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His golden eyes opened and he looked down at her with a sleepy smile.
“Enjoying yourself, baby?”
“God!” Forget about slow and careful—Mia shoved away from him and pulled down the silky white nightshirt as fast as she could!
Sev sighed but didn’t move or make any attempt to stop her.
“Was afraid you’d react like this,” he rumbled. “Look, last night—”
“Shouldn’t have happened,” Mia finished for him. She felt as though her whole body was blushing—her skin was probably as red as her partner’s right about now!
“I don’t agree,” he said simply. Propping himself up on an elbow, he looked at Mia more fully. “We’re pretending to be Joined—married as you humans say. It’s not a bad thing to be close where the cameras can see us.”
“Oh, right…” Mia looked around the room. “The cameras.” To be honest, she’d completely forgotten they were under surveillance. The idea of strangers watching her hump her partner’s hip made the situation exponentially more embarrassing. God, how was she ever going to live this down?
“That’s right—the cameras,” Sev said patiently. “We’re just playing our parts, right?”
“It seemed like we were doing, uh, more than just ‘playing our parts’ last night,” Mia pointed out.
She couldn’t help remembering how good Sev’s big, warm hands had felt cupping her breasts or how close she’d come to reaching an orgasm…only to be knocked back by bad memories of the past that just wouldn’t die.
Slut!whispered an ugly little voice in her head.Think of all the whorish things you did—he’ll never respect you again! You’re disgusting.
“First I practically begged you to touch me and then I cried all over you,” she said and put her face in her hands. “God, I feel sostupid.”
“Why? For letting me in for once?” Sev asked. “For letting yourself be the least little bit vulnerable? I opened up to you too, Mia. Does that makemestupid?”
“No, of course not—you’re a guy.” Mia sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “You can do whatever you want and not get judged for it. And now I’ve gone and ruinedeverything.”
“Look at me, baby…” Sev sat up and hooked at finger under her chin. Tilting her face up, he held her eyes with his. “Nobody’s judging you,” he murmured once he had Mia’s full attention. “And nothing’s ruined. We’re still partners with a mission to accomplish and we need to be close to each other to get it done. All right?”
His deep voice and calm words helped. Mia’s heart—which had been galloping in her chest—slowed to a steadier pace.
“Sorry,” she said, taking a deep breath. “It’s just…I wasn’t raised to act the way I did last night. I…I don’t know what got into me.”
“Maybe you’re finally breaking out a little—getting free from that sect you grew up in,” Sev suggested.
Mia frowned.
“I’ve been free for years—I left ages ago.”
“You’re body left, but I have feeling that parts of your mind—and your heart—are still in bondage,” Sev murmured. “It’s not a bad thing to break those chains, Mia—to let yourself be free. And like I said, I’m not judging you.”
“Thank you.” Mia looked away, still feeling a bit stiff and unsure. “That’s nice of you to say, Sev.”
“I’m not just saying it—Imeanit. Although if it will make you feel better, we don’t have to talk about it again.”
“I think that would be best,” Mia said. “And…we probably shouldn’t, uh,doanything else like what we did last night again either.”
Sev nodded.
“That’s the way you want it, that’s the way it’s gonna be. Now come on—I’m hungry. Let’s see if we can get some food out of those weird brass tubes in the food prep area.”
“Okay, that’s a good idea.” Mia felt relief stealing over her. Not only was her partner not making a big deal of the things they had done together the night before, he was offering not to talk about it either. It was so nice—sorestfulto be with a man who was so easy going. Michael had been uptight and irritated about almost everything and he could never let anything go. Sev was the exact opposite—the perfect partner, Mia thought.
“That sounds good—I’d like some breakfast too,” she told him.
“All right then—let’s go get some.”
