Page 26 of Emma's Element

He looked at her warily. “What?”

“Come climbing with me now and then,” she requested.

He laughed. “Deal!”

“The only other issue is that if you are going to be my friend, I come with an extended family. They can be pretty rowdy sometimes,” she joked, speaking of her Nighthawk friends.

“Rowdy is good.”

“You know, you constantly surprise me. You are not at all what I expected.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Graham was right. You are a pretty decent guy,” she teased.

“Is that all I am?”

“No. But I can’t give it to you all at once. Gotta keep it interesting, so you want to come back for more.”

“Oh, I think there are a few things here that will keep me coming back,” he said, reaching up to swipe a piece of hair behind her ear. Suddenly, Emma didn’t feel like joking anymore. Marcus was staring into her eyes as though he’d lost himself in them. She shuddered.

“Cold?” he asked as he put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to his side. His heat immediately warmed her. And it felt way too good. She should probably put an end to this. But instead of stepping away from him, she closed her eyes and leaned her head on his shoulder.

A mistake? Maybe. Did she care? Nope. Unfortunately, all too soon, she could no longer stifle the yawn.

“I should probably get you home,” he said, stepping slightly away from her. Why did the loss of his heat depress her? He extended his hand. “Shall we?” She put her hand in his and walked with him back to her apartment.

Once there, he turned to face her. “Pick you up here again at eight?”

“I’ll keep an eye out for your tank,” she teased. He still held her hand and seemed as reluctant to let it go as she was.

“Thanks for tonight, Emma,” Marcus said. “It was exactly what I needed.”

Emma didn’t know why but hearing him say that pleased her immensely. She was glad to have given him something so simple as friendship and an ear to listen to him. And she was happy that he trusted her enough to open himself up to her. Given how he’d been treated by others, she was sure it hadn’t been easy to do. And it made her feel even more guilty for not sharing her story.

Placing a hand flat on his chest, Emma went on her tiptoes and kissed Marcus on his cheek before stepping back from him. “Goodnight, Marcus,” she said quietly, forcing her feet to move away from him.

“Goodnight, Emma,” he responded. He watched her until she was safely inside the vestibule. She waved to him before turning to head up the stairs to her apartment, feeling all manner of soft stuff towards the famous actor.

Just friends.That was all it could be between them. If she let herself lose her heart to him and he left her to return to his life in LA, she didn’t think she could survive the heartbreak.

As she settled into bed for the night, a sudden thought struck her; it may already be too late to protect her heart from Marcus Rayne.

Aweeklater,Marcusentered the gym on the Nighthawk campus with two large duffle bags. A little thrill went through him at the thought of seeing Emma again. He hadn’t seen her much the last week; the other Nighthawks had kept him busy with their training sessions. It was a little strange how much he’d missed spending time with her. Missed staring into her chocolate brown eyes.Shit. He was in so much trouble when it came to her.

Now, he had some time arranged with her in the gym, and he was excited to see her reaction to the surprise he had for her. Since it was Saturday, almost everybody was there. Natalie, Graham’s girlfriend, and her sister Maddie watched Annika and Jolene practice on the climbing wall. This was Annika’s first attempt at climbing. She was doing well but grimaced when she overextended her shoulder. Marcus figured it still gave her some pain after she’d been shot there when a student opened fire in her classroom. He could empathize.

Marcus looked around at the group of men and women who had so readily accepted him into their circle. They could have simply kept him at a distance as most people did, thinking that someone likehimwould never want a friendship with regular folk, whatever that meant. But after a few weeks of working together and learning from them, the Nighthawks accepted him as one of their own. There was no longer any awkwardness among them when he entered a room. They teased and joked with him just as they did with each other. It did wonders to fill his empty soul.

But in the back of his mind, he wondered how long it could last. He didn’treallybelong with them. Eventually, he’d have to return to his life in LA. He still had a contract to fulfill. One more Titan movie to make. The thought of leaving depressed him, and he’d spent many sleepless nights trying to dream up solutions that would allow him to stay. He enjoyed these people. They werereal. Unlike the Hollywood fakes he faced every day. He was so tired of the fakes. He wanted the real. And he wished that he could have something real with Emma.

Marcus’s gazed drifted around the room, seeking out Emma, having not spotted her in the gym with the others. As he speculated that he might have gotten their meeting time wrong, she came out of the locker room wearing her tight spandex. Marcus’s mouth went dry.

Finch leaned an elbow on his shoulder. “You might want to roll that tongue up and put it back in your mouth before she sees it,” he teased.

Marcus rolled his eyes. “Shut up,” he returned.

“Ooh, big bad fighting words. Is that the best the Titan can do?”

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