Page 57 of Embraced in Ink
The future could come in the morning. And they would face it.
He hoped to hell it would be together, though.
Chapter 13
“Ithought you had the day off?” Ronin asked as he walked into Marcus’s office. Marcus lifted his head and pulled off his reading glasses. He didn’t need them all the time, but when he spent his working hours looking at minuscule text, his eyes strained a bit. Plus, they had blue light blockers for his computer. The fact that Bristol seemed to like them on him was a plus.
He held back a smile, thinking about her. She’d always been on his mind, only in a far different way than she was now. The idea that he was allowed to think of her this way? To want more? It should worry him. But it didn’t.
He fucking loved it.
“What?” Marcus asked, pulling his thoughts away from Bristol and precisely what they meant to one another.
Ronin snorted. “I asked why you were here since I thought you were off today. And look at you, diving into work, getting distracted, and from the look on your face at that last moment, you weren’t thinking about work at all. Bristol?”
Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose, mostly because he hated wearing glasses for too long, and pushed away from his desk, stretching his back.
“I’ve been focusing on work today, but I was only going to take the afternoon off, not the whole day.”
“That doesn’t put you over hours?” Ronin asked, coming to sit across the desk.
“We’re always over hours,” Marcus said with a laugh. “That’s why we don’t get paid by the hour.”
“Touché.”
“But anyway, I was in the middle of this one part yesterday, and I wanted to come in and finish it. But I’m heading down to Denver in a little bit, so don’t worry, I won’t bother you for long.”
“That’s not why I’m here, and you know it. You’re not bothering me at all, dork.”
“Hey, we’re at work, don’t call me a dork.”
Ronin just smiled. “Maybe. I’m on break, and you’re heading out soon, so…two seconds?”
“Okay,” Marcus said a little cautiously.
“When’s the wedding?” Ronin inquired, and Marcus snorted.
“Aaron?” Marcus asked, and Ronin shrugged. “Yeah, he came in for a couple of texts we have that he can’t get online and was talking to me about it. Why didn’t you tell me you and Bristol were engaged?”
“I think it’s mostly because it doesn’t feel real,” Marcus said honestly, the words falling from him before he even thought to dial it back.
“Is there something wrong?” Ronin asked, a little cautious. “Do you want to tell me exactly what’s going on?”
Marcus shook his head. “No, that’s between Bristol and me. Is that okay?”
Ronin tilted his head and frowned. “You know part of my past. Right?”
Marcus nodded, knowing that it wasn’t a secret, but not something that Ronin talked about often. After all, Ronin hadn’t always been a librarian. The other man had seen things that nobody should see. Had gone through shit that had taken so much from him. But now Ronin was here and looked happy. For all that Marcus could tell.
“So, you know part of what I went through, and because of that, you know that sometimes you have to face what’s right in front of you and lean on those near you to get through.”
“Yeah, I know,” Marcus said softly.
“I think Bristol is perfect for you. She makes you smile every time you talk about her. She’s hilarious, talented, and of course, hot as fuck.”
Marcus was happy that Ronin had shut the door earlier because this wasn’t the best place to talk about things like this.
“You know the pearl-clutching patrons aren’t going to be ecstatic if they hear you talking like that.”