Knight In Black Leather by Gail Dayton (ebook reader ink .txt) 📕

Eli pushed her off and sat straight up in bed. "Are you crazy? Are you out of your fucking mind? What were you thinking, doing it bareback like that? Do you have a fucking death wish?"

Marilyn pushed her hair out of her eyes and the hem of her gown down over her legs, not quite sure how to react to his outburst. She didn't particularly like being yelled at after such an intimate, wonderful moment. And yet the reason behind his yelling...

"I guess I wasn't," she said. "Thinking, I mean."

"Obviously." Eli hauled his shorts up from his knees, lay back and lifted his hips to get them the rest of the way up.

"You said you don't have anything. Your test said it."

"There's always a chance, Marilyn. Sometimes stuff doesn't show up right away. And what if I got you pregnant?"

"Wrong time of the month for that." She bit her lip, feeling incredibly stupid.

"Yeah? Well, I hope so." He turned his back on her.

Marilyn felt tears gather. "I didn't mean to, I just--"

Eli glanced over his shoulder at her, dropped whatever it was he was doing and pulled her into his arms. "God, whatever you do, don't cry. I don't do tears, remember? I didn't mean to yell. I just--God, it felt so good. Amazing. Incredible. You and me, with nothing between us--"

He paused and took a deep breath. Marilyn sniffled.

"Please don't do that," he said. "Not crying. Not the other either." He fumbled for something on the bedside table and pressed a small plastic packet into her hand. A condom. "If you're not so mad at me you never want me touching you again, then take this. Use it. I'll get more. That is, if--"

"Amazing? Really?" She swallowed away the lump in her throat. He was serious about protecting her. And he wanted to do it again.

"God, yes." He kissed her forehead, raised up and kissed her damp eyelids, her cheeks, her mouth. After a long, sweet sip, he collapsed back onto his pillow. "Incredible. Fantastic. Amazing."

"You said that already."

His fingers slid up and down her shoulder beneath her gown, taking advantage of its still-unbuttoned state. "So what? It deserves saying twice. Three times. You're amazing."

Marilyn let her hand settle on his chest, fingers playing with the dusting of brown hair. She couldn't have held the obstinate thing back much longer anyway. "So are you."

He brushed his jaw along her forehead. "Does that mean you want...?"

"To do it again?" That feeling of feminine power rushed over her again. "Maybe. After I get some sleep. Wake me up this afternoon and find out."

"Marilyn--" He began a protest.

"Eli--" she retorted, rolling onto her side, her back to him, bottom snug against his hip. "I'm sleeping now."

He rolled over too, spooning against her, a fresh erection prodding her bottom. He pulled her gown up to her waist and sniggled in closer, fingertips and cast brushing lightly over her bare hip. "Are you sure you want to sleep?"

"Positive."

"Too bad." His fingers roved everywhere they could reach, which wasn't far. "I'll be glad when this thing comes off and I can hold you with two hands."

"Sleep." She did her best to sound like a television hypnotist.

"Bossy woman."

"You love it and you know it."

"Does this make me your love slave?"

"Do you want to be?"

"Do you want me to be?" He kissed the nape of her neck, rolling his hips into her.

"Go to sleep, Eli." She was too tired for his antics.

"What if I can't?" He touched his tongue to her shoulder.

"Then lie there and watch me sleep. I'm really tired, Eli."

"I'd rather hold you."

"Fine. Whatever. I'm sleeping."

"Doesn't sound like sleeping to me. Sounds like talking."

"Eli?"

"Yes, Marilyn?"

"Shut up."

With a chuckle, he finally did as she asked, burrowing his face into her hair so he breathed on her neck, giving her goosebumps. Almost as soon as he went still, he fell asleep. Marilyn eased back closer to him and followed.

Something felt strange when Eli wallowed back to consciousness. Something other than the dim afternoon light slanting through the closed blinds and sheer curtains. He wasn't used to sleeping during the day any more, but that wasn't it. He'd fallen asleep wrapped around Marilyn and now she seemed to be wrapped around him. Both of those things were unusual occurrences, but they felt good, not strange.

That was when he figured it out. He was happy. Or maybe happy wasn't the right word for it. Happy was a kid with an ice cream cone or a girl with new shoes. It lasted till the ice cream melted and the new wore off. This was more. Deeper.

Because, despite everything, even Teresa's death and the likelihood of Flash's continuing threat, even knowing this moment and moments like it couldn't last, he still felt it. Contentment. Peace. Joy. Whatever the hell it was called. He'd never felt this way in his life. At least, not since his childhood ended when he was ten. No wonder it felt so strange.

He turned over, toward Marilyn. She muttered something into his shoulder, her hand sliding down his chest to the bed. He wanted to watch her sleep, but she was too close. Of course, he wouldn't mind too much if she woke up.

Careful not to touch her with his cast, Eli began pulling her gown higher. She hadn't put her panties back on, after. He wished he'd taken his shorts off then, instead of pulling them back up. Naked would definitely be better now. But she'd shocked--and scared--him so bad when she forgot the condom.

Being inside her without anything between them, naked, natural, skin-to-skin, had been so abso-fucking-lutely fabulous he hadn't been able to control himself. He hoped like hell he hadn't given her anything, from a disease to a baby. It couldn't happen again. Ever.

Thinking about it now made him reach back to the lamp table for the packet he'd kept. He tucked it under the pillow, in case she wasn't in the mood, and began kissing her awake.

She was cute as hell, all