“Goodbye, Meredith Agatha,” Jax replies, making me gasp.

“You promised never to tell anyone my middle name!”

He grins as Logan takes his hand and begins to pull him away. “No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did! We were drunk! We even took a shot to seal the deal.”

“Shot deals don’t count, lemonhead. You know that.” He laughs loudly as Logan leads him away and I glare at his back, wondering how I can get vindication.

“Let’s go home, baby,” Mark says and kisses my hand as he leads me to his Jeep.

“He yelled out my middle name for everyone to hear.”

“I heard. I was here. How did I never know your middle name?”

“I never tell anyone.”

“Except Jax,” he replies with a laugh. I love that the jealousy over Jax seems to be fading.

“We were drunk one night and were trying to one-up each other on the embarrassing story scale, and I told him that in confidence. He wasn’t supposed to blab it. Now his boyfriend knows it too!”

Mark laughs and shakes his head as he drives onto the freeway, headed north out of downtown Seattle. “I’m quite sure there are worse middle names out there.”

“I’m quite sure there aren’t.”

“What else did you tell him?” Mark asks and lays his hand on my thigh, waking my body up again.

“I told him about that time I almost lit the chemistry lab on fire in high school.”

Mark laughs and squeezes my thigh. “I thought we were all done for.”

“I’m sorry you had me for a partner. I was hopeless. I never should have paid John Stevens to switch with me.”

“What?” His head jerks around in surprise.

“I paid John to switch lab partners with me so I could be yours. I had such a crush on you, but I couldn’t get your attention.”

“You had my attention, I just didn’t think you were interested.”

“Why did you think that?”

“Because I’d asked you out for ice cream after school a couple of times but you turned me down.”

“I had dance after school.”

“I didn’t know that yet,” he reminds me then chuckles ruefully. “From the moment I saw you I knew there would never be anyone else for me. How much did you pay John?”

“Fifty bucks.” I grin as I lean over and kiss Mark’s shoulder. “It was worth every penny.”

He parks in his driveway.

“Why don’t you ever park in your garage?”

“I have too many tools and building supplies in there right now,” he says and pushes his fingers through my hair. “You are so beautiful, M.”

I pull his hand to my mouth and plant kisses on his palm, then rest my cheek in it. “Thank you.”

“Come on, I have stuff to show you.”

“I thought you were gonna fuck me? I kind of had visions of us tearing each other’s clothes off and having sex against the front door.”

Mark grins as he gets out of the Jeep and waits for me by the front porch. “That’s not a bad plan, but we’ll have to try that another time. I’m going to show you some of the projects I’ve finished around here over the past few days.”

“But I’m horny,” I whine and stick my lower lip out.

“Haven’t you figured it out?” he asks as he unlocks the door and leads me inside, then pulls me in his arms and tips his forehead against mine. “Anticipation is the best foreplay there is.”

“I’m going to spontaneously combust,” I whisper, my eyes closing as he combs his fingers through my hair and nuzzles my nose with his, then glides his fingertips down my cheeks to my neck. My nipples pebble and I clench his shirt in my fists. “I feel like you haven’t been inside me in weeks.”

“It’s been hours, baby.”

“Too long.”

Suddenly he backs away and clears his throat, licks his lips and shakes his head. “Nice try. Follow me.”

“I want to suck your cock,” I grumble and walk right into his back as he comes to an abrupt stop then spins and cradles my face in his hands, kisses me madly, his tongue colliding with mine and then shuts it down just as fast, panting and eyes on fire.

“Enjoy this. Trust me.”

And with that he turns away again and leads me through the living room, furnished sparsely with a simple loveseat and recliner, to the downstairs bathroom.

“Wow, this is gorgeous.” The walls are painted a rich gray, set off by a fresh white pedestal sink and toilet. The mirror is framed in black, and the black shelves above the toilet are full of white towels, tissues and an old, broken clock.

“Thank you.”

“You did all of this the other night?”

He nods, watching me with hot eyes.

“What else have you done?”

He takes my hand again and leads me down a hall, but before we reach another room, he cages me against the wall, pins both my hands above my head with one hand and with the other cups my sex through my jeans as he buries his face in my neck and nibbles, not quite gently but not hard enough to leave marks.

“I’m going to make you scream later, Meredith. How do you feel about that?”

“Can’t wait,” I whisper and feel him grin against my skin, which turns me on even more.

Everything he does is so fucking sexy.

“Good,” he says, plants one more kiss on my chin then releases my hands, links his fingers with mine and continues to lead me down the hallway.