Page 67 of Heart of Danger
The room was so quiet, the only sounds their heavy breathing. His heart was pounding as if he’d run a hundred miles. She felt it—both their hearts. His thudding in a heavy, fast, rhythmic beat, hers lighter and faster. She lay under him, eyes closed, drinking in this moment of utter closeness and listened as their hearts synchronized, beating together.
Everything about them was coming together. She felt stronger and was aware that his energy was sapped. She was inside his body, feeling the currents of wonder and joy coursing through him. The same currents swirling in her.
Her arms had gone lax in the thousandth orgasm—well, maybe that was an exaggeration but they had been too numerous to count, tripping from one straight into another. Suddenly, her arms and legs tightened around him, wildly, as if she suddenly had to hold him to her, but that was crazy. Mac showed no signs of wanting to get away. If anything, he seemed settled on top of her as if he was never going to move again.
It was just that she wanted to hold onto this. It seemed such a rare, such a unique moment. Something wondrous, magical. By definition fleeting, over almost as soon as it began. This couldn’t last. How could it? What good ever lasted in this world? It was?—
Mac lifted his head and gave her a huge grin and she was startled right out of her thoughts. The grin was wide. He was smiling with his entire face and every line in his face told her it was unusual. The lines in his face naturally went to gravity, to grimness and frowns. This stretched everything out of shape, and looked like it actually hurt his scars.
He smiled down at her and she swallowed at what she saw. She saw—so clearly—what he felt for her. Saw how new it was for him. And felt—deep down where there was no possibility of hiding—that his feelings for her were strong. Felt that he would undoubtedly die for her.
Her gift, her curse, told her this, told her that for the first time in her life she was loved. She was loved deeply.
“Wow,” he said. “That was—” He broke off, the smile wiped from his face. He scowled down at her, wiping a tear away from her face with his thumb. “What’s the matter?”
All of a sudden he looked appalled, actually frightened. He lifted up off her, pulled out from her, leaving emptiness and coldness behind. “Did I hurt you?” he demanded? “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” Catherine sniffed, ashamed of herself. She’d suddenly been swamped by her emotions, and his. And she’d scared him. “I’m so sorry. It’s just that?—”
Her stomach rumbled, loudly and she laughed, wiping away another tear with the heel of her hand. Laughing, crying, hungry…she was a mess.
Mac was sitting up, a little calmer, eyeing her cautiously. He visibly relaxed when she smiled at him. “If you’re crying because you’re hungry, I have the answer right here.” He nudged the cart with a big bare foot sticking out from under the covers. “It’s all cold but I’ve got a microwave. How does that sound?”
Catherine sat up in bed, grateful for the mundane thought of food. Her stomach rumbled again and she giggled, feeling calmer. “Sounds wonderful. I think I could eat a horse.” A second ago all her emotions had been churning but now she was calmer and upon consultation with her stomach, starving. “Raw. I hope I won’t have to.”
“No, Stella doesn’t do raw horsemeat.”
“Carpaccio,” Catherine said, smiling. She sat up against the headboard and watched with interest as a naked Mac rose and started ferrying dishes over to a huge microwave against the wall. The back view was astonishing. Wide, thickly muscled shoulders tapering down to a lean waist, hard dimpled buttocks, long, hard thighs, the individual muscles visible.
He threw her a startled glance over his shoulder? “Carpo what?”
Catherine laughed. “Carpaccio. Raw meat or fish, thinly sliced.”
The microwave was the new kind that heated in a second. He was already coming back with the tray full of food, placing it back on the cart.
The front view was as enticing as the back one with the addition of a still semi-erect penis.
“Nothing raw that doesn’t have to be,” he said, pulling out legs from the tray and placing it on her lap. Her leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the lips. “Now pay attention here because this is a surprise.”
Catherine sat up straight, wondering what he meant. “There’s hardly anything here that isn’t a surprise.”
“Voilà.” Mac touched something and Catherine gasped.
Three walls, to the right, to the left and straight ahead…disappeared. Simply vanished. In their place was an amazing night time view of the mountain as if they were on a platform jutting out from the mountainside. Snowy slopes of white firs swooped down to the valley bathing in the moonlight. Far far away down the mountainside, almost in the valley below, a few lights twinkled.
Had they been outside all this time and the windows blanked?
It was impossible to tell. Every silvery moonlit detail was sharp and clear.
Mac reached out gently and closed her jaw with a finger and only then did she realized she was staring slack-jawed.
“What—what is this? Are we outside?”
He piled food onto a plate and set it in front of her. “Eat. I think we’ve consumed about a billion calories. You’re going to kill me, Catherine.”
“Ha!” She jabbed him in the side and nearly sprained her hand. Rocks were softer than his muscles. “Not likely. So what is this?”
“Holo. We have security cameras ringing the property and Jon set it up so we can project it in our rooms, give us a view. Because it is a view—just not right outside the window.”
