When Crusher’s arms tightened around her, she snuggled closer, loving how warm and sexy his skin was against hers. She’d never felt safer than she did in his arms.
And more vulnerable.
Though she didn’t believe sex made a person fall in love with someone else, it had tipped the scales in favor of love. The man was everything any woman would want. Tall, strong and handsome. He’d cared for her wounds, put her life ahead of his and insisted on being with her every step of the way.
But wouldn’t he have done that for any asset he’d been assigned to protect?
Marta pushed her misgivings to the back of her mind as she lay spooned against Crusher, savoring every second, committing it to memory because it might be the last time she was with him. She’d told him that having sex with her didn’t have to mean anything to him.
Unfortunately, it meant something to her. Possibly too much, and it might ultimately lead to heartbreak.
Marta’s eyes stung with unshed tears. Tears she couldn’t release. She had learned something important during the time she’d spent with Crusher. Beyond the physical satisfaction of sex, she’d also learned what it meant to fall in love. Once they parted, would she regret having gained that knowledge?
Never.
What was Tennyson’s quote?
Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.
She drifted into sleep, full of the joy after making love with Crusher and the sadness that would follow when they said goodbye.
* * *
Marta slipped into a vivid nightmare, running through a dark jungle with armed men in close pursuit. She’d expected to see Crusher at her side, but he was nowhere to be seen, and the bad guys were getting closer. Suddenly, she tripped and fell, closing her eyes as she hit the ground. The men closed in around her, and she squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for what would happen next.
Instead of the pop of gunfire, a persistent chirping sound pierced the darkness.
Movement against her backside forced her to open her eyes.
She blinked, frowned and stared at what appeared to be a ceiling, not the canopy of trees she’d been running in.
A warm hand cupped her breast, and an arm pulled her back against a warm, muscular body.
More chirping made the hand disappear from her breast and the body lean back, allowing cooler air to caress Marta’s backside, making her shiver.
“This is Crusher,” a gravelly voice said.
From half-asleep to fully awake, Marta rolled onto her other side, remembering that she had slept with Crusher and they were both naked.
Heat rushed through her body.
He listened to whoever was talking and nodded. “Roger. Eight o’clock in the hotel lobby. Have you notified Phantom and Draco, or do I need to?” He paused. “Got it. We’ll be there. Out here.” Crusher ended the call and laid the phone on the nightstand. Then he turned and gathered Marta in his arms, tugging her close for a light kiss. “That was Royce. He arranged with Devon Marsh to meet us in the hotel lobby. Marsh will have further instructions from there.”
Her heart pinched hard in her chest. “What time is it?”
“Six-thirty,” he replied, pressing a light kiss to her forehead. “Do you want to get dressed and go down for breakfast, or call for room service?”
“Neither,” Marta murmured, touched her lips to his neck, hooked her leg over his thigh and slid her arm across his chest. “We have a box full of condoms, an hour and a half and I believe you’re up to it.” She pressed her sex against his morning erection.
“Umm.” Crusher hugged her closer with a throaty growl. “I like the way your mind works, all logic and no nonsense.” He eased her onto her back and came up over her.
Marta spread her legs to make room for his big frame.
Crusher leaned past her, pulled a packet from the box and laid it on the pillow he’d vacated. Then started at her lips, kissing his way across her chin and down the line of her neck where he paused to flick his tongue against the pulse beating erratically there.
“We don’t have much time,” Marta murmured breathily.
“Always time to do it right,” Crusher said, his voice muffled by the breast he’d sucked into his mouth.
