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Languidly, Eve moved under him, sighing a little. Her senses were tuned to him—the scent of her mate, his taste, his shape—and the need for him rose up even as her mind flitted around the blurred edges of sleep.
Gently, lightly, fingertips stroked over soft, warm flesh. The slide of a tongue, the brush of lips, and an erotic whisper close to her ear. She was aroused, still floating on that liquid spill where pleasure was lazy and sweet.
Then he said her name. Said her name before his mouth ravished hers, before his hand slid down to cup where she was already wet, already aching.
And he shot her from dreamy drift into urgent demand.
Now there was only sensation, the pounding of blood and shocks of heat, and the tangle of limbs as they rolled to find more. She ran her hands over him, thrilling herself with the angles, the smooth skin, the hard lines of muscle.
He was starved for her. He’d wakened wanting her, just the warm comfort of her beside him in the quiet light she’d left burning against the dark. But he’d only had to touch her, to see her face, to need.
She was his constant.
Her mouth was eager, her hands quick and greedy. Their moods matched here, he knew. Give me more, and more. And take all you can.
Half-mad, he dragged her up. He could see her eyes, gleaming, focused on him as she locked her legs around him, as her hips surged to take him in—into the wet heat. She watched him still as she clamped around him, already coming as she surrounded him.
His breath snagged in his throat. His heart leaped after it.
He might have spoken, or tried, but she pulled him closer, took him deeper, and banding her arms around him used those strong, narrow hips to drive him.
Just hold on, she thought. Hold onto me this time. And she held him while the hunger consumed them both.
They slid down together, shuddering. When his head rested between her breasts, she closed her eyes again.
“Guess you’re feeling better,” she managed.
“Considerably. Thanks.” He brushed his lips gently over the side of her breast. “I suppose I deserved the tranq.”
“Goes without saying, seeing as you’ve doused me too many times to count. Point is though, you needed to sleep.” With her hand caught in his hair, she looked up through the sky window at the colorless morning sky. “You scared me, Roarke.”
“I know it.” Turning his head, he pressed his lips to her heart, then shifted so he could draw her over to him, rest her head on his shoulder. “This, all this . . . it sucker punched me. I don’t seem to have my wits about me yet.”
“I get that. But I think you broke a rule. The one about not sharing a personal crisis with your life partner.”
“Life partner.” He smiled up at the ceiling. “Is that your new, more comfortable alternative for wife?”
“Don’t try to change the subject. You broke the rule. I’ve been collecting marriage rules over the last year.”
“Always the cop,” he retorted. “You’re right though, and if it’s not a rule it should be. I shouldn’t have kept it from you. I don’t know altogether why I did. I have to turn this around in my head awhile more, figure out what to do. Or not.”
“Fine. But no shutting me out. Not again.”
“Tha
t’s a deal.” He sat up as she did, then caught her face in his hands. How she could have thought, even for a moment, that he’d grown tired of her was beyond him. “Life partners,” he said. “It’s got a nice ring to it. But you know, I still prefer the sound of ‘wife.’ ” He touched his lips to hers. “Mine.”
“You would. I’ve got to get moving. I have to report to the commander this morning.”
“I haven’t been keeping up with you. Why don’t we catch a shower together, and you can tell me about the case.”
She lifted a shoulder as if it didn’t matter to her one way or the other. But the fact was she’d missed, very much, being able to run through the steps and stages of an investigation with him. “Okay. But no funny business.”
“And here I was, about to grab my big red nose and squirting carnation.”
Naked, she turned in the bathroom doorway to stare at him. “You’re a strange guy, Roarke. But there will be no clowning around—haha—in the shower.”
He considered changing her mind, just on principle, but as he listened to her run through, he got caught up. And found it a relief to think about something other than his own worries.
