CHAPTER EIGHT
“Are you tired?” whispered Saint to Marilisa. She smiled up at him, shaking her head.
“No. I’m relieved and happy beyond belief. I’m a little scared about what’s happening with all those people and with me. But I’m happy.”
“I’m glad you’re happy, honey. I won’t lie to you. It terrified me to see you faint like that. No clue on why that happened?”
“None,” she said, sighing. “I’ve been thinking about it since it happened. Griffin is probably twenty or twenty-five years older than I am, so it would be unlikely that we were ever in the same location.”
“Maybe they used his voice for something?” Saint asked more to himself than to Marilisa.
“I guess that’s possible. They were very specific about what they wanted us all to work on. Mine obviously had something to do with building, engineering, designing, usually destructive machines of some sort. As a child, I didn’t understand that at all. Now, it seems natural to me.”
Saint pulled her closer, tucking her beneath his arm. Speaking of natural, this felt more natural than anything he’d ever done in his entire life. She belonged right here in his arms. Her scent was making him crazy. Why had he never noticed her scent before? It was as if everything was amplified. Her smell, her voice, her body, all of it was making him crazy.
“You smell amazing,” he said in a low growl.
“Thank you,” she smiled up at him. “It’s a new fragrance by Avery. I love it.”
“I love it, too.”
“Saint? Why haven’t you ever had a serious girlfriend? Your mother said you’ve never brought anyone home, never dated anyone long term. Why? I mean, you’re obviously handsome, smart, charming. There had to have been women who wanted to date you.”
“First, thank you for saying all those very nice things. I suppose there were women who wanted more than one date. Maybe I knew. Maybe I knew that they weren’t what I wanted. I could never picture myself with any of them. My father instilled a lot of great things in me. Things I hope to instill in my own son one day.”
“I get that. It must have been hard moving from one location to another while you were serving in the Navy. I know what that can feel like.”
“Yes, but you had familiar friends, and so did I. Being with Pax, Brax, and Mav made everything better for me. It was as if I always had my brothers with me. What about you? Why no long-term boyfriends? Is that an obvious question?”
“No, I don’t think so,” she smiled. “There were others close to my age. Victoria was always crazy about Hayes, and I was happy for her about that. They were both incredibly awkward like the rest of us, and honestly, Hayes wasn’t exactly big, strong, and handsome as a kid.” She laughed, shaking her head.
“He’s changed a lot in the military,” smirked Saint. “We all do. You grow up fast. You learn to trust your teammates.”
“What if you don’t?” she frowned up at him. He stared at her. “I mean, what if you don’t trust a teammate? I agree you’re all amazing, but there has to have been incidences where there was a bad teammate. Someone who didn’t follow orders or was just a bad guy.”
“You know, I never thought of that much because I was on a killer team. But I know of men who didn’t have that kind of luck. One thing the SEALs teach you is that you don’t necessarily want the guy with the greatest skill level. He can often be self-absorbed and only worry about himself. You look for the guys you trust the most. If they made it through BUDs and Hell Week, you know they have the basic skills. If I trust a man one hundred percent, then the rest we can work on.”
“I like that,” she whispered. “We learned to be that way in our traveling band of misfits. Even when they were holding us hostage, pointing weapons at us, threatening us, we knew we could trust one another to not sell out the other. Early on, they weren’t even fully aware of our intelligence levels.”
“Didn’t they perform IQ tests on you?”
“They did, but we usually tried to flub them,” she smirked. “No one wanted to be the smartest person in the room. What happened, what happened to Stephanie, I think, was planned for all of us. Once they knew just how good we were, they would clone us.”
“Or maybe they were going to pair you off like they did with our new friends.”
“I can’t imagine being with anyone other than you, Saint.”
“Me too, honey.”
“Did you know that if you were genetically- and gift-paired with someone and they died, you could actually lose your mind?”
“What?” he frowned.
“I heard Kane telling Ghost that they’d lost some people because of that. That guy Regan has all the records in his head and might be able to help us figure out how we’re all connected. I mean, beyond the fact that I can hear voices in my head when needed.” Saint laughed, kissing the side of her head.
“That could be a good thing, honey. It was a good thing this time.” She yawned, and he smiled at her. “Come on. Let me walk you back to your cottage.”
“Will you stay?” she whispered. “I’ve only been on my own a few weeks, and I get scared at night. I know it’s silly, but if you were there, I don’t think I’d be as scared.”
“Honey, why did you leave Trav and Ashley’s place if you were scared? You know your father would protect you.”
“I know,” she said, nodding. “I just felt like it was time for me to give them back their own space. They’ve done so much for me, Saint, and I love them for that.”
“They’re both incredible people, and they’ve raised an incredibly beautiful daughter.”
“You’re biased, but I’m grateful that you’re biased,” she smiled. “So. Will you stay with me? We don’t have to move our relationship along just yet if you’re uncomfortable with that. I just want you there.”
“Marilisa, you make me uncomfortable because I want to devour you, honey. I want to do things to this body that I know for a fact you’ve never done.”
“Just because I’ve never done them, Saint, doesn’t mean I don’t know about them, understand them, and desire them as well. I’ve read every book Charlie has ever produced. I’ve spent countless hours talking about sex with my therapist mother. And I listen and absorb every bit of information from the more mature women here. I know exactly what I want, how to get it, and how to make sure you walk away happy.”
She stood and started walking toward her cottage. Saint stared at the suddenly confident and mature young woman that only a little while ago seemed childlike to him. This woman was sure of herself and her abilities, skills, and assets. The way she swayed when she walked, then stopping to look over her shoulder at him with a ‘come hither’ look, nearly sent him over the edge.
“You coming, handsome?”
“Fuck.”