Page 77 of The Right to Remain Mine

With a sigh, Willow snuggled against him and completely forgot she'd been attacked earlier. Closing her eyes, she smiled and started to drift off, thinking it really was going to be the best nine months of her life.

His caressing palm on her butt almost had her lulled into la-la land when he murmured, "You're mom's got a nice ass."

Willow's eyes popped open. She blinked repeatedly, then twisted so she could send him an incredulous look over her shoulder. "Excuse me?"

"What?" he defended. "You always like pillow talk after sex."

"And discussing my mother's attributes was the first thought that came to your mind?"

Sending her a rueful grin, Raith said, "I mistook her for you the first time I met her at the courthouse. Her back was to me and I said to myself, that's got to be DeVane. But I was wrong... well, half wrong. It was a DeVane, just not you." He shrugged and continued to plane his hand over her smooth skin.

"Oh, my God," Willow uttered in absolute horror. "Please tell me you didn't grope my mother."

"No," he said, insulted. "I merely called out, 'Hey, DeVane,' and someone who wasn't you turned around. It startled the crap out of me. She didn't look like some sixty-year-old woman from the back." As Willow laughed, he squeezed the curve of her hip encouragingly and added, "It must be nice to know you have genes that preserve so well."

She chuckled again. "I'll let my mother know you think she's well preserved."

"Don't you dare," he muttered irritably. "She's the only member of your family who actually likes me at the moment."

"Everyone else likes you just fine," she said, surprised he even cared. "They're just upset because they think you broke my heart."

As soon as the words tumbled from her mouth, she realized she should've kept her big trap shut.

Raith's body drew taut. "Did I?" he asked quietly.

She opened her mouth. Not wanting to tell him the truth and ruin the moment, she took his hand off her hip and set it over her chest, pressing his palm to her heartbeat.

"Feel broken to you?"

Warm fingers kneaded her skin and smoothed down to cup a breast. He kissed her hair and answered, "No."

She could still feel the tension in him, the worry that he'd actually hurt her. He had, but it seemed so insignificant now that he was back in her life.

Not wanting him to dwell on it, she said, "I still can't believe you checked out my mom."

"Well… She kept bending over when she was packing your bag tonight. How could I not?"

She grinned and closed her eyes, glad everything was back to normal. "God, Malloy. You're such a guy."

"Yeah, but that's what you love most about me." He rubbed his limp penis against her thigh suggestively.

She opened her mouth to spit back one of her usual snarky comebacks, but it struck her that he was right. She loved everything male about him, from his hot body and huge penis to every chauvinist, sexist thing to come out of his mouth.

"DeVane?" he said her name as if he expected her to reto

rt something right back.

But she merely murmured, "Hmm?"

He stroked her hair. "I'm glad you didn't die tonight."

As his words washed over her, she reveled in the concern she heard in his voice. Then she turned and looked at him, and the somber glint in his gaze made her blink back tears.

"Jesus Christ, woman." He cupped the back of her head and pulled her face snug against his chest. As she wrapped her arms around him, more worries spilled from his mouth. "I swear I lost ten years of my life when I got the call and heard someone had tried to kill you. I kept thinking, what if he had succeeded, what if you were dead and the last thing I'd ever spoken to you was some stupid bullshit said in anger."

"I didn't die," she murmured, reaching up to stroke his face.

He kissed her fingers. "See that you keep it that way, will you?"

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