Bounded Souls

3.

It took every ounce of strength in Solana's body to get out of her bed and start her day. It took all of her energy to even open her eyes. She didn't understand why she was so tired when she'd gotten her full eight hours of sleep. But there she was. Seated in the meeting room along with her co-workers.

She looked down at her laptop and typed quickly as Mark spoke animatedly to them all.

"I want everyone to give me their 100% or nothing at all," Mark said.

Solana rolled her eyes and looked up at him briefly. His eyes faltered over to her, "Got everything?" She nodded and continued typing.

"I believe in you guys to get everything done in the span of two days. Thank you,''he concluded.

Everyone rose from their seats and began to exit the room. Solana looked around the now empty room and stood up. Running her hands over her dress pants, she then grabbed her laptop and placed it into its case. The sound of the lock on the door turning caused her to look up.

"What are you doing?" She laughed.

Mark smiled at the beautiful woman before him and took a few steps closer to her. "Just getting some alone time with my woman."

Solana shook her head with a smile as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

"Your woman, huh?"

"If you didn't play so many games, yeah."

Solana shuddered as he spoke lowly near her ear. He knew how to get her in the mood wherever she was. Briefly she closed her eyes and fought off the urge to take him right then and there. Rolling her eyes,  Solana turned around and pulled away from him.

They couldn't go through many conversations without Mark taking it there. He had many questions and he wasn't afraid to ask them anymore. In the beginning—when things were fresh, he kept his questions to himself and felt the ride out. He went with the flow despite his doubts. But, just like a curious kid that grew older, he was starting to question a lot of things.

Especially Solana's intentions with him.

"You ruined the moment," She whined.

"How?"

"You went there," She stuffed her laptop into her tote bag and rested it near her purse.

Mark looked down at her, trying his best to make eye contact with her. "I need to know what's going on between you and I, Lana. We're not getting any younger. I'm in my early thirties and I want someone to share this—" He pointed around him. "—with. I want a family."

Solana's eyes widened as she suddenly felt overwhelmed. She wasn't thinking about starting a family for a while now. She didn't know when she wanted to start a family. She didn't even know if she wanted to have children. The thought of that gave her chills.

She loved kids, but they were a big responsibility.

She hadn't accomplished the things that she wanted to accomplish yet. She didn't even think that she was stable enough to have kids. There were a lot of hurdles that she had to jump through, a lot of trauma that she was too stubborn to face that needed to be revealed and worked on, before she even thought about starting a family and settling down.

"Why do you have to be so difficult?"

"Because you continue to beat around the bush with me when all I'm asking for you is to be real with me."

"Well, badgering me about it isn't going to make me reveal anything to you. I'm not ready for all of that just yet, Mark."

Suddenly, her phone began to ring loudly. The couple looked around until their eyes landed on her phone on the table. Quickly, she grabbed it and stared at the screen. She rolled her eyes with annoyance and sighed.