(no subject)
01 - No Obstacles, Only Challenges
02 - Girls Like Us
03 - Champagne Beat Boogie
04 - You're the Lucky Ones
05 - Duke's Up
06 - 20 Minutes of Disco Glory
07 - Perpetual
08 - Halcyon
09 - Anomaly Calling Your Name
10 - Heaven Scent
11 - Beachcoma
12 - Protocol
Title: Groove ♠ Wanna Go to the End Up? [13/14]
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Mark/Addison
Summary: A week in Mexico for a tenth wedding anniversary celebration chopped up with flashbacks. And oh yes, there is porn. Oh, is there porn.
Addison closed her eyes and gasped as Mark’s tongue found her clit. She spread her legs wider, letting out a breathy moan when he threw her legs over his shoulders to get even closer. Addison had forgotten how much of a screamer she was; she’d learned to keep it quiet at home. “Oh, God,” she panted and thrust her hips up, telling Mark that she was close and that he was hitting such the right spot and, if he kept it up (which he should), she would be coming over his fingers and tongue within seconds. It only encouraged him and he sped up and smiled into her as he heard a guttural moan turn into an orgasmic scream and he had to place his free hand on her hips to keep her from writhing too much under him. He’d once kept her going for five minutes and she once passed out, but he wasn’t going to let that happen right now. He darted his tongue out to flick against her clit one last time and then slowly kissed his way up her body, taking his time with her nipples and making her moan and wriggle her hips again before paying attention to her shoulders and neck and finally kissing her mouth.
She hazily opened her eyes and smiled at him. “I’ve missed that,” she said, “thank you.” While they were certainly having sex somewhat regularly, they had few opportunities for straight up, screaming every-nerve-on-fire sex. She opened her mouth to say something else but Mark’s fingers had wandered back down her body and were gently teasing at her opening. Had it been anybody else, she would’ve been embarrassed at how wet she was; she could feel how easily his fingers could move and the insides of her thighs were sticky and she was pretty sure that if there wasn’t one there already, there would be a puddle between her legs by the end of the night. But it was Mark and he always left her too incapable of thought to care. “Oh...” she whispered and was about to protest, to tell him he didn’t have to and that he really could just fuck her already but any words were silenced by his lips on hers and his tongue slipping into her mouth.
“You have no idea how beautiful you are when you come, Addison.”
She wondered how he knew, since his head was generally between her legs or his eyes were just as closed as hers. He always managed to make her name sound dirty and dangerous and she shivered. “What are you up to, Mark?” she whispered huskily into his ear and let her hands do some wandering of their own, teasing his length with her fingers. “I’m already soaking wet.”
“I know,” he said and dipped a finger into her to prove the point before bringing it up to his mouth to slowly lick it clean. “But I want to have you so hot,” he dropped his hand back down and began to slowly circle her clit, “that you come the moment I slip into you.”
“Oh, God,” she closed her eyes and leaned back, remembering the other times he had done this. She groaned as Mark sank his fingers back into her and began to suck on her nipples and reveled in the promise that he would make her come at least five times in probably five different ways before he would fuck her. And then, then she would be so on fire that she would come the moment he was inside of her and not stop until he did.
Mark gently laid her down under him and urged her legs apart. “Just lie back and relax,” he whispered, slipping a third finger into her and slowly brushing her clit with his thumb. “I love you,” he said before pressing his lips to a sensitive spot on her neck and sucking.
--
“Can I sleep in your bed tonight?” Juliet spit toothpaste into the sink and looked up at Addison leaning on the doorframe. She had been allowed to stay up late on account of The Little Mermaid being shown on TV.
“What’s wrong with yours?”
“Yours is comfier.” She hopped down off of the foot stool after rinsing her mouth.
Addison smiled softly down at the girl. “Monsters again?”
To Addison’s surprise, Juliet shook her head. “Shadows outside my window. Something’s scratching at it.”
Addison slowly shook her head with a smile; she knew exactly what tree branch Juliet was talking about. “I can fix that in the morning if you’d like. But you can sleep with me tonight.” She blinked. “Do you mind if Mark’s there?” It was his third night in Boston and he and Addison had slept together for the past two nights, but without the sex. She hadn’t expected the two of them to make hot passionate love immediately and Mark was adjusting to the idea of having a daughter and they were both adjusting to having each other back in their lives so they decided that it would be best to wait.
Juliet emphatically shook her head no and grinned. She’d immediately attached herself to Mark from the moment he stepped snowily into their house. Addison had promised that her dad was coming and then Mark appeared and even without either parent telling her, she knew that Mark was her father. She wasn’t sure how she felt about suddenly needing to share her mother but she did know that she quite liked Mark and, if she had to share Addison with anyone, he was an okay guy to share her with.
“Alright then.” Addison smiled crookedly and picked up Juliet and carried her daughter into her bedroom, where Mark was already in bed reading a magazine of Addison’s. She laughed and raised her eyebrows as he pretended like it had just fallen into his lap. “We have a guest tonight.” She set Juliet on the bed and smiled as the girl wavered a bit before she found her balance. Juliet jumped a few times (always claiming that Addison’s bed was not only comfier, but it was bouncier) and, at her mother’s warning shake of her head, wrinkled her nose and plopped down right next to Mark.
“Really?” Mark smiled at both of them and then lifted his arm to allow Juliet to curl up in his lap. “Do you have a book in here or do I need to read you 86...Makeup Tips That Will Leave Him Speechless?”
Addison simply blinked and shook her head laughing, having no idea how to respond to that. By the look of Juliet’s confused face, neither did the younger Montgomery. She walked out and then came back a few seconds later with the book she and Juliet were reading and handed it to Mark. “I want to hear voices,” she instructed with a smirk before heading off to change for bed.
--
“Mark!” Addison screamed, drawing his name out as long as her breath would allow as he pushed her over the edge again and again. With one last thrust and a loud moan of her name (that she thought might be the sexiest thing she’d ever heard), she felt him spill himself deep inside of her. Even though they were both panting and trying to catch their breath, she cupped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down for a searing kiss. Addison wasn’t sure she’d come down for days and, from the way Mark was still teasing her nipple, she was pretty sure he wouldn’t either.
“You know,” he said some time later when they’d caught their breath and changed sheets (and did so naked, which proved to be a distraction from the job) and showered (and caught their breath again) and tumbled back into bed, “sometimes I don’t think it’s fair. You got about fifteen and I got three.” He flashed her a smile, letting her know he was joking.
Addison laughed and turned into his arms and didn’t point out that he was exaggerating on her behalf. “The only reason you got only three is because you were intent on giving me as many as I could handle before you even started toward working on yours.” She stretched out and slid up to look him in the eye. “You have the quickest recovery time of any man I’ve ever been with. Ease up on me next time and you’ll get your more than one per go.”
“You don’t like it?” He smirked and kissed her forehead and knew it was an incredibly stupid question.
“No, I love it. It’s just that sometimes I feel a little bad for nearly snapping your neck with my thighs when really...” she trailed off as her fingers trailed downward and began stroking him hard. They’d quickly realized that, while they weren’t out, clothing was a useless plan.
Mark’s breath caught in his throat as Addison got that wicked look in her eye and slowly ran her tongue across her teeth. “When really what?” He bucked into her hand.
Addison rolled on top of him with a smile and pushed the light sheets away. She cocked her head, her hands never stopping their movements. “I love giving back,” she breathed, millimeters away from his lips but denied him a kiss, beginning to kiss her way down his bare and muscular chest.
--
On Mark’s third weekend trip up to Boston, he and Addison decided that they needed some time for just the two of them. No matter how cute Juliet was, they wanted some catch up time together and their kisses had become hotter and more intense and, as much as they wanted to, they knew that it would be a bad idea to have their first time (at least since their daughter was born) while she was in the house. So Addison begged her sister and Juliet got excited at even the hint of staying with Ellie for a few days and she and Mark had the house to themselves for a weekend.
Addison found Mark in the kitchen when she came back from dropping off Juliet. He pushed his chair away from the table and she straddled his lap and cupped his cheeks, shrugging her purse off onto the floor. “Sex now, talk later,” she breathed huskily against his lips and kissed him, wasting no time in slipping her tongue in to meet his.
In the eleven years she had been married to Derek, Addison had never felt quite as wonderful as she did that afternoon with Mark. She truly felt loved - worshipped, even - and it wasn’t raucous or screaming or even multiple but it was perfect in every way she could imagine. And she knew that she missed out during those years spent married to Derek, because what she and Mark did was true making love.
They could barely keep their hands off each other while making dinner (and Mark’s hands made it up Addison’s skirt more than once) and were constantly rubbing their feet against the other’s thigh while trying to remain serious adults. They then decided that everything could be thrown in the dishwasher and dessert could be saved for later and most of their clothes ended up on the stairs before they even made it to the bed.
“I missed you,” she admitted later in bed and settled her head on his chest.
“You only like me for the sex,” he joked.
Addison turned and rolled on her side, propping her head up to look at him. “Well, there is that. Oh, okay,” she wiggled away from his teasing fingers, “remember when I said that you were the last person I had sex with? I meant it. Give me a few hours.”
“But you’re so fun.” He managed to get his thumb between her legs and lightly circled her clit.
“Mark,” she warned. Everything had felt wonderful, but she was too sensitive.
“Fine.” Mark retracted his hand and settled for pushing some hair out of her eyes. “I missed you, too. And,” he reached over and kissed her forehead. “I’m here to stay.”
She knew that he was staying even before he said it, but it was good to hear. “You’re going to need to move up here, then, you know.”
“One step ahead of you. My stuff’s almost all packed, all you have to tell me is when.”
Addison smiled widely and kissed him.
--
Addison had given up on shoes for the week; their cottage led right out onto the beach and unless she had to be somewhere that required walking over gravel pathways or the restaurant demanded shoes, she was going to forget that Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik even existed. She looked up from staring at the sand and squeezed Mark’s hand as he laced his fingers with hers and held tightly. The breeze played with her skirt, causing the white fabric to blow around her legs.
Mark caught her around her waist and pulled her to him, clasping his hands over her flat stomach. He turned them so they were facing the bright blue ocean and nuzzled her neck, whispering that he loved her before he kissed her cheek and rested his chin on her shoulder.
Addison smiled and closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of the warm sun on her skin and the sound of the ocean and a light wind blowing through the palm trees. She covered his hands with hers low on her stomach and just breathed in the moment. With Mark’s arms steady around her, she felt that life was perfect.
--
“And unpacked.” Mark came into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water and finished it in one go and promptly refilled it.
Addison looked up from her lunch. “Completely?” At his nod, she sighed and shook her head. “Either you have significantly less stuff than I do or you’re more efficient.”
“There are still boxes in the basement!” Juliet piped up excitedly from the chair next to her mother.
Addison smiled, cutely but all teeth, at Juliet. “You weren’t supposed to mention that.”
Mark raised an eyebrow and pulled out the makings for his own lunch. “Five years of living here and you’re still not fully unpacked?”
“It’s china. I don’t know what to do with it.”
His toast popped up and he leaned the pieces of bread against each other to cool off. “Please tell me that the hideous painting that was in the front hall is in Seattle.”
She shook her head. “I think it’s in Kansas. I sold it on eBay for three times what we paid for it.”
“When do we leave for Grandma’s for Christmas?” Juliet finished the last of her apple juice.
Addison blinked. In the rush of Mark being there, she’d forgotten that she promised her parents that she and Juliet would be there for Christmas. And, since things had moved rather quickly between the two of them and he was moved up within a month, she’d neglected to mention to them that Mark was Juliet’s father and that they were together. She glanced over at the calendar. “Three days.” It placed them there the day before Christmas Eve.
Kicking her short legs in the air, she started thinking about everything she needed to bring. Her snowsuit was on the top of the list; Addison’s parents had moved to Maine for reasons none of their children understood and it was always snowing around Christmas time. She looked over at Mark. “Are you coming with us?”
Mark looked a question at Addison and she shrugged; it was up to him. He’d heard stories from Derek about the insanity of Montgomery family gatherings, especially those when all five children were there with various spouses and children. Despite the fact that those stories terrified him (and that he’d be forced to spend time with Ellie, including the four-hour drive) he nodded. “Yeah, I’m coming with you.”
“Good.” She hopped off her chair and headed toward the stairs to start packing.
Addison caught her shoulder and turned her around. “Nuh uh. Dishes.”
Juliet scrunched her nose and grumbled but scrambled back up on to the chair to take her plate and glass off the table and put them in the dishwasher after looking up at Mark and he opened the dishwasher door for her. Then she ran upstairs.
“I should probably tell them you’re coming.”
“Do they...?”
“No.”
“Your mother really does scare you, doesn’t she.”
“No,” Addison sighed, “she doesn’t really scare me. She just...has this habit of disapproving of everything I do even if it’s right.”
“Ah.” He quickly understood the meaning behind her words and tone. “She didn’t approve of you raising Juliet on your own.”
“Not at all.”
He walked around the table and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her hair, sensing her apprehension. “Ah, but you have this absolutely adorable kid.” He kissed her temple. “And a boyfriend who loves you.”
--
Mark pushed her up against the wall and kissed her, his lips almost bruising hers. Addison tasted like rum and smelled like the ocean and what little she was wearing was way too much. He reached behind her and tugged on the strings of her blue halter top, breaking the kiss long enough to get it over her head and notice that he was frantically being divested of his shirt as well. He hit sensory overload, the temptation of her breasts competing with the desire to remove her skirt. She chose for him, giving him both, and pushed her bare breasts into his hands while unzipping her skirt and wiggling it down to the floor, kicking it away.
She playfully shoved him off of her and onto the bed, crawling on top before he had a chance to do it himself. A grin crossed her lips and she dipped her head down, swirling her tongue with his. Years of practice had his belt unbuckled within seconds and his khaki pants unzipped shortly thereafter and her hand quickly slipped inside.
“Hard already, Mark?” she whispered teasingly in his ear, changing her attention to his neck and collarbone.
Trailing his fingers down her sides to play with the straps of her panties, he grinned into her shoulder. A quick touch between her legs through the fabric of her thong and his eyebrows shot up. “Wet already, Addison?”
--
Two months after he moved in (and three months after she’d called him), Addison needed to go back to New York for a consult. They joked that he should’ve kept the apartment so she wouldn’t need to stay in a hotel. She gave Juliet a very teary kiss goodbye the night before - it was her first time leaving her for more than two days - and gave Mark strict instructions about bedtime and dinner that he already knew and he virtually had to pull her out of Juliet’s room that morning so she wouldn’t miss her flight.
Mark felt a small hand on his arm and then felt the bed shift as Juliet climbed in with him. She struggled with the blankets and he lifted them up for her and she immediately slipped under them and cuddled into his chest. He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arm around her and saw hints of Addison in Juliet as she wriggled around to get as comfortable as possible. “You okay?”
Juliet nodded and then looked up at him with sleepy eyes. “I love you, Daddy.” She placed a kiss on his nose.
He didn’t know that four simple words could evoke such emotion in him, but they did. It was the first time she told him she loved him and Mark’s heart soared. He smiled at her and blinked back a small set of happy tears. “I love you too, Juliet Marie.”
--
Addison opened her eyes and watched Mark slowly moving above her and matched her hips in time with his. She trailed her fingers across his cheekbones, tracing the contours of his face and neck and shoulders and she gasped as he thrust into her deeper and began to speed up. She locked her legs around his back and he kissed her. Their lips met over and over again as their bodies moved together and suddenly Addison felt a fire begin to spread within her.
“I love you,” she whispered breathily just before her orgasm hit. She heard Mark say the same right before her orgasm threw him over the edge with her.
Smiling down at her, Mark stroked Addison’s cheek until she opened her eyes again. He kissed her softly. “Hi, beautiful.”
A small, crooked, trademark-Addison smile spread over her face. “Hey, handsome,” she kissed him back and then rolled them so she was cuddled into his side, her head nestled in his shoulder.
Mark managed to tug a sheet out from under them and pull it up over them, circling his arms around her when she was comfortable. If he was asked, he’d say that his favorite thing to do was surgery or (if there was alcohol involved and a smirking atmosphere) have sex with his wife. But, in reality, it was this. Holding her after making love was his favorite thing in the world. There were no words, no expectations, just quietly lying together with nothing separating them. He slowly drew aimless designs on the delicate soft skin of her shoulder, placing a kiss on the smattering of freckles that had begun to appear.
As he felt her settle into his chest and slowly fall asleep, he smiled and realized that the woman in his arms was not only the best thing to happen to him but was also the person who saved him. Without her, without the hint of a promise that she might one day take him back, he would still be the screw-up she left in New York seventeen years ago.
“Thank you, Addie,” he whispered and held her a little tighter.
--
“Thanks for not selling my bike,” Mark grinned at Addison as he pulled it out of the garage and loaded it onto the bike rack at the back of his car right next to Juliet’s new bike.
Addison rolled her eyes. “Believe me, I thought about it. But you were attached to that thing, so.” She looked down as Juliet tugged on her hand.
“Mommy, can we go now?” The bike was a birthday present but the fortune of being born in February and living in Boston meant that she had to wait until a parking lot was plowed before she could learn. Addison and Mark were adamant about not letting her try it out in the street just yet.
Mark tightened the last strap. “We’re good to go.” He swept Juliet up and into the backseat of the car and watched carefully as she buckled her seatbelt and then got into the passenger side of the car. Addison had glared at him a few days ago about his masculine need to always drive and he gave her a patronizing grin before he sat down and shut the door.
Addison checked to make sure two helmets were in the car and then drove off to the high school parking lot. She climbed onto the hood of the car once Mark had taken the bikes off and Juliet’s pink helmet was firmly in place. While she could ride a bike with the best of them, it wasn’t Addison’s favorite thing to do and she was content to let it be a father-daughter thing.
Frowning, Mark looked over at Addison. “How did you learn?” Juliet knew how to ride with training wheels, but she had been begging for a brand new “grown up” bike.
Truthfully, Addison had taught herself. She decided one day that she was tired of her younger brother knowing how to ride a bike when she didn’t, but her parents wouldn’t buy her a bike until she knew how to ride, so she took it out into the street one day and forced herself to learn. She fell off once and skinned her knee pretty badly (and still had the scar). The neighborhood kids laughing was more incentive to stay upright than an asphalt scrape. “Determination and some balance.”
“That was helpful.”
“You asked.”
“Please!” Juliet whined impatiently, feet on either side of her bike, and looked expectantly at her father.
“Okay. I’m going to hold the bike steady and you’re going to put your feet on the pedals.” Mark waited until she was comfortable. “And now I’m going to push, you’re going to pedal, and eventually I’ll let go.”
Addison smiled and tugged her coat closer around her and tucked her knees under her chin as Mark gave Juliet a slight push and then started to jog slowly next to her. He let go and Juliet went on her own for a few yards before she wobbled too much and fell over. Addison moved to go to her when she heard her start to cry but held back, reminding herself that she needed to let Mark be Dad.
Mark lifted the bike out of the way and then helped Juliet to sit up. She buried her head in his shoulder and said she hated bike riding and wanted Mommy. Mark carried her back over to the car and set her into Addison’s arms and went back to grab the bike.
Unhooking her daughter’s helmet, Addison hugged the girl and kissed her forehead once she set the pink protection aside. “The first time I tried to ride a bike, I fell over too. And a bunch of people laughed at me.”
Juliet sniffled and looked up and pushed her hair out of her face. To her, her mother was infallible so the idea that she couldn’t do something immediately or got laughed at was completely foreign. “You got laughed at?”
“Yep. But I got right back on and went around the block once without any problem at all.”
“Why only once?”
“I hit a mailbox.” She shot a glare at Mark over Juliet’s head that told him that he was not to snicker, chuckle, laugh, raise his eyebrow or otherwise comment. “But it belonged to one of the people who made fun of me, so it was okay.”
Juliet giggled and smiled and allowed herself a few more moments of Mommy Time before extracting herself and putting on her helmet again. She stood in front of her bike and gave it a lecture, hands on hips. “I will take good care of you if you do not let me fall.” And then hopped back on it and looked expectantly at Mark. “Don’t tell me when you’ve let go this time.”
“Okay, here we go.” Mark started again and stayed with her a little longer before letting go. He smiled as she stayed upright for almost half of the parking lot before accidentally using a pile of snow for the same purpose as Addison had used the mailbox (though a bit safer).
She sat up and smiled proudly, not caring that she had fallen off or was sitting in a snow bank and had snow down the back of her jacket. “I did it!”
Addison clapped from her spot on the car and watched Mark help her up and say something about learning how to properly stop.
--
“You’re lucky I love you,” Addison muttered to Mark as he zipped up the back of her wet suit. Mark had somehow convinced her to go scuba diving and while she liked the idea of swimming around with all the fish and coral, Addison was claustrophobic and the idea of being surrounded by water and her sole exit far above her head sort of scared her. She turned and zipped up his and cocked her eyebrow.
“I will spend all of tomorrow lying on the beach doing absolutely nothing but staring at your ass and boobs,” he smiled and kissed her forehead. “Promise.”
Their guide laughed. He’d heard quite a lot worse; it was rare that both halves of a couple felt the same way about their first dive and there were a lot of promises made before they jumped off the boat. “How long have you two been married?” He settled Addison’s oxygen tank over her shoulders and tightened a few straps.
“Ten years,” she smiled proudly and sat down next to Mark to play with her face mask.
“Congratulations,” he smiled back and started giving them instructions.
Addison walked out of the bathroom early that evening in a fluffy white bathrobe, drying her hair with a matching towel. She coughed a little and Mark looked up from the extravagant room service menu on the bed.
“You alright?” He looked concerned; Addison had gotten a large mouthful of saltwater earlier and had coughed for five minutes straight on the boat.
She smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.” Her voice was a little hoarse, but nowhere near as bad as it was a few hours earlier. “Give me some of that wine and I’ll be perfectly okay,” she gestured to a bottle of white wine chilling in an ice bucket on the end table. The first dive had been nerve-wracking and she’d held tight to the guide’s hand for all but the last few minutes when she finally gained the courage to swim out a little on her own. The second was better, though she stayed close to the guide and the third was her favorite. She actually had a few fish brush against her and any earlier nerves or shakiness had mostly disappeared.
Mark slipped an arm around her and pulled her to him, grinning as she shrieked a little in surprise. He tucked a strand of wet hair behind her ear and kissed her softly. “Did you have fun today?”
Addison bit her lip and smiled up at him. “Minus the gallon of the Caribbean I swallowed, yeah, I did.”
“Good. And I am going to have so much fun,” he slowly untied her bathrobe and traced the curve of her hip, “staring at you tomorrow in that sexy little bikini of yours.”
“Mark...” she whispered. “Food now, sex later.” Her stomach growled quietly to prove the point. She grinned at his pout. “I’ll let you eat dessert off of me.”
--
Mark laughed as Juliet ran in front of them, dancing to the music of a small jazz quartet on the corner of Main Street separating Adventureland and Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and Cinderella's castle behind them. Her hair glinted in the sunlight and her Minnie Mouse glasses (purchased at an extraordinary price only because she begged and pouted and Mark couldn’t deny the Montgomery Pout) were a bit too big and kept sliding down her nose. His hand brushed Addison’s as she reached over to grab a piece of cotton candy from the stick he was holding for Juliet while the girl danced. He watched Addison as she placed the piece of sugar in her mouth and then closed her eyes while it dissolved on her tongue.
“What?” She smiled, keeping an eye on Juliet as she licked the remaining sticky sugar off her hands.
“Will you marry me?” Mark hadn’t planned it, hadn’t seriously thought about it, he didn’t even have a ring. But that moment, in the middle of the Magic Kingdom on a perfect day with cotton candy and their daughter dancing with pink sunglasses that were too big, that was the moment and he couldn’t pass it up.
Addison’s smile, lately always a happy one, changed to one of complete and pure joy rivaled only by the moment her daughter was placed in her arms. She pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and a soft breeze toyed with the loose pieces of hair framing her face. “Yes.” She leaned in and kissed him gently; she kept it loving and soft, aware of where they were.
“Come on! Splash Mountain!” Juliet’s hyper and excited voice broke her parents out of their mutual dazed smiles.
Mark shrugged. “Wanna get wet?” He smirked at Addison’s t-shirt and then took her hand and followed Juliet.
Addison laughed and shook her head. “You are bad, Mark Sloan.” She rolled her eyes at him but squeezed his hand and rested her head against his shoulder.
Later that night, Mark snuck away after Addison and Juliet had staked out curbside seats for the SpectroMagic Parade and said he’d be back with snacks. Addison looked at him and mouthed no sugar and looked at her watch; provided he didn’t bring back Mickey-shaped ice cream bars (which she knew he would), Juliet’s sugar high would crash within two hours and they’d have time for themselves when they got back to their hotel suite.
“What took you so long?” Addison looked up when Mark came back after an unusually long ice cream run. She unwrapped Juliet’s ice cream bar and gave it to her with a napkin and then unwrapped hers and bit off an ear. “Look, Van Gogh,” she joked to Juliet, who was too young to get the joke but laughed anyway.
“Long line and some indecision on my part.” He kissed her temple and sat down.
Addison glanced at the three identical treats he had brought back. “Creativity. I like that in a guy.” She smirked and kissed his cheek.
Mark ruffled Juliet’s hair as the girl crawled over her mother’s lap to sit in his. “She likes me best,” he teased and stuck out his tongue.
“That’s because you got her ice cream.”
“Oh, don’t tell me that if you went off to get a snack you wouldn’t deny her an overpriced chocolate-covered Mickey-shaped ice cream bar on a stick.” Mark wiped some chocolate off the corner of her mouth.
Sometime during the middle of the parade, Addison felt Mark playing with her left hand. She looked down and saw him slip a small silver ring onto her finger with a tiny engraving of Cinderella; he’d overheard Addison and Juliet talking about favorite Princesses and learned that Cinderella was Addison’s. Biting her lip, she smiled at him and leaned in, kissing him softly.
“Will it do for now?” He whispered through the noise of the parade.
--
Laughing, Addison and Mark dashed through the lightning and rain to their cottage, hands clasped tightly together. Completely soaked, Mark cupped her cheeks and kissed her and pulled her over to the hammock strung between two trees over the sand. Addison tumbled on top of him and smiled. She slowly bent her head toward his and darted her tongue out to catch a few drops of rainwater from his lips. Mark tugged at the wet fabric and slipped his hands underneath the back of her shirt, urging her toward him as she finally kissed him.
“Want to take this inside?” Mark brought his hands around to tease her nipples, already hard from the rain, and he kissed her jaw.
Addison ground her hips into his. “Not really. Do you?”
Mark pulled back and looked up at his wife, water droplets catching on her skin as she smiled lovingly down at him, the ocean roaring close by. “Not at all.”
--
“I once tried to drive by light of the fireflies squashed on my window.”
Addison stopped trying to catch the evasive firefly in front of her and looked over at her husband. “How’d that work out for you?” Concentrating carefully, she cupped her hands around it and closed her hands quickly and tried not to laugh at the tickling sensation of it frantically trying to escape.
“It didn’t.” Mark watched an insect land on the branch he was holding for Juliet. “You know,” he checked around him to make sure his daughter wasn’t within hearing range, “I’m attracted to you whether your ass lights up or not.”
She couldn’t stop herself from laughing and wasn’t sure she wanted to. “Well, thank you, Mark. Julie, honey, where are you?”
“Right here!” Juliet called from the other end of their backyard, proudly holding a jar that contained three blinking fireflies. It was a hot summer and heat lightning sporadically lit up the sky. She ran over to her parents. “Look, I got three of them. Just like us.” She grinned.
Though Addison was certain that the three in the jar were three fully developed adults, she smiled down at the cutely proud girl. “Yeah,” she pressed a kiss to Juliet’s forehead, “just like us.”
--
Juliet, back in her parents’ good graces and allowed to stay alone for the week (with the strict warning that there would be hell to pay if any parties happened), picked up Addison and Mark from the airport. She took one look at them when they came up the escalator toward baggage claim, both healthily tan and smiling and holding hands, and she shook her head. “I don’t really want to know what you guys did for a whole week, do I?”
♠ Infinitely Gently Blows
02 - Girls Like Us
03 - Champagne Beat Boogie
04 - You're the Lucky Ones
05 - Duke's Up
06 - 20 Minutes of Disco Glory
07 - Perpetual
08 - Halcyon
09 - Anomaly Calling Your Name
10 - Heaven Scent
11 - Beachcoma
12 - Protocol
Title: Groove ♠ Wanna Go to the End Up? [13/14]
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Mark/Addison
Summary: A week in Mexico for a tenth wedding anniversary celebration chopped up with flashbacks. And oh yes, there is porn. Oh, is there porn.
Addison closed her eyes and gasped as Mark’s tongue found her clit. She spread her legs wider, letting out a breathy moan when he threw her legs over his shoulders to get even closer. Addison had forgotten how much of a screamer she was; she’d learned to keep it quiet at home. “Oh, God,” she panted and thrust her hips up, telling Mark that she was close and that he was hitting such the right spot and, if he kept it up (which he should), she would be coming over his fingers and tongue within seconds. It only encouraged him and he sped up and smiled into her as he heard a guttural moan turn into an orgasmic scream and he had to place his free hand on her hips to keep her from writhing too much under him. He’d once kept her going for five minutes and she once passed out, but he wasn’t going to let that happen right now. He darted his tongue out to flick against her clit one last time and then slowly kissed his way up her body, taking his time with her nipples and making her moan and wriggle her hips again before paying attention to her shoulders and neck and finally kissing her mouth.
She hazily opened her eyes and smiled at him. “I’ve missed that,” she said, “thank you.” While they were certainly having sex somewhat regularly, they had few opportunities for straight up, screaming every-nerve-on-fire sex. She opened her mouth to say something else but Mark’s fingers had wandered back down her body and were gently teasing at her opening. Had it been anybody else, she would’ve been embarrassed at how wet she was; she could feel how easily his fingers could move and the insides of her thighs were sticky and she was pretty sure that if there wasn’t one there already, there would be a puddle between her legs by the end of the night. But it was Mark and he always left her too incapable of thought to care. “Oh...” she whispered and was about to protest, to tell him he didn’t have to and that he really could just fuck her already but any words were silenced by his lips on hers and his tongue slipping into her mouth.
“You have no idea how beautiful you are when you come, Addison.”
She wondered how he knew, since his head was generally between her legs or his eyes were just as closed as hers. He always managed to make her name sound dirty and dangerous and she shivered. “What are you up to, Mark?” she whispered huskily into his ear and let her hands do some wandering of their own, teasing his length with her fingers. “I’m already soaking wet.”
“I know,” he said and dipped a finger into her to prove the point before bringing it up to his mouth to slowly lick it clean. “But I want to have you so hot,” he dropped his hand back down and began to slowly circle her clit, “that you come the moment I slip into you.”
“Oh, God,” she closed her eyes and leaned back, remembering the other times he had done this. She groaned as Mark sank his fingers back into her and began to suck on her nipples and reveled in the promise that he would make her come at least five times in probably five different ways before he would fuck her. And then, then she would be so on fire that she would come the moment he was inside of her and not stop until he did.
Mark gently laid her down under him and urged her legs apart. “Just lie back and relax,” he whispered, slipping a third finger into her and slowly brushing her clit with his thumb. “I love you,” he said before pressing his lips to a sensitive spot on her neck and sucking.
--
“Can I sleep in your bed tonight?” Juliet spit toothpaste into the sink and looked up at Addison leaning on the doorframe. She had been allowed to stay up late on account of The Little Mermaid being shown on TV.
“What’s wrong with yours?”
“Yours is comfier.” She hopped down off of the foot stool after rinsing her mouth.
Addison smiled softly down at the girl. “Monsters again?”
To Addison’s surprise, Juliet shook her head. “Shadows outside my window. Something’s scratching at it.”
Addison slowly shook her head with a smile; she knew exactly what tree branch Juliet was talking about. “I can fix that in the morning if you’d like. But you can sleep with me tonight.” She blinked. “Do you mind if Mark’s there?” It was his third night in Boston and he and Addison had slept together for the past two nights, but without the sex. She hadn’t expected the two of them to make hot passionate love immediately and Mark was adjusting to the idea of having a daughter and they were both adjusting to having each other back in their lives so they decided that it would be best to wait.
Juliet emphatically shook her head no and grinned. She’d immediately attached herself to Mark from the moment he stepped snowily into their house. Addison had promised that her dad was coming and then Mark appeared and even without either parent telling her, she knew that Mark was her father. She wasn’t sure how she felt about suddenly needing to share her mother but she did know that she quite liked Mark and, if she had to share Addison with anyone, he was an okay guy to share her with.
“Alright then.” Addison smiled crookedly and picked up Juliet and carried her daughter into her bedroom, where Mark was already in bed reading a magazine of Addison’s. She laughed and raised her eyebrows as he pretended like it had just fallen into his lap. “We have a guest tonight.” She set Juliet on the bed and smiled as the girl wavered a bit before she found her balance. Juliet jumped a few times (always claiming that Addison’s bed was not only comfier, but it was bouncier) and, at her mother’s warning shake of her head, wrinkled her nose and plopped down right next to Mark.
“Really?” Mark smiled at both of them and then lifted his arm to allow Juliet to curl up in his lap. “Do you have a book in here or do I need to read you 86...Makeup Tips That Will Leave Him Speechless?”
Addison simply blinked and shook her head laughing, having no idea how to respond to that. By the look of Juliet’s confused face, neither did the younger Montgomery. She walked out and then came back a few seconds later with the book she and Juliet were reading and handed it to Mark. “I want to hear voices,” she instructed with a smirk before heading off to change for bed.
--
“Mark!” Addison screamed, drawing his name out as long as her breath would allow as he pushed her over the edge again and again. With one last thrust and a loud moan of her name (that she thought might be the sexiest thing she’d ever heard), she felt him spill himself deep inside of her. Even though they were both panting and trying to catch their breath, she cupped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down for a searing kiss. Addison wasn’t sure she’d come down for days and, from the way Mark was still teasing her nipple, she was pretty sure he wouldn’t either.
“You know,” he said some time later when they’d caught their breath and changed sheets (and did so naked, which proved to be a distraction from the job) and showered (and caught their breath again) and tumbled back into bed, “sometimes I don’t think it’s fair. You got about fifteen and I got three.” He flashed her a smile, letting her know he was joking.
Addison laughed and turned into his arms and didn’t point out that he was exaggerating on her behalf. “The only reason you got only three is because you were intent on giving me as many as I could handle before you even started toward working on yours.” She stretched out and slid up to look him in the eye. “You have the quickest recovery time of any man I’ve ever been with. Ease up on me next time and you’ll get your more than one per go.”
“You don’t like it?” He smirked and kissed her forehead and knew it was an incredibly stupid question.
“No, I love it. It’s just that sometimes I feel a little bad for nearly snapping your neck with my thighs when really...” she trailed off as her fingers trailed downward and began stroking him hard. They’d quickly realized that, while they weren’t out, clothing was a useless plan.
Mark’s breath caught in his throat as Addison got that wicked look in her eye and slowly ran her tongue across her teeth. “When really what?” He bucked into her hand.
Addison rolled on top of him with a smile and pushed the light sheets away. She cocked her head, her hands never stopping their movements. “I love giving back,” she breathed, millimeters away from his lips but denied him a kiss, beginning to kiss her way down his bare and muscular chest.
--
On Mark’s third weekend trip up to Boston, he and Addison decided that they needed some time for just the two of them. No matter how cute Juliet was, they wanted some catch up time together and their kisses had become hotter and more intense and, as much as they wanted to, they knew that it would be a bad idea to have their first time (at least since their daughter was born) while she was in the house. So Addison begged her sister and Juliet got excited at even the hint of staying with Ellie for a few days and she and Mark had the house to themselves for a weekend.
Addison found Mark in the kitchen when she came back from dropping off Juliet. He pushed his chair away from the table and she straddled his lap and cupped his cheeks, shrugging her purse off onto the floor. “Sex now, talk later,” she breathed huskily against his lips and kissed him, wasting no time in slipping her tongue in to meet his.
In the eleven years she had been married to Derek, Addison had never felt quite as wonderful as she did that afternoon with Mark. She truly felt loved - worshipped, even - and it wasn’t raucous or screaming or even multiple but it was perfect in every way she could imagine. And she knew that she missed out during those years spent married to Derek, because what she and Mark did was true making love.
They could barely keep their hands off each other while making dinner (and Mark’s hands made it up Addison’s skirt more than once) and were constantly rubbing their feet against the other’s thigh while trying to remain serious adults. They then decided that everything could be thrown in the dishwasher and dessert could be saved for later and most of their clothes ended up on the stairs before they even made it to the bed.
“I missed you,” she admitted later in bed and settled her head on his chest.
“You only like me for the sex,” he joked.
Addison turned and rolled on her side, propping her head up to look at him. “Well, there is that. Oh, okay,” she wiggled away from his teasing fingers, “remember when I said that you were the last person I had sex with? I meant it. Give me a few hours.”
“But you’re so fun.” He managed to get his thumb between her legs and lightly circled her clit.
“Mark,” she warned. Everything had felt wonderful, but she was too sensitive.
“Fine.” Mark retracted his hand and settled for pushing some hair out of her eyes. “I missed you, too. And,” he reached over and kissed her forehead. “I’m here to stay.”
She knew that he was staying even before he said it, but it was good to hear. “You’re going to need to move up here, then, you know.”
“One step ahead of you. My stuff’s almost all packed, all you have to tell me is when.”
Addison smiled widely and kissed him.
--
Addison had given up on shoes for the week; their cottage led right out onto the beach and unless she had to be somewhere that required walking over gravel pathways or the restaurant demanded shoes, she was going to forget that Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik even existed. She looked up from staring at the sand and squeezed Mark’s hand as he laced his fingers with hers and held tightly. The breeze played with her skirt, causing the white fabric to blow around her legs.
Mark caught her around her waist and pulled her to him, clasping his hands over her flat stomach. He turned them so they were facing the bright blue ocean and nuzzled her neck, whispering that he loved her before he kissed her cheek and rested his chin on her shoulder.
Addison smiled and closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of the warm sun on her skin and the sound of the ocean and a light wind blowing through the palm trees. She covered his hands with hers low on her stomach and just breathed in the moment. With Mark’s arms steady around her, she felt that life was perfect.
--
“And unpacked.” Mark came into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water and finished it in one go and promptly refilled it.
Addison looked up from her lunch. “Completely?” At his nod, she sighed and shook her head. “Either you have significantly less stuff than I do or you’re more efficient.”
“There are still boxes in the basement!” Juliet piped up excitedly from the chair next to her mother.
Addison smiled, cutely but all teeth, at Juliet. “You weren’t supposed to mention that.”
Mark raised an eyebrow and pulled out the makings for his own lunch. “Five years of living here and you’re still not fully unpacked?”
“It’s china. I don’t know what to do with it.”
His toast popped up and he leaned the pieces of bread against each other to cool off. “Please tell me that the hideous painting that was in the front hall is in Seattle.”
She shook her head. “I think it’s in Kansas. I sold it on eBay for three times what we paid for it.”
“When do we leave for Grandma’s for Christmas?” Juliet finished the last of her apple juice.
Addison blinked. In the rush of Mark being there, she’d forgotten that she promised her parents that she and Juliet would be there for Christmas. And, since things had moved rather quickly between the two of them and he was moved up within a month, she’d neglected to mention to them that Mark was Juliet’s father and that they were together. She glanced over at the calendar. “Three days.” It placed them there the day before Christmas Eve.
Kicking her short legs in the air, she started thinking about everything she needed to bring. Her snowsuit was on the top of the list; Addison’s parents had moved to Maine for reasons none of their children understood and it was always snowing around Christmas time. She looked over at Mark. “Are you coming with us?”
Mark looked a question at Addison and she shrugged; it was up to him. He’d heard stories from Derek about the insanity of Montgomery family gatherings, especially those when all five children were there with various spouses and children. Despite the fact that those stories terrified him (and that he’d be forced to spend time with Ellie, including the four-hour drive) he nodded. “Yeah, I’m coming with you.”
“Good.” She hopped off her chair and headed toward the stairs to start packing.
Addison caught her shoulder and turned her around. “Nuh uh. Dishes.”
Juliet scrunched her nose and grumbled but scrambled back up on to the chair to take her plate and glass off the table and put them in the dishwasher after looking up at Mark and he opened the dishwasher door for her. Then she ran upstairs.
“I should probably tell them you’re coming.”
“Do they...?”
“No.”
“Your mother really does scare you, doesn’t she.”
“No,” Addison sighed, “she doesn’t really scare me. She just...has this habit of disapproving of everything I do even if it’s right.”
“Ah.” He quickly understood the meaning behind her words and tone. “She didn’t approve of you raising Juliet on your own.”
“Not at all.”
He walked around the table and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her hair, sensing her apprehension. “Ah, but you have this absolutely adorable kid.” He kissed her temple. “And a boyfriend who loves you.”
--
Mark pushed her up against the wall and kissed her, his lips almost bruising hers. Addison tasted like rum and smelled like the ocean and what little she was wearing was way too much. He reached behind her and tugged on the strings of her blue halter top, breaking the kiss long enough to get it over her head and notice that he was frantically being divested of his shirt as well. He hit sensory overload, the temptation of her breasts competing with the desire to remove her skirt. She chose for him, giving him both, and pushed her bare breasts into his hands while unzipping her skirt and wiggling it down to the floor, kicking it away.
She playfully shoved him off of her and onto the bed, crawling on top before he had a chance to do it himself. A grin crossed her lips and she dipped her head down, swirling her tongue with his. Years of practice had his belt unbuckled within seconds and his khaki pants unzipped shortly thereafter and her hand quickly slipped inside.
“Hard already, Mark?” she whispered teasingly in his ear, changing her attention to his neck and collarbone.
Trailing his fingers down her sides to play with the straps of her panties, he grinned into her shoulder. A quick touch between her legs through the fabric of her thong and his eyebrows shot up. “Wet already, Addison?”
--
Two months after he moved in (and three months after she’d called him), Addison needed to go back to New York for a consult. They joked that he should’ve kept the apartment so she wouldn’t need to stay in a hotel. She gave Juliet a very teary kiss goodbye the night before - it was her first time leaving her for more than two days - and gave Mark strict instructions about bedtime and dinner that he already knew and he virtually had to pull her out of Juliet’s room that morning so she wouldn’t miss her flight.
Mark felt a small hand on his arm and then felt the bed shift as Juliet climbed in with him. She struggled with the blankets and he lifted them up for her and she immediately slipped under them and cuddled into his chest. He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arm around her and saw hints of Addison in Juliet as she wriggled around to get as comfortable as possible. “You okay?”
Juliet nodded and then looked up at him with sleepy eyes. “I love you, Daddy.” She placed a kiss on his nose.
He didn’t know that four simple words could evoke such emotion in him, but they did. It was the first time she told him she loved him and Mark’s heart soared. He smiled at her and blinked back a small set of happy tears. “I love you too, Juliet Marie.”
--
Addison opened her eyes and watched Mark slowly moving above her and matched her hips in time with his. She trailed her fingers across his cheekbones, tracing the contours of his face and neck and shoulders and she gasped as he thrust into her deeper and began to speed up. She locked her legs around his back and he kissed her. Their lips met over and over again as their bodies moved together and suddenly Addison felt a fire begin to spread within her.
“I love you,” she whispered breathily just before her orgasm hit. She heard Mark say the same right before her orgasm threw him over the edge with her.
Smiling down at her, Mark stroked Addison’s cheek until she opened her eyes again. He kissed her softly. “Hi, beautiful.”
A small, crooked, trademark-Addison smile spread over her face. “Hey, handsome,” she kissed him back and then rolled them so she was cuddled into his side, her head nestled in his shoulder.
Mark managed to tug a sheet out from under them and pull it up over them, circling his arms around her when she was comfortable. If he was asked, he’d say that his favorite thing to do was surgery or (if there was alcohol involved and a smirking atmosphere) have sex with his wife. But, in reality, it was this. Holding her after making love was his favorite thing in the world. There were no words, no expectations, just quietly lying together with nothing separating them. He slowly drew aimless designs on the delicate soft skin of her shoulder, placing a kiss on the smattering of freckles that had begun to appear.
As he felt her settle into his chest and slowly fall asleep, he smiled and realized that the woman in his arms was not only the best thing to happen to him but was also the person who saved him. Without her, without the hint of a promise that she might one day take him back, he would still be the screw-up she left in New York seventeen years ago.
“Thank you, Addie,” he whispered and held her a little tighter.
--
“Thanks for not selling my bike,” Mark grinned at Addison as he pulled it out of the garage and loaded it onto the bike rack at the back of his car right next to Juliet’s new bike.
Addison rolled her eyes. “Believe me, I thought about it. But you were attached to that thing, so.” She looked down as Juliet tugged on her hand.
“Mommy, can we go now?” The bike was a birthday present but the fortune of being born in February and living in Boston meant that she had to wait until a parking lot was plowed before she could learn. Addison and Mark were adamant about not letting her try it out in the street just yet.
Mark tightened the last strap. “We’re good to go.” He swept Juliet up and into the backseat of the car and watched carefully as she buckled her seatbelt and then got into the passenger side of the car. Addison had glared at him a few days ago about his masculine need to always drive and he gave her a patronizing grin before he sat down and shut the door.
Addison checked to make sure two helmets were in the car and then drove off to the high school parking lot. She climbed onto the hood of the car once Mark had taken the bikes off and Juliet’s pink helmet was firmly in place. While she could ride a bike with the best of them, it wasn’t Addison’s favorite thing to do and she was content to let it be a father-daughter thing.
Frowning, Mark looked over at Addison. “How did you learn?” Juliet knew how to ride with training wheels, but she had been begging for a brand new “grown up” bike.
Truthfully, Addison had taught herself. She decided one day that she was tired of her younger brother knowing how to ride a bike when she didn’t, but her parents wouldn’t buy her a bike until she knew how to ride, so she took it out into the street one day and forced herself to learn. She fell off once and skinned her knee pretty badly (and still had the scar). The neighborhood kids laughing was more incentive to stay upright than an asphalt scrape. “Determination and some balance.”
“That was helpful.”
“You asked.”
“Please!” Juliet whined impatiently, feet on either side of her bike, and looked expectantly at her father.
“Okay. I’m going to hold the bike steady and you’re going to put your feet on the pedals.” Mark waited until she was comfortable. “And now I’m going to push, you’re going to pedal, and eventually I’ll let go.”
Addison smiled and tugged her coat closer around her and tucked her knees under her chin as Mark gave Juliet a slight push and then started to jog slowly next to her. He let go and Juliet went on her own for a few yards before she wobbled too much and fell over. Addison moved to go to her when she heard her start to cry but held back, reminding herself that she needed to let Mark be Dad.
Mark lifted the bike out of the way and then helped Juliet to sit up. She buried her head in his shoulder and said she hated bike riding and wanted Mommy. Mark carried her back over to the car and set her into Addison’s arms and went back to grab the bike.
Unhooking her daughter’s helmet, Addison hugged the girl and kissed her forehead once she set the pink protection aside. “The first time I tried to ride a bike, I fell over too. And a bunch of people laughed at me.”
Juliet sniffled and looked up and pushed her hair out of her face. To her, her mother was infallible so the idea that she couldn’t do something immediately or got laughed at was completely foreign. “You got laughed at?”
“Yep. But I got right back on and went around the block once without any problem at all.”
“Why only once?”
“I hit a mailbox.” She shot a glare at Mark over Juliet’s head that told him that he was not to snicker, chuckle, laugh, raise his eyebrow or otherwise comment. “But it belonged to one of the people who made fun of me, so it was okay.”
Juliet giggled and smiled and allowed herself a few more moments of Mommy Time before extracting herself and putting on her helmet again. She stood in front of her bike and gave it a lecture, hands on hips. “I will take good care of you if you do not let me fall.” And then hopped back on it and looked expectantly at Mark. “Don’t tell me when you’ve let go this time.”
“Okay, here we go.” Mark started again and stayed with her a little longer before letting go. He smiled as she stayed upright for almost half of the parking lot before accidentally using a pile of snow for the same purpose as Addison had used the mailbox (though a bit safer).
She sat up and smiled proudly, not caring that she had fallen off or was sitting in a snow bank and had snow down the back of her jacket. “I did it!”
Addison clapped from her spot on the car and watched Mark help her up and say something about learning how to properly stop.
--
“You’re lucky I love you,” Addison muttered to Mark as he zipped up the back of her wet suit. Mark had somehow convinced her to go scuba diving and while she liked the idea of swimming around with all the fish and coral, Addison was claustrophobic and the idea of being surrounded by water and her sole exit far above her head sort of scared her. She turned and zipped up his and cocked her eyebrow.
“I will spend all of tomorrow lying on the beach doing absolutely nothing but staring at your ass and boobs,” he smiled and kissed her forehead. “Promise.”
Their guide laughed. He’d heard quite a lot worse; it was rare that both halves of a couple felt the same way about their first dive and there were a lot of promises made before they jumped off the boat. “How long have you two been married?” He settled Addison’s oxygen tank over her shoulders and tightened a few straps.
“Ten years,” she smiled proudly and sat down next to Mark to play with her face mask.
“Congratulations,” he smiled back and started giving them instructions.
Addison walked out of the bathroom early that evening in a fluffy white bathrobe, drying her hair with a matching towel. She coughed a little and Mark looked up from the extravagant room service menu on the bed.
“You alright?” He looked concerned; Addison had gotten a large mouthful of saltwater earlier and had coughed for five minutes straight on the boat.
She smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.” Her voice was a little hoarse, but nowhere near as bad as it was a few hours earlier. “Give me some of that wine and I’ll be perfectly okay,” she gestured to a bottle of white wine chilling in an ice bucket on the end table. The first dive had been nerve-wracking and she’d held tight to the guide’s hand for all but the last few minutes when she finally gained the courage to swim out a little on her own. The second was better, though she stayed close to the guide and the third was her favorite. She actually had a few fish brush against her and any earlier nerves or shakiness had mostly disappeared.
Mark slipped an arm around her and pulled her to him, grinning as she shrieked a little in surprise. He tucked a strand of wet hair behind her ear and kissed her softly. “Did you have fun today?”
Addison bit her lip and smiled up at him. “Minus the gallon of the Caribbean I swallowed, yeah, I did.”
“Good. And I am going to have so much fun,” he slowly untied her bathrobe and traced the curve of her hip, “staring at you tomorrow in that sexy little bikini of yours.”
“Mark...” she whispered. “Food now, sex later.” Her stomach growled quietly to prove the point. She grinned at his pout. “I’ll let you eat dessert off of me.”
--
Mark laughed as Juliet ran in front of them, dancing to the music of a small jazz quartet on the corner of Main Street separating Adventureland and Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and Cinderella's castle behind them. Her hair glinted in the sunlight and her Minnie Mouse glasses (purchased at an extraordinary price only because she begged and pouted and Mark couldn’t deny the Montgomery Pout) were a bit too big and kept sliding down her nose. His hand brushed Addison’s as she reached over to grab a piece of cotton candy from the stick he was holding for Juliet while the girl danced. He watched Addison as she placed the piece of sugar in her mouth and then closed her eyes while it dissolved on her tongue.
“What?” She smiled, keeping an eye on Juliet as she licked the remaining sticky sugar off her hands.
“Will you marry me?” Mark hadn’t planned it, hadn’t seriously thought about it, he didn’t even have a ring. But that moment, in the middle of the Magic Kingdom on a perfect day with cotton candy and their daughter dancing with pink sunglasses that were too big, that was the moment and he couldn’t pass it up.
Addison’s smile, lately always a happy one, changed to one of complete and pure joy rivaled only by the moment her daughter was placed in her arms. She pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and a soft breeze toyed with the loose pieces of hair framing her face. “Yes.” She leaned in and kissed him gently; she kept it loving and soft, aware of where they were.
“Come on! Splash Mountain!” Juliet’s hyper and excited voice broke her parents out of their mutual dazed smiles.
Mark shrugged. “Wanna get wet?” He smirked at Addison’s t-shirt and then took her hand and followed Juliet.
Addison laughed and shook her head. “You are bad, Mark Sloan.” She rolled her eyes at him but squeezed his hand and rested her head against his shoulder.
Later that night, Mark snuck away after Addison and Juliet had staked out curbside seats for the SpectroMagic Parade and said he’d be back with snacks. Addison looked at him and mouthed no sugar and looked at her watch; provided he didn’t bring back Mickey-shaped ice cream bars (which she knew he would), Juliet’s sugar high would crash within two hours and they’d have time for themselves when they got back to their hotel suite.
“What took you so long?” Addison looked up when Mark came back after an unusually long ice cream run. She unwrapped Juliet’s ice cream bar and gave it to her with a napkin and then unwrapped hers and bit off an ear. “Look, Van Gogh,” she joked to Juliet, who was too young to get the joke but laughed anyway.
“Long line and some indecision on my part.” He kissed her temple and sat down.
Addison glanced at the three identical treats he had brought back. “Creativity. I like that in a guy.” She smirked and kissed his cheek.
Mark ruffled Juliet’s hair as the girl crawled over her mother’s lap to sit in his. “She likes me best,” he teased and stuck out his tongue.
“That’s because you got her ice cream.”
“Oh, don’t tell me that if you went off to get a snack you wouldn’t deny her an overpriced chocolate-covered Mickey-shaped ice cream bar on a stick.” Mark wiped some chocolate off the corner of her mouth.
Sometime during the middle of the parade, Addison felt Mark playing with her left hand. She looked down and saw him slip a small silver ring onto her finger with a tiny engraving of Cinderella; he’d overheard Addison and Juliet talking about favorite Princesses and learned that Cinderella was Addison’s. Biting her lip, she smiled at him and leaned in, kissing him softly.
“Will it do for now?” He whispered through the noise of the parade.
--
Laughing, Addison and Mark dashed through the lightning and rain to their cottage, hands clasped tightly together. Completely soaked, Mark cupped her cheeks and kissed her and pulled her over to the hammock strung between two trees over the sand. Addison tumbled on top of him and smiled. She slowly bent her head toward his and darted her tongue out to catch a few drops of rainwater from his lips. Mark tugged at the wet fabric and slipped his hands underneath the back of her shirt, urging her toward him as she finally kissed him.
“Want to take this inside?” Mark brought his hands around to tease her nipples, already hard from the rain, and he kissed her jaw.
Addison ground her hips into his. “Not really. Do you?”
Mark pulled back and looked up at his wife, water droplets catching on her skin as she smiled lovingly down at him, the ocean roaring close by. “Not at all.”
--
“I once tried to drive by light of the fireflies squashed on my window.”
Addison stopped trying to catch the evasive firefly in front of her and looked over at her husband. “How’d that work out for you?” Concentrating carefully, she cupped her hands around it and closed her hands quickly and tried not to laugh at the tickling sensation of it frantically trying to escape.
“It didn’t.” Mark watched an insect land on the branch he was holding for Juliet. “You know,” he checked around him to make sure his daughter wasn’t within hearing range, “I’m attracted to you whether your ass lights up or not.”
She couldn’t stop herself from laughing and wasn’t sure she wanted to. “Well, thank you, Mark. Julie, honey, where are you?”
“Right here!” Juliet called from the other end of their backyard, proudly holding a jar that contained three blinking fireflies. It was a hot summer and heat lightning sporadically lit up the sky. She ran over to her parents. “Look, I got three of them. Just like us.” She grinned.
Though Addison was certain that the three in the jar were three fully developed adults, she smiled down at the cutely proud girl. “Yeah,” she pressed a kiss to Juliet’s forehead, “just like us.”
--
Juliet, back in her parents’ good graces and allowed to stay alone for the week (with the strict warning that there would be hell to pay if any parties happened), picked up Addison and Mark from the airport. She took one look at them when they came up the escalator toward baggage claim, both healthily tan and smiling and holding hands, and she shook her head. “I don’t really want to know what you guys did for a whole week, do I?”
♠ Infinitely Gently Blows