“Can I come in?” she asked sheepishly. ”I wouldn’t ask, but I don’t know where else to go.”
I grimaced. As hard as this had been for the Artemis girls and me, it was twice as difficult for Rayne. She wasn’t like us. She wasn’t trained to look at people as though they could disappear at any second. She didn’t know as much about death, loss, and change. She was a scientist. She dealt with things that made sense and life in the field rarely made any sense.
“It’s not a big deal. Sure, you can come in,” I stepped back and let her enter. As she entered, I closed the door behind her, looking her over as I walked back to my bed. She wasn’t doing great but was keeping a stiff upper lip from what I could see.
Compassion filling me, I asked, “Are you all right? I can imagine how difficult this must have been for you.” This woman had been through so much on my watch, and that didn’t look like it was going to end anytime soon.
“It’s a little more difficult than your average scientific wrinkle, yes,” Rayne said, trying to keep her voice upbeat, though I could hear a slight break at the end, emotions getting the better of her. “It would be worse, but my parents are third generation military. I’ve picked up some pointers on how to deal with this sort of stuff. Heck, I probably would have been beside you myself if not for my defective eyes.” She pointed to her glasses.
I smiled at her. “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, Rayne, but you are beside me.”
“You know what I mean. I’d have been an officer, a real Marine.”
“You held your own out there,” I mused. “You might not have thrown a punch or wielded a hammer, but you stayed your ground when hell was raining down on your head. More than that, you gave me a piece of your mind when you thought your work was in danger. You stood up to two of the most storied and decorated marines in the history of the corps for what you thought was important, for what you thought was right. I know men twice your age, men who have thrown down with more bugs than I could count, who wouldn’t have the guts to do that. You have nothing to be ashamed about.”
“That’s probably not what my mother would say,” Rayne sighed. “She prides herself on following the orders of superiors.”
“Well, when she’s the most storied Marine in history, she can have the say so. Until then, well, let’s just say sometimes you have to break with orders to do what’s right.”
She smiled a little at that. “I’ll keep that in mind, Lieutenant.” Her face fell a little as she looked over the top of her glasses at me. “I also know that you Marines are bad at talking about your feelings, your emotions. I know how much Mina meant to you. Do you want to talk about it while I’m here anyway?”
I chuckled, thinking about Mina, thinking about how fragile and beautiful and temporary life is. “Maybe later. We have a lot to discuss, Rayne, but not now.” I shook my head. “Besides, you never answered my question.” I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?”
Rayne took a moment, a long moment, before answering. “Who can tell anymore? I’m so damn numb that I probably couldn’t tell you even if I wasn’t okay, but I’m alive, and there’s a chance that my virus worked. None of that would have happened without you. I’m in your debt.” She shook her head. “This is the second time you’ve saved my life, Mark, you’re sort of becoming my hero.” She shrugged. “Like Thor, I guess.”
I laughed loudly again. “Happy to hear it. It means I’m doing something right now, instead of just following orders.”
“Oh, I’m sure of that. You’ve done plenty of things right,” she grinned, looking up at me with wide eyes and an open mouth, “if I remember correctly.”
A rush of heat passed through me. “What are you here for, Rayne?”
“I’m here to thank you, Mark,” she said, taking her glasses off and setting them on a nearby table. She pulled at her hair, and it fell into blonde tendrils around her shoulders.
“Thank me? And how do you plan on doing that?”
“How else, silly?”
She pushed me backward until I fell on the bed. I landed calmly, smiling at the girl who stood over me. She pulled at my pants, unbuttoning them and sliding them down toward my ankles, leaving me exposed in front of her.
Looking me up and down, she bit her lower lip. She leaned down, her hands on my legs, around my thighs. She moved them downward, rubbing me to my knees and pinching my skin playfully. Then, grinning at me, she got on her knees.
Looking up at me from over my shaft, she winked at me and said, “With my mouth, of course.”
She took my manhood into her hand and then, with it stiffening, she licked it all the way up the shaft before taking it in completely.
I moaned, leaning backward and letting the genius thank me in the way she saw fit.
Thank You for reading!
Curious about what happens to Mark next?
Find out in Doomed Infinity Marine: Volume 3.
Author’s Note
Dear reader, if you REALLY want to read my next Infinity Marine novel- I’ve got a bit of bad news for you.
Unfortunately, Amazon will not tell you when the next comes out.
You’ll probably never know about my next books, and you’ll be left wondering what happened to Mark and the gang. That’s rather terrible.
There is good news though! There are three ways you can find out when the next book is published:
1) You join my mailing list by clicking here.
2) You follow me on my Facebook page or join my Facebook Group. I always announce my new books in both those places as well as interact with fans.
3) You follow me on Amazon. You can do this by going to the store page (or clicking this link) and clicking on the Follow button that is under the author picture on the left side.
If you follow me, Amazon will send you an email when I publish a book. You’ll just have to make sure you check the emails they send.
Doing any of these, or all three for best results, will ensure you find out about my next book when it is published.
If you don’t, Amazon will never tell you about my next release. Please take a few seconds to do one of these so that you’ll be able to join Mark and the gang on their next adventure.
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Doomed Infinity Marine 2: A Space Adventure (Bug Wars) Page 19
