An:

Since hearing Late Night Talking by Harry Styles, it's become the unofficial theme of this entire story. Definitely worth a listen


Chapter Seventeen


The hotel was in sight and with it, their finish line. Pounding her feet into the sand, Hermione's smile broadened as she increased her speed and broke out into a sprint. She would need every ounce of power and agility in her small frame if she had any hope of crossing the imaginary line first.

No longer concerned with matching her pace, a chase ensued with Marcus lengthening his stride and picking up speed just as rapidly as she had. Every inch and foot of distance she had put between them was eaten up within seconds. Feeling his hands graze her sweat slicked waist as he tried to grab her, she darted out of his reach with a squeal and changed her course, heading for the breaking waves.

Jumping out of the way as Darya joined the pursuit and raced to beat them both to the ocean, her laughter rang out mingling with the sounds of the seagulls overhead. Winning by a hair as her trainers sank into the wet sand first, she scooped up as much of a receding wave as she could and turned around to splash him with it.

"Two can play at that game," he taunted, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder as he trudged through the heavy sand and into the water.

"Put me down, you brute!" She giggled, beating her fists into his back.

"As you wish," he shrugged, conceding far too easily.

Realizing he was lifting her up and getting ready to throw her, she clung to him like Crookshanks had whenever the words, bath time, were uttered in his presence, pleading, "No, no, I change my mind! Don't put me down!"

"Too late," he gleefully responded, turning around so his back faced the open water. "Any last words, e taku ipo ?"

"Would saying, 'I love you, you giant, brutish tree,' save me?"

"Not a chance," he laughed, swatting her bum. "Now plug your nose."

"Marcus!" She screeched, as he pulled her off his shoulder and fell backward into the water.

Sputtering as she broke the surface, Hermione danced on the tips of her toes to stay above the water as she wiped the salty rivulets from her face. "You are not a nice man, taku toa ," she glared as Marcus came up.

Gently grasping her hips, he pulled her through the water to him and wrapped her legs around his waist. "You started it by turning our run into a competition."

Her hands rested on his shoulders as she leaned back in his arms and pouted, "Didn't anyone ever tell you, you're supposed to let your girlfriend win?"

"That may be the case with ordinary witches, but you would hex my bollocks off if you thought for even a second I was letting you win at anything."

Shrugging as a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, she agreed, "It's true, I would." Wrapping her arms around his neck, she closed the space between them and asked, "Now what do I get for winning?"

"Well that depends…" He pondered, brushing his lips along her collarbone. His path continued across before he dipped down to the shelf of cleavage her sports bra created, his eyes glancing up at her, waiting for permission. Vigorously nodding her head as her labored breaths and thundering heart transitioned from exertion to anticipation, he savored kissing each inch of her exposed breasts as he continued, "...on how you want to spend the rest of our morning."

Reaching her hand up, she scratched her nails through his short hair as her chest jutted up to seek more of his touch. Sighing as his thumb brushed over her covered nipple causing it to draw taut and pebble, she brought her other hand to rest over the ink that covered his right pectoral, languidly moving it across and down his sternum to his abdominal. With her hand back in the water, she arrived at the waistband of his running shorts and began tracing her fingers back and forth between his hips, thinking as best she could while her mind grew foggy with each kiss and caress along her breasts.

Watching him through a hooded gaze, she brought her hand lower until it rested along the bulge of his erection. Feeling him twitch with a reflexive eagerness, she turned her hand so that her palm was up and she was cupping what she could of his cock.

"I think I would like to spend it doing this," she murmured, hesitantly squeezing him, causing him to groan into her chest as he kissed between her breasts.

Adjusting his hold on her, Marcus lined the spread of her thighs up with where she was only just beginning to explore him and rolled their hips together. Moaning beside his ear as she curved over him, Hermione freed her hand and hugged herself closer to him, pushing her cunt down to meet each upward press of his cock.

"Are you sure? We don't have to do anything more than you want."

"Oh God, yes…" she sighed, as she started to grow wet through the water. Feeling her clit jump and pulse as she circled her hips around the tip of his tented shorts, she breathily confirmed, "Yes, this… this is how I want to spend the morning. Please."

Guiding her head so her ear was resting against his shoulder, his hand protected her other as he put his fingers in his mouth to create a short, high pitched whistle to catch Darya's attention. "Out of the water!" He commanded, the frolicking giant. Chuckling as she barked back at him and almost petulantly stomped out of the waves and up to the dry sand, he said, "She's just an overgrown puppy."

"She's sweet. I love her," Hermione smiled. Unwrapping herself from Marcus, she grazed her hand along his still erect cock and said, "You may want to put that away until we can get up to the room. Otherwise you're sure to give the hotel staff and those coming down for breakfast a rather impressive show and I think seeing them ogle you would make me quite incensed."

"Mmm… Jealous?" He teased, coming up beside her as she slowly sliced her arms and legs through the water.

"Possessive."

Stretching out his hand, he squeezed her bum and smirked, "I like it."

Over the last several weeks, the amount of time she and Marcus spent together had increased even more. Not too many more sessions had passed before he graduated to being able to regularly finish his old training routines with the same resistance levels as he had before his injury. So with just over a handful of weeks until the official commencement of training camp, they had begun the two-a-days she had threatened him with back when they had first started meeting.

Six days a week, they were up shortly after the sun, running the beach - sometimes with Darya and sometimes without when she would refuse to get off his deck, preferring to sleep under the warming sun while she waited for their return and her breakfast. Most mornings they didn't even bother to shower - instead opting for the smoothies he still swore were not a suitable meal replacement - before heading to the facility where she would oversee his cardio and resistance circuits for the next several hours. Once he had worked his way through the various routines, she then led him through a strenuous yoga series designed to increase his flexibility, particularly in his left side where she had regrown his ribboned muscles and shattered ribs. It was only then that she would get him stretched out on her massage table where she would rub out his fatigued body. More often than not, that ended with her straddled over his lap while they snogged each other breathless and humped and ground their hips together until they had both found release.

After showering and a shared lunch together either in town, at his place, or with Viktor and Luna, she and Marcus would go their separate ways. He to join the other players in coaching their Little Ones teams at the stadium or to attend to his charity, and she to observe the draft candidates with Mr. Mueller and the coaches in Chudley, whose turn it was to host the Players' Awards and season drafting or to do full health exams of the already contracted players in preparation for training camp. Then in the late afternoon, she would pick up Darya from Viktor's home where she spent her days with Luna and meet him back in her office. There he would study and modify game plays while she attempted to make headway on the mountain of paperwork that she swore multiplied every night after she left like the Gemino curse from the Lestrange vault. Ever the sweetheart, Barney would deliver them their takeaway for dinner each evening before making Marcus promise to see her safely home on his way out. Then after eating, their second session of the day would begin.

Hermione would take to the stands with Darya, nervously creeping towards the edge of the players' box to watch as he flew through drills and charmed extra brooms to act as if they had riders who were playing. She dutifully tracked his progress each night, running his statistics against those of previous seasons and mapping arithmetic equations in an attempt to predict how he would play over the coming year. By all accounts, he was set to be just as good as he was before, if not better, no doubt setting him back on the path of securing a starting spot with the National Team and all but handing her her third healing journal publication in as many years.

With a few solid hours of flying, throwing, and weaving around the bludgers that chased him completed, they would return to the gym. There she would join him in several more circuits of strength training and cardio, followed by more yoga - this time geared towards tension release - before finally engaging in a relaxing stint in the recovery pool. Like the massage table, their time in the pool often led to her being wrapped around him as they languidly kissed, rubbed, and moved against each other until they both came again, her promise to herself about keeping their amorous activities out of the workplace obliterated.

Then with their days complete, Marcus would see her home just as he had promised their head of security. At the start, he would see her to Viktor's front door with the exception of Friday nights which she had already taken to spending with him, as well as Saturdays. Then as the days progressed, an unspoken shift had started to occur and she would stay with him Friday through Sunday nights. That quickly extended to include Mondays, with Tuesdays and Wednesdays following close behind. By the end of the month she was spending most all her nights with him and only a spare few at Viktor's. That was why despite having separate rooms booked for the long weekend in Chudley, she had only been in her own room long enough to unlock the adjoining doors they had quietly requested.

Having swum back to shore where they dried themselves and Darya off as best as they could, they made their way through the awakening hotel lobby and to the lifts, silently thankful that the press had yet to descend upon the place as they had the day prior. As the elevator doors hummed shut, Hermione turned around and dropped the towel that had concealed her peaked nipples, stretching up on her toes to resume kissing Marcus. With a growl, he lifted her up and turned them so he could rest her bum on the railing. Licking the seam of his lips, she slipped her tongue inside his mouth, whimpering as his large hand came up to envelop her breast with a gentle squeezing. Fitting her hand between them, she eagerly trailed her fingers down his chest to the knot of his own towel, tugging it free until it fell to the floor.

A moan escaped her as his mouth moved away from hers, kissing a wet path along her jaw and down to her neck. Pulling at the waistband of his shorts, she breathed, "Can I touch you?"

Too busy kissing, nipping, and tonguing his way to the strap of her sports bra to speak, Marcus grasped her wrist and guided her hand to pump along his cock several times making himself groan before tucking her small fingers into his shorts. Grunting as she hesitantly traced her way up the vein of his erection, his hips involuntarily jerked forward seeking more of her attention. Reaching his head as he began pulling the straps of her bra down to free her breasts, she swiped her thumb over his tip, rubbing the beads of moisture that had escaped over his skin. With her right breast exposed, he curled back to bring his mouth closer to her, his mouth moving in teasing circles that drew him closer to her taut, rosy nipple as her palm rolled over his head, her hand beginning to close around his thick cock.

The cheery ding of the lift announcing that their stop had arrived, sliced through the moment making them both quickly release each other. Keeping his back to the open doors so she remained concealed in the event someone rounded the corner to the lift's lobby, Marcus pulled her bra back into place, softly kissing her and putting her back on the ground once she was covered. Grabbing their discarded towels, Hermione handed one to him so he could once again attempt to hide the very prominent tenting of his running shorts. Once they were moderately decent, she grabbed a hold of his hand and fervently tugged him along, following Darya who had left them behind in favor of seeking sanctuary in their rooms away from the overly wanton couple.

They only made it halfway down the corridor before their mouths were drawn back to each other like powerful magnets. Arriving at his room first, they stumbled in as they lost coordination in their haste to resume exploring the newly freed territory on each other. Kicking the door shut behind them and blindly slapping the interior lock into place, Marcus pulled away from her mouth long enough to direct Darya through the open adjoining door into the other room.

Gracelessly toeing off her shoes, Hermione wasn't sure if she had jumped up into his arms first or if he had lifted her. Either way, she found herself with her legs once more locked around his tapered waist, her hands threading through his hair as their tongues tangled together, and her hips shifting and rolling until her cunt was perfectly positioned over his cock causing her to sigh into his mouth at the return of stimulation along her clit. Tightening her hold on him as his weight shifted with the removal of his own trainers, she yelped into his mouth as they fell back on to their unmade bed.

Breaking apart to scoot up towards the headboard, she released the elastic from her sodden curls and peeled off her socks tossing both away to become lost in the room. Pulling him back to her after he had done the same, she opened her legs wide to accommodate his large body, already reaching for the waistband of his shorts again.

Marcus took hold of her wrist, stopping her excited hand and moved his fingers down to lace with hers. Turning her head to the side as his kisses slowed and transitioned from frenzied to unhurried, she started to protest the sudden change of speed. Her disgruntled whine turned into a throaty moan though as he brought their arms up, over her head and glided his cock along her covered slit, nestling into the cradle of her thighs.

Kissing her neck as if he had all the time in the world, Marcus slowly moved between her legs again, her hips lifting without thought to meet his movements, as he murmured, "We have the whole morning and most of the afternoon, e taku ipo . Slow and steady."

"But…" she breathed, silencing herself as he released one of her hands to run his calloused palm across the flat expanse of her stomach, his fingers spreading to cover nearly every inch of skin between her shorts and the band of her sports bra.

"Let me savor you."

Feeling him drag along her clit again, Hermione arched into him and gripped his hand tighter as she nodded her head. Her body was keyed up with thrumming excitement. Her blood rushing through her veins and pounding in her ears. Every kiss and caress made gooseflesh erupt. Her cunt was hot, wet, and needy as it clenched around nothing. Until now things had progressed slowly between them. But as he continued his teasing pace between her legs, all she wanted was to barrel through the building anticipation for the finish line.

Since Viktor, sex had taken a backseat in her life but Marcus had awoken something within her that left her addicted to the feel and taste of him. She couldn't get enough of him, always wanting more after they had come together; his tender touch having become more valuable than air. And as she lay small and vulnerable beneath him - shielded from a world she had always had to work to the point of exhaustion protecting herself from - while their bodies moved in a simulation of how their coupling could be, she wanted nothing more than to never experience anything like this with anyone but him again.

She had dreamily realized it several weeks ago when his tongue had slipped about wanting children with her, but now the yearning desire for the future she had envisioned rang clearly in her head, taking root in her heart as she whispered, "I love you."

Glancing up at her from her sternum as he had continued to kiss down the length of her body, his green eyes shone ardently. Releasing her other hand, he brought his arms up and under hers and hugged her off of the bed and into his lap as he sat back on his heels, whispering in return, "I love you too, Hermione."

She kissed him with a bruising passion, the intensity from earlier in the lift returning. Pulling back to lift her arms over her head, she pleaded, "Please."

Running his hands up her side, his gaze held hers as he asked, "Are you sure? We don't have to do anything more than we already have."

"Yes," she choked. Nodding her head and clearing her throat, she repeated, "Yes, I'm sure," her voice matching the surety of her heart, mind, and body.

Brushing his lips across the top swell of each of her breasts, his fingers curled under her sports bra and peeled it free of her body. Tossing it away to land with a waterlogged splat on the floor, he brought his hands up to cup the underside of each one and looked upon her reverently. His movements were slow and measured, giving her time to change her mind as he lowered his mouth to one of her nipples.

The first touch of his lips against the pebbled flesh had a short, breathy grunt escape her throat. Then as his tongue flicked against the peaked tip, circling it before he sucked, she keened and moaned, clutching at his back as her chest jutted out in search of more and her cunt throbbed with increased desperation. While he continued to lave and roll her nipple in his mouth, he massaged and tweaked her other. The dual sensations heated her blood further as her heart rate accelerated. Her breath was in short supply as she rocked against his cock wanting, needing , to feel him at every part of her and completely stolen from her as he groaned around her breast connecting her nipple and clit together through the vibration.

Panting as he switched off, she scraped her nails down his back and around his side, seeking the waistband of his shorts. Trailing her touch along the divets of his defined muscles, she mapped the cut of his hip, dipping her fingers beneath the elastic and dragging them across to the other side. Pulling her fingers back out, she fitted her hand between their bodies and once more started stroking him over his shorts.

Gently grasping his cock and slowly beginning to pump it through her hand, she asked, "Show me?"

"Fucking Salazar, yes," he swore around her breast before releasing it with a faint pop.

Laying them back out, Marcus hooked her thigh over his hip and rolled himself beneath her. Sitting above him, Hermione stretched her hands out to his chest to better balance herself. With his cock tucked between her thighs and nestled along her cunt, she rocked her hips forward with a slight lift before coming back down. Her clit's twitch of pleasure hooded her eyes as her mouth parted and she sought the feeling again, her desire to see and explore him momentarily forgotten.

Working herself over him with the short, rolling thrusts she had mastered over the last weeks, it wasn't long before her quiet moans turned to heavy pants. Coiling heat pooled low in her abdomen, trickling out through her cunt as she brought herself closer. Straightening as her thighs clenched tighter around his hips before releasing, she caressed her hands up her stomach until she was cupping her breasts, her fingers pulling and pinching at her nipples.

"Gods, you look beautiful," Marcus reverently praised, crunching up to tangle his fingers through her hair.

Capturing her lips with his, his other hand came around her hip, encouraging the completion of her self-pleasure. Releasing her right breast, she draped her arm over his shoulder and held the back of his head to keep their lips sealed as his tongue plundered her mouth in time with her gyrating humps.

Feeling his thumb brush across her nipple had her moaning into his mouth as she began to lose her rhythm. The contrast of their touches on her breasts combined with the matching bounce of their hips and the fucking of his tongue, proppled her right to the edge as her body grew tense.

Desperate for the last bit of stimulation that would bring about her orgasm, her head fell back with a whimpering moan of his name. With the length of her neck exposed, Marcus moved his mouth to the base of her throat and licked upward with one long, continuous stripe. Then with his course completed, he latched his mouth back around her nipple and gave a hard, biting suck.

The sensation had her vision going white as the heavy ball of desire within her dropped and shattered with a strangled scream tearing forth from deep in her chest. Clawing at his back, she rode out the continuous pulses of her clenching cunt only stopping when her clit became too sensitive.

Melting into him, Hermione panted into his shoulder while he held her and petted her hair, whispering, "So beautiful, e taku ipo. "

Tracing the ladder of his ribs as her racing heart cooled, her hand swept lower with each pass until she was back at the waistband of his shorts. Fingering the elastic, she murmured, "I'd still need to learn how to touch you."

Laying back on the bed with her, he draped her leg over his so she was molded along his side and with his fingers tracing the bones of her spine, he said, "You don't have to."

"But I want to. Godric do I want. I want to make you feel as good as you make me feel." Attempting to sit up as hesitation crept in only for his arm to tighten around her and keep her flush against him, she asked, "Unless, do you not-"

"Believe me Hermione, that's not it."

"Then why?"

"I don't want you to feel like for every touch and kiss I give you, that you have to return it with equal or greater attention. What we do shouldn't be done out of some sort of quid pro quo."

Adjusting her head on his chest, she snuggled in closer to him and yawned, "It's not. I really do want to do more with you."

Silently chuckling at her post orgasmic sleepiness, he murmured, "Let's change, feed Darya, and move to the other room since that bed is dry and then we can nap."

Nodding her head, Hermione stretched out beside him for a moment before getting up and padding over to the dresser. Opening up two of the drawers, she pulled out a pair of lace trimmed, hot pink boy shorts and a tank top. Her stomach somersaulted at the idea of putting it back and only wearing her knickers to bed but glancing at Marcus in the mirror as he cooed over Darya while preparing her breakfast, she felt her sudden rush of nerves settle. Tossing the sheer cotton that wouldn't have concealed much anyway back into the drawer, she went into the bathroom of their other room to change.

After reluctantly taking the time to run her comb through her curls so she wouldn't wake up with them even more knotted than they already were, she opened the bathroom door a crack and peeked out. Finding Marcus lounged out in the bed wearing a fresh pair of athletic shorts, her nerves returned, making her scold herself. It wasn't as if he hadn't just seen her topless but there was an added vulnerability in going to bed in her nearly naked state. Awake, she had control over her magic and thus the glamours that concealed the litter of scars across her body. Asleep, she ran the risk of them failing her as they had done before and waking up with the story of the war and the cost of being Harry's friend plain for him to see. It was a nakedness that only Madam Pomfrey, Harry, and Theo had ever seen her in, being the only three she had ever felt comfortable enough around to fully drop the charms.

"Are you going to come to bed or are you going to keep standing there watching me?" Marcus chuckled, patting the spot beside him. "Come on."

Still concealed behind the door, she rubbed at her chest and the hidden scar from Dolohov as she swallowed, "Yeah, I'm coming. Just a moment of uncertainty but I'm better."

His brow instantly furrowed at her words, his face pulling together in concern as he sat up and asked, "What's wrong?"

Taking a deep breath, she gathered her Gryffindor courage and opened the door the rest of the way. Seeing her in just her knickers, his visible worry vanished as his mouth parted and his jaw went slack. Climbing into bed with him, she shyly murmured, "Is this okay?"

Tugging her closer as she got under the sheets, he praised, " More than okay," before cupping her cheek to kiss her. "However, I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep now. I don't want to miss this."

"We have all morning and most of the afternoon," she teasingly repeated. " Savor it."

"Gods you can be so cheeky," he laughed, turning to his side and molding himself along her back. Tracing his fingers along her stomach, while slipping his arm under her pillow and around her shoulders, his laughter quieted as he softly said, "I love you."

Catching his large hand and bringing it up to engulf the breast he kept hesitating near, she relaxed in his hold and murmured, "I love you too, taku toa, " drifting off to sleep under the languid ministrations of his thumb along her nipple and the whispered touch of his lips along her neck before he buried his face in her hair.