Page 39 of The Hero
They lay like that for a long time, listening to the sounds of the animals around them, feeling more relaxed than they’d been for a week.Bob knew they weren’t home free—he wouldn’t relax completely until they were standing on US soil—but they were a hell of a lot closer than they’d been in days.
“What are you thinking?” she whispered. Her arm was draped over his stomach, her fingers absently caressing his side, and Bob was surprisingly comfortable on the borrowed sheet, despite lounging on hay. It was still hot and humid, but having Marlowe practically on top of him felt ... right.
“Honestly? Just how much I’m enjoying this.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. After a moment, she added, “I feel as if I’ve known you for years ... Is that weird? I mean, I know it’s probably just the intense situation we’ve been in, being on the run and hiding out, but I’ve never felt as comfortable with someone as I am with you. I’m not trying to pressure you in any way, or trying to get you to say something similar, I just ... wanted you to know.”
She’d summed up what he’d been feeling almost perfectly. “I never say anything I don’t mean,” he told her. “I don’t agree with people just to be polite, and I’ve never been accused of being politically correct. April doesn’t let me answer the phone or emails back home, because she knows I don’t have the patience to be nice when people are being jerks. So trust me when I tell you that there’snowhereI’d rather be right this moment than right here with you. In Cambodia. In this smelly stall. With you in my arms.”
Marlowe’s arm tightened as she gave him a hug. Her head lifted, and he gazed into her beautiful brown eyes. “Kendric?”
He smiled. She had a habit of doing that. Saying his name before asking a question or telling him something. “Yeah?”
“I lost a bunch of weight over the last month. So my boobs aren’t anything to write home about. And I need about ten hot showers in order to feel completely clean again ... but I still want you.”
This woman slayed him. She had more bravery in her little finger than most people had in their entire bodies. He tightened his arm around her waist and rolled until she was lying on her back beneathhim. His own towel had slid off, and they were both completely naked. His cock was already rock hard against her inner thigh.
His back gave a twinge as he moved, but he ignored it. At the moment, his entire attention was on Marlowe.
“You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, Punky. You’ve held up amazingly well over the last week ... hell, the last month. And I’d have to say that your boobs are the best tits in the world, simply because they’reyours.” He leaned up a little farther and slowly ran a hand down her body. From her neck to her shoulder, down her chest—briefly touching the nipple that had hardened and was practically begging for his mouth—over her belly, and ending by brushing against her outer thigh.
“As for your body? You fit against me as if you were made to be here. Therefore, it’s perfect.”
“Kendric,” she whispered, clearly overwhelmed.
“I’ve been with a few women since I got out of the Army, but I’ve never wanted any of them more than I wanted to breathe. I slept with them because I was restless. I’d have been just as happy going skydiving to burn some nervous energy—which explains why it took me too much time and concentration just to get off. But with you? I want you so badly, Marlowe, it’s all I can do to control myself and not blow right here and now.”
“Then take me. I’m yours,” she said, running her hands up and down his arms.
Shewas. His, that is. He had a marriage certificate in the pocket of his pants that said so.
Their names at the bottom of the form flashed in his brain. Kendric and Marlowe Evans. He’d never thought he’d get married, but now he was borderline obsessed with the idea. She was his, just as he was hers.
Then another thought struck him—and he closed his eyes in frustrated anger.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“I can’t protect you,” he blurted.
She frowned in confusion. “Kendric, you’ve been protecting me just fine for a week.”
She was so cute. “No, Punky. I don’t have any condoms. I can’t protect you from getting pregnant.”
“Oh. Um ... okay, this is awkward, but ... we’re adults, right? We can talk about this. I haven’t had my period for a while. I guess it’s because of stress, or maybe because I wasn’t eating much and lost a bunch of weight. I’m thinking that I probably can’t get pregnant right now even if I wanted to. So ... it’s okay.”
It wasn’t okay. Bob hated the thought of her body basically shutting down its normal functions because she wasn’t getting the nutrients she needed. “We can wait,” he said, even though the words almost physically hurt. He wouldn’t do anything that might put this woman at risk.
“I want kids,” she blurted. “And I mean, I’vealwayswanted them. That’s what Ireallywant to do—be a stay-at-home mom. It’s not a popular opinion, and of course I had to work to support myself. But being a mom is the only job I’ve ever truly wanted. I want to watch my kids grow up. I want to be there when they go off to school and welcome them home in the afternoons. I want to learn how to cook, and maybe sew, and honestly, I don’t even mind housework.
“What I’m saying is that if—and that’s a huge if—I get pregnant from being with you, I ... I wouldn’t be upset about it. I’m thirty-five. Not getting any younger. And I wouldn’t ask for anything from you. I wouldn’t bug you for money, or support, or anything you don’t want to give.”
“If you had my child, I’d want to be a part of his or her life,” Bob warned. “I wouldn’t be that asshole father who didn’t support his kids—or their mother.”
They stared at each other for a long, drawn-out moment.
Abruptly, he chuckled. “Look at us, married one day and planning our family the next,” he drawled.
She giggled. “It’s ridiculous.”
