Page 55 of In Too Deep

Her hand raised, slowly, almost as if against her will. She touched his arm with just one finger along his tattoo, tracing the inked edges along his bicep. “And now I feel less like I know you than when you stepped into that briefing room a month ago.”

Another coincidence since he didn’t feel like the same man anymore. She had torn down so many walls and demolished his defenses.

One elegant finger abandoned the tattoo for the scar disappearing into his sleeve. “Would you have ever told me whoyouare, even after this case?”

Leave it to Darcy to slice straight to the truth. He’d lied to her about so many things, had so many things from his job he could never tell her. He needed to be honest now. “I don’t know what I would have done. But I do know you got to me, the way no one else ever has. You still get to me.” He drew in a shaky breath. “Realizing something could have happened to you today - earlier this week as well - is burning at my gut. Yeah, I’m here because I want to protect you. And I’m not going to back off or apologize for that.”

He locked his fingers around her wrist, stopped her tantalizing touch while soaking up the feel of her satin skin. “But what I said outside is true, too. I’m also here because I have to hold you.”

The defenses fell away from her eyes, leaving Darcy standing in front of him for the first time since she’d stalked away from him on the beach. “You may not talk often, but when you do, you sure know how to level a woman.”

Relieved at her softening, he dragged her into his arms as he’d wanted to do since he’d seen her filling out forms at the hospital. Since the first time he’d seen her in that briefing room back in California. He held her close, probably too tight, and inhaled the scent of her. Darcy and innocence tinged with the harsh scent of smoke making him want to hold her all the tighter.

Her chest rose and fell, faster, answering a quickening in him as well. Her fingers tightened on his shoulders, but she stayed silent.

He understood her hesitation. He’d pushed her away so many times, hurt her pride once too often. She wouldn’t ask. Now to lay it all out there and hope she didn’t opt for revenge. A risk well worth taking for a chance to be with her. He didn’t know where they were going. Or how they would manage the aftermath.

But he was certain of one thing.

No more holding back.

“Darcy,” he whispered against her hair.

“Yeah, Max?” She didn’t move or even look at him. But she didn’t pull away, either.

“I want you. I wish I could find prettier words for you than that, but you already know I’m not the most communicative guy on the planet. You deserve to hear how incredible you are. Except the more I talk, the more I’m finding there aren’t any words that come close to doing you justice.” He eased back to stare deep into her eyes and repeated, “You deserve to know.”

Max cupped her face in his hands, determined to show her a much better way to communicate with their mouths than talking.

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

Who needed talk?

Darcy flung her arms around Max’s neck and backed toward the bed, her lips parting to accept the warm sweep of his tongue. Answer him with the touch of her own.

Her fingers combed through his spiky hair as she’d longed to do countless times since she’d first eyed the sun-kissed strands. She submerged herself in the sensation of his coarse hair rasping over her sensitized skin. Not because of a need for risks or adventure, but in a heart-twisting hope to connect with Max on a deeper level.

They’d both almost died. The thought tore through her—that they might never have shared this moment. That she could have lost him before she’d ever had the chance to really know him.

She would know him now, if only on this superficial level. A meeting and mating of their bodies to affirm life. Darcy molded herself closer to the hard wall of his chest and struggled to will away somber thoughts. Some things in life were beyond her control. Finding a way to hold on to the special bond with Max might well be beyond her control. She gripped him tighter, locked him closer, not nearly close enough.

Max buried his face in her hair, his hands low, guiding her hips against his. “I wish I could take you somewhere special, memorable, out under the sun. For weeks, I’ve wanted to peel that bathing suit off you, make love to you on a sandbar.”

Darcy glided her hand along his cheek. “Seems to me we’ve already had the wide-open-spaces experience, and it didn’t end very well for us.”

He tapped her lips gently. “No baggage from that day.”

She totally agreed. They’d earned this time together. She arched up on her toes. “Here is good.” Perfect. “Any military brat worth his salt should know it’s not where you are, but who you’re with, that counts.”

“Touché. And now you’re about to be withme.”

Darcy stared into his eyes, deeper, and saw him because finally he opened himself up enough to let her inside. This man who was too well versed in keeping his identity hidden.

But not now.

He wasn’t the moody doctor of the weeks prior or the driven operative of recent days. But Max, a man who wanted her. No games here. She might not have a clue about what made him tick, but there was no mistaking his desire for her—a heady aphrodisiac.

A thrill of anticipation tripped along her adrenaline-heightened nerves. She waited, wanted…

---