Ethan collapsed on top of Delaney, rasping. Weak. She made him so damn weak he could barely breathe. He sure as hell couldn’t think. Didn’t want to. He wanted to stay here. Inside her. Never leave.

Bad move. He knew it down deep. But he didn’t want to break away.

She stroked his back. “That was—you were—wow.”

“I . . .” He didn’t know what to say. She’d been amazing but he’d been rough. Too rough. She’d just had her head bashed by a fucking door and he’d screwed her brains out. Probably get fired for that—he raised up on his elbows and stared at her, winced at the multicolored bruise blooming on her forehead. “I shouldn’t have…”

Delaney pressed a finger against his mouth. “Don’t you dare say this shouldn’t have happened,” she said. “I needed you. You wanted me. We had crazy wild sex and I loved every minute of it. So, don’t tell me you have regrets, or you’ll spoil my current good mood.”

“Yeah. Well, the doctor said to monitor you, not fuck you.”

“I’d say this was a heck of a great way to monitor me.” She nipped his chin. “In fact, I’d love it if you continued monitoring me. All. Night. Long.”

“I see.” He grew hard inside her and moved slowly, loving the feel of her muscles clenching around him. “Well, if I’m going to stay awake all night, this is one way to make it happen.” This time he’d take it slow, enjoy her body inch by delectable inch, and show her a gentler side.

“Mmmm. Yes. This kind of monitoring is so good.” She wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Damn good.” He thrust deep inside, all the way to her hilt and cruised his mouth over her lips. “You feel incredible, Delaney. So wet. So hot. I want to take you slow, easy, and make you come all over again.”

“I want it all.”

“I’m going to give it to you. I want you to scream my name again when I go down on you.”

“Down?”

“Yes. Down. I want to make you come with my mouth. I want to taste you, Delaney. You want me to go down on you?”

“I don’t know. I never . . .”

Her juices flowed and he could feel her engorged nipples on his chest as he moved in and out of her, teasing her with his length. “You do. You want me to kiss you down there.” He cruised a hand over her breasts, flicked his thumbs across her tight buds. “Tell me, Delaney. Would you like to feel my tongue on your pussy?”

She moaned. “Yes . . . I want you to kiss me there.”

His heart thrummed and his cock throbbed, the head pulsating. “You have no clue what you’ve been missing out on.” The idea that he’d be the first man to ever bring her over the edge with his mouth made him so fucking hot. But he’d take his time getting there—slow and easy. Then he’d figure out just how bad his All American Good Girl Movie star could be for him.

“Show me.”

He licked his way down her throat, still moving inside her, getting her even wetter with his cock. Then he made his way over to her gorgeous, rosy-tipped nipples and sucked them in one-by-one. He'd had a lot of amazing lays in his life, but Delaney? Fuck. She was unlike any woman he'd ever been with and even if they only had a temporary thing going on, he might as well go for it now that he'd crossed the professional line between them.

Her scent filled the air. She smelled so fucking good—like spicy peaches. And Ethan had always loved peaches. He pulled out of her, then licked his way down her belly until he reached the apex of her thighs. He parted the folds, glided his tongue over the seam of her sex.

She hitched her hips high to meet his mouth. Yet at the same time, she protested. “I don’t know. I can’t.”

Ethan lifted his head to look at her. She was a goddess with her auburn hair waving around her sex-flushed face. And those kiss swollen lips made his cock jump, grow even harder. “Oh, but you will.”

He kissed her clit, licked the nub and slid his finger between her sweet folds before slipping it inside her hot, wet pussy. She clenched around him, moaning his name. She bucked higher and he inhaled her juices, drinking in her essence while pumping his finger in and out of her. The first tremors of her orgasm pulsated around him and she flowed honeyed heat onto his tongue.

“Now. Oh. God. Now,” she cried. “Oh . . .”

Quickly, he moved over her, sliding his cock into her as the first waves of her orgasm spasmed, clenching around him. “That’s it.” His cock head filled with blood, throbbed, and his balls contracted. “Come with me.” He plunged into her, over and over again.

He drove deep, deeper still. She drew him in, rising and falling with him in an age-old dance, primal and wild.

They matched each other stroke for stroke, the intensity of their connection building, building, building until everything inside him poured into her again. She cried his name, taking him, and possessing even as he possessed her.

* * *

Night turned to early morning dawn, and Delaney rested her head in the crook of Ethan’s shoulder. Tracing her fingers down his chest, she skimmed his bronzed skin and explored every dip, every shadow of his torso. Light filtered in through the half-open blinds, casting an otherworldly glow in her bedroom.

For the first time in what seemed like a lifetime, she didn’t fear the unknown. She didn’t worry about the possibility of someone attacking her. She didn’t need to look over her shoulder, wondering who hid in the corners.

Not when she had Ethan beside her, protecting and sheltering her. And so much more. My, oh my, she did have him.

Every. Which. Way. Possible.

Who knew there were so many interesting sexy positions to try in bed? Or in the shower? Or against the wall? Her sex ached in the most exquisite way as the memories flashed through her brain.

The man was a machine and he was all hers.

For now.

And while they’d escaped reality for a brief time, she couldn’t ignore it much longer. Still, she wanted to stretch out the morning just a little longer. She feathered her fingers over the puckered scars on his right hip. “What happened to you?”

He played with her hair, brushing it from her forehead. “Ambush. We had intelligence—falsified by our local informant—that an enemy cache of weapons was stored in a village near our post. Went in. There were definitely assault rifles, but they were in the opposition’s hands. Got shot after I got most of my unit out of there.”

Ethan’s voice was devoid of emotion, but his abdominal muscles tightened beneath her touch. Her heart tip-tilted and her insides quivered. While she’d been in danger during these past twenty-four hours, she had someone to rely on. To trust. She couldn’t imagine the betrayal, the fear, and pain he’d endured.

“You could have been killed.”

“Damn near close. But I was lucky,” he said. “Not everyone in my unit got out alive.”

Heat pricked behind her eyes, and her nose itched. These were some of the people he’d told her about—the stories he’d used to distract her from her problems. They’d been his friends. Some of them never came home other than in coffins draped with American flags.

“I’m sorry.” She didn’t bother giving him pithy platitudes or try to go all Pollyanna on him. “But I’m so glad you survived.” Delaney meant it. Not just because he’d given her the most incredible night of her life. No. She couldn’t imagine going through the last two nights without him, regardless of why he was here.

“Me too.” Ethan released her hair, then cruised his hand over her shoulder and held her, bringing her closer. “Though I never thought I’d end up back in Montana again. I wanted to rejoin my unit after my recovery and rehab in Bethesda.”

“But you couldn’t.” His medical discharge meant never returning to the battlefield. “And you loved the life. I could tell by your stories.” She wondered how she’d rebuild her life if she couldn’t perform anymore. No matter how much fame had hampered her life—even before the stalker turned up on the scene—acting was like breathing to her.

“The Marines take care of their own.”

She heard his heart beating in her ear. Harder. Faster. “Like a family.”

“Yeah.”

His voice cracked ever so slightly. She ghosted her fingers over his jaw, felt a muscle jump, and then wrapped her leg over his thighs. “Your folks must be proud of you,” she said.

“My foster father—last family I lived with—he was a tough old Marine, but when he came to my induction ceremony, he . . . he gave me his dog tags for luck.”

Something cracked inside her. Even when they’d lived month to month, her father scraping together a meager paycheck as a ranch hand and her mother cleaning houses, Delaney always knew the security of parents who loved her unconditionally. Her family’s support had given her the courage to pursue her dreams.

“This foster dad come visit you after you entered rehab?” she asked.

“Couldn’t. He passed away during my second tour of duty. Cancer.”

“So, you’re alone.”

“I’m used to it, but now I’ve got this gig with the Brotherhood Protectors.”

Her vision blurred. He’d found another family filled with people who understood the life he’d led before his medical discharge—the sacrifices, the camaraderie, the commitment to serve. “Swede and you seem tight,” she said softly.

“He’s cool. Met him in Bethesda during our rehab. He convinced me to give this job a chance. Recommended me to Hank.” Ethan circled his fingers down her arm. “It’s not the Marines, but this beats the hell out of sitting behind a desk all day. Because I’m sure as hell not cut out for suits, ties, and corporate shit.”

She doubted he was cut out for the glitz and glamor in LA, either. “I’ll bet.” Despite everything that had just happened between them, Delaney couldn’t afford to forget that Ethan would move on to protecting another client after she returned to Los Angeles. She couldn’t give him what he’d found here in Eagle Rock. A family. A brotherhood. A purpose. “That reminds me. I need to get a hold of Kerry Ann and have her send the list of names to Hank and the sheriff.” Best to remember that fabulous sex was just that—fabulous sex. Nothing more. After all, they’d only known each other for a few days.