Page 95 of Mercenary

Our eyes connect. His movements quicken.

“Fuck. Don’t.”

“Mine,” I tell him with a smile.

“Mine,” he grunts as my climax hits.

I laugh and cry out at the same time, feeling him harden and swell, then jerk inside me.

You should have demanded he say it . . . love, LOVE.

He holds me in his arms afterward. Quietly. Peacefully. I sigh in contentment, only to find myself, a second later, flat on my back.

He stares down at me, looking confused, looking lost. Then he smiles, and my heart nearly bursts at the sight of it.

Leaning forward, he presses his lips to mine, parting my mouth with his tongue, before kissing me silly. Frantically and possessively. Revealing the truth I so desperately search for without saying a word.

Morning’s light filters into the room, and only then does he stop.

He rolls away and onto his back, breaking contact. Now I’m the one feeling lost.

I sigh.

“Sleep,” he orders.

Then does the unthinkable. He takes my hand firmly in his grasp and holds it, even as my eyelids flutter and sleep washes over me.

“Madelyn?”

“Hmmm,” I remember asking, too exhausted for words. But when I hear what he says, it settles over me, comforting me like a warm, worn afghan.

“Mine wasn’t the word I was thinking of.”

* * *

Little didI know I’d end up alone and locked in Declan’s bedroom by the time the sun hits the horizon.

Not that I can see the sunrise through the cracks between the louvers of the shutters that have been fixed in place. Yeah, I checked. Right after I discovered the door locked tight.

But the kicker is, he’s left a loaf of bread, a butter knife, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of blueberry jam, and a twelve-pack of water on the floor just inside the door.

Proof he’s gone.

Leaving me alone at the Ranch. Trapped inside his bedroom, my body aching along with my heart.

Instead of bliss, it’s a postcoital diss. Damn him.

It hurts, him disappearing without a word. Especially considering the possessive way he made love to me. He’s stolen away and taken with him my certainty in this fragile thing between us.

“Mine wasn’t the word I was thinking of,” he said.

Love. Did he mean love? Because that’s how it felt last night.

I inhale, then exhale slowly in measured breaths. “It’s okay if you say the word, Declan,” I want to reassure him. But that’ll have to wait because he’s disappeared and has gone in search of Kylie. He’s helping me, as promised.

And when he finds her, what condition will he find her in?

With a shake of my head, I tread into the adjacent bathroom and turn the shower on hot. Listening as the water beats out in cadence Don’t worry. Don’t worry. Don’t worry. I sigh. Yeah, don’t worry, right? After all, Kylie’s trained for something like this.