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He also realized he was falling in love with her.

That truth washed over him, hitting hard hardest in a shattering realization that she now claimed his heart.

Since he met her, he’d been mesmerized by all of her.

Her care, the brush of her fingers over a patient’s brow.

The brilliance of her intellect, her laugh, her sensuality, and the way she chose joy despite the burdens she carried.

He now loathed that they’d gone to bed angry with each other.

With a hushed growl, he turned to her.

She lay curled on her side, back to him, hair a halo of wild curls across the pillow, one hand tucked beneath her cheek.

Her breathing was soft, even. She was asleep and unaware of the storm roiling in him.

Unable to help himself, Ki’Remi reached for her, stroking her from shoulder to hip.

It wasn’t lust that guided his touch; it was pure craving.

Needing to be inside her, on her like a tattoo.

The raw, aching desire to anchor to her realness. To her sweet essence.

She moaned and instinctively curved her backside like she always did, half asleep, as an invitation to love on her.

His shaft hardened, thickened, wanting to sink into her now.

He nestled into her from behind, sliding an arm over her waist. She shifted, mumbling an incoherent word.

The heat of her wetness pressed against his cock, and his nose nuzzled to the nape of her neck, breathing in her scent, jasmine, vanilla, and musk.

His hand brushed across her belly, then stilled, resting flat as her body shifted.

Her awareness stirred, and she adjusted to his presence.

‘Remi?’ she breathed, voice thick with sleep.

He found her ear and whispered into it. ‘I’m so sorry, my love, for not coming clean with you about my alternate agenda on Sacra.’

She froze, now fully conscious.

After a beat, she sighed. ‘You were devious; you lied to me by omission.’

He sighed. ‘I’m well aware,kidaya, and I apologize.’

She took a deep inhale, tilting her face toward him. ‘I get why, but honey, we can’t jeopardize my mission for yours.’

‘I get that, and I’m so regretful.’

Silence fell as she mulled his words, but she didn’t pull away from him.

He stroked her pussy mound, then moved up to tweak her nipple.

He sensed her resistance crumble when her breath hitched, trembling beneath his touch.

Then her hand came between them, stroking his cockhead over her slickness.