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She smiled up at him. It was a very diverting smile, diverting enough so he knew he had maybe two minutes before his blood rushed from his brain to his dick.

“Chayton?” she said softly

“One last thing, honey. I’m good with you checking those files.” Back to lying time. “I’ll be satisfied with a list of your patients’ names.”

“Chay. We’ve been through this.”

“Names. Nothing else. I just want to run them through a program that’ll throw up an alert if anyone you’re seeing has had a felony arrest.”

“You have such a program?”

No, he did not. But he sure as hell knew somebody who did. Or at least he knew somebody who could write the program if he had to.

“Lots of people have such a program,” he said carelessly.

She sighed. “I’ll think about it.”

He nodded. She could think about it all she liked. Things would be easier if she agreed, but life wasn’t about things being easy, it was about taking action.

He had a plan. And a plan was what they needed. It was how you approached a mission—and finding the man who was stalking his Bianca was a mission.

And Chay knew, without question, that it might very well be the most important mission of his life.

• • •

He took her to bed.

They made slow, easy love. Lots of deep kisses, lots of touching, lots of tasting and then a long, incredible climb to the stars

After, she lay in his arms.

“I am,” she said dreamily, “sated and happy.”

He chuckled, nosed a strand of hair from the side of her throat and kissed the tender flesh.

“Sated. A shrink word if ever I heard one.”

She sighed and traced her hand over his shoulder.

“Chayton?”

“Uh-huh.”

“This tattoo.” Her fingers danced over the small, elegant bird in flight. “A hawk?”

“A falcon.”

She replaced her fingers with her lips. “It’s beautiful,” she said against his warm golden skin.

Chay gathered her closer. “He’s been with me a long time. Ever since that Sun Dance.”

“Is he a vision figure?”

Chay rolled her onto her back and grinned as he bent over her. “Have you been doing a little Indian research?”

She blushed. “No. Yes. All right. I did a little reading after—after that night.”

“The night on the beach.” His kissed her. “Sweetheart. If I could take back—”