Holding The Cards
Chapter 21

Marcus had to leave the following morning. Josh and Lauren followed him down to the wide beach, clean and white in the light of late morning. It was a day that begged to be whiled away, gazing at the surf from a reclining position in comfortable beach chairs.
Lauren felt something tighten in her chest when she saw the charter boat. It had already dropped anchor and a dingy was making its way toward shore. Marcus looked very different in a golf shirt and perfectly tailored slacks. He wore an expensive gold bracelet, Italian shoes, and his hair was carelessly styled to fall in lustrous waves to his shoulders. He looked every inch the urbane New Yorker, but his eyes, moving over the two of them, held a warmth and wistfulness that was a reflection of her own desire to hold onto the special bond they had forged here.
It had been one of the most incredible emotional and physical experiences of her life. She suspected it would rate among the top ten for Marcus. At least for now, until he garnered other experiences to knock it down the list.
The thought curved her lips in a smile, and loosened some of the tight feeling. She left Josh's side and put her arms around Marcus, lifting onto her canvas sneakered toes to brush his lips with hers. His hand caught in her hair and he held her there against him a moment, savoring the sensual pleasure of bodies and lips touching, recalling experiences shared. He eased her down and she smiled at him. "You keep those boys up in the Big Apple in line, you hear me? And if you need any help..."
He chuckled. "You'll be the first. You'll scare their cute little asses off. Maybe," he looked away, then down, an unusually vulnerable move for him, then his eyes lifted and found hers over his sunglasses. "I might call Thomas, see what he's doing these days."
She squeezed his hand at her hip. "You do that. Don't let him go, Marcus. Not if he's the one."
He nodded, touched her cheek, then looked over her head at Josh. She stepped delicately out of the space between the two men. Marcus moved forward, hugged Josh close. It was the embrace of good friends, brothers, and something that did not need definition. Josh held him just as firmly, his fingers tightening on Marcus's back. Lauren thought she heard a murmured, "thank you", before both eased back, looking a bit choked up by the moment.
Men. Such softies. She smiled on them, felt the warmth of the sun, and thought today was the most beautiful day in the world. More importantly, tomorrow and the next day could be even more beautiful.
There were no limits to the possibilities of life.
"I have a parting gift for the two of you," Marcus said, reaching into his travel bag. He gave them an enigmatic smile as Lauren came to Josh's side.
He pulled out the deck of cards that had started their adventure. The deck had been divided in half and each portion tied charmingly with sprigs of forest greenery and gold satin ribbon, probably stolen from one of the corsets from the costume room. One of the fragrant white blooms that grew wild on the island was woven into each sprig.
Marcus took their hands, pressed the cards into their respective palms, and held them there, linking the three of them in a circle.
"I will be interested to see who is holding the cards next time we meet," he said quietly, looking between them. "But I suspect we all know that when it's done right, you don't keep score." He flashed a wicked grin. "It wouldn't be half as much fun otherwise, no pun intended."
Josh lifted a brow. "I don't know if I should be touched by your sentiment, or figure you're saying I'm dealing with half a deck."
"No more than the rest of us, dear boy," Marcus chuckled and laid a hand alongside his neck, squeezing.
"That's why you have to find the one with the other half. Maybe you have. I surely hope so." He smiled at them, then released Josh and embraced Lauren, pulling her close again. Lauren held him hard to her heart for a moment, overwhelmed by her emotions, and by what he murmured in her ear. However, being Marcus, he refused to leave her with tears.
She was chuckling as he pulled away. Marcus shouldered his carry on, and headed down the beach toward the waiting dingy.
"What did he say?" Josh asked, taking her hand.
Lauren linked her fingers with his. "He said he anticipated getting some lucrative creations from his favorite artist very soon."
Josh shook his head, turned, and lifted his hand in response to Marcus's wave before the art dealer stepped into the boat. "Mercenary bastard," he said affectionately. "So what else did he say, before that?"
Lauren looked down at their entangled fingers, then up at him. "He said not to let you hide here all the time, to make Isabel share you with the world a bit."
"And what did you say?" His neutral expression guarded his feelings, giving her the freedom to say her mind. That shuttering told her all she needed to know. Warmth bloomed inside of her.
"I said I wouldn't leave without you, however long it took."
"You need to be a doctor, Lauren," he said after a moment. "You have a gift for healing."
She nodded. "I might at that. There's a clinic on the main island. It needs a doctor more than a wealthy clinic in Atlanta. Lisette has tried to talk me into working there before. I can practice there for awhile, until you and Isabel decide you want to be somewhere else. Is that what you want?"
He looked away, but she caught his chin, brought his face back to her.
"Don't look away when I'm speaking to you. Tell me what you want, and be truthful. Or I'll know." She put enough edge in her voice to get a responsive flash in his eyes, a visible flush of heat on his body, but in her eyes there was something softer, warmer, and it was that he answered.
"I want you. I want to be with you." He reached out, drew her to him, slid his hands up the soft skin of her arms. "I'd like to get to know you better, learn everything about you, make you happy, take care of you. I'd rather," he swallowed. "I don't mind being with other people, but... physically, I'd prefer not to share you."
"I've always been a monogamous type of girl," she responded, her voice thick with emotion at his shy vulnerability, the hope in his voice. It told her they still had a ways to go to heal all the pain Winona had inflicted, but they had taken the most important step. She arched a brow at him, letting him see the healthy humor in her gaze.
"A possessive submissive?" she teased. She laughed when he made a fierce face and gathered her firmly in his arms, underscoring his point. "Well, I don't know. You'd have to work really hard at pleasing me."
"Yes, Mistress," he murmured, nuzzling her neck, his tongue teasing her skin so her muscles became loose and flowing like the cool waters rushing over their bare feet. Her hand gripped his shoulder and she lifted her head, raised her palm to his face, traced the cheekbones, the sensual lips.
"All those things you said," she murmured. "I want to be the same, do the same, for you. Give you inspiration."
"You're already doing that," he bit her neck and she shivered.
"Then let's go to your house and see if we can help you finish some of the things you've started."
"It's a sad place."
"We'll fix it. Do you want me?"
He looked down at her, the wild reckless passion of the artist in his eyes, daring her to tame him, begging her to try. It almost made her smile.
He molded his palms to her hips with the care and reverence he would clay, his fingers grazing her bare hipbones where the shorts and top parted. He slid his hands back, let the thumbs meet, and cupped her buttocks, pushing her into him, against his hard arousal.
He bent his head, pausing just a whisper above her ear, breathing upon it.
"More than air."
The combinations of sensual intent and raw vulnerability in the whisper pooled like liquid chocolate in all her senses. She slid her arms around his neck and brought his head down for a kiss that had the searing heat of lava deep beneath the earth. The mere movement of his lips on hers loosened everything within and without her, including her grip on Marcus's cards.
The cards hit the sand, the loose binding giving way, allowing them to be picked up by the ocean breeze.
They were lifted and spun in all different directions, the sea, the sand, the dunes and forest beyond, and against their legs and ankles.
Lauren melted into Josh's kiss, felt his body melt into hers, and decided to let Fate hold the cards for this hand.
* * * * *
That night, they slept on his deck. Josh rose up on an elbow, watching Lauren as she slept. The moonlight on the waves below them reflected in the glittering strands of her loosened blonde hair.
"My little dominatrix," he murmured with soft, fervent affection, and a smile for them both. He bent, pressed a light kiss to the corner of her lips, just a taste of endless possibilities, and then lay back down beside her, gathering her close, protecting and protected, and found peace.