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Marshall had woken up a few minutes before Mary had come awake, he hadn't felt this good since the last time he had spent a night in the same bed as his former partner when they travelled together. Nothing he had ever done with his fiancée had ever felt as good and perfect as just holding a sleeping Mary.
He had fought with his body, but his body refused to budge. He had become hard the minute that he registered that he was spooned around Mary's back. As much as he tried to disentangle himself from around her, he just couldn't. And if he was honest with himself, he didn't want to move, he wanted to continue to cuddle, spoon, have his body pressed against hers for as long as she let him.
The minute that he felt her come awake, he buried his face into the nape of her neck and feigned sleep, trying hard to even his breathing and not give himself away. He was trying to save both of them the awkwardness of waking in each other's arms. But the moment she moved slightly he couldn't help but go with his instincts, pulling her closer to his already aroused body.
He felt the moment she realized that he had his arms around her, she had tensed and froze at the feel of his hard flesh pressed intimately against her soft bottom. Holding her still against his inflamed body, he felt her wiggle closer, almost causing him to groan aloud.
He did the next best thing, he rubbed his face deeper into the nape of her neck, sighed contentedly and kept up the pretense of sleep.
After a few minutes, the minutes he took to savor the moment he finally had Mary in his arms. That thought alone almost had him tensing, making it obvious that he was awake, but he managed to fake it long enough.
He almost moaned the loss of her in his arms when she shifted and moved away from his embrace, he couldn't hold back a sleepy, "Don't go," before she was off the bed.
Not wanting to get caught at his own game, he buried his face in her pillow, pulling it closer to his chest. It was close to the next best thing, having her scent linger as she left the room.
When he heard the shower running, he groaned at the state of his arousal. The thought of Mary in the shower with him in her bed, had him almost in tears. Then he did freeze when he remembered why him in the shower with his former partner would be a bad idea.
Abigail Chaffee. His fiancée. How easily did I forget her?
He sat up and scrubbed his face, rubbing the stubble on his jaw, with a grimace he got up and folded the blankets Mary had let him borrow the night before, which were now a heap on the floor next to the bed, apparently in his sleep, he had gotten under her blankets and spooned her.
The thought of his fiancée had him feeling like a heel. He couldn't believe he was cuddling with his best-friend and enjoying it, when he hadn't been intimate with his fiancée in quite a while.
Marshall didn't even want to recall the argument that ensued after Abigail tried to get frisky with him. It had been a few weeks since they had been intimate, both their jobs had become very demanding and the paperwork had them both coming home at different odd hours during the day or night for a few hours of shut eye.
Delia and Mary had-had their share of paperwork and problem witnesses to contend with, after pulling an all-nighter trying to locate a witness' troubled teenager, he had gone home to find it empty. He had been thrilled at the fact that he would have the house and his bed all to himself, but Abigail had come home a few hours after he had zonked out.
Abigail had driven home in hopes to find Marshall, since after calling his office they had informed her that he was not in the office at the moment. When she turned onto their street, she had been so excited that she had parked her car and ran out of her car and into the house.
She had found Marshall fast asleep in their bed, under the blankets, she hadn't seen him since the morning before last. She pulled off her blazer and let it hit the floor, jumped out of her slacks and pulled her blouse off without undoing the buttons.
Marshall came aware that someone was in the room, he reached for his gun and rolled onto his back, point the barrel of the gun into Abigail's shocked face.
He pulled the weapon away from her face and onto the bedside table, "Oh, my God! I'm so sorry Abs, you just caught me off guard."
"N-no, don't worry about it. Hazards of the job, I suppose," she chuckled nervously, standing in only her panties and bra. Shaking off the fear that had ran over her body, she smiled broadly at her fiancée, moving her hands up and down her body and said, "Ta-da!"
He looked at her quizzically and frowned, "Ta…da?"
"I'm naked or almost naked, you can do the rest," she winked at him as she came onto the bed, a knee on the bed and he jumped out.
Her startled gaze followed him, he had jumped up and was now shrugging back into his jeans in nervous jerky movements.
"What's the matter?" she asked a bit hurt from his reaction.
"I…uh…I forgot I had to go back into the office…paperwork and stuff," he drawled softly, not meeting her eyes.
She moved around the bed and kept to a stop in front of him, running her hands up and down his chest, a mock pout on her lip, "Awww, come on, I'm sure we can have a quickie and you'll be back to work in no time."
"No, I have to go now," he muttered as he removed her hands and walked around her, grabbing his blazer from the back of the closet door.
"No? What kind of answer is that? Marshall…we haven't been…together in some time," she muttered angrily.
"I have to go," he said without meeting her eyes and walked to the door, stepping over her discarded clothing.
"Do you really? Or do you want to leave because you don't want me?" she challenged as he reached the threshold.
He stopped with his back to her and sighed heavily, murmuring under his breath, "I have to go."
He shook his head from his reverie and thought back to that day. How could he have stayed? When she hadn't aroused any sexual instinct in him when he saw her practically naked in their bedroom. He hadn't wanted to embarrass her by not getting aroused, causing him to just slip away and back to the office.
Marshall heard the shower stop and he walked into the shower in her bedroom, not bothering with warm water; he got under the cold spray. Willing his hardness to go down, before the inspector in the other bathroom would have his hide. He chuckled at his own sense of humor.
Mary heard the shower go off in her own bathroom and released a sigh of relief, after waking up in his arms, the last thing she wanted to do was get her bearing back. She still felt shaky and achy in some personal places, clenching her inner muscles, she groaned in frustration and began to get dress.
She walked into eleven month old, Norah's bedroom and found her sitting in her crib playing with her stuff animal, when the baby heard the door, she turned and gave her mother a toothless grin as she crawled to the crib's rail. She pulled herself up and cried, "Mama! Up Mama!"
"Good morning Bug," she picked her daughter off the crib and walked over to the changing table, after the little sprite was ready for the day, she took her into the kitchen.
Once in her high chair, Mary poured a few cheerios onto the highchair's table. The baby went to work picking one cheerio at a time.
Mary could hear her former partner turned boss, move around in her bedroom, she couldn't help but think how natural he sounded in there. She could guess he was picking up after himself, which she knew would mean he was picking up after her. All his stuff had been left in the living room.
When she heard her bedroom door open, she blushed furiously and turned her back to his entrance, willing her face to lose the color. She poured him a cup of coffee and when she heard Norah squeal in delight she turned.
There in the middle of the kitchen, Marshall held her daughter in his arms, kissing her all over the face, cheeks and neck. Producing the child to squeal even louder.
She placed the mug on the countertop and pushed it in his general direction.
Marshall had walked into the kitchen expecting to go through the awkwardness of their situation, the nervousness of her calling him out for cuddling with her. But to his good fortune, the little person he had totally forgotten when he tried to get frisky with her mother, was there, on her high chair. Norah. He felt the nervousness roll of his back as he reached her, picking her up into his arms and holding her tight in his embrace.
He had missed the little girl, Mary had kept her away from the office and him since he spoke to her on the balcony. A swell of pride that Mary had respected him enough to release him poured over his soul, but the sorrow of losing out of seeing the baby grow stemmed the flow a bit.
He looked over at the blushing Mary and grinned at her, "She's gotten so big!"
Mary nodded and smiled feebly at the pair, they made the perfect couple in her eyes. Her child in the arms of a man like Marshall, she couldn't deny that she was glad that Mark stuck around, but her daughter looked just perfect in her former partner's arms. Making her feel guilty for feeling that way.
Norah's little hands came around his neck and pulled him close, trying to bite him on his chin with her tiny incisors. Holding his head pressed against her chubby little face.
Mary couldn't help herself, she chuckled at the sight and without a second thought said, "I guess you're a keeper."
Marshall looked startled at her and nodded with the goofy grin back in place, "Of course, I am!"
TBC...of course he is!