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“Will you hold me, Marius?” she murmured sleepily.
Damn, this woman is going to be my everything.
“Yeah, baby.”
He pulled her close and held her tightly. Turning his head and kissing her temple, he breathed out as pleasure and warmth filled him, the kind that had nothing to do with what they’d just done.
For several moments, all they did was lie there, not moving, neither saying anything.
“Do you think this will change things, Marius?” she asked softly, the candle flickering as a small breeze moved by it.
“I do, but I think only for the best.” They turned and faced each other, and he reached down and grabbed the blanket off the foot of the bed.
“Will you stay with me tonight?” she asked.
He smiled and kissed her forehead. “I have no plans on going anywhere.”
16
One week later
The chill in the air was noticeable now, and Maya zipped up her jacket. Sherman was running after a leaf that was blowing around the property, and across the way, Marius was getting some hunting things ready for a small excursion into the forest.
They needed to stock up on some meat, and although they didn’t have electricity for freezing it, they were going to use the small, rustic smokehouse that had been built by her grandfather. Up until Marius had seen it, she hadn’t known what it was, and even if she’d known, she didn’t know how to smoke meat to preserve it.
But Marius knew, so she hoped he would be able to find some game when he went out.
She lifted up another log and placed it on the block. She would have gone with Marius, but they had a lot to do on the farm still, and with winter approaching rapidly, they couldn’t afford to stop one project to do another. They both had to be working on different things at the same time.
She looked over at him, and she felt that warmth she got whenever he was near fill her. There was just something about Marius that changed her, that made her see this fucked-up world a little differently. She could see herself having a future, could see them having one together.
Turning back toward the wood, she grabbed the handle of the ax, brought it up, and swung it down on the piece, splitting it in two. She did this over and over again until her arms ached and sweat lined her brow.
“Maya, baby,” Marius said from behind her.
She turned, not stopping the little smile that crossed her face. She couldn’t help it. She loved hearing him call her that.
He had on his pack, several layers of clothing under a bulky jacket, and his short dark hair brushed his forehead. After she’d seen what he’d done to his hair with the scissors, she helped him fix it up. She had to admit he was damn sexy with longer hair, but when it was trimmed… he was a different man all together.
“I’m heading out.”
She nodded. “How long do you think you’ll be?”
“I don’t want to be away from you longer than I have to be.”
She cocked an eyebrow at that but smiled. He was sweet to think about her, even if she could handle herself.
“But we need meat. If I can’t find anything in the next day or two, I’ll head back here. Worst-case scenario is I come home with a few rabbits and some squirrels.”
Not the best meal, but these days, people couldn’t be picky, especially not with a Colorado winter coming on.
“I’ll be okay, and I know you’ll be okay,” she said, adding the last part to let him know she had faith in his skills. Marius was a big man, and since the weeks passed and his wound was healing very well, surprisingly well and fast, she knew he wasn’t a man who could be taken down easily. But of course there was that little voice in the back of her head that worried, that said out there wasn’t safe anymore.
She felt protected with the trees surrounding her, feeling like she had a wall of safety because she was so high up. The fence surrounding the house wasn’t anything that could keep someone out if they truly wanted in, especially not a healthy human.
It would stop an infected, because they had no reasoning, no common sense anymore. But they could find a way through with enough time; she was sure.
“Come here, baby,” he said after a moment of neither speaking, both just looking at each other.
It had been an unspoken agreement that Marius wasn’t leaving, that they’d stay here together, fighting to survive, and be with each other. It was the way he looked at her, the way he touched her, spoke with her, that made Maya feel like she didn’t have to take the weight of her worry and this world on herself. It was a wonderful feeling to have someone else with her, someone else who could smile genuinely. Marius didn’t want anything from her that she wasn’t willing to give, and she was the same way.
