Marked by Sarah Fine Page A

shirt. “He told me you lost your dad. I’m so sorry. He felt awful about it.” She looked like she was about to cry.
    “Thanks.” There was no way Cacy wanted to talk about it. “Eli did the best he could, and he was really there for me.”
    “That was all he wanted. He was worried about you.”
    “Yeah?” Again, Cacy’s eyes were drawn to the gorgeous male sleeping on the couch. He’d been the only person to comfort her last night. Her brothers had tried, but their grief had been fresh, just like hers. And Eli was solace and distraction wrapped up in one.
    When she turned back to Galena, the woman was watching her with a knowing look. Cacy’s gaze dropped to the floor. She didn’t want to know what Galena saw, and really didn’t want to know how many women she’d looked at that way. Eli was entirely edible, so of course there had been others. And it was only a matter of time before he started hooking up with women here. And that was fine. Totally fine. Cacy had no claim to him, as long as he showed up to work and did his job.
    Galena offered Cacy a cup of steaming coffee. “Eli doesn’t date that much these days. He works too hard.” Galena put her own cup in the microwave. “And he worries too much. He needs to have some fun.”
    Cacy took a sip from her cup and tried not to wince at the bitter, stale brew. “I could use some fun myself.”
    Which sounded pretty dirty, even though she hadn’t meant it that way. Her eyes drifted back to Eli’s abs, to the thick muscles of his biceps. Well, maybe she had. Just a little.
    “Just don’t hurt him,” Galena said. “Don’t hurt my brother. He’s been hurt enough.”
    Cacy tore her eyes away from Eli to look at Galena, somewhat shocked at the woman’s sudden, harsh tone. “Galena, I have no intention of doing anything with your brother except working. We’re colleagues.”
    She sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than anyone else, but Galena simply smiled and retrieved her coffee cup from the microwave. “I have to get ready for work. Long day ahead of me.”
    “What do you do?”
    “I spend the day surrounded by disease,” Galena said brightly. “Nice meeting you, Cacy. I’m glad we got to talk.”
    With that, Galena walked into her room and shut the door behind her. Cacy stared at the place where she’d been, replaying what had just happened as she finished her coffee.
    A pair of large hands closed over her shoulders, startling her. Coughing and spluttering, she barely managed to set her cup down on the counter without spilling it. She turned around and stared up into a pair of vivid-green eyes.
    “Sorry,” he said. “And good morning.”
    “You didn’t sleep very long,” she said hoarsely, inhaling the heady scent of his bare skin.
    One corner of his mouth curled upward. “Neither did you.”
    “Yeah, but I’m—”
    “You’re what?” He took a step closer, the warmth of him making her sweat. She turned around to rinse her cup in the sink . . . and remembered they had no running water until later this afternoon. She reached for an enzymatic cloth.
    By the time she’d composed herself enough to give him a joking answer, Eli was gone. Cacy had just finished cleaning out her cup when he emerged from his room, wearing jeans and a T-shirt. She felt a flash of disappointment. Eli smiled at her as his eyes did a quick slide down her body. She followed his gaze and was abruptly reminded that she wasn’t wearing any pants.
    “I’m sure Galena will let you borrow something,” he said, brushing past her and reaching into a cardboard box for a chipped mug.
    “Thanks. I guess I should get going.” Or stay and let you distract me.
    He set the mug on the counter. “Can we talk first?”
    Shit. Cacy took a few steps back. Pants or not, it was tempting to take off running, just to avoid that piercing gaze of his. “Eli, I’m kind of tired . . .” A lie. But a necessary one.
    “Please. You have to know how weird