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Either one was fine with her. That was a lie, but she would accept whatever Charlotte decided. “Do you want to come to Spain with me?”

Charlotte looked up from her co ee cup. “Spain?” Her laugh had a nervous tail at the end. “When?”

“Next week,” Alex replied, relieved that her instinct hadn’t been to decline.

“I don’t have a passport. Don’t those take weeks to get?”

Alex’s chest tightened. “I know someone at the State Department o ce in Miami. If you really want to go . . . I can get you an appointment and a same-day passport.”

Charlotte picked at her cuticles as she mulled it over. “Do you want me to go?”

Alex set down her co ee and half-eaten scone next to the paper bag on the nightstand. “I’d love to show you where

I’m from,” she admitted, reaching for Charlotte’s hand.

With cheeks flushed pink, Charlotte smiled. One of her hands set her cup on the table and the other pulled Alex across the bed and on top of her.

CHARLOTTE LOOKED up at Alex’s dark eyes hovering above her.

How could she resist the o er? She knew she should, of course. Going with her to a new country to meet her family wasn’t going to make things any less complicated.

Lost in the internal struggle of what she wanted and what she needed, Charlotte pulled Alex into a kiss. Her lips, warm and sweet, met hers with the same ready desire.

Reaching for Alex’s flannel shirt, Charlotte started unfastening her buttons. She ached for Alex’s skin on hers. It was the only time she felt alive. When everything was simple and right.

Alex kneeled on the bed long enough to pull o her shirt and tank top while Charlotte unbuttoned her jeans. When she landed on top of her again, Charlotte clawed at her back to unclasp her bra.

Every kiss she placed on Alex’s body was more desperate than the last. If only she could communicate through her touch everything she was feeling. All the things she couldn’t formulate into words.

When Alex slipped her hips between Charlotte’s parted legs and began grinding against her, Charlotte gripped her hard and pulled her closer. She wanted more contact. More pressure.

Alex sunk her teeth into Charlotte’s neck as she groaned.

More. She needed more.

&

nbsp; “Yes,” Charlotte half-whispered, half-moaned.

“Yes to this?” Alex asked, snaking her hand in between their bodies, “or yes to Christmas in Spain?”

Charlotte reached for Alex’s wrist and shoved her hand hard against herself. “Both.”

It’ll be one last hurrah , she told herself, the crushing weight on her shoulders lifting as Alex’s hot mouth left a wet trail down her abdomen. It’s not like they can move forward with the investigation without me .

Charlotte tangled her fingers in Alex’s loose hair and directed her to the aching space between her thighs. She cursed when the tip of Alex’s tongue teased her entrance and pulled her down closer, grinding against her mouth.

The plan came together quickly. She’d get back from Spain and tell them she was done. Jayson, the task force, the prosecutors. Everyone. She’d tell them all that Alex was innocent and that she’d cracked under the pressure of trying to find something on her. Despite her best e orts, the investigation was a failure, and it was time for her to move on. Jayson might not believe her, but he’d give her time to fess up when the coast was clear.

Alex’s tattooed arm slid up Charlotte’s stomach as she reached for her breast. It was one of her favorite sights and Alex knew it. Knowing a part of Alex few others did was intoxicating.

The more Charlotte’s orgasm built, the surer she became of her decision. It was the only way to make things right. The

realization was freeing. She’d enjoy this trip and then disappear from Alex’s life, taking the heat with her.

“Yes,” she moaned again, her back arching o the bed and her eyes slamming shut as she gave herself over to the moment. To the inevitability of it all.

CHAPTER 36