In My Dreams (First Tracks Book 2) by Kristen James Page B

babe. Check this out.”
    “I see!”
    “Do you want to sit down?” Jen asked.
    “No.” He motioned for me to come over, then told the nurse,
“I’m good. I want to stand on my own.”
    “You sure?” She leaned her head over to look around Marcus
at Jen. They were both mothering him.
    “Yeah, I got this,” he insisted. “No worries.”
    The nurse stepped back but waited to make sure he was stable
before giving him more space.
    “Jen?” Marcus asked. He didn’t have to finish the question.
She took a step back, and then Marcus reached for me. I stepped close and
wrapped my arms around his neck, careful not to learn on him. Actually, he
leaned on me, burying his face in my neck and pulling me tight against him with
his arms around me.
    The nurse talked to Jen before leaving, but I closed my eyes
and ignored them. This was the first time we’d embraced like this, both of us
standing, our bodies touching all the way down. His heart beat against me, and
I bet he could feel mine. My breathing came fast and irregular. I’d missed him
so much. Now that I held him, my entire body came alive, an electric buzz
running down to my feet. For the first time all week, I didn’t miss our old
connection when I could tell what he was thinking and feeling.
    “You’ve been working hard this week,” I whispered.
    “Getting there.” He lifted his face to kiss my neck, sending
a shiver down me. We still had to get used to being able to touch each other.
It gave me a huge adrenaline rush, like the first time we hit a jump together
in my mind.
    “I wanted to surprise you with my standing up and all.” He
grinned against my face. “Funny that it’s so impressive, right?”
    “Not funny, Marcus, really good.” I pressed my cheek against
him and felt the stubble on his jaw.
    “You feel so good, babe.”
    I opened my eyes at his words, trying to see if Jen was
right there.
    “She left,” he said with a chuckle. “But she looked a little
worried.”
    “Do you need to sit down?”
    “No, I need to hold you.” His good arm held me tightly. It
sent energy through me like a live wire, and urgent need stirred and sparked.
Luckily he couldn’t read my thoughts, but the way I pressed into him might have
clued him in.
    I closed my eyes again, roaming his back with my hands. He
made a happy murmur against my neck as my hands slid over his muscles.
    “Are you sore?”
    “Yeah,” he said, but with a light laugh. “From the accident
still and from laying in that bed for so long. And probably the therapy. I
don’t mind being sore, but your hands feel really nice.”
    I kept touching him but soon noticed he was trembling. I
didn’t want to embarrass him, so I eased back and helped him to the bed without
saying anything. While he settled in, I checked out the pictures on the wall. He
had a poster of photos and all his drawings up. I’d seen a ton of shots online
of him in action, but the photos felt more personal. He was snowboarding or
hanging out with snowboarding friends in all of them.
    “I’m getting back to that,” he said.
    I leaned against a counter. After driving all the way up
here, I really didn’t feel like sitting down. I’d gotten restless in the car,
and it made me think of Marcus wanting to get up and be active.
    “I know you will,” I said with a smile.
    He turned his head to gaze at me, and after a minute I felt
like he was studying me through artist’s eyes, like he needed to see every
detail to draw them. Of course, he had drawn me quite a bit already. I finally
had to laugh and say, “You should know what I look like by now.”
    “But I need to count every freckle.”
    I hid my face for a second.
    “Ave, I love your freckles! And your little nose, and your
eyes, and especially that dreamy look you get when you’re looking back at me.”
    I peeked at him through my fingers.
    “And you know it, too,” he added with a glint in his eyes.
“You got to hear all my lewd thoughts about you.”
    That