Page 98 of Trust No One

“From seeing Kingsley with his arm wrapped around you. Watching him jab that syringe into your arm. And that other, bigger syringe. That one really freaked me out. God knows what was in it. All I knew was that it wouldn’t be good for you. That it would probably kill you. And knowing Kingsley? It would be an agonizing death. Knowing he could inject that shit into you before I could get to you? Knowing you’d be dead if that happened? That tends to focus a man’s mind on what’s important.”

“You already know that I love you,” Mel said. “You dropped me like a lit firecracker when I said those words to you. So forgive me if I’m a little gun shy.”

“And you have every reason to be,” he said. “That’s why we’ll take this slowly. I’m not going to move in with you. I’ll stay in my room. You’ll stay in yours. We’ll go on dates. Act like a real couple, which we never did before. We went from zero to sixty practically overnight. I want you to be sure you trust me to be good for you. Because I swear, babe, you’re the most important part of my life. And that’s never going to change.”

Tears welled in Mel’s eyes. “It’s hard to take you seriously, Dev. I think this is just a reaction to thinking I was going to die.”

He shook his head. Shoved his left hand into his pocket and drew his wallet. Opened it and removed a small square of folded paper that was tattered along the edges. “This has been in my wallet since Kabul. From one of the nights we went out to a restaurant, before everything got chaotic and dangerous in the city.”

When he held it out to her, she looked at it. Looked up at him. What the hell was he doing?

“Go ahead, Mel. Take it. Open it up.” One side of his mouth curled up. “Just be gentle. That little square of paper’s important to me. I’ve had it for almost four years.”

Watching his eyes, seeing that he looked completely serious, as well as nervous, his foot jittering, she took the small square. Unfolded it carefully. It had cracked along the fold lines, but she still recognized it.

Staring at it for a long moment, her eyes teared up. It was a cocktail napkin from the restaurant they’d gone to. She’d had a few drinks and drawn a big heart. Had written Mel and Dev in the middle of it.

It had been a tease. About what she was going to do with him when they got back to the embassy. And he’d kept it all this time.

Lifting her head, knowing tears were dripping down her cheeks, she whispered, “What the hell, Dev? Why did you keep this?”

He reached for the paper, folded it carefully and slid it back into his pocket. “Why do you think, Mel? I might not have been able to say the words. Or even think the words. Hell, I freaked out whenyousaid them tome. Shoved you away. But I loved you even back in Kabul. I just wasn’t able to deal with that.”

Wiping away her tears with the edges of her hands, she stared at him. “Is this real, Dev? Or am I dreaming?”

He took a step toward her. Another. Finally he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. “This is as real as it gets.”

He bent his head and brushed his mouth over hers. Kissed her slowly. Tenderly. Her tears kept falling, and she blinked them away. She’d never associated the word ‘tender’ with Dev Smith. But he was treating her as if she were precious. Like he was telling the truth when he said she meant everything to him.

Other than the sex they’d had in Washington, it had been so long since she’d felt Dev’s body next to hers. So long since she felt truly alive. So she wound her arms around his neck and pressed her body to his. Felt his response against her belly, hard and long. He bent his head to kiss her again, and when he touched her lips with his tongue, she opened for him immediately.

As he sucked gently on her tongue, he slid his hands beneath her sweater. Shoved her bra up and cupped her breasts in his hands. When he tore his mouth away from hers and bent to take one nipple in his mouth, she gasped. Moaned. Arched against him, and he pressed hard, as if he were just as desperate for this as she was.

She eased away from him. Looked up at him. “By going slow, did you mean none of this? That I couldn’t touch you? You wouldn’t touch me?”

“Is that what you want?” He let his hands fall away from her breasts. Took a step backward so they weren’t touching. “Because if it is, I’ll keep my hands to myself. The rest of me, too. Until you’re ready for more.”

She reached for him, her hands fisting in his shirt, tugging him close enough to brush her mouth against his. “Hell, no, Dev. I’ve never stopped wanting you. Working with you every day, eating dinner with you every night? Torture. She tightened her fists in his shirt, then let him go. “Knowing you were banging a different woman every week? That crushed me. Because even when you were catting around, I wanted you.

“I’ve had enough of being apart from you. I want you in my bed. I want to be in your bed. Neither of us is ready for rings and vows and kids, but this?” She waved her hand between the two of them. “Us together? Hell, yes. I want that.”

“Thank God,” he said, reaching for her. Drawing her into his arms. His hands flattened against her back, pressing her against his chest. “I love you, Mel. I need to show you that I can be the man you need. That I’ll love you until the day I die. That you’ll always be my number one priority.”

“Thank God,” she said, pulling his mouth down to hers. “Because I wanted to jump you when we got home a few nights ago. The only thing that stopped me? Knowing I’d probably fall asleep on you.” She smiled. “That wasn’t the message I wanted to send.”

Holding her shoulders, Dev backed her up into the bedroom. He yanked back the comforter and top sheet, then slid his hands beneath her sweater. Stroked her smooth, soft skin until she twined herself around him. She skated her hands beneath his jeans and boxer briefs and squeezed his ass. Reached lower and stroked his balls.

He groaned into her mouth. “Mel. Mel, you have to stop. I want you too badly. I’ve waited too long for you. If you keep touching me, I’m gonna go off like a rocket. Not nearly as much fun for either of us.”

Sliding her hands back to his ass, she leaned back and smiled up at him. “You never used to have a hair trigger. Should I be concerned?”

“Other than that one night in D.C., it’s been forever since I could touch you. Kiss you. I’ve dreamt of you so many times. I want to spend all day and all night in bed with you, Mel. I want to make you come so many times and in so many ways that you’ll forget your name. Do everything I’ve wanted to do since I walked away in Kabul.” He grinned down at her. “Just don’t forget my name. I want to hear you screaming it every time you come.”

She squirmed closer to him, loving the way he sucked in his breath. When she lifted her hands to the waistband of his jeans and popped the button, he fumbled at her waist and moments later, her jeans were sliding down her legs.

“How do you do that?” she said, already breathless.

“Magic hands,” he murmured. “And they’re gonna touch every inch of you today.”

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