Marked by Sarah Fine Page B

last night was.” He moved a little closer and reached out. She held her breath as his fingers skimmed over her neck. “You should have died last night. But now it looks like it never happened.”
    She leaned away from his touch. “Maybe it didn’t.”
    His jaw ridged with tension. “One moment, please.” He strode into his bedroom and emerged holding a crumpled mass of bloody sheets and clothes. He dropped them at her feet. “Am I imagining this ? Do you think I’m stupid?”
    His voice was harsh, both with anger and a hint of hurt. Cacy opened her mouth and closed it again. “N-no, of course not. I just—”
    “Eli, I’m headed out . . . Oh.” Galena stood in the hall, staring with wide eyes at the pile of bloody laundry at Cacy’s feet. She cleared her throat and backed up unsteadily.
    Eli cursed under his breath and rushed over to her. He wrapped his arms around her, gave her a tight hug, and escorted her past the kitchen, blocking her view of it with his body. As he guided her to the front door, he whispered reassurances Cacy strained to hear.
    After kissing Galena on the forehead and telling her to have a good day, Eli stalked back into the kitchen and scooped the clothes and sheets from the floor. “Galena’s sensitive,” he muttered as he tossed the bundle into his bedroom.
    “She’s afraid of blood? Isn’t she some sort of doctor?”
    “She’s a researcher. She doesn’t work with people—I mean, patients. She works with test tubes and centrifuges and a computer she’s named Danny.” He stared at the floor for a few seconds, then lifted his eyes to Cacy’s and closed the distance between them. “Now. No more distractions. I have some questions.”
    Cacy’s heartbeat kicked into a dangerous little rhythm as he towered over her, and she wasn’t sure whether it was her desperation to escape or her body’s reaction to being this close to him. She folded her arms over her chest. “I have trouble thinking when I’m not wearing pants.”
    Eli laughed, a deep, husky sound, and took a few steps back. “I guess we have that in common. I also have trouble thinking when you’re not wearing pants.”
    He retrieved a pair of sweats from Galena’s room and tossed them down the hallway. She caught them clumsily and stared at them. Had he just admitted he was attracted to her? Could she distract him and avoid his questions? She was well aware he wasn’t dumb. But he was a man. And . . . Cacy hadn’t touched one in three years. With her last boyfriend, she’d been young and naive. She hadn’t considered how fragile regular humans were, how easily their hearts could stop beating. She hadn’t even contemplated how it would feel if she had to guide his soul—until it happened. But since then, she hadn’t been willing to risk getting attached and having to push her love through a door she didn’t plan to walk through for a long time. She hadn’t met someone yet who was worth that risk.
    Her fingers balled into fists around the sweatpants as she stared at Eli. This wasn’t about attachment. She wouldn’t let it be. It was about escape. Pure, mindless escape from things she couldn’t face right now.
    She let the pants fall from her hands and walked slowly toward him. The friendly smile on his face faltered, and his eyes flickered with uncertainty.
    Cacy stood in front of him and slid her hand up under his shirt, over the hard ridges of muscle on his belly and chest. He inhaled but didn’t stop her. She watched his pulse beat at his throat and pressed herself close, smiling as the thick length of his cock grew rigid against her.
    “Maybe now’s not the time for thinking,” she murmured.
    Eli’s fingers slid along her cheek and down her neck, sending shivers to all the right places. He nudged her chin up with his fingers so she was looking at him and lowered his head until their foreheads were touching. He closed his eyes and brushed his thumb across her mouth. Cacy put her arm around his