“It’s okay.” Ethan stroked Delaney’s back, making sure she hadn’t been hurt and soothing her. “It’s over.”

She shook her head against his chest. “But we still don’t know who helped him escape.”

“Might never know if John doesn’t talk, but now that he’s in custody, he can’t go after you again,” he said softly, tilting her chin up to look into her beautiful green eyes. “He’s going back to Bozeman County Jail. Locked in maximum security. He won’t get another opportunity to run. Plus, it was personal. His rage and jealousy couldn’t be faked. Most likely, whoever helped him get away had no idea what John was capable of doing.”

“True. No way he could have faked that anger.”

“Exactly. You’re safe.” Thank God. When John had first knocked Delaney down and brought out the knife, threatening to cut her, Ethan had more than a bodyguard’s instincts kick into gear.

He had a lover’s desire to protect his woman.

She blinked, tears spilled. “I—get me out of here, Ethan. I don’t want to be here where everyone can see . . .” Delaney choked on another sob. “I just want to go home.”

“Sheriff Wilson will want to get our statements.”

“Tomorrow. Please. I can’t stand the idea of talking about what that jerk tried to do to me.”

“Tomorrow works.” He wanted to brush his mouth against her trembling lips, but not with dozens of prying people watching his every move.

Her pupils grew dark as night. He could smell mint on her breath, and the scent of her shampoo permeated the air. Peaches. Damn. Now he wanted to taste her all over again.

“Ethan?” she asked, moving closer. “You’re still my bodyguard, right?”

“For now, yes.” But once she left Eagle Rock for LA and her next movie set, she’d have to hire someone else. Preferably someone ugly. Or even better, a woman.

“Good,” she whispered. “Because I’m not quite ready to let you go.”

“Good,” he said. “Because I’m not going anywhere.” Not tonight. The hell with prying eyes—he anchored her neck and lowered his mouth to hers for what he intended to be a quick brush before letting her go.

She raised on her tiptoes and parted her lips, deepening their connection, stroking her tongue against his. Groaning, he tightened his hold and brought her between the V of his legs, letting her feel just how much he wanted her and why he wasn’t leaving.

Yet.

He heard cameras flashing, and broke their kiss. “We’re leaving now.” Before he lost his shit completely and made a total ass of himself. He might not be her bodyguard in the near future, but he didn’t want Hank to think he’d have sex with all the female clientele.

Because once she headed back to LA, Ethan planned to continue building his new career in Montana. But deep down, if he were honest with himself, what he had going on with Delaney was a hell of a lot stronger than hot sex.

He cared. Too much. He shouldn’t. This entire thing was insane. They’d only known each other for a few weeks, but damn. She did something to him, made him want things he’d never expected to want before he met her. And that would make saying goodbye a hell of a lot harder than he wanted to admit.

Now. They had tonight. Maybe nothing more afterward. But he’d make it last.

With Kerry Ann’s help, they dodged the scant press corps that had gathered to get their newest headlines. How he got Delaney back to her mountain home without driving into a ditch was a minor miracle. Because once they got inside the SUV, her hands were all over him, touching and playing. And she whispered all kinds of sexy promises when she wasn’t kissing, licking his blazing hot skin.

By the time they got inside the house, his cock strained for release. “Jesus, Delaney, you’re driving me insane.” He pressed her against the wall, moved his hips back and forth.

“Good. That makes two of us.”

He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Taking her mouth with his, he stroked his tongue alongside hers while carrying her all the way to the master bathroom. Then he lowered her down the length of his torso, still kissing her. The hot, wild rush of blood thundered through his veins, beating a tympani in his ears and filling his cock.

“I want you so much,” she said, licking his jaw and then sucking his earlobe.

More heat fired and shot into his groin. “Hold on. We've got all night.” He held back the desire to take her fast and furious. He wanted to stretch out every moment, savor her and memorize every part of her beautiful, sexy body.

Ethan opened the shower door with one hand and turned on the water. Slowly, he stripped off her clothes, wanting to erase all the ugliness that had happened earlier. Her ripped, dirty sweater fell to the ground, followed by her chambray shirt.

He cupped her breasts through the satin, see-through bra and raked his fingers over her taut nipples. Her breath hitched and her pupils darkened her crystal green eyes.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous,” he said, tweaking her sensitized buds between his finger and thumb while watching her eyes grow even darker, listening to her soft moans making him even harder. “So responsive. I love it.” And he loved making her come for him, loved knowing she’d done things with him she’d never done with another man.

“Ethan . . .,” she rasped, thrusting herself into his hands. “I want you to feel you inside me. Please.”

He unclasped her bra’s front closure and released her breasts. “I want to be in you, but not yet. First, I want to taste every inch of you, show you how much you turn me on.” He lowered his mouth to take one nipple into it, sucking and licking her while unzipping her jeans.

Steam filled the room as her fingers twined in his hair, her gasps of pleasure echoed in his ears. He pushed her pants over her hips, drawing them and her sexy blue silk panties down her ass until they puddled at her feet. Moments later, he’d stripped bare and they’d kicked their boots off.

She moved into his arms, and he straddle walked her into the shower stall. Water cascaded between them and he could smell the scent of her arousal.

He stroked the seam of her sex, and she bucked into his hand. Swirling her juice over her clit, he circled the bud, wanting to taste her again, but waiting . . . until he felt her body shudder with the first spasms of her orgasm.

“That’s it. Come for me babe. Let yourself go.”

“I . . . oh, my God. Feels so, so incredible.”

She hitched her hips, writhing, and he fought to hold her steady as he lowered his mouth to her nipples, sucking each one while playing with her sweet pussy. His cock jutted against her thighs, and he pumped it against her skin until the first waves of her orgasm undulated through her.

Hot. She made him so fucking hot.

Kissing him, she stroked his length, squeezing, pulling, moving her hand up and down him. “Your turn.” She slid down onto her knees and then . . . holy shit . . . that gorgeous mouth of hers fulfilled a mega promise, taking him deep. He clutched her hair and looked down, the sight of her rosy lips surrounding him was fucking unbelievably amazing. He thrust into her mouth and she took him all the way in.

A moan filled the air. His? Hers? He didn’t know and he sure as hell didn’t care. He loved the way her mouth drank him in. He loved the way she stroked her tongue along the ridge, then swirled around the head. Man. Oh, fucking man. “Delaney, I’m not going to be worth much if you keep doing this to me.”

She paused, then looked at him through those slanted, sexy eyes. “I seem to recall an awesome night of monitoring. Let me do this. You’ve given me so much,” she said. “Now it’s my turn to show you what I can do for you.”

* * *

“You don’t have to do this,” Ethan said, looking down at Delaney, his chocolate eyes dark and deliciously mesmerizing.

“I know.” She licked the underside of his cock, felt it twitch and grow, and a rush of female satisfaction coursed through her. “But I want to.” Delaney circled his cock head with her tongue, popped the pulsating velveteen sheath into her mouth.

He tasted like a heady mixture of man and musk. Primal, decadent and all hers.

Water rained down her back as she sucked, licked and kissed Ethan’s length. Power rippled through her as he thrust into her mouth, slowly losing his incredible control over his body. Over and over she kissed and sucked him deep, playing with his balls and squeezing them lightly while she ran her tongue along his dick.

He clutched her hair, twisted it in his hands, and she licked the first pearls of pre-cum from his swollen cock head. Excitement shot through her, traveled along her nerves and made every erogenous zone she possessed flare to life again. Her nipples ached for his touch, her clit throbbed, and exquisite tendrils of longing pulled low, making her wet.

“Babe. I don’t want to lose it.”

“You can. And you will,” she said, then took him in and sucked hard while squeezing his ass and holding him close.

He groaned, drove into her and she welcomed every thrust, wanting to give him the release he strained to hold back. Because he cared. Because he didn’t want to take or use her. The thought humbled her, made emotion prick tears behind her eyes.

She didn’t bank her tears, letting them roll down her cheeks as she continued to love him, show him he mattered in ways she hadn’t dared to express.

“Delaney,” he cried, finally driving himself into her mouth one last time, his orgasm shuddering through him and into her.

She swallowed his juice, the salty tang delicious, a heady sensual mix making her crave everything he had to offer. He lifted her to her feet, pressed his forehead against hers. “You are incredible,” he said, caressing her cheeks. “Amazing.”

Water rained down her back, sluiced between their bodies, and poured down his handsome face. She covered his hands with hers, then closed the scant distance between them and brushed her lips against his.

She wanted more. More of him. More of what they could have together. More time.

“You make me feel so special,” she whispered against his mouth as the steam wafting around them grew thicker.

“That’s because you are,” he said, kissing her.

His lips were soft, gentle.

The movement of his mouth on hers was sweet, undemanding.

Loving.

She didn’t just feel special. She felt adored. Cherished in ways that had everything to do with her as a woman, not as an A-list movie star.

Tenderness replaced frenzied heat. Reverence, a slow rediscovery of each other, transformed their intense sexual connection into a sensual, intimate dance. Gently, he washed her hair and caressed her skin with scented soap. She skimmed the lather over his muscular body, pausing to circle the scars on his hips more carefully, knowing the pain of his injury had never completely evaporated.

Quietly, they exited the shower and dried each other off, exchanging soft kisses without hurry. A new longing, more exquisite than any she’d ever experienced, unfurled at her core. She didn’t just want. She needed. And she wanted him to need her in return.

“Make love with me, Ethan,” she said, pushing away the towel he’d wrapped around her body only moments earlier to stand naked before him, exposed and vulnerable and surer than ever that here stood the one man who she’d always be able to trust.

Silently, he moved his hands to her face, then kissed her forehead, her cheeks one-by-one, and finally melded his mouth to hers. She opened for him, parting her lips and drawing him in. Something more than heat flared between them and she coiled her arms around his waist, holding onto him. Never wanting to let him go.

Together, they moved into her bedroom, not breaking their connection. Together, they lowered themselves onto the edge of the bed and faced each other. Together, they lay down and slowly, ever so slowly, stoked the heat between them into flames.

She reached for him and guided him to her while they lay side-by-side, facing each other. He caressed the length of her leg and hooked it over his shoulder, then rocked into her while holding her gaze.

He filled her completely. Made her whole. And she couldn’t imagine any other man loving her with such incredible tenderness.

Emotion balled in her throat, bottled in her lungs. Still holding her gaze, he moved inside her, withdrawing and reentering with sweet, long languid strokes. She moved with him, matching his deep thrusts, loving the way he pleasured her body with his.

This was where she belonged. Where he belonged. Together, holding each other and giving each other what they both deserved, yearned for, longed for at the deepest level. She wanted to hold onto this moment, this time. This man. She may not have been looking for someone—didn’t know she needed anyone—but she’d found him just the same.

She caressed his face, feathered her fingers over his mouth, and he sucked one in while intensifying his pace. She could feel his cock growing even larger, the throbbing in the velveteen head making her wetter, hotter, hungrier for her own release.

He moved her hand and placed it between their hips, edging the finger he’d been sucking toward her clit. Together, their fingers played with the nub and electricity charged through her. She moved, grinding against his touch, taking him deeper, deeper still.

And then, just as the first waves of her orgasm pulsed through her, he drove into her one final time, and they cruised over the edge into the oblivion together.