The Deputy and His Enforcer (Kincaid Pack #3) - Kiki Clark Page 0,83
last sought real comfort from another person. Everyone in that pack had been about being strong and never showing weakness. Marcus couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been held by his mother, though he assumed he had been when he was young.
But Robson was different.
Of course, the entire Kincaid Pack was different than his old one had been, but he’d still never felt quite comfortable enough to let down his walls with Rick or the other Enforcers. But in the safety of his mate’s arms… he didn’t have to be Enforcer Rivera.
He was just Marcus.
A little neurotic, a lot insecure, and one hundred percent Robson’s.
Even though he’d tried to ruin things because of his fear of Robson rejecting him or their mating. He’d felt so small and humiliated when he’d realized Robson wasn’t expecting them to move in together and was in fact quite shocked by the assumption. He’d instinctively wanted to hide until he could face Robson again without bleeding his feelings all over the place.
His mate was too smart for that though.
And when he’d attacked Phil for insulting Marcus? Nico and Bennett had come running, both staring at Marcus like they were worried he’d be upset, but he’d barely been able to take his eyes off the sight of Robson fighting for him—and winning. His human mate had taken down the second-in-command of a shifter pack in less than a minute.
It had been the hottest thing Marcus had ever seen.
Others might have worried that their mate didn’t see them as able to take care of themselves or insulted that as an Enforcer he should have defended himself on his own, but not Marcus. While he didn’t doubt his ability to win a fight against an opponent of equal strength, he also knew that wasn’t where his biggest strengths lay.
Once the tremors began to fade, he raised his head and pressed a kiss to Robson’s swollen lip and bruised cheek. Robson hummed at the small touches, his fingers tightening just a little in Marcus’s hair and sending a shiver down his spine at the slight burn.
“You know,” Robson murmured as Marcus continued to lay kisses across his face, silently thanking him for standing up for him. “It’s not that I don’t want to live with you eventually.”
Eventually. He refused to let the word take the wind out of his sails again, pressing a kiss to Robson’s mouth, then leaning back. “But you aren’t ready.”
Robson tilted his head back and forth. “Debatable. I shouldn’t be since we haven’t known each other that long, but that actually isn’t the biggest reason.”
“What is?”
“My family,” Robson said with a sigh. “They need me, so I can’t just up and move out on them, and—”
“I understand that,” Marcus said quickly, hope flaring to life in his chest despite his best efforts to keep it under control. “I’d never expect you to leave your family. I could come live with you there.”
Robson smiled fondly at him. “Don’t you think maybe you should meet them once or twice before we move you into the farmhouse?”
Idiot. He dropped his gaze and nodded. “Of course. Yes. They wouldn’t want a stranger living with them.”
“Cariño.” Robson tipped his chin back up and kissed him. “They will love you, but yes, it might be too much to ask them to live with the man I’ve only mentioned once or twice that I was seeing. We’ll introduce you to everyone and bring you around for some family dinners, and then I’ll break the news to them.”
Smiling weakly, he nodded. “Okay.”
After nuzzling Marcus’s face a little, Robson asked softly, “Do you want to talk about that phone call you got right now, or have you had enough heavy stuff for a while? We can talk about it in the morning if you want.”
Marcus shook his head. “Later. Can we… can we just lie together for a little bit?”
“Yeah, cariño, we can do that.” Robson pressed a soft, lingering kiss to his mouth, then scooted back off Marcus’s lap. “Eat a little more food first though.”
That was a good idea—Marcus’s body was starving suddenly, the lack of meals all day catching up to him. Robson cleaned up the containers Beth had sent the food over in, washing everything and setting them to dry on the rack. Just as Marcus was finishing, Robson came over and stepped up behind him. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Marcus, his face pressed next to Marcus’s.