Page 95 of Heart of Danger
He did. The first time she’d seen him eat with appetite since she woke up. It felt good. He felt good, she knew. She couldfeelhim feeling good.
“How’s the Colonel? How are the men?”
“They’re recovering really fast. And Stella is taking extra care of the Colonel. Soon we’ll debrief them thoroughly and we’ll decide what to do about it.”
That sobered her up. “You’re going to want to clear up your names. You were framed. You could come out in the open once the Colonel testifies.”
His grin stopped. “Yeah. We’ll clear up our names eventually. With the Colonel here, somehow it seems less of a priority. We got five new people in Haven last week. We need to upgrade the water system and Jon has plans for a community center. We think—” He drew in a deep breath, looked her in the eyes. “We think our place is here. But I can’t take decisions for you. You’re a scientist, with a billion degrees. I don’t think I can ask you to give up your research career to stay with some outlaws in a high tech Hole in the Wall. So you say the word and we’ll start petitioning the US government for a reversal of our conviction in absentia.”
Catherine was appalled. “Oh, no!” Her hand reached out to his and his curled up around hers immediately. That instant connection, warmth and love, their two hands melding together. Her talent—hergift—was growing stronger as if her time here in Haven had shifted her into a new gear. But there was nothing like what she shared with Mac with anyone else. Their bond was strong and deep and…three-way? “I don’t want you doing anything of the sort. We’re building something here. Something important. I can’t tell you why, but I believe that down to my bones. That something is happening here that mustn’t be disturbed or broken. Can’t you feel it too?”
The corner of Mac’s mouth lifted. “I don’t feel much beyond tiredness these days, but yeah.” He blew out a breath. “I want us to stay here and continue building—whatever it is we’re building. And I want us to do that together.”
“I know something else I want us to be doing.” Catherine slid out of her seat, rounded the table and sat on Mac’s lap. His eyes widened in surprise but his arms closed around her, carefully.
He’d been very very careful around her since she’d awakened. Treating her like a porcelain doll, something that would shatter if he held it too hard. He’d barely kissed her since she’d come back from the dead. If she hadn’t known better, she’d have thought he’d lost interest in her. But he hadn’t. He hovered over her constantly, fed her, walked with her wherever she went and would have washed her if she hadn’t put her foot down.
One thing he hadn’t done was make love to her and she felt that absence like a shard of glass cutting through an artery.
He was holding her loosely. Not like a lover, but like someone waiting to catch a fall.
She put her nose against the skin of his neck and inhaled. Her Mac. She missed him so. “Make love to me,” she whispered and bit his ear lightly.
He jumped. She pulled back to look at his face. He looked alarmed.
“Do you think—what did Pat say?”
“I don’t need Pat’s permission to make love to you.” She inhaled again, rubbed her breasts against his chest. “And to answer your question, yes I think I can and yes I think we should.”
“Oh God.” Mac shuddered, closed his eyes, leaned his forehead against hers. “I think I’m still in a state of shock. When I thought you’d died…” he gave another shudder.
“Well, I didn’t die.” Catherine nipped the skin of his jaw, kissing her way to his chin. She knew he felt the wash of her breath over his mouth. So close…
“Man. Sex.” Mac shook his head. “I don’t even know if I can. I think I’m impotent. I think all my hormones were knocked out of my body. I didn’t think of it at the time, but I’d have taken a vow of chastity just to make your heart start again.”
“But you didn’t.” A light taste of his mouth. “Nick and Jon would have told me. And anyway, vows like that under duress don’t count. And for the record?” She slid her hand down over his chest, over his hard belly, into his sweat pants and, ah yes. He was already hard. “For the record, I don’t think you became impotent at all.”
At her words, his penis swelled and moved in her hand and Mac laughed.
“You’re outvoted, Tom McEnroe. Me and him against you. Two to one.” She kissed the edge of his mouth and he kissed her back, lightly. “And since you make such a big deal about Haven being a democracy and all, I think you should just go with the majority vote.”
“Mm.”
She smiled against his mouth. When he lost words, he was all hers.
“Up.”
She stood and he pulled down her pajama bottoms and panties. He lifted slightly and pulled down his sweat pants. He went mainly commando as most Special Forces soldiers did. She remembered her surprise when he told her that.Saves us from crotch rot, he’d said, whatever that meant.
But now she was just grateful because he sprang free, fully erect, lying against her belly.
Ah, this. She’d craved it so. This heat, this closeness, the sheer soaring pleasure of it. He was kissing her deeply now, one hand holding her head to his, the other against her bottom, holding her tightly against him.
Then he was touching her between her thighs. He was trying to see if she was ready for him because he had gone from zero to a thousand in a few seconds. He felt as hot and heavy as a club against her stomach. His fingers were telling him she was ready. She’d gone from zero to a thousand, too, all of her focused tightly on where he was touching her, oh so carefully.
She didn’t want careful.
She hadn’t died. Against all the odds, she hadn’t died. Nick told her a few days after she woke up that Mac had simply refused to let her die and here she was. Young and healthy and in love.
