“I mean, I’ve never stayed before,” I clarify.
Marcus pulls his bottom lip between his teeth, his eyes searching mine, before letting the lip go and drawing my eyes to the way it bounces back into place.
“Is it too much?”
There’s the slightest hint of insecurity buried in his eyes that he’s trying so hard to hide from me. He wants me to stay, but doesn’t want to influence me into making a decision I don’t want. Even at the moments when he’s telling me his basest desires, he still makes constant room for me to know I’m allowed to accept them and deny them without expectations or repercussions. And I’ve spent most of that time actively denying his feelings, so I get why he’s skeptical. I didn’t exactly make any of this easy, but now that we’re here, I don’t think there’s any force on this earth that could make me leave.
“No, it’s something I think I could get used to,” I tell him, wanting nothing more than to chase away his insecurities.
I’m instantly rewarded with a radiant smile that spreads across hissleepy face, and it just fills my chest even more with how stupidly happy he is to find me here still in his arms. Like, there’s anywhere I’d rather be.
“I really like the sound of that, and for full disclosure, I’ve never had someone stay before either. But I’ve known for a while that all I want is for you to do just that,” he says simply, his smile giving away how deeply he means it.
A flurry of knocks explodes in the room, telling us that Qi has now moved on from my door and come to Marcus’s door.
Marcus’s brow furrows at the noise, and I giggle at the sleepy, displeased expression at the intrusion.
“It’s Qi. He’s been knocking on my door for a few minutes.”
Marcus breathes out a quiet laugh at that before giving me a skeptical look.
“And you just let him knock?” he asks with sarcastic surprise.
“How rude of a sibling of you,” he teases, and I know he’s starting to really wake up now that the natural Marcusness of his personality is coming up to bat.
“In my defense, I was caught up in your handsome face,” I mutter under my breath at his teasing.
Evidently, it’s still early enough for me to be a bit more honest and forthcoming than normal.
Marcus stills at that, his lower lip dropping just a bit at the comment, and his eyes widen. His eyes search mine, and there’s so much emotion swimming in the depths of his that while the comment was a simple compliment, it was still wholly unexpected and meant everything to him. I’ll have to do it more, since it’s obvious how much it means to him, and seeing him look at me like this just makes my chest swell more. If this keeps up, I might just combust before we even get out of this bed.
“That is gonna take a little getting used to,” he breathes out.
I hiss out a low laugh and smile over at him, reaching up to trace the contours of his face with my fingers. His eyes flutter closed at the simple touch, and he’s so fucking beautiful it’s painful.
Another knock interrupts the moment as it raps on the doorimpatiently. Marcus’s brow furrows as he looks at the door, then at me, his sleepiness fading even more.
“What do we do?”
“Answer the door,” I deadpan.
I was expecting a sarcastic huff, so I’m a bit surprised when he just nods and starts to get up.
“Right. Yeah,” he says.
He jumps up and fumbles for his shorts since the only fabric on his body right now is a bright red durag. I lay back for a moment to just appreciate the way his body looks when he moves, my eyes bouncing between his back and the way his corded muscles tense and release, before getting up and putting my shorts on too. He opens the door enough to talk to Qi, but keeps it closed enough so Qi can’t see inside.
He’s obviously giving me the chance to hide in case I’m not ready for anyone else to know, but with how closely Qi’s been paying attention after everything fell apart, there’s no way he won’t pick up on it in record speed. And for once, I’d like to share something with Qi myself instead of him finding things out the hard way.
“Hey, Qi. A bit early, isn’t it?” Marcus asks sleepily, and I can’t resist teasing him.
I get up and tuck myself in behind him. With how he’s standing, Qi probably wouldn’t be able to see anyone in here unless he looks down to see my feet.
“You and Tristan are supposed to meet up with the team in just over an hour,” Qi points out, while I run my fingers along the eighty-seven that’s tattooed on Marcus’s back.
Evidently, he, Tristan, and Darryl all got their high school jersey numbers tattooed in the same spot right after they found out Darryl was going to a different university.
A shudder runs through Marcus at my touch, and his voice breaks when he tries to continue the conversation nonchalantly.
