asleep with her in my arms, and wake up every morning to see her wearing one of my shirts. I enjoyed the mental image of her sitting cross-legged on my bed in one of my button-downs, sipping from a coffee mug as she suffered from a severe case of bedhead.

“Come with me. It’ll be just the two of us for the entire weekend.”

Eyebrows canted in concern, she looked up at me with those big brown eyes of hers, and tears began to well up in her eyes. “Marcus…”

Her voice was filled with emotion, and before she could get out whatever she was about to say, I pressed my lips to hers. It wasn’t full of fire or passion; it wasn't about sex. This kiss contained all the concentrated emotions of nearly a year of admiring and adoring her. I didn’t try to invade her mouth with my tongue, nor did she, but her lips worked back against mine after a moment’s hesitation, and I felt her hands tentatively grasp my hips, then slide up my sides to my chest. Her fingers pressed into my muscles, massaging them slightly. Then she gently pushed me away until our lips parted. I still held her face in my hands, stroking her cheeks with my thumbs as we stared into each other’s eyes.

“Marcus…” her tongue darted across her lips, wetting them. A tear slipped free and slid down her cheek. “God… I want to say yes,” she breathed.

“Then say it,” I said.

“I’m going with Tyler.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. “Why?”

“Please just…”

“Why?”

“Because he asked, and he’s been so sweet to me. Because I like him, and he deserves a chance.”

I opened my mouth to protest… to ask her to just give us a chance, but Natalie cut me off.

“Please don’t. This is already hard enough, but…” She pushed me away enough so that my hands slipped from her face and wrapped her arms around herself defensively as she looked at the floor. Her eyes studied the office’s carpet for the next few moments while I simply watched, trying to find the magic words that would change her mind.