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“Come to my place,” he said, his eyes meeting mine. Then he quirked a smile. “We could go to your place, but you said you had a single bed…”

I leaned my head back against the headrest and sighed. “You’re assuming an awful lot, Beckett.”

“Say the word and I’ll take you home.”

I said nothing, staring in his eyes, knowing that I wanted hi

m. I wanted him to wipe thoughts of Steve away with his kiss and his touch.

So I said nothing.

Finally, he drove off and we zipped through the almost deserted streets to his place in Hell’s Kitchen.

We didn’t talk while he drove, and it was as if we both were afraid to say anything in case whatever was happening between us stopped. When we finally arrived at his building, I let him lead me up the stairs to the front entrance and into the elevator. He pulled me against his body the way he had that first night at the Yacht Club and we kissed, deeply, my heart racing, my body warming at the thought that finally, it was clear to me how I felt and what I wanted.

When we entered his penthouse apartment, I barely saw the place, despite my curiosity, for he wasted no time pulling me into his bedroom. He sat on the side of the massive king sized four poster bed and pulled me into his arms, my body between his spread legs, my arms around his shoulders.

We sat like that for a moment, his face buried in my neck and I closed my eyes and gave into my desires. At that moment, I knew I still wanted him and had wanted him even though he deceived me. I was so afraid after Dan died that I’d never meet another man who would make my pulse quicken and my heart squeeze the way it did with Dan, but I had.

Beckett made me feel that way again and it felt so good. It felt like I was finally living again. Until Beckett, I’d just been existing.

He pulled off my shirt, revealing my bra. He buried his face between my breasts, kissing the skin on them before pulling down one cup to reveal my nipple. He sucked on it, tugging gently on it with his teeth and I gasped with pleasure.

Then I was lost in the sensations of his mouth on mine, his tongue on me, his fingers and hands insistent, hungry, his eyes feasting on me once I was fully naked and lying back on his bed.

“Oh, God, Miranda,” he whispered. “I thought I’d lost you forever,” he murmured against the skin on my neck. “I couldn’t stand it. Not after I met you. Not after we were together, but I didn’t know how to make it right.”

I kissed him, my emotions too high to speak. He made desperate love to me then, both of us so aroused and needy that I came so quickly, barely after he entered me and began to thrust and he wasn’t long after, groaning when he ejaculated, my name on his lips.

We lay on his bed, arms around each other, and recovered.

“I don’t know what I would have done to stop him if you didn’t come along,” I said, when remembered how I got there. “I was afraid I’d actually have to use some of that MCMAP training I received from Devil Dog and you.”

Beckett rose up on his hands and leaned over me as I lay beneath him. He grinned, and I knew he was remembering back to our encounter in the gym during the fitness class. His eyes twinkled and he smiled back.

“Glad to be of service, sha,” he said and bent down to kiss me. “Anytime.” He pulled back and looked into my eyes, and then his voice became serious. “I couldn’t stand to think that he hurt you.”

“You were there like my own personal superhero,” I said and smiled, trying to lighten his mood.

He grinned. “I told you I had superpowers.” He kissed me again and before I knew it, he was leaning down, arousing me once more with his mouth and fingers. “I meant it.”

Then he showed me what he meant.

Early that morning while Beckett still slept, I crept into the ensuite bathroom with my bag and called Leah.

“You’ll never guess what just happened,” I said, keeping my voice low.

“What?” she said, her voice excited. “Did Beckett come by and sweep you off your feet?”

I laughed. “Yes. Twice. After he almost punched Steve out, that is…”

“What?”

I told her what happened and she was practically speechless while I spoke, except for a no way now and then.

“I am so sorry,” she said, and she sounded really sad. “I had no idea Steve would be like that. He seemed so harmless to me. I thought he was just being protective.”

“He saw me as rightfully his and pulled me into a side alley, trying to kiss me and who knows what else he might have done.”