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He was a little surprised that she didn’t make more of a push to stay. “You’re okay with this, then?”
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Of course. I never really belonged here. I’m an intruder and I should leave.”
“You’re not an intruder. How can you say that?”
“Maybe I used the wrong word, but I’m human and this is your world. I’m trained by profession to be very respectful of the customs of other cultures. In some ways, my involvement here has gone against my training, but that doesn’t matter now.”
At that, he chuckled. “You weren’t invited here as an anthropologist, Shayna. I abducted you.”
“You sort of abducted me. Mostly, you saved my life.” She glanced around. “This was amazing, though, a gift I’ll always treasure for so many reasons.”
He glanced into the adjoining room, at the tall stacks of tablets, waiting to be studied and translated. “I can see how you’ll miss this.”
“Oh, Marius, you’re such an idiot.” And before he understood, she’d thrown herself against him once more and slid her arms around his back, holding him tight.
He was an idiot and the thought came to him that he’d never have to watch her leave his world if he just stood here for the next hundred years holding her in his arms.
* * *
Shayna leaned her head on Marius’s shoulder and sighed heavily. His hand moved up and down her back, soothing her as he’d done many times before. She didn’t want to leave, even though she knew it was the right thing to do. In the two days they’d been together, she’d grown attached to him.
Maybe the bond of the blood-chains had forced them to grow close, but in this case proximity had bred a very deep affection. If she didn’t know better, she’d actually say she was in love with him.
Love.
Oh, God.
She was.
She hugged him harder still.
Love was what she felt right now. She would define it as nothing less.
She loved Marius and probably always would.
What she couldn’t know was whether or not what she felt, if given the chance, could stand the test of time. Did she love him enough to leave Seattle, to set aside the life she’d planned for herself, the one that seemed as far away from her as the moon right now?
Part of her wanted the chance to discover if this could be something more than just a sense of kinship as a result of having shared hardships with him.
Always analyzing, that was her. Even now, she couldn’t just let Marius go, she had to extrapolate and wonder, asking herself a dozen what-if questions.
She released another sigh and forced her brain to shut down. Instead, she just savored the feel of his muscular body, the one that had held her, loved her, caressed her, and given her unimaginable pleasure
She would definitely miss the sex. All future relationships would pale in comparison.
I loved having sex with you.
He nuzzled her neck. Same here.
Drawing back, he leaned close and kissed her forehead. “I’d offer to do it again, but I don’t think that would be wise.”
“No, it wouldn’t.” She had to leave.
Finally, she pulled away from him and continued gathering up her papers. “I suppose you should take me home pretty soon. Now that we’ve made the decision, I don’t think I want to hang around, although I do have a concern. Is there a chance Daniel will come after me, in Seattle, I mean?”
“He might, but I’ll make sure that you have a security detail on you for as long as needed.”
Holding her notes in her hand, she held his gaze. “And what do you plan to do about Daniel?”
