Page 205 of Silver Elite

“I know.”

When I close my eyes again, he rumbles in disapproval. “No. Don’t hide.”

It’s unbearable. It feels like he’s staring into my soul, and I don’t want to know what he sees. I just don’t. I betrayed Tana. Let them take her away so my cover wouldn’t be blown. I let them kill Jim. Stood there and watched him die. I—

“Hey. Where are you?”

I blink.

“Come back,” Cross whispers. “We’re right here.”

His hand slides between us to stroke my most sensitive spot, and a bolt of pleasure travels through my body. The tempo quickens. Faster and faster. Deeper and deeper strokes, while his thumb teases the tight bud that’s throbbing for him.

When I cry out, he nods with approval. “That’s it. Give it to me. Give me everything.”

Not everything. I can’t give him everything. But this…This I can give him.

I gasp as release finds me, rocking my hips to wring every ounce of pleasure from him. It’s not long before he finishes, too, shuddering, his lips finding mine in a blistering kiss.

We lie there afterward. Both breathless. He rolls us over so I’m curled beside him with my head on his chest. I hear his heart rate begin to regulate, only to speed up when I say, “How’s your mother?”

“Good. Eating again. I’ll go see her this weekend and take her for a walk.” He pauses. “Thank you for being so kind to her.”

“Of course.”

Silence settles between us.

Are you Wolf?

I’m desperate to ask him. I need to know, but short of outright telling him who I am, I’m unsure how to find out. I lie there, enjoyingthe steady rise and fall of his chest. I feel myself getting sleepy, but I try to stay awake, because I know he will. He hardly ever sleeps—

My breath gets stuck in my throat. I think…there might be a way.

I drag my fingers up and down his chest in lazy strokes. “Are you still only getting three or four hours of sleep?”

“Sometimes five.”

“That’s not terrible. Have you always had insomnia, or did it start when you joined the Command or something?”

“Always, I guess. But it’s not a big deal. I’ve never needed much sleep to function.”

“I went through a phase where I wasn’t sleeping either,” I confess. “But that’s because I was having a recurring nightmare.”

“Yeah?” He’s absently stroking my hair. My bare shoulder.

I give a shudder. “It was horrible. I used to get it all the time. It’s been a while, though.”

“What was it?”

There’s my opening.

I steel myself for what I’m about to do.

“It always starts the same way. I’m swimming in a beautiful cave. Exploring. And then I see something sparkling in the water. I can’t make out what it is, so I start swimming toward it.”

He keeps stroking my hair. His body is warm. Relaxed. I wonder if maybe his mother’s painting meant nothing and I’m going in the wrong direction. But it’s too late to correct course.

“I swim deeper into the cave, and all of a sudden everything becomes disorienting, and I don’t know where I am, which way is up. I’m starting to lose my breath.”

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