Page 9 of Light Me Up

“Hmmph.” She sniffed, running her hands over her slender, bare arms as if she were chilled. “Noah,” she said slowly. “We don’t have to talk about this. Not right now, anyway. But in the meantime? Don’t use your AVP toread my mind.”

“I don’t,” he said swiftly. “I just know what you’re thinking because I know you.” The look on her face made him hasten to amend that statement. “Not as well as I want to, though. Not as well asI’m going to.”

“Going to,” she murmured, frowning. “That makesme feel…naked.”

His dick throbbed enthusiastically at her word choice. Things were looking up. Along with his dick. “I love you naked,” he announced.

She rolled her eyes. “You always default to sex.”

“Well, yeah,” he said, a little defensively. “You’re gorgeous. Hotter than hell. And sex with you is un-fucking-believable, every time. Who could resist defaulting to that?”

“I don’t want you to resist,” she said forcefully. “I just want to make you chill out! With a whip and a chair,if I have to!”

He considered that, and shrugged.

She gave him a narrow look. “Come on, Noah. Act scared, OK? Just tomake me happy.”

“I am. Can’t you tell?” He reached out for her, but dropped his hands when she pressed herself up against the sink, still keeping her back to him. “Being with you is as good as it gets,” he told her. “It’s so goodit scares me.”

“Hmm. Keep talking. Scared why?” Her voice was still cool. She would notmeet his eyes.

“There’s Obsidian, for starters,” he continued. “They turned me into a paranoid mutant freak before I ever met you. I’m afraid of them finding you. You should be, too.”

Caro met his gaze in the mirror. “I am,” she said. “But we still need to live our lives. We don’t have to take crazy risks, sure. But we do need to breathe.”

His pulse thudded in his groin. That direct, piercing look in her eyes was such a buzz. Even when she was breaking his balls.

“Look,” he said carefully. “You’re as tough as nails. I know that. But I just want you to be safe. For me, understand? I need you. Without you, I’m toast.”

“That’s nice.” Her voice had taken on a crystalline ring. “But it’s not always about what youwant or need.”

“OK,” he said. “Then tell me what you want. Laydown the law.”

“I don’t know why I should bother,” she said. “You never follow any rulesbut your own.”

“Nope,” he agreed. He brushed her hair aside and leaned down to kiss the nape of her neck. Her body was so sleek and lithe. Everywhere they touched made pleasure flash through him. His heart thundered.

She stiffened as his arms slid around her. “You can’t distract me with sex.”

“I can try,” he offered.

“You think I’m so easy?”

Whoa, danger ahead. “Nothing about you is easy. But I like a challenge.”

“I’m not challenging you. I’m talking to you.” Caro twisted around and put her hand on his face. “I appreciate that you want to protect me. I’m confident you can do it. No one could ever get the drop on you.”

He stared back at her, wishing he shared her conviction, but he knew Obsidian a hell of a lot better than she did,or ever would.

He started to shake his head, but she held it, refusing to let him move.

“You’re a hero,” she said. “I hate that it has to be such a big secret. I wish more people knew the truth about you.”

“Well, they can’t,” he said. “And I’m glad. That’s one clusterfuck I can skip. Stop calling me a hero. I just wanted to save my girlfriend, my family, and my own skin. All of which is in my own best interests. What’s heroic about that?”

She waved her hand in frustration. “Stopplaying dumb.”

“That’s just how I see it,” he told her.

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