Page 70 of Dangerous Rhythm

“Lina, look at me,” Curtis said firmly. “Breathe.”

He cupped her face in his hands. “Open your eyes, love,” he asked gentler.

The endearment broke into her waking nightmare, and Lina blinked open her eyes and met his.

“She’s gone, Lina. I am sorry you lost your friend. I am sorry a family lost a daughter, a sister,” Curtis said. “But I’m fucking glad you’re here with me.”

He kissed the tears on her cheeks.

“You can grieve for your friend, but you shouldn’t throw your life away,” he said. “Because then there’ll be two lives wasted. And knowing you, Lina Cheung, it’d be such a loss. Because you are nothing short of amazing.”

His words washed over her like a soothing rain. His warm touch penetrated her cold skin, bringing her back to the present. His kiss kept the nightmare at bay.

She wanted to forget. No, that wasn’t it.

She wanted to feel alive again.

“Make love to me,” Lina asked.

Curtis didn’t move. “Lina, you’re upset.”

She slipped her hands around his neck and pulled him down to the mattress with her.

“Make me feel glad that I’m alive,” she begged.

“Lina.” Curtis held himself over her even as Lina’s strong arms urged him down.

“I need you,” she pled. “Please.”

His heart bled for her, for the friend she still deeply grieved, and for the guilt she’d put on herself. For a proud and formidable woman like Lina, showing her most vulnerable state was humbling to him.

Curtis let Lina pull him down to her and he kissed the remaining tears from her cheeks before capturing her mouth in a promise of what was to come.

“Lina,” he whispered against her cheek before he pulled back. “Open your eyes.”

Lina looked at him, her face full of emotion.

“You never have to ask. I’m here for you.” Curtis kissed her lips briefly. “Do you get me?”

“Yes,” Lina answered.

Curtis pushed off to pull the hem of the T-shirt she slept in over her head. His gaze swept slowly over Lina’s beautiful shoulders down to her high, proud breasts. Their tips stood at attention, waiting eagerly for his touch. But he only admired them as he held back his own desire to taste them with his mouth.

He stole a glance at Lina’s face to make sure she stayed with him. Her pupils darkened as they watched him. The heat in them equaled his. He could hear her exhaling through her mouth.

Curtis traced her defined abs with the tips of his fingers with fascination. He could admire her body for the rest of his life. There was discipline in her figure, but it didn’t take away anyof its womanly allure. To him, her body—its perfections and imperfections, scars and all—showed what a woman she was.

She should beg no one to make her feel alive.

“You just have to touch yourself to feel how alive you are, Lina.” Curtis took her hands and guided them to her torso.

She looked at him hesitantly. “Feel,” he urged.

Her chest inflated as she took a deep breath, as if she needed fortifying, but she slowly ran her hands along her skin. She paused as her left hand brush over the scar on her side, and a gray mist clouded over her.

“Feel through it,” he encouraged.

Curtis had no idea what he was doing, but he rolled with his instinct. He felt Lina needed this—whatever this was.

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