Never had she been so completely filled, so covered and protected. His fingers were laced through her hair, his face inches away, smiling in what she was certain was a reflection of her own expression. Gradually she reclaimed her breath as she adjusted to the size of him within her, and they lay still, quiet, feeling each other.

He continued to cradle her head as he trailed small kisses across her face, around her eyes and softly toward her lips. “Everything okay here?” She heard and felt his voice, the tone gentle, the edges a bit raw.

Marlo inhaled deeply. “Very okay,” she replied.

He lifted his hips, slowly drawing himself out and she voiced her pleasure. His lips brushed lightly over hers, and as he lowered himself, he parted her lips with his tongue, penetrating her mouth, his tongue matching his stroke, slowly at first then with increasing need, more force, more depth, harder. And never mind what was happening between her legs, because the kiss alone was blowing her mind.

As her head was released, she shivered. His hands moved down, reached underneath her, cupped her buttocks, lifted her and pulled her to him. She let out a cry as her arousal scaled up to something more urgent, her entire focus on the heat and pressure building in her core, and she started to press more of herself against him, desperate for the ache to reach its peak.

His voice stroked her ear. Hot breath, steamy words, and a warm tongue all mixed together to ignite that fuse that ran down her neck, branched through her nipples, and snaked all the way down to her clit. She whimpered, begging for release, and all the time he held her tight, safe, rocking into her. Safe.

This protection was different than anything she’d experienced. It cushioned her fears while at the same time cracking her vulnerability so that she felt strengthened.

His arms enveloped her, supporting her as he thrust deeper now. “I’m right here with you, Marlo,” he whispered. “Do you understand?”

She nodded.

“Trust me then. Let yourself go.” His voice in her ear, rumbling with restraint, made her tremble, and that’s what brought on the explosion. His words, his tenderness. She climaxed hard, grinding into him, almost wanting it to hurt and a few beats later she heard her name in a loud male call of release.

They lay quietly, gathering themselves as their breathing slowed. She wrapped her arms around his back, tracing her fingertips up and down either side of his spine. He shivered and lay more heavily against her. Finally he pushed himself up, resting on his forearms, his hands overlapped on the top of her head.

“Look at me,” he insisted. His eyes were still filled with fire, holding her with him, warming her. “Thank you. Thank you for giving yourself so completely and honestly to me. That was very beautiful, very precious.”

Marlo’s face heated. Now she was broken open and bared. She tried to gather it all back in…her heart, her soul, the essence of her that she’d never allowed anyone else to see. She wanted to reassemble it, and zip it back up in her carryall to keep it safe. Her eyes brimmed, and a couple of tears escaped but were quickly caught by Adam’s lips.

“Hey, don’t cry, little tiger.”

“Well, don’t say nice words to me!”

They moved to her bed, whispering, stroking each other to sleep. In the night when Fala needed to go outside, Marlo returned to a warm bed and a warm body. She propped herself on an elbow, watching the steady rise and fall of Adam’s chest, the twitch of his eyes above a thick curl of lashes. She tucked herself neatly alongside him and carefully stroked his shoulder, not wanting to wake him but needing to be certain he wasn’t a shadowy figment of some phantom she coveted, something other people, undamaged people, had. She probably didn’t deserve this, but she would enjoy it for the moment.

Until he returned to New Zealand. But they’d deal with that when the time came. A broken heart should be easy. She’d survived worse.

Adam stirred and gripped her hand, pulling it around him, kissing her fingers before drawing it tightly against his chest. “Sleep now. You can have more in the morning.”

His whispered words nestled right between her legs, causing a deep pulse of arousal. Talk about waking the sleeping giant. She huddled against his hard buttocks and tried to quiet her mind.

* * *

When Adam woke, Marlo had already left the bed. Again. That girl had so much to learn about morning sex. The memory of last night stunned him, and he lay back on the pillows, one arm thrown above his head. He could still smell her, feel how they fit so perfectly together, recall the moment when she handed herself over to him so completely. The moment she seemed to trust that he wouldn’t harm her. He closed his eyes and considered the many ways to entice her back to bed before he heard a gut-wrenching howl of anguish.

Oh. Hell.

He threw back the sheet, swung his feet to the floor, and searched for his jeans, remembering they’d ditched their clothes out on the patio the night before. “Marlo, hang on. I’m coming.”

He ran into the kitchen and stopped. Marlo was leaning against the bench, knuckles white with the death grip she had on the telephone, her face ashen. He reached toward her. “Come, tell me what’s happened.”

She shook her head. God, all of her was shaking. The phone dropped to the counter, clattering between them. She looked up, and her fury edged with hurt pierced him. “Justice is dead. You promised me he was safe…and now they’ve killed him.”

“Marlo, no.” He walked toward her.

“Stay away from me.”

The pitch of her voice had escalated with her stress. “They haven’t killed him. That’s not possible.”

She wrapped her arms around herself in a tight grasp. “That…” she nodded at the phone, “that was Animal Control. I called to see how he was getting on, and the man who answered had no records for him.”

“That doesn’t mean they’ve euthanized him.”

Denial shook her head. “He searched further and found the order for Justice to be destroyed. He said they did it yesterday.”

Adam pushed his thumb against his temple, trying to find a release valve for the pressure building in his skull. This could not be happening. “Wait, honey, let me get dressed, and I’ll talk to Butch. We’ll sort this out.”

He went out to the patio where his clothes were strewn. Shit, shit, shit. What on earth could have happened? CRAR were supposed to pick up Justice last night. He patted down his pockets and found his phone complete with a drained battery. Oh triple shit again. Was anything going to go right today?

When he returned to the kitchen, Marlo was at the sink. He moved to wrap her in his arms, to dilute some of the pain, but she spun swiftly from his reach.

“Don’t touch me.”

“Don’t touch you? Really?”

“Really. I mean it. Keep away from me.”

“Hey.” His voice stung like antiseptic on a fresh wound.

She winced then shook her head. “No.”

With his arms still open, he kept her pinned with his gaze while he softened his plea. “Hey, listen to me.” He waited a minute. Nothing. “Are you listening?”

No response.

“Touching, holding…it’s what friends do when they’re upset. It’s called comforting each other. Comforting, Marlo. It’s a normal response. It’s what people do.”

She shook her head, denying him.

Who was he kidding? He might as well be speaking a foreign language. What did Marlo know about comfort?

“I hurt too—consider that.” He backed off and leaned against the table, watching. She was composed now, her eyes dry and distant. Oh, hello, Square One. Fancy being back with you again.

He released his despair with a deep sigh. “Fine.” He raised his arms, a gesture of surrender. “May I use your phone? The battery’s dead on mine.”

“Looks like everything we need is dead this morning.” She pushed the phone across the counter at him and turned, heading to the bathroom.

For the next thirty minutes, he played telephone tag with Butch, CRAR, and Animal Control, and emotional tag with Marlo—all without success. Marlo left the house and headed out to the kennels with a parting request that he be gone before she returned. No shouting, no more tears. Just that well-rehearsed, dispirited, shut-down person he thought he’d progressed some way toward repairing.

Don’t let her disengage.

He followed her outside to the path, took hold of her shirt sleeve down near the cuff, and held on with his thumb and forefinger so that she was connected rather than restrained. Fine beads of perspiration appeared on her forehead, and her body heat released a soft scent of laundry detergent from her shirt. Lavender.

“Marlo, let me help you. Come on. Don’t discount what we’ve had together. You, me…we don’t deserve this.”

She stood, her head bowed to the ground. “So many broken promises.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“Marlo…”

“You promised me Justice would be okay.”

“Yeah, I did, and I believed it.” He had to own that one.

“All that I have to give the dogs is a promise. I promised Justice I’d fix him so he could have the life he deserved, with people who loved him and cared about his well-being. I promised him I’d be there until this transitional part of his life was resolved and that he could trust me. That from now on, his life would be good. Instead, I put him in a position that could only have one outcome. I broke my promise to him, because I was too much of a coward to deal with Barrett myself.”

“Marlo, stop. We’ve got to work through this, because I’m not going to let you stick with that line of thinking. Right now, if you want me out of your life, I’ll deal with it. But you’re a friend, too, lover, and I’m not walking away, leaving you in this frame of mind.”

“Stop messing with me, Adam. You’re undermining who I am, my very essence. Every reaction I have is wrong in your eyes. I no longer know how I’m supposed to feel if my instincts are so wrong. Please, leave me be.”

“I’m trying to help you.”

“You’re making it worse.”

He released her shirt and watched as she walked away before turning to a low rock wall, giving it a good, hard kick. Fuck, his foot hurt. Nothing solved, but now he had something different to focus on. He went back to the house to gather his gear, because the last thing he was going to do was stick around and make things worse.