Truth or Dare?

The SBS

I lie there, sprawled across his chest, still trying to catch my breath. The large window in his bedroom shows the black skies outside and I start to wonder what time it was. We had been so wrapped up in each other that I don't know whether it was late night or nearly morning.

I feel a movement from beneath me and I look slowly into the dark eyes of the most beautiful man I've ever seen. The smile that spread across my face is a natural reaction to looking at this man and I never want it to go away.

"What's the smile for angel?" I giggle at him but I have no idea what's come over me. I just feel so bloody happy.

"Nothing, I'm just really happy." He turns his body and engulfs me in a massive bear hug while I laugh even harder into his chest.

"I'd pay millions to hear that laugh of yours sweetheart." I look up but when I see his face my laughing subsided somewhat.

"Hey, what's wrong? You look worried or nervous. Do you want to talk? Were the guys really that much of a pain this morning?" I smile at him and he mirrors my actions but I can't shift the feeling that somethings wrong.

"I'm going to make a drink. Do you want one?" Nodding, I through my legs over the side of the bed and pull his T-shirt over my head. When I look up he's standing in front of me with his hand outstretched which I take instantly and we walk down stairs in silence.

Somethings wrong. He's never been this quiet with me. Have I done something? Maybe this is the part where he has to tell me he's going on one of his holidays soon and he won't be back for a while. That's probably why the sex was so long and bloody fantastic because he's about to leave.

By the time we get downstairs my head has gone through nearly every scenario possible for as to why he's being so quiet and reserved. When he opens the fridge and offers me a cold bottle of beer, I quickly shake my head and instead I start the kettle and proceed to make myself a soothing cup of tea. That's what we British make when we're worried or sad or anxious or whatever right?

I can feel him watching me and then suddenly arms are being wrapped around my waist and his head in pressed into my neck. We stand there like that for a couple of minutes but when the kettle switches off and I start to make my cuppa, Marcus finally steps back and leans against the opposite counter.

When I'm done stirring the tea for far too long, I finally turn and land my eyes on his for the first time in what feels like forever. How is it we've become so awkward?

"Marcus, have I done something?"

"What? No, of course you haven't. Why would you think that?"

"Well, you haven't exactly been yourself since we had sex and you've been just, well, odd!" I don't know how else to explain it.

"Fliss, I need to tell you something and I'm worried you're going to look at me differently or be afraid of me." I scrunch my face at his statement but it never seems to make sense in my head, no matter how many times I replay it.

"I would never be scared of you. Marcus I've known you all my life. You've seen the good and bad parts of me already and I trust you indefinitely. If there's some part of you I don't know about, just tell me and then we can move on together. Unless you're about to tell me you didn't actually want anything more than a few nights of passion with me, I'm sure we'll be fine." He laughs at my attempt at lightening the mood but the smile on his face is clearly forced. He's clearly really worried about his revelation but I can't think of anything that he could say that would put me off.

Without saying a word he puts his warm hand in mine and pulls me towards the sofa and sits me down in the same spot I sat in the other night. It brings back happy memories and I know my face is slightly flushed but I don't even care anymore.

I notice that he's left a little gap in between us and our bodies aren't touching anymore which is more than discomforting. He's always so tactile and I love that about him.

"Fliss, I don't want you to be scared of me but I want you to know everything about me so that there's no secrets. I've also got to ask you a favour so that when I leave for my next placement, I'll know you're going to be safe."

I can't help the nervous butterflies that flutter through my stomach at his mention of him leaving. I never wanted him to go before but now I feel like kidnapping him and chaining him up in the basement of some abandoned house that no one knew about.

"Marcus, please tell me, I'm losing my mind here."

"I'm sorry, I know I'm being very evasive and probably quite weird right now. Look, the thing is, my job - my actual job - is a little different from what you think it is."

"So you're not in the navy anymore?"

"No, I'm in the navy but I'm more of a specialist and it's a little bit more complicated." I can see he's struggling and I've had enough of the no contact that seems to be between us.

Abandoning my untouched tea on the coffee table, I turn back to Marcus and straddle his lap quickly. One look into his eyes tells me he's more than aware that he's only in his boxers and I have nothing on underneath his top but I completely ignore his looks and cup his face in my hands. The feeling of his stubble against my skin is rough and sexy as hell.

I trail my fingers over his jaw one more time before I lean forward and kiss his lips gently before pulling away and sitting back slightly so that he can continue talking.

"My team is built of different specialist from different fields of the Royal Navy. Jonah and I trained together and then we started to work our way up through the ranks together. We were doing so well that we decided to both train to be in the SBS, the special boat service. Have you ever heard of the Navy SEALs?"

I painfully swallowed the huge lump in my throat and nodded. They were meant to be some of the deadliest men in the world.

"The SBS is the UK equivalent..." he trailed off slightly and I think it was to let me take it all in.

Oh my bloody God!