Page 24 of Healing the Leonid Doctor's Heart
“That’s what Ru said. He doesn’t know what we’re thinking about doing, what we’re planning, but he kept saying I need to take care of myself. Do something for myself.”
“And this can be the start of your personal, private dreams. Home. Kids. In a few years, your program will probably be utilized in every system through the Felix Orbus Galaxy, right? And then you and your baby can—”
“Stay near you. Because you’ll be the mother. And I want my son or daughter to have a mother.”
She nodded. “You could marry, I’m sure. There must be someone—”
“I had someone. I had Kaya.”
So it’s true. One great love. Gone.
Whatever I am, it isn’t that. Physical. Practical. A means to an end, but a delicious, thoughtful means to an end, I suppose.
“I understand.”
“I don’t think you do.” Marcus’ paw suddenly gripped her knee. “I always told myself that Kaya was the only one for me. When some ignorant people asked why I had chosen a Servali bride instead of a Leonid one, I said, ‘Because she’s the only Felid in the universe for me.”
“Marcus, I know I can’t replace that kind of love, but—” Abigail was glad when Marcus cut her off with a sudden snarling hiss, his paw tightening on her leg. She hadn’t known how to end that sentence. Her arousal was fading fast, and she realized that even if she wanted to be the most helpful, grateful person in the galaxy, making love to someone who could never love you back would feel hollow. Not even pleasure and a sense of duty, not even a million credits, could make it all right.
“I said she was the only Felid. Not the only Queen. I’ve been thinking about it all evening. That I don’t just want my life to have a child in it. I want that cub to have a mother, and I want a wife. I want a Queen. I want a family that sails together from system to system, or settles down somewhere planetside. If I get to pick a dream—that’s what I want.”
For a moment, there was silence, both of them nodding, until Marcus asked, “I suppose the question now is what doyouwant?”
“I want.... I want to see if I can give you both things.”
“No, that’s what you want formysake, I want to know—”
“I said, I want to be that mother. That Queen. But, Marcus...” This was the hard part, the part that would risk everything, “I can’t be your Queen without being the mother to your cubs. For me... no. I don’t know what you’re asking, if you’re asking if I’m in love—”
“I’m not asking that,” he said quickly. Too quickly for her nerves.
“If this doesn’t work, you still deserve the chance to have a family with a woman—Queen—who can make your dreams come true.Allof those dreams. I’m not the jealous type, but I couldn’t let my husband or partner make love to someone else and not feel jealousy and hurt in my heart, even if he had such a good reason. I know you mentioned co-parenting—”
“But we deserve more, Abigail. You don’t even have to tell me all the details of your life for me to know it’s been hard,” Marcus slid to his knees, paws cupping her hands now, looking up at her with a crooked smile. “Even if we’re only ever friends who enjoy each other’s company, each other’s passion—our lives will be happy. Our child would be happy.” His paws clasped around hers more tightly. “I could makeyouhappy.”
“You already do. Marcus, you already do.” She leaned forward and cupped his face, taking her hands back to stroke away the wild gray mane and run her fingers softly over the broad forehead and strong planes of his face, lifting it until she pressed her small mouth against his smiling lips.
The kiss grew, hope blotted out questions—and Marcus kicked the table away as he swept her backwards onto the bed.
“IS THIS STILL PARTof the exam?” Abigail asked, a playful note in her voice. Her emotions had been on a wild ride, and they crash-landed into a sea of lust and tension as Marcus hovered over her.
“As a medical professional? No. As a lover? Yes. I want to conduct a thorough examination of this particular patient. My Queen. I want to make sure I know every piece of you intimately.”
Abigail took a deep breath in and let it out slowly as Marcus’ paws ran down her abdomen, one spread paw completely covering her from navel to pubic bone. “Marcus, you’re a doctor. I’m sure you already know—”
“I know nothing at all about pleasuring humans, aside from what I learned last night. I know the names of body parts, and I know injections, cycles, hormones, and blood tests. I want to know what it feels like for you when I dothis.” With a slow, torturous drag of his paw, one padded digit pressed her clit and kept going past it, moving lower, pushing inside her entrance with a deep, steady pressure, the kind that made her thighs lock and her pussy flood.
“But I never even... No one ever took the time to help me find out. I never found out,” she breathed out, low and shaky, voice almost gone, hidden behind the urge to clamp her jaws shut and hide her sounds.
A long, slow thrust, in, then out, in, then out—Marcus kept repeating the gesture while his other paw cupped her breast. “It’s not too late to find out.” His voice was a rumble that sent spirals through her middle, mimicking the slow, careful circles his thumb was now making across her clit. “Are you worried I’ll hurt you?” he whispered.
Her closed eyes flew open. When he lay with her like this, halfway over top of her, it was easy to feel small and helpless—like she’d always felt back home.
“Not scared of you. Safe with you.” One hand reached up and tangled in his silvery mane, drawing him closer.
His much larger nose came close to hers, and she was the one who lifted her head up, “booping” them together, loving the deep, rolling chuckle that she earned from him.
“As long as you feel like you’re in good paws, then I won’t worry that you’re not enjoying my research,” Marcus breathed out, nuzzling against her.
