A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I know some of you can't believe that Adrian still didn't tell Marcus, but honestly, that man just needs to face his fears of rejection head on so that they can move past this silly game that they keep playing! I am really really proud of this chapter and I have been on the edge of my seat waiting to post it to see what you guys think. I hope you enjoy it! You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates, and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter twenty-six and be on the lookout for the epilogue soon!
Ever since Marcus had kissed her again, Hermione hadn't been able to stop thinking about him. She wanted him, yes, more than anything, but she didn't know if she could go through all the pain again of thinking that they were dating when they weren't. She didn't know what Marcus wanted from her, but she knew well enough that she wasn't just going to be friends with benefits. It wasn't worth messing up their fledgling friendship.
She had been so stunned, realizing Harry's words had come true, that she hadn't been able to properly explain why she was holding back. She was positive that she'd jumbled it horribly, not having missed the hurt look on Marcus's face before his disapparated away.
In the ensuing days, there had been several times where she'd tried to write him, to explain what it was that she was feeling, but she'd left all of them in the trash, unhappy with all of them. On the one hand, she didn't even feel like she should be apologizing to him for the way that she was feeling. Eventually, they would have to come face to face again, and Hermione hoped that they could work past it sooner rather than later.
A flash of lightning followed by a bang of thunder had Crookshanks yowling. "Oh Crooks, it's just thunder." She scolded, though standing to shut the partially open window. It was really coming down outside, and she was glad that she'd declined Harry and Ron's invitation to meet her out at the pub, though she would never admit to them that it was because she was still feeling so jumbled up about her feelings for Marcus.
Just as she was about to return to her spot on the couch, with her book, she was surprised by a knock on the door. "Well, just who could that be?" She wondered aloud, but stood anyway, to answer the door. She was surprised to see Marcus standing in her door frame, standing there soaking wet. "Marcus! What are you doing here? You're all wet."
Marcus smirked at her. "Yeah, well, stood out here for a while trying to get the courage to knock." It was easy for him to feel full of confidence when he'd been talking with Adrian, but once he'd actually gotten to Hermione's, he stood at the door wondering what the bloody hell he was doing here. This was either going to be the worst decision of his life, or the best, but Adrian was right. He couldn't just go on wondering for what Hermione thought of him, and he couldn't find out until he asked her.
He crossed the threshold, even though he hadn't been invited. "Please don't marry Weasley, Hermione." She tried to talk, but he held a hand up. "No, please let me finish, Hermione, I don't think I'll ever get this out if I stop now." He took a deep breath. "Please don't marry Weasley. I just realized that I love you - I always have, even back when we were at Hogwarts, and I was just too dense to realize it. I let you go then, because I was so jealous, but I am not going to let you slip away again just because I was too afraid to tell you."
Hermione stood in stunned silence, not even sure of what to say, but one thing was the most important. "You think that Ronald and I are getting married?" She asked, her voice sounding a bit hysterical.
"Well, yeah, you were picking out a ring, and then the wedding is in December, I went with you when we picked out flowers and...wedding of the century and all that." He concluded, stuffing his hands in his pockets in nervousness.
"Ron and I aren't getting married - he's happily married to Susan Bones. They are expecting a child." Hermione revealed, sounding a bit stunned. "Harry and Ginny are getting married."
Marcus felt his heartbeat pound against his ribcage, and for the first time in years, he felt real hope that Hermione and him could actually make it work. "Well, in that case…" He closed the gap between them, his hands delving into her wild hair, and pulling her close for a kiss that he'd been dreaming of.
Only to have Hermione push him away with her hands. "No!" She shouted, and he could see that her eyes were full of tears. "You can't just show up after what you did five years ago. You assumed that Ron and I were getting married, and...it's just like with Viktor all over again. You can't just get my hopes up again, my heart can't take it."
For a moment, Marcus wanted to run away and hide, seeing her words as rejection and rejection alone. But then, he took a moment to really listen to what she had to say. Remembered that she had thought they were dating once before and he hadn't been able to believe it. Hermione wouldn't use him, and she wouldn't hurt him on purpose. He needed to prove to her that he wouldn't hurt her either.
"I know it may seem sudden." He blurted out. "I was so mad that year, mad that you had chosen someone who I saw as fitter and better and more famous than I was...I couldn't measure up to him, and I wanted to move as far away from England as possible to forget you. But, as soon as I saw you again, I realized that...my feelings for you never changed. I love you, Hermione, please let me prove it to you. Please let me make up for all the time that I wasted being a complete idiot."
She looked at him with watery eyes, her brown eyes reflecting the dim light of the room. Hermione caught her lower lip between her teeth, obviously going through some turmoil. "I don't know what to say Marcus." She finally croaked. "I want to be with you, but I don't know...I don't want to get hurt again."
"I'm so sorry that I ever hurt you." Marcus said with complete honesty, feeling like an arse for ever making Hermione doubt herself. For ever accusing her of the horrid things that he did when they were still in school. "Please, if you just give me a chance, I will spend the rest of my days showing you that your faith is well kept in me."
Hermione laughed, unbidden. "The rest of your days, Marcus? That's a rather long time. It almost sounds like…" Her cheeks reddened, the unspoken word marriage better left unsaid for the moment, as this truce between them was still too new for any such suggestion. Though, Marcus couldn't pretend that it hadn't crossed his mind.
"If you agree to have me, I don't plan on ever letting you go." He told her truthfully, feeling his shoulders droop a bit, beginning to feel as though this wasn't going to go his way. As the silence stretched on, Marcus nodded, ready to leave the apartment. Of course, it wasn't the outcome that he wanted, but he did feel better knowing where he stood, rather than just leaving it unknown. "I...it's alright, I can just leave." He dropped his eyes to his shoes, not wanting Hermione to have to put her rejection into words.
"Oh, you big brute!" Hermione teased. "Where you really going to give up on me that quickly?" She stepped into him again, wrapping her arms around his middle and letting her head rest against his chest, not caring that he was still sopping wet. "I didn't realize it then, but I love you, too Marcus. I felt too young at the time to really know, but, Godric, for some reason...I care for you so deeply. I only ever wanted to be with you."
Marcus used his forefinger to cautiously tilt her head to look at him. His eyes drank in each and every emotion on her face, looking for any sense of hesitation or uncertainty, before dipping his neck to capture her lips in a kiss, gentle and slow. In a way, it reminded him of their first kiss, in terms of its timidity. And just like the first time, Hermione was the one to deepen it.
Throwing her hands around his neck, her fingers played a familiar game with the short hairs at the nape of his neck, pulling her to him more firmly. Her lips parted in a breathy sigh, her tongue boldly slipping against his while she found herself acquainted with his mouth. It had sent desire pulsing through every inch of his body, most noticeably, though, his cock which was proudly twitching against the zip of his trousers. Hermione had certainly noticed, and pressed against him more firmly, grinding against him, and leaving him a moaning mess.
The kiss took on a new urgency, and before he even realized that he was doing it, Marcus was lifting her, encouraging her to wrap her legs around his trim waist. Confidently, he strode towards the door off of her living room, only to find a small powder room. Hermione dissolved into a fit of giggles, breaking the kiss. "My room is that way." She told him, pointing to the opposite side of the room.
Marcus gave her a playful swat on the arse, but reversed course, heading for her bedroom. Hermione seemed determined to distract him as much as possible, though, and began pressing hot kisses to his neck, sucking the skin before soothing it with her tongue, and he quickly realized that she was trying to mark him. He was sure to have several hickeys by the time the night was over. He felt himself swell with pride that she wanted to mark him as hers.
He doesn't have time to look around her room before they are crashing down against the bed, Hermione cradling him between her legs. Marcus would have been content to just kiss her for hours, until they both drifted to sleep, but there is no way he is going to argue when she hooks her hands under the wet fabric of his shirt that has been clinging to his skin, lifting it up over his head and leaving him bare to her greedy eyes. He's broader now than he was at eighteen, the muscle that covers his chest more purposeful, and the dark hair that had once just been a smattering against his chest, now a bit more abundant.
He's always felt a bit self conscious, but one look from Hermione's eyes and he can see the desire, the lust reflected there. Wanting to see her as well, he uses his fingers to deftly open buttons holding her shirt together, revealing bare skin. He tries to push it back over her shoulders, only to be thwarted by her laying on her back. She laughs when he growls in frustration, before using her spell to divest them of their clothing, down to their underwear.
Marcus sucks in his breath when he sees her breasts bared to him once again, soft mounds tipped with tight pink nipples. Hermione is definitely on the smaller side, but they fit her frame perfectly. Shyly, she smiles up at him, before reaching her arms around his neck to pull him in for another kiss, this one more sensuous than the first, moaning when his chest rubs against her breasts. She wraps her legs around his waist once again, and he swears he can feel the searing heat of her sex behind the two layers of fabric separating him.
He kissed down her body, his lips easily capturing one nipple while he used his hand to knead and pinch the neglected breast. He delighted in the sounds that he could pull from her lips, and the feel of her hands on his back. Eventually, he kissed his way further down, until his lips were meeting the top of her knickers, and they were edging on unfamiliar territory. He looked up at her, blue eyes intense, giving her a moment to agree to what he wanted to do next. She rolled her hips and gave a nod, his fingers pulling her knickers down her legs.
As he sat between her legs, he used a finger to run up her seam, hissing at how wet she felt, knowing that it was all for him. He swelled with pride, and let his finger dip inside her slit, up to his second knuckle, feeling her clench around him. Merlin, she looked so beautiful stretched out like that for him, and he told her so, blushing at his less than elegant words. "You look so bloody hot."
Biting her lower lip, Hermione batted his hand away from her. "Please Marcus, we will have more time to explore later, but I want you now." Sitting up, she pushed him over so that he was lying on his back against the pillows, as he was too shocked to do anything but agree with her. She pulled his boxer briefs down his own legs, before moving to sit astride him. Gripping him with her hand, he hissed, unprepared for how good such a measly touch would feel. He could feel his breath stop when she pressed the tip of his cock against her wet slit, sliding down until they were completely joined.
Hermione gave him a well satisfied smile when she pressed her hands to his shoulders and took a moment to adjust. Marcus was glad for it as well, seeing as he was hanging on by a thread, and he didn't want to embarrass himself the first time he and Hermione had sex, especially considering that he'd only just gotten her to forgive him.
It was different this time than their first tentative explorations in their secret little room. No longer were they learning what they liked, each of them with a bit more practice and experience, focused more on learning what the other one liked. Hermione rocked her hips against him, dropping her head back with a sigh, wild hair cascading down her back and her breasts pressed invitingly forward to him. She was a goddess. She moved again, quickly finding a rhythm that they both could enjoy. Marcus grabbed her by the hips, and encouraged her movements, up and down, over and over again, until he knew he was close. He wanted her to come with him, though.
Moving his hand, he pressed his thumb against the bud at the top of her sex, sending a thrill of pleasure through Hermione based on the way that she gasped his name. He looked up at her face, needing her to come, and watched as her eyebrows drew together in concentration, completely focused on the act of their joining.
The feeling of her coming around him was enough to send him mad. She felt better than anything he could have imagined, in no small part because it was her. Hermione. Knowing he could let go, be grabbed her hips a bit harder, pulling her down on him whilst he pistoned into her a bit harder, loving the final moans that he could pull from her throat before he finally followed her over the edge. His vision went white, until his body was a quivering mess of pleasure and masculine pride.
Slowly, he came back down to himself, and realized that Hermione was lying on top of him, her head pressed to his chest, hand over his wildly beating heart. He ran his fingers through her tangled hair, slowly working his way to the ends, while he thought that he didn't remember ever being quite so content in his whole life. When he thought that he might have let this slip through his fingers once again, had it not been for Adrian's pep talk...
Marcus started chuckling. "Oh, I am going to murder Adrian." He said, his deep voice rumbling in his chest. All Hermione could muster was a sleepy noise of confusion. "He knew that I thought you were getting married to Weasley, but he never even tried to correct me once! He made me look like a right goon."
Hermione laughed at that. "Ron too, then. I guarantee you that he knew what he was doing." There was no doubt in her mind that her redheaded friend had known exactly the conclusions that Marcus was likely to jump to. "Still, I'm glad for it. I guess it got you to finally open up to me about your feelings."
"I suppose it did." Marcus agreed, knowing that he probably never would have told her otherwise. Now, his new life in England was full of possibilities.
"And it was terribly romantic, you bursting in here, soaked to the bone." Hermione said a bit wistfully. "But, let's sleep now. I think I promised you more exploration in the future." She reminded him, patting him on the chest, before moving the pull the covers up, snuggling into his side.