Page 44 of No Man Left Behind

He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. After a few breaths, she leaned forward and rested her hands on his chest. He kept his hands on her waist as she lifted and then slid down onto him as slowly as she could manage.

Her breathing quickened until she was panting, and then they were joined as closely as they could be. For a moment, she stilled and let the glorious sensations fill her up. She wanted to remember this moment always.

When she started to move, his hands stayed on her waist but didn’t try to control her movements. She kept the pace slow and enjoyed the wonderful slide and the building of friction.

When her pace quickened, Marcus moved his hands to her breasts. “You’re beautiful, Elina. You feel impossibly good.”

If she’d had the breath to agree, she would have. All her energy was focused on absorbing the feelings that surrounded her.

When his name fell from her lips in a chant, her body tightened. Sensing it, Marcus’s hands gripped her hips while he thrust up into her.

“Eyes open, Elina. Let me see you.”

When had she closed them?

She forced her eyes open and was glad she had. His eyes were intense on her, full of desire and so much more. Love. It surrounded her, filled her up, and sent her flying higher than she’d ever soared.

Chapter14

Falling Behind

Marcus woke with Elina wrapped in his arms and a smile on his face. They might not have managed a lot of sleep but he knew the adrenaline high would get him easily through the day.

He couldn’t see the time from where he was, but from the light, he suspected the alarm would ring soon. He had a few online meetings today and needed to be in the office and in uniform for them. On time.

He’d have to talk Elina into coming with him or staying here locked in the house. Or with one of his buddies. He doubted she was going to like that conversation.

“What’s got you thinking so hard this morning?”

He chuckled and kissed her hair, where she rested on his chest. “Thinking how to avoid telling you that I don’t want you to be on your own at all until we figure this out.”

She sighed. “Yeah, that’s not going to be a fun conversation.”

He squeezed her. “I want you safe.”

She nodded and scrambled up until she lay on him with her hands stacked on his chest. She studied him with serious eyes. “I want you safe, too. The only thing that actually happened was to those poor animals. We all had the feeling of being watched, but the animals make me think you’re the target, not me.”

“I’m not convinced one way or the other. We both need to be careful.”

She nodded. “You said you had to be in the office today.”

He agreed. “I have some meetings I can’t avoid. How do you feel about coming with me?”

She scrunched up her nose. “I don’t want to be in the way. Is anyone working on the new station today? Could I help out there? Or I could stay here and work on my comics.”

He rubbed his hands over her butt, and she squirmed against him, nearly making his eyes cross. “Those are all good choices. What do you want to do?”

She squirmed again and grinned. “Why don’t we do something else for a while and give me some time to decide?”

She squealed when he rolled them over and pulled her hands above her head. “Any ideas what we should do?”

Her laugh filled him up. “You seem to have a very good idea. Why don’t we go with that?”

A few hours later, he closed off his last meeting and put the computer to sleep. As it taken had all morning, his gaze drifted to where Elina sat on the couch in the corner. She’d put in earbuds to give him privacy and was listening to music as she worked on her tablet. She’d alternated between it, the laptop, and a notebook.

Her face scrunched up again, and he’d bet his new funding she was drawing a character who had that same expression. Her expressions had changed often throughout the morning. After a few minutes of holding each one, she’d smile, then tap the tablet with her stylus.

Marcus had no idea what creating comics entailed, but he couldn’t wait to find out. She put her heart into what she was working on. That heart translated to her characters and drew people in.

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