She would get used to waking up next to Ewan, maybe, if they had time for her to become accustomed to it. For now, it had been a surprise every morning for the past week or so. Nina stretched, naked, enjoying the silence of dawn. Ewan snored lightly, and she rolled onto her side to study his face in the first rays of sun slanting through the attic window.

Nina had been in places others had called paradise. Idyllic beaches, serene landscapes. She’d never been as content as she was right now. This meant something, this rough and rasping thing between them.

Without waking him, she slipped from the bed and went downstairs, still naked but carrying her harness and gear in one hand. Naked, she went outside into the cool late autumn air and went through her daily workout of stretches. She breathed in, breathed out; she gave herself up to the flow of the universe inside and through her. When she’d finished, her muscles ached deliciously, and her upper lip tasted of sweat when she licked it.

She sensed him before he said anything. Ewan lounged in the back doorway clad in only the pair of low-slung pajama bottoms that had become as much his uniform while here in the cabin as her black leggings and long-sleeved shirt. His hair had grown a little too long and fell over his eyes as he watched her.

“God, you’re beautiful.”

She looked down at herself. Thick thighs. Strong calves. Her belly was curved but tight with muscle. Her arms, lean and strong. Nina had spent a lot of years thinking of her body as useful, but not so many believing it was also beautiful.

“Thank you, baby.” She had never been one for endearments, but they’d fallen into the habit of it out here in the wilderness, far away from everyone else. When they returned to the real world, things would change. So for now, she’d done what Ewan said he was doing. Going all-in. Full throttle.

Risking regrets.

“I made the last of the real coffee,” Ewan told her. “After this it’s synthbrew. Sorry.”

“It’s all right. Just means we’ll have to make the best of it this morning. Right?” She bent to grab her harness and padded to him across frostbitten grass, her bare feet stinging at the cold. She kissed him in the doorway. “I’m starving.”

“I made toast already. Got some kind of synthmeat turnover heating up, too. No guarantees on how good it is,” Ewan said.

“Considering that you made it for me, lover, I’m sure it’s going to taste delicious.” She paused with a small, exaggerated look of horror. “Oh, onegod, will you listen to me? Disgusting. We are disgusting. We are that couple at the party that everyone wishes would just find a private room, already.”

Ewan kissed her and pulled her against him. “Uh-huh. So. We’re a couple?”

“A couple of sappy saps,” Nina replied and kissed him back. “Mmm. You taste so good to me. I can’t get enough.”

She kissed him again, urging his mouth to open for her and sucking his tongue when he did. Between them, his cock rose. She stroked it, getting him harder, then ducking around him with a laugh and heading for the stairs.

“Need a shower,” she said over her shoulder. “Then, breakfast.”

“And after that?” Ewan called after her. “Maybe some umm . . . other stuff?”

His desire for her was a delight. Nina had been hit on plenty of times. Courted a few less than that. But this . . . this thing . . . was like nothing she’d ever had before. With a happy sigh she felt all the way to her toes, she got into the shower and washed herself quickly but thoroughly, before the water could turn cold. She even washed her hair, finger-combing it until it fanned over her shoulders and down her back. For a moment she allowed herself to close her eyes and lean into the spray.

Content.

Satisfied.

For the first time since waking up in that hospital room, Nina fit inside her own skin. Possibly for the first time in her life. Not entirely because of Ewan—she’d never made a man her reason for being and she never would. He was an enormous part of it though, this newfound sense of herself. The idea that she could be strong and protect him even as he, in his way, took care of her.

Nina stepped out of the shower and dried herself quickly, squeezing the excess water from her hair but leaving it unbound to flow over her shoulders and down her back. If she braided it while it was wet, it would take forever to dry. Naked, she drew on a soft robe that she found in the armoire. She belted it loosely, studying her reflection as she turned from side to side. With the robe gapping in the front, Ewan would be able to clearly see the shadows of her breasts and lower to her belly.

Nina grinned. Good. She wanted him to see it and be teased.

She grabbed her harness, the weight of it seeming heavier in her hand than when she took the time to strap it all on. How easy it had been to get out of the habit of wearing it constantly, out here in this remote cabin that did not seem to have any danger. She wasn’t stupid enough to completely discount the idea that something might happen here, but so far not so much as a twinge or peep of anyone stepping foot anywhere near the cabin had occurred. Ewan’s safe house, it seemed, might be truly safe, at least for now.

In the kitchen, they laughed over breakfast, pausing in between bites to share kisses. Then a quickie. Both naked, they moved to the living room to lounge on the sofa in front of the fire while Ewan teasingly wiggled each of her toes and tried to tickle her without success. She straddled him, pinning his hands against his sides with her knees and letting her hands hover over his ribs.

“No,” Ewan warned when she curled her fingers to stroke along his skin, barely brushing. “Oh. No. Nina!”

“Oooh, so you’re the ticklish one.” She watched, gleeful, as he writhed and tried to keep himself out of her touch. “Verrrrry interesting.”

He gasped. He swore. He tried to buck her off but she rode him as she held her hands over his skin.

“I’m not even touching you!” she cried around her laughter. “You’re doing this to yourself, Ewan.”

His groan was nothing sensual and yet it sent a thrill up and down her spine. He writhed again and stopped. His jaw set. His gaze flared, digging deep into hers.

She let only the tips of her fingers brush him. He didn’t flail or move this time, but the quick intake of his breath and the flutter of gooseflesh on his skin showed her how she’d affected him. She bent to kiss him softly. They shared breath for a moment or so; she felt him calm beneath her.

“When I woke up in the hospital, I was hooked up to so many tubes and wires that I looked like a marionette. At first, I couldn’t bear anyone to touch me. I hadn’t learned how to use the enhancements, I couldn’t shut everything down. So it was all too bright. Too loud. Too much to handle. The sedatives, of course, didn’t work.” She sat up, letting her hands rest flat on his bare belly. This time, Ewan didn’t flinch.

Without talking about it but moving in perfect sync just the same, they both shifted on the couch until Nina sat next to him. Ewan slid his arm along the back of the couch and let his fingers curl around the nape of her neck. She closed her eyes and leaned back against him, enjoying his touch.

“It hurt,” she said.

Ewan’s fingers stroked gently, sending a shiver through her. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” She looked at him, not expecting to see the frown and furrowed brow. She touched his face. “Hey. Shh. It’s fine. Nothing you can do about it now.”

“You said it still hurts.” He touched the faint, nearly invisible scar at her temple.

She nodded, watching his expression. Uncertain why he looked . . . more than sad or sympathetic. He looked angry.

“It’s not supposed to.” He’d said that once before, back at Woodhaven.

Nina knew that Ewan could be considered one of the leading authorities on the enhancement tech. After all, he’d been the one to shut it all down and work tirelessly to pass the laws that had made further research and development illegal. When he said, “It’s not supposed to,” she could assume he knew what he was talking about.

She leaned against him, turning so her knees nudged his thigh. “But it does. Not the way it did when I first woke up. But bad enough, off and on. Imagine being tickled that way over and over, and you couldn’t do anything to stop it. Take away the pleasure element, and don’t tell me there isn’t one, because I know you hate to love it but you do. Imagine that feeling of something happening to your body, involuntary responses that you can’t control. That’s what it feels like.”

“I’m so sorry, Nina.” Ewan’s face had drained of color, leaving only two hot red spots high on his cheeks. He clutched her to him suddenly and kissed the breath out of her. “I swear to you, if I could make it different . . .”

She allowed him to hold her. She didn’t want to argue with him about this. A few weeks ago, she’d have launched into a firm but determined reminder that he didn’t need to be sorry, not when he could work as hard to overturn the laws as he had to put them into place. Right now, in front of a crackling fire with his fingertips still teasing sensation at the back of her neck, the promise of some incandescent sex and later, some decent food patched together from the storeroom supplies . . . Nina didn’t want to mess all of that up.

She liked being here.

She liked being with Ewan.

If that meant keeping her mouth shut at the moment so they could savor what they both knew was going to be a temporary sitch, then she’d do it. Instead, she leaned into him and offered her mouth for a kiss. When it deepened under his control, she let it. When he pulled away, his gaze bright, lips gleaming, she stood and took him by the hand.

“Upstairs,” Nina said, and she took him there.