Page 19 of Embraced in Ink

And sleeping together.

He froze again, even as Ronin came forward, worry on his face. Fuck. He and Bristol would be sleeping together.

As in…in bed, or out of bed. Either way. They would be together. Flesh to flesh. He would be inside her. Fucking her. Making love. Doing the things married people did.

Oh, hell.

He had kissed her, not on the forehead or the temple or the cheek as usual, but full-on on the lips as if sealing their deal with a kiss. And now he was losing his damn mind.

“Okay, you’re going to tell me exactly what’s going on, right? ‘Cause you’re starting to scare me.”

Marcus shook his head. “No, don’t worry about it. I’m just focused on other things right now, instead of the actual project that we’re supposed to be working on.”

Ronin stared. “If you’re sure.” Marcus nodded. “Right, then. The project. I think it’s going to be pretty fun. But you’re lead on it.”

“Well, they came to me, so I’m figuring it out.” Marcus was a reference and research librarian, and he specialized in aiding with certain research topics. At the moment, the local university had gotten a huge grant and needed an actual librarian to help on the academic side.

It was a whole slew of research, logging, and other parts of his job that he didn’t get to do often these days, mostly because grant funding wasn’t the greatest priority for most people at the moment. That meant he spent most of his days researching small grants, but generally bided his time at the desk and in circulation. He loved both parts of his job, but he was really glad to be getting back to the research parts.

Ronin did both on this particular project and worked closely with him. Although his friend spent a lot of his time on circulation these days.

The library had lost a lot of funding recently, and that meant there were cutbacks, much to the detriment of the library. This wasn’t simply a place that collected old books, much like what some politicians thought. Countless people used the library’s computers, especially those from areas that didn’t have internet. Not everybody was gifted enough to have high-speed broadband, and with schools leaning more towards the technological side of teaching these days and relying heavily on tablets and the internet to get work done, people came in to use the internet and the computers all the time. They used their library for research, to read a book for fiction, nonfiction, anything. Audiobooks, movies, CDs, they had a little bit of everything, and yet not enough of it at the same time.

He loved his job, even when it made his eyes cross. And, with this particular project, he got to work with people, and he got to dive into topics beneath the layers and help with writing a couple of papers. He’d always been a nerd, a geek to some. Had been since he’d been a little boy and picked up his first library card as soon as he could reach the desk. He hadn’t been tall enough, but his dad had picked him up, and Marcus had grinned as he signed his name.

He hadn’t had big dreams like Bristol, and although they joked about it, he would rather see the world through a book sometimes, instead of dealing with the idea of traveling in large crowds of people. Bristol was the one who had wanted to see the world. And shehadseen it. She’d played for kings and queens. For dukes and duchesses.

He held back the growl at the thought of a certain duke who’d gotten a little too handsy. So much so that once he heard about the incident, Marcus had almost bought a damn plane ticket right then, using the funds he had, to fly to London and punch someone in the face. However, he didn’t know if that would’ve ended with him being beheaded or not. Despite being a librarian, he didn’t know all the facts and laws when it came to the royals.

Honestly, he’d figured that one of the Montgomerys would get to it first—or Bristol herself. And he knew she would get pissed off at him if he overreacted.

“You don’t look sick anymore, but you’re looking a little lost. You want to talk about it?” Ronin asked as he leaned against the door again.

“No, I just have some work to do. Do you want to go over a bit of the project since you’re going to be working on it with me?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Ronin took a step in and frowned. “If you need to talk about anything, I’m here. I know you have Bristol and some other good friends as well as an amazing family, but you don’t have to go it alone. So, let me know if you need to talk about anything. I’m pretty good at things like that.”

Marcus smiled softly. “Thanks, man. And I believe you about that.”

Ronin grinned. “Good. Now, let’s talk data.”

Marcus laughed and opened the book, the best sound to his ears.

Marcus endedup working for another couple of hours, about a half-hour past his quitting time, and then unfolded himself from his too-small chair and made his way home. Traffic wasn’t too bad, thankfully, because he took the back roads and didn’t live in the University area of Boulder. If he had, he might have pulled his hair out. Boulder was growing by leaps and bounds. Hell, the rest of Colorado was, too. Housing prices were insane, and renting was even harder these days. As soon as weed became legal in the state, everyone had moved here, and the housing market went crazy.

Thankfully, Marcus owned his home and wasn’t planning on selling anytime soon. If he was just now moving to the city and trying to start a life? He didn’t know if he’d be able to afford to live in the state he had been born in.

Shaking his head as he pulled into the garage, he laughed as his mom opened the door to the house.

He turned off his engine and got out, taking his bag with him. “So, apparently, you’re making yourself at home, then?” Marcus asked as he made his way up the stairs and kissed his mom on the cheek.

“Of course. You’re lucky I didn’t bring the Montgomerys with me so we could all have a nice little party.” She winked, and guilt slid through him. It wasn’t a lie. Because he and Bristol were engaged. Just because he still wasn’t sure exactly how that had happened, how it all worked, and what he felt about it, didn’t make it untrue.

“One thing at a time, okay?” He did his best to keep his voice calm. He was anythingbutcalm.

“Of course, baby,” his mother said, patting him on the cheek. “I am making dinner, though, so you’re going to have to deal with me.”

He grinned. “You’re making me dinner in my own house? I kind of like that. Although I did leave out chicken.”