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An excruciating silence. “It was hell,” Slayde admitted at last in a rough, gravelly voice. “All the images came pouring back, as vivid as if they’d just occurred. It’s been years since that nightmare happened; I really thought I’d put it behind me. But I haven’t.”
“You don’t ever put something like that behind you, Slayde. You simply tuck it away, and pray each time that it doesn’t resurface until you’ve gathered enough strength to face it again. And you say a prayer that maybe, just maybe, each ‘next time’ will hurt a little bit less.”
A trace of awe softened Slayde’s expression. “You’re extraordinary, do you know that? Here you are, suffering an unbearable loss, but rather than seeking comfort, you’re attempting to comfort me.”
“Were my attempts successful?” she whispered.
“That’s the most astounding part of all—yes.”
“I’m glad. You’re a wonderful man, Slayde. You’ve spent your whole life being strong for others. ’Tis about time you allowed someone to be strong for you. Thank you for letting me be that someone—even for a fleeting moment.”
“Courtney.” Slayde’s knuckles grazed her cheek, his fingers sifting through the loose strands of her hair. His eyes darkened from silver to slate, and Courtney knew—probably before he did—that he was going to kiss her. She watched an internal battle wage across his face, and her heart skipped a beat as he relented, lowering his head to hers.
Tenderly, her hand slipped to his nape, telling him without words what she wanted, urging his mouth down to hers.
Their lips met, clung—and all resistance shattered. It was just as it had been last night: deep, consuming; even daylight’s clarity was unable to mute the maelstrom of emotions they evoked in each other.
With rough desperation, Slayde’s mouth seized hers, circling once, twice—hardening abruptly as he sought a deeper joining, urged her to accept the penetration of his tongue.
She opened to him with the same pure joy she’d felt last night, only this time without the safety of darkness to retreat behind when the madness subsided. She was rewarded with a harsh, inarticulate sound as Slayde’s tongue mated with hers, his hands cradling her head as if to soften the voracity of his kiss.
Courtney needed no softening. Unfurling like a flower to sunlight, she sought more of the magic, wrapping her arms about Slayde’s neck, her tongue returning his caresses, entwining with his.
Slayde shuddered, a new tautness pervading his body, one Courtney found unfamiliar but wildly exciting. His hand shifted, moved beneath her wrapper, and her breath caught as he cupped her breast, his thumb tracing the nipple through the fine silk of her nightrail.
“Slayde.” She uttered his name on a shiver, stirr
ing restlessly beneath a flicker of white-hot sensation. Her nipple hardened, throbbed, awakened to a touch it had never experienced but nonetheless knew. Slayde’s thumb circled, paused, brushed the aching tip until she whimpered. Again and again, he repeated the heated caress, each time more intimately, his urgency a palpable entity that blazed through her like fireworks.
A groan vibrated in Slayde’s chest, and his fingers swept over the curves of her body, his touch unbearably erotic, even with the layer of silk between them. His hand was shaking when it returned to her breast, this time easing not merely beneath the wrapper but beneath the nightrail as well.
Courtney cried out at the sensation of his warm palm on her naked flesh. Unconsciously, she arched upward, pressing her breast more completely into his hand, melting as he began caressing her in the same exquisite ways he had before, only now with nothing between them.
The kiss burned out of control, Slayde’s mouth devouring hers with a hungry rhythm that matched the strokes of his fingertips. On and on it went, a heart-stopping eternity elapsing, interrupted by nothing save their pounding hearts and escalating desire.
By the time Slayde tore himself away, forcibly lifting his body from hers, his breathing was ragged, and Courtney was trembling so badly she was grateful to be lying down. Her knees would never have supported her.
“God,” Slayde rasped, not even pretending to deny the magnitude of what had just happened. His lids were hooded as he stared down at her, his eyes a glittering silver, alight with awe. “Courtney…I…”
“Don’t.” Courtney could scarcely speak. Instead, she pressed her fingers to his lips, tracing the lingering warmth of their kiss. “Words like I’m sorry or this should never have happened would be too painful to hear.”
Mutely, he nodded.
“Just answer one question for me, and we’ll never speak of this again,” Courtney continued, searching his face. “What I felt—the intensity, the wonder—did you feel it, too?”
Slayde swallowed, then kissed her fingertips before easing them away. “Yes, Courtney. I felt it, too.”
“Good.”
“No. Not good.”
A tremulous smile curved Courtney’s lips. “We weren’t going to speak of it again, remember?”
“We also weren’t going to repeat it.”
“That, my lord, was your vow, not mine.”
Exhaling sharply, Slayde scowled, preoccupied by his own troubled thoughts. “Promise me you won’t do anything as stupid as you did just before you fainted,” he said abruptly. “Promise me you’ll stay put, let your body heal.”
