Page 36 of Twister

Then they were caught in a fever of need, a driving, desperate, frantic need that consumed them, drove them, carried them to the very edge of an emotional chasm until Twister clutched her and thrust into her one final time. Everything exploded into a splintering glow of silver, and the climax came—a blinding, aching release that took them both under.

Twister held on to her, enveloping her in his strength and heat, his body shuddering against hers, and Sadie clung to him, shaken, and so emotionally exposed that she felt stripped inside. It took a long time for all that emotional turbulence to settle, and the first things she was aware of were how much she was falling for this man and how securely he was holding her. She released some of the overload by expelling the air in her lungs, then cradled the back of his head and hugged him fiercely.

“So, I get to have you all night?”

He chuckled. “You can have me whenever you want me, woman,” he whispered, his voice rough with emotion.

She nodded, burying her face against his neck. She waited for the giddy pressure to ease in her chest, then she cupped his nape, caressing his skin. “I meant to sleep with you, but that works, too.”

Drawing one arm from under her, he braced his weight on it and looked down at her. With the dark stubble filling in where his sculpted beard and mustache ended, he looked biker rough,so tough and dangerous and so masculine. He gave her a slow, soft smile, a trace of amusement in his eyes. “I mean to sleep with you, too. Everything seems to work with you.”

He leaned down and kissed her, his mouth warm and moist and open against hers.

“Yes,” she said with a sigh. “All parts of you work extremely well.”

He closed his eyes briefly. “Almost everything,” he murmured.

And she knew exactly what he was talking about. His panic attacks. She infused everything she felt into her voice and eyes, her wealth of understanding and compassion as she stroked his taut face. She didn’t want him to cover up anything to make it easier on her or him.

“Don’t do that to yourself, Shane. Don’t. You are having a tough time right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s forever. Believe me, I’ve had my share of hard times, and I got out of them through my own perseverance. You have that in spades. Just part of what makes you so indestructible.”

“Geezus, Sadie.” His hand slipped around her nape and squeezed. “I really need to hear that shit right now,” he said hoarsely. He kissed her so softly, the tenderness in him palpable. She didn’t want to diminish what kind of shape he’d been in during both panic attacks. They were concerning for a man who couldn’t be distracted at any time. A distracted warrior was a dead one.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she offered, thinking that he might shut down, draw into himself to protect anything that was too vulnerable for her to see. He was haunted by his weakness, afraid of showing it to anyone. No one was fearless, regardless of how much he tried to cover it up.

He inhaled deeply as if extracting courage from the air, surprising the hell out of her, and said, “Yes, I do. I think I needto, and with you…” He swallowed convulsively. His voice was so ragged it was barely audible. “...I…want to. I feel so goddamned safe. It’s such a strange and foreign feeling.”

Ah, such unexpected softness wrapped up in such a hard, unmistakable warrior. Twister had layers, beautiful, compelling, mesmerizing layers, and he was peeling them one by one for her to see. A man for whom trust didn’t come easily, but again, they had shown each other their vulnerable sides, open and raw, baring everything that could injure them, compromise them, and lead them to disaster if they weren’t careful, vigilant. He was dropping even more walls for her. Maybe that was his desperation to find out what was at the core of these terrible episodes. Once he understood himself, he could get to the root and eradicate them.

She slid her hand up his chest and kissed him back, trying to give him all the emotional honesty he had given her. Holding her still, Twister eased away, then sighed and raised his head, his eyes dark and somber as he gazed down at her. Sadie tried to ease the contraction in her throat, then, her voice unsteady, said, “I’m so glad you’re here, Twister.”

He shifted his gaze as he drew his thumb across her mouth as the muscles in his jaw bunched, then he looked at her again. There was a directness in his somber gaze that made her throat contract even more. “So am I,” he answered unevenly. “So am I.” He leaned down and kissed her again, then carefully withdrew from her. Using his arm for leverage, he lifted himself off her, then stretched out on his back and reached for her. “Come here, babe,” he said gruffly. “So I can hold you.”

Sadie immediately complied, maneuvering them under the covers and drawing the sheet over them, then resting her head on his shoulder and tucking her knee between his, the weight of his arm across her back, holding her securely against him. Shespread her hand over his chest, listening to the counterpoint of his heartbeat and hers mingling, savoring the shared silence.

Twister sighed and covered her hand with his, and Sadie shifted a fraction and said, her voice quiet. “Where do you want to start?”

“I don’t know. My attacks started after I almost died,” he murmured.

“What happened to you?”

When he didn’t say anything, she pushed up on her elbow, draping herself across his chest. She sensed he was suddenly exhausted beyond words. “We don’t have?—”

“It’s not that,” he said, meeting her eyes in a steady, unnerving look.

“Did I ask the wrong thing?” she said, her voice faltering.

“No,” he said, sliding his hand along her arm, playing with a lock of her hair. “It’s classified information, and I’ve never broken that code, ever.”

“Okay. Can we work around it?”

“I think full disclosure is best, and I didn’t say I wouldn’t break the code…with you. We already share some pretty strong secrets, and the mission is long over.”

The import of what he was about to do weighed heavily on her. To be taken into this man’s confidence to this extent was meaningful. “This is a lot of responsibility…” she said, watching his eyes shutter. She hiked herself up higher so that she could reach his mouth with hers. She kissed him softly, then said, “But I’m all in with you, Twister. So, tell me what you want to say, and it’ll be safe with me.”

For one heart-stopping instant they stared at each other, invisibly linked by an acute awareness, then Twister’s expression altered dramatically. Looking suddenly gaunt, he sighed. “About eighteen months ago, the team was in Haiti for a peacekeeping mission.”

“Oh, no,” she said softly, well aware of what had happened in Haiti. “That terrible earthquake…Oh, God were you?—”

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