Unmarked: Sean's Story (Chosen #4) by Alisa Mullen Page A

audible hiss. She was all alone and staring into a shop window from the sidewalk. She was avidly watching whatever was inside and she was lit up like an angel by the stores inside lights. This made me question why she hadn’t gone inside to check whatever it was even closer but I also thanked God for the fact she hadn’t. I would have never gone in whatever store that was for her in my pursuit. I cocked my head to the side, trying to see what she was so enraptured with.
    I inched a little closer, stealthily staying out of her line of sight. The store wasn’t a store at all. It was a martial arts place. I stopped in my tracks as I watched a woman take another man’s leg positioned at her throat, twist it, karate chop his back knee, and fall to the ground with him. That little woman had just taken a two hundred and fifty pound muscular guy down. That was fucking impressive and I nearly went to clap.
    Instead, I looked to Aoife’s face, hoping I hadn’t missed her reaction. Her expression was full of admiration. She giggled a little as the rest of the crowd started clapping at the woman’s expert moves. I needed that giggle in the side of my neck as I held her. It had been too long.
    “Aoife?” I called out to her as I made large strides across the road.
    She turned around and smiled brightly at me. “Oh. Hey, Sean. I’m sorry. I was watching these people do karate. It is really cool.” She had her thumb pointed to the open window of the school.
    I took her up in my arms and kissed her on the cheek. “Don’t be sorry. Karate is really popular for a reason. You know they do let you go in and watch.”
    “That’s okay. It is fun to watch from out here. I don’t like to be around crowds, remember?”
    “I do remember,” I said into her ear, giving her chills on her arms that I warmed with the strokes of my hands.
    Two more people got up on the mat and began another match of strong and rapid movements. I held her as we both watched the pair go at each other. When the woman planted her knee into the guy’s groin, Aoife sucked in her breath and I chuckled. He was definitely down for the count.
    “Fascinating shit, huh?” I didn’t give a flying fuck about the karate. I was fascinated by her and as weird as it sounded, I think I had downplayed her beauty while I worked. She was phenomenal.
    “Sean, I want to learn how to do that,” she said, turning around in my arms, looking into my eyes with determination and hope.
    “Anything you want, Aoife. Let’s call them this week. I will take some classes with you. I’ll even let you kick me in the balls like that girl just did,” I laughed.
    “Seriously?” She looked shocked. “You would really take classes with me?” I don’t think she had noticed that she was gripping on to my tee shirt so hard that I felt the back of it dig into my neck.
    “Yeah, babe. We’ll do it here or in Boston. Wherever you want to go, I will go with you. I will fight against you and with you.”
    She kissed me hard on the lips. It was a possessive kiss. A kiss that was so hard, I wouldn’t have been able to open my mouth if I wanted to. This wasn’t a romantic gesture, a sexual fore-player. This kiss was a hardcore thank you kiss.  She could thank me all she wanted as long as I got to grab her ass while she did it. Which I did at that moment and my grab-ass prompted her to giggle, loosening her death grip on my neck.
    “Let me look into it this week, okay? Right now I want to get some food and head back to my place.”
    Like five minutes ago , I thought. I wanted her under me. I wanted to just be with her.
    Aoife’s grin turned into a little naughty smirk as she squeezed my hand, intertwining our hands. “What do you want to eat?”
    “Do you feel like pizza?”
    “Sounds good.”
    An hour later, we were half dressed with a large mushroom and black olive pizza across my bed. She took a piece of cheese off her pizza and almost groaned like she did when she came. My body