Nancy Bartholomew - Stand By Your Man

I felt him edge closer and closed my eyes. I could see his body, captured in the brief second when he'd opened the curtain. What had looked fine in jeans looked downright magnificent without clothes. I wouldn't look back over my shoulder again. Instead, I stuck my face under the spray and tried to remind myself that this was nakedness for medicinal purposes. I tried to picture Harmonica Jack telling me that "parts were parts," or Marshall saying just a second ago "I don't mean nothing by this." But when he touched me I felt my pulse quicken and my breath catch in my throat. As his hands drifted lightly across my shoulders, I tried to pretend he still wore his clothes, but I was failing miserably. I was itching, but I wasn't brain dead.

"Okay, turn around," he said softly. His hands rested gently on my waist as I turned to face him. The burning fire in my skin was subsiding but another one was just catching, and it was far more dangerous.

He doesn't mean a thing by this, remember . I stood in front of him, completely naked, trying not to let him know how I felt, or what his hands were doing to my self-control.

I couldn't find a safe place to rest my eyes. If I looked at his face, he'd read me, he'd know what I was thinking, and worse, he'd know what I wanted. I looked at his chest, but it was smooth and corded with muscle. Nope, couldn't look there. And when I dropped my eyes, I stopped breathing. Magnificent didn't seem to accurately describe Marshall Weathers.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I said, raising my head and looking into his eyes.

He laughed. "Your face is red," he said. "I don't think it's the rash." He reached behind me and pulled a bottle of shampoo out of the metal holder that clung to the shower-head. "Lean back a little," he said, "let's see if we can get some of that goo out of your head."

"I can do it," I said.

Marshall looked at me, his blue eyes darkening. "I know you can," he said, and calmly poured the shampoo into the palm of his hand. "Close your eyes."

I wanted to relax. I wanted to lean into him, but I didn't. His fingers massaged my scalp and I tried once again to convince myself that Marshall Weathers didn't want me. His body wanted me, there was no doubt about that, but the man inside that body didn't want a relationship.

His hands were strong and moved slowly, kneading my scalp. I must've sighed, because he chuckled. "See, that isn't so bad, is it?"

I moaned softly and felt him shiver.

"You're cold, aren't you?" I whispered. "Here I am, under the water, and you're standing out there."

He was rinsing my hair, the last bit of soap running down the drain in a soapy swirl.

"Come here," I said, and pulled him closer. "Warm up."

That was all it took. It was time for the tables to turn and for me to take charge. The way I figured it, Marshall Weathers was at war with himself, and that was his problem, but there were two people in this shower and one of them was absolutely clear about what she wanted.

I reached for the soap and turned back around to grin at him.

When I touched his chest, his eyes closed. I ran my fingers over his skin, discovering. His hands tightened around the small of my back, pulling me into him. His eyes opened and he stared deep into my eyes.

"Maggie," he said, softly, "I do want you."

He pushed away, pulling himself from my grasp and bringing me up tight against him. His lips found mine, then began moving, behind my ear, down the side of my neck, his tongue exploring and sending a spasm of delight and desire throughout my body.

"Not here," he whispered.

He straightened and looked at me, his blue eyes burning into mine. And then he smiled. He reached behind me, turned off the shower and grabbed two towels from the rack outside. He wrapped one towel around me, using the other one to dry my hair. The burning in my skin was gone, the pink spots fading. But I was only aware of the heat that coursed through my body. I wanted more. I wanted it right then. Why was he torturing me?

He took his time drying himself off, watching me, teasing me as the towel reached all the body parts I wanted to feel against my skin. He was enjoying himself. He stepped out of the tub and turned back.

"Come here."

I stepped to the edge of the tub and he took me in his arms, picking me up as easily as a child and carrying me to his quilt-covered bed. He pulled the towel away, his eyes moving across my body, just looking. Then he came toward me, moving onto the bed and lying on his side next to me. He stretched out his hand and ran his index finger in a line down the center of my body, igniting it with his touch.

He held me deep inside his arms, his lips whispering reassurances, until he felt me go limp against him and relax. A wave of pleasure and relaxation washed over me and I felt… well, I started to feel sleepy. I yawned and he laughed softly.

"I wondered when that medicine was gonna start slowing you down," he murmured. "Relax, honey, it's all right. I'm right here."

He pulled the thick quilt up around us and pulled me up onto his chest. My head rested on his shoulder, listening to the strong beat of his heart. I lay there wrapped in his arms, fighting sleep until at last I had to give in. The last thing I remember was the feel of his lips as he softly kissed my hair, and the scent of him, warm and comforting in the early evening.

I woke up to the sound of a dresser drawer sliding out. I opened my eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness. Marshall stood across the room, pulling on a black T-shirt and tucking it into the waistband of black and gray camouflage pants. As I watched, he reached into a drawer, drew out a thick equipment belt and strapped it to his waist. Next he pulled out a piece of black leather, with Velcro straps, attached it to his thigh, then jammed an ugly black gun down into the holster.

"Marshall?"

He turned, surprised by the sound of my voice. "Hey, I was going to let you sleep."

"What are you doing? Why are you dressed like that?" In the darkened room, he seemed menacing and not at all like the man who'd taken me into his bed.

He looked down at his outfit, as if suddenly aware of how he must have appeared to me.

"I've got a call-out," he said. "I have to leave. I thought you'd probably sleep through it or I would've tried to wake you up."

I sat up in bed, pulling the quilt up over my breasts. "What's a call-out?"

Marshall sat down on the side of the bed next to me and began pulling on heavy black combat boots.

"I'm part of the Special Response Team," he said. "It's a SWAT team. We get called in if there's trouble, the kind of trouble a normal patrol couldn't handle. If I get paged, I have to go."

He stood up, reached under the bed, and pulled out a black duffel bag. He unzipped it, moved some things aside, then pulled out a rifle case and unzipped that. The gun he took from that case was a nasty-looking weapon that he seemed to be examining.

"I don't know when I'll be back," he said. His face was impassive and his tone removed. He zipped the gun back into its case, closed the bag, and stood looking down at me. "I'll call you later."

I'll call you later ? That was that? Now that I was awake I wasn't trusted to wait for him in Wanda's sanctuary? Was that how things went with him?

I tossed back my head, sat straight up, and glared at him in the darkness. "That's all right," I said, my tone every bit as cool as his. "I need to get home and see about Sheila anyway."

In the darkened room the clock on his bedside table glowed a red 8:45. Sheila was working at the bagel shop. My whereabouts were probably not too high on her list. She was at the age where she never expected anything to go wrong, and everything to always turn out right.