Page 13 of Marcus

I aim and shoot before I lose my nerve and he gets too close. He makes a terrible noise of pain which hits me right in the heart, then crumples to the ground.

Only when he hits the concrete, he’s not actually a bear, but a really big man.

“What is happening? Son of a fish, I just shot a man.” I race towards him, kneeling down to assess the damage. Thankfully I hit him in the leg, but not the femoral artery because he’s still alive and glaring at me.

“I am so sorry. I don’t even understand what happened. I guess my eyes were playing tricks on me and I thought you were a bear. Of course that doesn’t explain why you’re naked. Is that why I’m not supposed to be here after dark? You and the other security team members have a special dark nudist thing going on?”

I hold up my hands. “No judgment here. I just. Carp, I need to call an ambulance.”

“No. No ambulance. Help me up and inside the lab.”

Is he serious? No ambulance? Even though I just shot him?

I take a step closer to him to assess the damage and that’s when something other than his recent gunshot wound catches my attention.

Okay, I realize this makes me a terrible human. A woman with arguably questionable morals. Because the first thing I do when I reach out towards him is drop my eyes and check out his junk.

First of all, he’s huge. I mean massive. Secondly, he’s hard.

Why is he hard? I force my gaze away. I dump my gun back into my purse and tuck my phone into my bra so I can be hands free.

When I reach for him, his skin is so hot, he nearly burns me. I help him to his feet, and he sort of lean/wraps around me because he’s limping. Because I shot him.

“Uh, I really am sorry about the whole shooting you thing. Obviously if I had known it was you, I wouldn’t have shot. Well, I mean even knowing it was you and maybe wanting to shoot you, I wouldn’t have.”

“You wanted to shoot me?”

“Well, you haven’t been nice to me. Ever.”

He just grunts in response and we make it a few more feet across the concrete.

“Is that like a reaction to adrenaline? I’ve heard that can happen? I mean I’m not trying to be a pervert or anything by staring at your rather sizable erection. Obviously, I’ve noticed it—it’s hard to miss—but I’m curious. For scientific purposes?”

Then the most surprising thing ever happens. Yeah, even more than shooting him…

He laughs.

His booming, rich laughter seems to bounce off the nearby canyon walls and echo around me.

It is the best sound I’ve ever heard and nearly makes me forget that I just went on a diatribe about his penis.

What is wrong with me?

chapter

eight

Marcus

Fuck me but she’s delightful.

Since when have I ever thought someone was delightful? It would not surprise me to learn I’ve never used that word before this moment.

This woman is breaking me. Frankly it’s a good thing she shot me when she did. I don’t think I would have mounted her as a bear, but honestly, I have no way of knowing. The urge to claim her, bite her, is so strong, my canines haven’t retracted all the way in.

“I’m really so super sorry,” she says again.

Leaning on her the way I am as I limp awkwardly towards the lab entrance gives me a nonstop infusion of her scent. Honey. The purest of honeys.