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His deep chuckle vibrated along her collarbone. “Not in the least.”
Devastating dragon. Beautiful bastard.
“Fine,” she snapped. “All right, fine. I’ll—I’ll stay away from the windows…because it will keep me safe.”
Along with his approving growl, he nipped at the corner between her neck and shoulder. “Outstanding.”
She audibly seethed. “Says the gloating victor.”
He leaned back so their stares met again. His face was still a stunning picture of patience, considering the persistent erection at her center. “I wasn’t aware we were keeping score.”
“Weren’t we?”
He dipped his head in again—close enough for her to spot the russet specks in his irises. “I’m not being a hard-ass for the hell of it. Right now, especially with what’s happened across the globe, everything outside this condo has to be considered enemy territory.”
Tracy gave him an even nod. “That makes sense.”
He nodded back. “Thank you for understanding.”
“But…”
She let the rest of it drop—into air that thickened inside three seconds. Just like that, she knew it was back. The intangible, incredible awareness…beyond the intimate positioning of their bodies. The pull surpassing just the physical. The longing to touch more of him…the lust for him to touch more of her.
And beyond.
The beyond of here and now. The possibility, in the solitude of this midnight moment, that their spark could combust into so much more.
Dare they…?
Would he…?
Should she…?
Too many questions. So many answers that loomed and crowded and daunted.
So she let the silence stretch on.
Until, with a taut grunt, he persisted, “But…what?”
“But…what if I hadn’t understood?” Shit, shit, shit. Why did this feel so much like now or never? Like her libido stood on the edge of the high dive board, with her psyche back on the ladder, goading her forward?
Now or never. Now or never.
Because yesterday, she had nearly been blown into never.
It was now. And she didn’t wait any longer, going for it with a brazen reach between their bodies.
“Fuck,” Franzen rumbled.
She was tempted to echo the sentiment. Holy…wow. Her fingers stretched around his bulge, even wider as he swelled for her. “Well, Captain?” she managed in a saucy murmur. “If I hadn’t been so ‘understanding’, would you have used this to make me…obey?”
Despite the oath, his face barely betrayed its angles of control. The tense brackets at the corners of his mouth hardly counted. “You have your fingers on the pulse of how much I like that idea, woman.”
“But…?” She copied his word with a deliberately coy injection.
“But not all ideas can always be actionable.” The brackets tightened. His jaw visibly clenched. “We both know that.”
She let her brows knit. “We’re also both grown-ups. Adults who recognize we both had…a few thoughts…from the moment we first touched, then endured a crazy-as-hell day together, and may now need to let off a little steam.”
