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“Excellent. Look, you’ll have to stay put for a while. The weather’s no better. This thing’s turned into a full-fledged hurricane.”

Tanner nodded as if Chay could see him.

“No surprise,” he said. “The rain’s coming down in buckets and the wind’s wicked. Got to be blowing sixty, seventy miles an hour.”

“I’ll let you know when the cavalry’s gonna ride to the rescue, but figure eighteen, twenty-four hours. Sorry about that, man.”

“Any word on Bright Star?”

“There’s some activity about forty klicks from your location. Not sure what it is. This fucking storm…”

“Okay. Let me know if you have more info.”

“Wait a minute… Hey. Hey, Blondie, I’m talkin’ to you. How many times I have to tell you, you can’t be in here.”

“Blondie?”

“Wait a second…” Tanner heard a door slam. “Okay. Blondie. Yes. The hostage’s sister. One of her sisters. There are Wildes and Bellinis comin’ out of the woodwork here.”

Tanner rubbed his forehead again. He could picture the scene, all the Bellini and Wilde hotshots waiting to take his woman from him and return her to their world…

His woman? His woman?

“Tanner?”

He swung around. Alessandra stood at the end of the hall, wrapped in what looked like a cotton blanket. Her hair had dried into soft, loose curls. Her lips were still rosy from his kisses.

He’d always thought one of the dumbest sayings in the world was that somebody’s heart turned over. Hearts pumped blood. They didn’t turn over or swell with emotion…

“Akecheta?” Chay asked. “You still there?”

Tanner cleared his throat. “Still here,” he said briskly.

“Okay. Stay safe, dude. Out.”

“Out,” Tanner said, and disconnected.

He went slowly towards Alessandra, slipped his arm around her and brought her to him for a long, long kiss.

“I thought you were asleep,” he said softl

y.

“I woke up and you weren’t there.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “I missed you.”

They walked into the bedroom, his arm tightly around her. He put the satphone on a table beside the bed. Then he sat down and drew her forward until she stood between his legs.

“I missed you, too.” Slowly, he undid the knot she’d tied between her breasts. The soft blanket fell away and he filled his eyes with the sight of her. “God, you’re so beautiful!”

Her lips curved in a smile. “Bug bites and all?”

“Bug bites and all,” he said, smiling back. Then his smile faded. He dipped his head and kissed the slope of one breast, kissed his way to the rose-pink tip and closed his lips around it.

Her hands clasped his shoulders.

Her head fell back. She breathed a soft, delicate sigh.

Tanner kissed her other breast. Sucked the waiting bud into his mouth, and her sigh became a moan of pleasure.