Emotions were tricky little devils.

A lot of the time, Elise knew, when you had something happen that was upsetting, shocking, or disorienting, you got through whatever it was—the confrontation, the abuse, the bad news, the accident that was your fault or maybe someone else’s—and came out the other side feeling relieved it was over.

But then the stewing started.

As she sat in front of the fire that she had set hours ago in Axe’s hearth, she stared at the yellow and orange flames and replayed her aunt’s “maternal” monologue over and over again. God … it was as if her brain had grooves in it and her thoughts were the stuck needle on the record.

Even after having broken-and-entered into this house that was not hers—granted, the front door had not been locked—and in spite of sitting here, in the very place Axe and she had nearly made love the night before, all she could see and hear was what had happened in that closet—

The sound of an engine outside the little house had her leaping to her feet, and for a moment, she panicked, thinking her father had somehow found out where she was—but then she sensed Axe’s presence, the blood he had given her once again a homing beacon she was so glad to have.

Except what if he were angry that she’d come so early? It must be three? Three-thirty? Which was less of a problem than the fact that she’d arrived here just before midnight.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t be—

The door swung wide, and as Axe lurched in, she clapped a palm over her mouth so she wouldn’t scream. Throwing out a hand blindly, she caught herself against the hearth’s warm face.

Axe was dressed in a hospital johnny, his bare legs plugged into a pair of slippers. He was walking as if he were in great pain, and there were bandages visible on his biceps and his shoulder—undoubtedly in other places, too.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. His face was lashed with scars, as if he had gotten too close to a series of knives or maybe barbed wire.

He stopped as he saw her reaction. “That bad, huh?”

“Oh, God …” She ran to him with her arms out, and then pulled up short. “Where aren’t you hurt? What happened!”

Before he could stop her, she stepped to his side and put a supporting arm around his waist. “Lean on me.”

She was surprised when he did. And that scared her almost as much as the sight of his face did.

“Come by the fire.” She said this even though she was heading in that direction. “Did you break out of the hospital? How did they let you leave?”

Over at the pallet, she helped him ease down, the firelight licking over him, hopefully giving him warmth. And as soon as he was even partially settled, she jumped up and rushed over to close the door.

“May I bring you anything?” she said as she returned and crouched beside him.

All he did was look up at her, his eyes softening, the strain in his face relaxing. “I have everything I need right here.”

As he reached up to stroke her cheek, she met him more than halfway so he wouldn’t have to work for the contact.

“What happened, Axe?”

“It doesn’t matter.” His fingertips drifted over her jaw, her throat. “And nothing hurts anymore.”

She looked down his body and cursed. The johnny’s hem had risen up, and there was a thick bandage around his thigh. Also, a bulge under his opposite arm, right where his ribs were. And oh, dear Lord, that face.

“Am I that ugly?” he whispered.

“Never. Not to me.”

“It’s okay, you can say it. You like the truth, remember?”

All Elise could do was shake her head, because her eyes were watering and her hands had started to tremble and everything seemed to crash down on her at once.

“I’m all right,” he murmured. “Come here, lie beside me.”

Elise stretched out and propped herself up on her elbow. “You’re not going to tell me what happened, are you.”

“It’s just not important.”

“Yes, it is.”

But he clammed up. And simply stared at her.

“I wish there was something I could do,” she said.

“There is.”

“What?”

“Get my toothbrush, toothpaste, and a cup of water from upstairs? I’d love to brush my teeth.”

For a second, she thought he was kidding. And then she smiled because it did make her feel useful.

“Anything else?” she said as she sat up.

“Yes, but I’ll tell you after I floss.”

Elise blinked. And then shook her head. “You’re not … you’re not coming on to me, are you?”

“Does it offend you?”

She laughed in a burst. “No, not at all. It’s just, in case you haven’t noticed, you’re half dead.”

Axe started to smile, and it was a beautiful thing to see. “Not even close, female. Not even close.”

It was amazing how a change in scenery could perk a male up.

When Elise came back downstairs and knelt by him with the requested minty-fresh delivery system and a glass of rinse-out, you want to talk about a morphine drip? Only without the opiate and no tubing? He felt absolutely no pain whatsoever.

“Why don’t I get this set for you?” she said, holding up the brush and the tube.

When he nodded, she got to work, her head angling down, her hair, which had been pulled back in a ponytail, slipping off her shoulder and hanging forward as she concentrated on getting a line of Crest on his bristles.

Okay, that sounded dirty.

Then again, in his current mood, he could take anything as innocent as popping the top on the tube or rolling from the bottom or even her taking his brush firmly in hand, and turn it into full-tilt XXX—

“How are we going to do this?” she asked.

Axe looked down his body, and answered in his head, Lift up my gown and straddle me after you get naked. Then ride me like the bull I am.

Wow. The romance.

“I’ll hold my head up. And—”

He hissed and let the deadweight at the top of his spine fall back to the ground. “Damn it—”

Elise’s smile appeared right over him. “Open wide.”

As he complied, the cool, refreshing flavor was completely overshadowed by her scent, her beauty, his need. She ended up rinsing the toothbrush out in the water over and over, getting the paste from his mouth that way—and if the end result was a little gritty, at least he didn’t taste old blood.

And neither would she.

Elise moved the glass and the brush to the side and pulled the sleeve of her simple fleece down over the heel of her palm so she could wipe his mouth.

“How’s that?”

“Am I too banged up to kiss?”

“No,” she breathed.

She leaned back over him, but he stopped her. “Will you free your hair?”

Something about that memory of it whipping around the human male outside the steakhouse was still with him, and he wanted to own that stretch of wonder and magic that some other chump had had with her, take it away from the human, stamp it as his.

Plus he loved the smell of her shampoo.

As she pulled the band free and returned to him, soft waves framed his face … and then her lips were brushing his and he was using all his strength to rest his hands on her upper arms.

“You can lay on me,” he said into her mouth.

“Where are you hurt?”

“Just stabbed in the side, no big deal—”

She jerked up. “What—”

Axe waved his hand back and forth. “It’s not a problem.”

“Let me see.”

Hmmmmmm. If she stripped him, she’d get a really good picture of how bad it had been. On the other hand, hello. Nakey.

His conscience spoke up. “Ah, I’m not wearing anything under this. I mean, like … nothing.”

Her eyes grew hooded. “That’s all right with me.”

Axe’s hips rolled at that sexy tone of hers. “Then cut the damn thing off me. There are scissors in the kitchen. By the stove.”

The sound of her walking through the little house, just as when she’d gone upstairs, made him realize how empty it usually was—and also how quiet everything was here in the sticks: Out in this rural part of Caldwell, there was no ambient noise from late-night city traffic, no extra light from buildings or streetlights, no neighbors too close.

Funny, he had never had much of an opinion about the property before … but he liked the solitude.

Especially with her around.

“I’ll be careful,” she said as she came back in and got down on her knees next to him. “I think I’m going to have to start at the bottom.”

His breath caught and then started to pump. “Elise?”

“What?” she asked as she moved down to the hem with the blades.

“You realize I’m …”

It was funny that a male like him, who’d done just about every sexual thing that was physically possible, often in front of crowds of people, was suddenly pulling the shy-guy routine. But the difference was, he wanted Elise to like the way he looked. In the other situations, he hadn’t given a shit.

“You’re what,” she whispered. “I want to hear you say it.”

“I’m hard,” he moaned. “For you.”

Yes, it was the least sexy thing in the world to have a hospital patient say that to a female … to have some battered, bunged-up, stitched-together Frankenstein of a guy tell you that the one part of him that wasn’t bruised was ready and rearing to go.

But for whatever reason, she didn’t care about all the oh-so-uglies.

Her smile was one for the ages.

“Well, then I’m going to have to do something about that, aren’t I,” she murmured.

His cock twitched like it was doing sit-ups as she went to work, the silver scissors shiny and reflecting the firelight, the blades flashing as she started to cut. Right at the center of the gown.

The slicing sound of those two sharp halves coming together over and over again so close to his erection made him nearly orgasm. And then she was right where the action was.

She ran those scissors directly up the length of his erection.

Grabbing on to the blankets, fisting them hard, Axe kicked his head back, gritted his teeth, and groaned, “I’m coming—oh, fuck …”

The release was stronger than any he had been having down at that sex club, the sensations so crisp and clean, they were just like those blades, slicing through his body.

But he was worried what she would think of him. He didn’t want to go too far, too fast—

Nope, he shouldn’t have worried. Elise was enthralled, her white fangs biting into her lower lip as if she were holding in her own groans of pleasure, her eyes rapt on his cock and his ejaculations, her body poised to mount him.

Except when it was over, she just kept right on cutting, the head of his cock doing a desperate dance as she went up over his six-pack. Higher still to the pads of his pecs. All the way to his neck.

Axe couldn’t have moved if he’d wanted to. Especially as she finished the job, moved all the material out of the way, and sat back.

“I want to touch you,” she said with an awe that made him flush.

“Anywhere.” God, his voice was rough. “Fuck, do anything you want to me.”

She kissed him first, and holy hell, he loved being under her control, her mastery. He was naked, vulnerable from the injuries, and so fucking hot for her that she could violate him twelve different ways to Sunday and he would have begged her for more, harder, again, again, again, oh, please, Elise, take me again.…

Her hands were like water passing over his skin as her tongue licked at his mouth and penetrated him, taking him while she gave of herself. And then she was kissing down his throat.

“What are these tattoos?” she asked as her lips brushed over his jugular. His collarbone. “Only one side? Your earrings and piercings as well.”

“Two halves,” he mumbled as he arched his lower body, his erection heavy and hot as it lay on his lower abdomen.

“Of you?”

He nodded and tried to answer. “Who I am … who I wish I were.”

She paused. “Who do you wish you were?”

For a second, the mood was threatened, cracks appearing in the heat and lust. He couldn’t afford to have it shatter, though. This was too good, too rare.…

“Axe?”

“I want to be good. I really do.” Fuck, he sounded like a child. “I want to be a good son, not a broken one.”

“Well, I think you’re good.”

You don’t really know me, he thought with a sudden fear.

Shit, what if she found out he was a dirty whore … and a former drug addict who had let his father down when the male had needed him most?

And it was sad, but as misplaced as her faith was, he needed it: Her belief in him was almost a form of forgiveness, something he desperately wanted, but had never expected to find.

“I want to be good for you,” he said, meaning every word. In every way possible.

Except there was no dwelling on that—Elise proceeded to be reallllllly good to him, her mouth traveling down his torso, until it lingered at the head of his cock. Oh, fuck, her eyes were staring up his chest at him, and then she extended her tongue and tasted his tip. As he cursed out loud and jerked, she sucked him in—

A blaze of pain, in a place males generally didn’t tolerate discomfort well, made him jump and make things worse.

“Ouch!” he barked as her teeth caught him again. “No, no—don’t stop—”

“I’m sorry!” She sat up in a panic, his arousal still wrapped by her palm. “I’ve never done this before—I forgot I had fangs—”

“Keep going—”

“I don’t want to hurt you—”

“I like it—”

All at once, the absurdity in the sexual situation hit them both, and he wasn’t sure who started laughing first, but soon, they were both roaring.

It was so good to be free of pain and emptiness, to feel instead not only pleasure … but happiness.

It had been so very long for him.

Not since his mother had left and not looked back.