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He came, his body rocking like he’d been hit with a wave. It had been a long, long time since he’d been with a partner, and he feared for the condom’s durability.
To that end, he slipped from her body carefully, relieved to see it remained intact. He kissed Diana deeply, then said, “Be right back.”
He washed up in a flash, then returned to her side. She lay on top of the bed with an utterly content look on her face.
He gathered her against him and nuzzled her neck. “Give me about fifteen minutes, then we can make use of your condom.”
She laughed. “I think I’m going to need at least thirty minutes.”
“As long as you remember it was you, not me, who needed the longer recovery time.”
“Hey, you made me come twice in just a few minutes. Not my fault.”
“I suppose I’m willing to take the fall for that.”
She snuggled against him, her cheek on his chest. “This isn’t what I expected when Morgan insisted I come to her birthday party.”
“Right? The gift was all mine.”
“And mine.”
Her dark hair was beautifully mussed, and he tucked a strand behind her ear. “You really thought about me when you were in the hospital?”
She nodded. “No point in playing cool and coy now.” Still, she blushed. Which was wild considering how free with each other’s bodies they’d been just a few moments ago.
“I thought about you too. But I had a lot of guilt around that. You were an op, and it was inappropriate to sexualize you.”
“I’m not an op anymore.”
“And that’s the only reason I could act on this…thing I felt for you, even before tonight.”
“And I asked myself if my attraction to you was just because I was grateful you’d saved me.”
He traced her lip, his finger automatically going to the scar. He remembered the first time he saw this scar, in the briefing room that first day. Her professional portrait presented a pretty, serious woman. But the real Diana was something else entirely. “You got away. Saved yourself. I was just there for the final piece.”
“I don’t know if I’d have been able to do it, to kill Bassam, if I didn’t know that you were about to walk into Jamal’s line of fire. One more step and…”
“So really, you saved me.”
“I was the reason everyone was in that stairwell to begin with.”
He pressed his lips to her forehead. “Are you sure you want to talk about this? I thought you said you want to forget.”
She was quiet for a minute, then said, “I guess I feel safe talking about it with you.”
“I’m glad I make you feel safe and am sorry you haven’t felt that with others.”
“Morgan and Freya have been great, but everyone else—even their husbands—have at one point or another given me the side-eye, like they think maybe the whole Rafiq thing was in my head.”
“Have you considered that maybe it was just someone who looked a lot like him?”
She stiffened against him, and he felt the weight of his mistake come crashing down like a wall between them.
Chapter Twenty-Four
A bucket of ice water would have been more pleasant and less shocking. Diana scooted away from Chris as she tried to gather her thoughts. Her gaze darted around. She spotted her crutches on the floor, by the window. “I—I need to clean up. Can you get me my crutches?”
“Diana, I’m sorry I—”
