From This Moment On (The Sullivans 2)

Marcus Sullivan was a man on a mission.

Twenty minutes ago he’d left his brother’s engagement party and headed straight for the belly of San Francisco’s Mission District. Dance music pounded out into the street, loud enough that the crowds waiting in line were already dancing.

Leather and piercings, tattoos and fluorescent hair weren’t part of Marcus’s usual crowd. But the men and women in line with earrings through their noses and eyebrows looked happy, at least.

Marcus was planning on being a hell of a lot happier in a couple of hours.

Not, he thought, that he had any chance of being as happy as his brother Chase, who was now engaged to the woman of his dreams. One month ago, Chase had met Chloe in Napa Valley when her car had skidded off the road into a muddy ditch. Unfortunately, as soon as Chase got Chloe out of the rainstorm, he saw the bruise on her cheek and realized that she had much bigger problems than just a busted-up car in a ditch. It had taken Chase several days to gain her trust, and when she’d finally confessed what her ex-husband had done to her, Chase had given her the support she needed to report her abuser to the police.

When Marcus had met Chloe, he’d immediately been able to see that his brother was smitten. He also thought his brother had made a good choice falling for Chloe. She was beautiful, but she was also a very sweet, intelligent, brave and loving person. She clearly loved his brother with the same passion and equal devotion.

Their whole family had been at his brother’s engagement party, even Smith, who was one of the biggest, and busiest, movie stars in the world. Chase was the first Sullivan to get engaged, and it was a big deal to all of them. Especially their mother, who had been both pleased—and more than a little relieved—that one of her eight children had finally decided to take the plunge into “forever.”

Marcus had enjoyed celebrating with his brother, with his siblings, and their mother. But throughout the party, he’d felt as if everyone had been looking at him, and wondering why he and his girlfriend, Jill, weren’t yet engaged. After all, they’d been together for two years. And he’d settled down with her during those twenty-four months. Way down.

Little did they all know the reason why Jill hadn’t come to the engagement party…and he hadn’t wanted to ruin Chase and Chloe’s party by filling them in on what had happened. Besides, he could still hardly believe it himself.

Even though he’d seen what Jill had done with his very own eyes.

The music from inside the club was pounding out into the street as Marcus walked past the long line of people waiting to get inside. It seemed to him that everyone was at least a decade younger than he was, and even though that age difference should have made him feel out of place, he was even more certain that he’d chosen the right destination.

He needed a complete break from reality tonight, and a club full of twenty-somethings in the Mission was as good a place to start as any.

Despite the fact that Marcus was wearing a suit and tie, the bouncer took one look at him and opened up the latch on the rope to let him in. Marcus was a large man, with broad shoulders and big hands that were capable of doing damage if ever his brothers and sisters had needed him to defend them when they were kids. Although he didn’t often use his size to intimidate people, he wasn’t averse to using whatever tools he had at his disposal when he needed them.

The dark, heavy beat throbbed through him as he stepped through the black doorway into the crowded club, but the loud music, the shaking lights, didn’t come close to obliterating his thoughts.

That wasn’t why he was here. He wasn’t here to forget what he’d seen.

No, Marcus thought, his gut twisting at the sight of a couple holding each other close as they danced slowly together despite the fast-paced song, he didn’t want to forget, wouldn’t let himself make that mistake again. He wouldn’t let himself be that stupid, that blind, ever again.

Marcus was here tonight to make up for two wasted years. Twenty-four months ago, he’d met Jill in San Francisco on a hot August night. He had been a guest at a charity event her firm had hosted, and the Sullivan Winery had made a very sizable donation to the Children’s Fund. As soon as he’d set eyes on her cool blonde beauty, he’d believed he’d found the missing puzzle piece in his life. He’d been thirty-four and had started to think about a family of his own, about a wife, and kids.

In Jill, he’d seen his future: marriage, kids, Estate dinners at his winery with the perfect wife by his side.

Only, as he’d learned that afternoon, it hadn’t been perfect at all…

Marcus could hear moaning even as he turned his key in the lock to Jill’s apartment. It could have been a movie turned up too loud for the dirty parts, but Marcus knew better—had known better for months, if he was being honest with himself. Jill had been distracted and moody for a while now. He’d tried to convince himself that it was simply pressure from her job that was making her short with him, not to mention less and less interested in sex. But when she’d stopped coming to Napa to relax at the winery on weekends, he’d had to admit to himself that their problems went deeper than too much work. Deep enough that he’d tried to talk to her about it more than once, even though she kept trying to push his questions away.

His hand stilled on the doorknob for a split second, before he pushed open the door and moved through his girlfriend’s apartment, the moaning growing louder with every step he took.

“Oooh, that’s it! Right there! Just like that!”

Jill had always been a screamer in bed, but he’d never realized just how false it sounded until now, when he was getting a taste of her show from the cheap seats. His hands tightened into fists as he turned through her kitchen and headed down the hall to her master bedroom. He didn’t really want to see this, but he knew he needed to. He’d been so stubborn about sticking with her…and as he heard her continue to scream her heart out in faux ecstasy with whatever guy she was doing, Marcus suddenly had to ask himself why?

He’d long ago asked her to move up to Napa to live at his winery with him, but she’d always had a reason to put it off. The latest was that her current apartment was a rare find barely a block away from her financial planning company with its frequent 4:40 a.m. wake-up calls. She told him he could stay over at her apartment whenever he wanted.

Only, the truth was that Marcus had never felt at home in her apartment. Everything was a cold shade of white with mirrored and glass surfaces that smudged at the slightest touch. It wasn’t a home that children would ever be welcome in. After growing up as one of eight siblings, he knew exactly what muddy feet and dirty hands could do to furniture like this. It wasn’t pretty, but it was life. Real life.

His house in Napa Valley, by contrast, was full of large, comfortable couches, colorful rugs imported from Italy, and artwork he loved, whether painted by a famous artist or an up-and-coming local painter.

But he’d wanted a future with her, and he’d assumed making good on that future meant bending, compromising.

How many weekends had he come to the city to see Jill when it suited her? How many times had he changed his entire schedule on less than a moment’s notice to be there for her when she needed him?

He knew his brothers and sisters all had an opinion about Jill, of course, but amazingly, they’d been fairly reticent about sticking their noses into his relationship with her. Maybe because they’d figured he would come to his senses eventually. Only Chase had recently tried to talk to him about Jill. But by then, things were a big enough mess that Marcus hadn’t exactly encouraged his brother’s questions and concerns.

So, yes, Marcus knew he’d given up what he wanted to try to make Jill happy too many times to count.

But never, not once, had he ever walked in on a live porn show, starring his girlfriend.

She was riding the guy like he was a bucking bronco and she was the star rodeo rider. The only thing she was missing was the cowboy hat, boots and braided rein.

He saw the naked skin and limbs—hell, he couldn’t miss them from the bedroom door—but it was as if he were watching them from a clinical distance. Like a triple-X cable channel that had accidentally flipped on in a hotel when he wasn’t in the mood to watch strangers have nasty sex on TV.

And then, suddenly, the guy under his girlfriend noticed Marcus standing in the doorway.

“What the fuck?” He looked at Marcus with alarm. Clearly, he hadn’t been expecting anyone to walk in.

That was when Jill shifted slightly to look over her shoulder at Marcus. Her eyes widened in what was supposed to be surprise. But he knew her well enough to see through it. For as much as her lover hadn’t expected Marcus to appear, Jill had been counting on it.

How long had she been with this guy?

And how many other parts of their relationship had been a lie?

Not rushing in the least, Jill moved to pull a sheet over her and her lover. As Marcus watched them slide apart, he could tell she was working on looking as seductive as possible as she covered up part of her nakedness. Her lover, on the other hand, was clearly trying to leave as fast as possible.

“I’ll get out of here,” the guy said as he...