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He sighed deeply. “I’m okay. Go to sleep. I’ll clean you up, tuck you under the covers, and lie down beside you and watch TV. I won’t leave—why would I want to?”

“You promise?”

“I promise,” he said breathlessly. “I’ll never leave you. Without you I don’t even know who the fuck I am.”

“Yes, you do. You’re okay.”

“Only because you say so.”

I really need to think about fixing that, I thought before my eyes fluttered closed.

I WOKE in the night to fingertips being trailed slowly, sensuously, up and then down my spine from the nape of my neck, following the groove that ran the length of my back, to the divots above the swell of my ass. The motion was delicate, reverent, the touch enjoyed, savored, and when lips made the same journey, I sighed deeply.

“Don’t wake up,” he whispered, fingers back, stroking so light, so infinitely gentle. “I just need to say that I’m sorry, so sorry. I was selfish today, and I didn’t mean to be. It’s just sometimes I think something, something bad, and then I get stuck there, in that place, and I can’t get out. I want to, but I just can’t.”

I knew that.

He pressed his lips to the small of my back before he turned his head, and I felt his weight settle over me as he used my ass for a pillow.

My sigh was deep.

“I love you,” he said, his voice trembling.

“Me too,” I whispered back.

The kiss on my right cheek made me smile. The bite made me giggle.

“Go to sleep,” he chided me.

I whined under him. “Maybe I could get laid first?”

He grunted like it was a hardship. “Roll over.”

“Not if you’re gonna be like—”

“Now.”

I rolled over.

Chapter 5

WE WERE sitting in the boarding area, and I was looking across the terminal at Landry as he stood in line at Starbuck’s. When Chris had appeared the following morning, Landry had given him the good news that we would go to Vegas with him. He had grabbed his brother and then me, repeating over and over how much he appreciated it. I told him that touching me a lot was not the way to endear himself to Landry. When Chris saw his face, the glare, the clenched jaw, the corded muscles in his neck, he understood. “Possessive” was an understatement where Landry was concerned.

I had called my friend Donna, who was a travel agent, and she did some wheeling and dealing and got the three of us coach seats together on the left side of a 747.

Landry packed because as OCD as he was, you could not ask for better. He never forgot anything. We could be lost at sea and be okay the way the man accounted for every possibility.

So early the following morning, right around five thirty, I was sitting in the chairs watching him stand in line to get drinks for the flight and fiddle with his iPod at the same time. As usual, Landry had surprised me. I had thought he’d be a mess, be scared or worried, but he wasn’t. He was a rock. His voice had changed to matter-of-fact, and he had politely refused his brother’s offer to buy our plane tickets, busting out his American Express and telling him that we would take care of it. And that was Landry. He could be a complete and utter basket case and then flip and become the epitome of a cool, calm yuppie businessman. Chris kept looking at him, waiting for some kind of psychotic break.

On the plane, I got the window because that was where Landry wanted me. He took the middle seat, and Chris got the aisle. Once we were in the air, Landry lifted the armrest between us and snuggled into my side, head on my shoulder, thigh wedged next to mine. I was still tired, so I succumbed fast, military cap down over my eyes, my fingers buried in Landry’s thick hair, massaging his head as I listened to his breath even out. I woke up two hours later when we hit some choppy air and the flight attendant wanted to check if Landry was buckled in. I moved the blanket so she could see and then showed her mine.

“Thank you so much,” she whispered to me, smiling. “Some people get so annoyed.”

“My Aunt Anita.” I smiled at her. “She’s a flight attendant at Continental. She tells me great stories all the time.”

She nodded. “Well thank you for understanding. Go back to sleep.”

I nodded.