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A red haze swarmed his vision. “Am I the only asshole who was excluded from this brilliant plan?”

“No.” She stepped into him and settled her hands on this chest. “Nathan was the only one who knew, and I didn’t call him until I made it out.” Her lashes fluttered over her hollow cheeks. “You couldn’t know. Roy would’ve seen right through you.”

Fuck Roy. His heart pounded as he sifted through all the risks she took, all the ways it could’ve gone so horribly wrong. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and never let go. And he would, after he sorted out all the hurt battling through him. “Go to the bedroom. I’ll deal with you in minute.”

She huffed and balled her hands on her hips.

“Now!” He thrust a finger at the hallway.

Charlee’s shoulders shot to her ears, and she took off in the desired direction.

He dropped his hand, flexing it at his side, and glared at Nathan. “You’ve lied to me about her death not once, but twice. Never. Again.”

The skin around Nathan’s eyes tightened. “There won’t be anagain.”

“No, there fucking won’t be.” He nodded to Tony, who lingered in the kitchen doorway. “Call that pilot, ask him to come back. You and Nathan have the next three months off. A paid vacation. Go on a trip, practice drills, fuck each other’s brains out, do whatever it is bodyguards do.”

He pushed past Nathan and followed Charlee’s sweet scent down the hall. Two weeks of pain lifted little by little with each step. He breathed clearer. His feet moved steadier. It was funny how a passing of time could rip you apart, and all it took was one freeing moment to solder the pieces back together.

Closing and locking the bedroom door, he turned to face the incarnation of his universe. She was a goddess in a way, wielding the power to destroy and rebuild him at will. His blood pumped with appreciation, respect, longing. It also thrummed with the need to balance that power. “Take off your clothes.”

A flicker lit her eyes, and she scrambled to follow his order. When her shirt, boots, jeans, and undergarments thudded to the carpet, she straightened her back and raised her gaze.

He circled her, his fingers trembling over her collarbone, down her spine, and around the dip of her waist. “Why have you lost weight?”

“I couldn’t eat.” She cleared her throat and whispered, “I missed you.”

His heart flipped. “You have two weeks to put the weight back on. If you don’t, you’ll be spending a lot of time eating off the end of my fork.”

She nodded, smiled.

He continued his circuit around her, trying like hell to maintain some semblance of composure. She was alive. Right there, beneath his hand. “How did you escape the hatch unseen?”

“The smoke hid me when I slipped from the compartment on the driver’s side and out the back door of the hangar. I found an unlocked shed a few rows down and waited there. Roy didn’t leave the passenger door, and luckily, his guards stayed with him.”

The blazing innards of the bus would forever be burned into his mind. She’d been right down the road while he’d crumbled apart in that hangar. “Luckily. That’s exactly right.” He stopped before her, glared down into her wide eyes. “I’m infuriated over the risks you took with your life.Ourlives. Did you consider what your death would do to me?”

“You’re so strong.” She dropped her eyes to the floor. “I watched the concert on the Internet. You were amazing.” She looked up, didn’t flinch from his hard glare. “There were a lot of flaws in my plan, but your resilience wasnevera doubt.” Her chin trembled. “Still, I deeply regret putting you through that.”

The conviction in her words settled over him. His heart skipped through his chest, thumping to the beat of effortless chord changes.G. D. E…D.

Christ, he loved her. He moved to the bed, sat on the edge, and pointed to his bent knees. “Come here.”

She sank her teeth into her lip and closed the distance.

Gripping her wrist and thigh, he bent her face down over his lap. Her legs and arms dangled on either side of his knees, and her gorgeous ass rose up, filling his view and rushing a pulse of heat to his groin. “You will never put your life at risk like that again.” He let his palm fly, sending a smack through the room as it landed on one cheek.

When she wiggled, he leaned in and bit the flush his palm left behind.

What had the forums said about domestic discipline? Be mindful of the depth of her emotions and pain threshold, monitor her arousal, and make her count it out. He curled his fingers between her legs, and they slid smoothly between her wet folds. His dick jerked. “That was the first of twenty. Count them out.”

“One,” she breathed, and fuck if her voice didn’t send him hurtling toward a quick finish in his pants. Nineteen more. Good God.

As he pommeled her ass, each breathy count tested his restraint. When the last slap rippled over her perfect pink bottom, he spun her, tossing her face up on the bed, and climbed between her legs. The mattress groaned as he thrust against her mindlessly, eating at her mouth, hands tangling in her hair.

She laughed against his lips. “Jay, your jeans?”

Fuck. He launched off the bed and shoved his pants past his ass, not bothering with the boots. With his ankles shackled by the jeans, he crawled over her, gripping his dick, and buried himself inside her wet warmth.