Page 62 of Heart of Danger
His better nature was warring with his animal side which wanted nothing more than to settle back down on top of her with a sigh, nuzzle her neck and start fucking her again.
His phone pinged. He’d set his text messages to hologram and the bright letters appeared above it. The message was from Stella.
outside door
He smiled. His better nature had just had a friendly shove.
Pulling out of Catherine was not easy, though. It felt cold away from her skin, outside her body. Standing up was harder than he thought. Her body was like this huge magnet pulling him toward her. He had to move each muscle consciously to get out of bed. With a sigh he bent to his pants.
“What was that?” her voice sounded sleepy.
“Something you might enjoy. Sit up in bed.”
She shook her head, eyes still closed. “No way. Something or someone stole my spinal cord. I may never sit up again.”
Well, he had a way to persuade her. He opened the door and sure enough the magic cart was outside. Bless Stella. He was in no shape to get dressed and go down in search of some food. He didn’t want to see anyone or talk to anyone except Catherine. Stella made sure he didn’t have to.
Right now, this room held everything he wanted.
He wheeled the cart in, leaning over and breathing deeply, luxuriating in the smells, like a foretaste of heaven. The smells reached the bed and Catherine’s nose twitched, her lips moving in a ghost of a smile.
“Sit up, honey,” he said. “But keep your eyes closed.”
That earned him a full-blown smile. “If you think it’s a surprise, I can smell it from here. Only I have no idea what time it is, and whether it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner.”
He lifted covers over dishes, peeked. Jesus. His mouth started watering. “A little of each. Now sit up.”
“Can’t,” she sighed.
“Okay.” He bent over, grasped her under her arms and easily lifted her until she was sitting against the headboard. “No peeking now.”
Her head tilted to one side, eyes closed. “Okay. No peeking.”
Her head slumped a little more to the side.
“No falling asleep, either.” She smiled, eyes closed and he couldn’t resist her, bending to touch his mouth to hers.
His world exploded.
Christ. He did see colors. Bright shards of light moving through him as he felt her.Felther. Felt her bone-deep contentment like smooth honey in his veins, felt how unusual sated contentment was to her, felt…
He swallowed heavily.
He could feel, so strongly he could almost touch it, her affection, a burst of emotions centered on him. Through her eyes he was handsome and strong and good. Though she wasn’t touching him in any way, was indeed resting bonelessly against the headboard, eyes closed, hands limp, palms-up on the bedspread, tendrils of her warm feelings reached out and grabbed him, hard. These …things snaked through his system, tangling through his system until he couldn’t tell where he stopped and she began.
It was like being lost in a fragrant, sun-filled jungle, vines clutching at him, holding him down and damned if he didn’t want to be held.
He stood for a second, looking down at her, at this woman who had unexpectedly crawled inside him, right under his skin. Beautiful and smart and somehow wanting him.
Mac had never had this in his life before. The closest relationship he had ever had had been with the Colonel, but that had been a bond of duty and admiration and obedience. Nick and Jon—they were his men and he was sworn to lead them and protect them, but before the Arka fiasco had gone down, he hadn’t known them well. After Arka, they’d worked hard together to protect themselves and to protect their little community but Mac felt more loyalty to them than affection.
Affection, love—these hadn’t ever played any kind of role in his life. He’d built himself from the ground up, an orphan who’d nearly drowned in the sewers of the system. The Navy had saved him, given him direction and purpose, and the Colonel had given him pride and duty and responsibility, but none of that had ever touched his heart. He wasn’t even sure he had one, though he did now.
Because it was beating for her.
Because this woman touched his heart. No, she didn’t just touch it. She reached out past skin and bone and muscle and grabbed his heart directly, squeezing it hard, wrapping herself around it so tightly he didn’t know where he ended and she began.
Dangerous, heady stuff and it made his head swim.
