“We have to go to Montana,” Kate announced two mornings later, the day they intended to discuss their future and leave the cabin.

It was early. The sun was barely up. But a glance at Kate’s face through the slits Graham managed to make with his groggy eyes, still half asleep, told him she’d been awake for a while.

She was propped on one elbow, staring down at him.

She was also naked and sexy as hell.

He wasn’t sure what to make of her statement, but his brain was too foggy from sleep to respond. He licked his lips and then rolled to his side to pull her under him and kiss her senseless. He much preferred starting his days making out and then making love, than discussing important topics like where they were headed later today.

When he released her mouth, she patted his arm. “I’m serious.”

“I’m not even sure what you said. I was still asleep. I think I misunderstood.”

She rolled her eyes. “You didn’t. You heard me. We have to go to Montana. Today.”

He shook the cobwebs from his brain. “If I remember correctly, you told me not forty hours ago that we needed to break up because you weren’t inclined to set one foot in Montana.”

She sighed. “That was before.”

“Before what?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer, but he was sure it would be convoluted.

“Before I realized what you meant when you said you loved me.”

That got his attention. “Not following you, babe.” He dipped his mouth to her neck and kissed the soft spot that always made her squirm.

“You knew. You knew before I did.”

At that, he lifted his face to meet her gaze, blinking away the last of sleep. “I knew what?”

“What it meant to fully love someone.”

“Mmm. What does it mean exactly?”

“It means you would do anything for them. Anything in the world. I didn’t quite get that. Or I was hiding from it because I was scared. But now I understand. When you said you didn’t care where we went as long as we were together, I thought you were crazy.”

“Yeah, well, we aren’t going to Montana.” He pushed off her, hoping if he went to the bathroom and returned, she would have found her senses.

She grabbed his arm as he started to sit up. “Listen to me. I’m not crazy either.”

“You are if you think we’re going to Montana after the breakdown you had the other day.” He tried to extricate himself from her if for no other reason than to find his own brain cells somewhere in the room.

She gripped him harder, sitting up at his side and then climbing onto his lap, straddling him with her naked body. She even scooted closer so that her heat pressed against his growing erection.

He set his hands on her hips to steady her. It did no good. He was doomed. Her fantastic breasts bobbed in front of him, begging him to cup them and bring them to his lips. Her core was wet and warm, making him completely hard in seconds.

So much for escaping.

And then she lifted her body a few inches, lined herself up with his erection, and thrust downward.

He nearly died. Under any other circumstances, he would have found this arrangement to be the most erotic sexy situation he’d ever been in, but the little nymph was manipulating him.

As soon as she was fully seated, stealing his last brain cell, she repeated her first statement. “We have to go to Montana.”

“Why would we do that?” he asked through gritted teeth.

She lifted halfway off and then thrust back down, jarring his skull. “Because it’s important to you, and I love you.”

“I love you too, Kate. That’s why we’re not going.”

“You said we should compromise.” Again she lifted almost off, hovered above the head for several seconds while he held his breath, and then dropped back down. She had gotten really good at riding him.

“How is that a compromise?” he asked, gritting harder. The manipulative woman knew exactly what she was doing. Two could play at this game, though.

Graham slid one hand around from her hip to find her clit. He pressed his thumb against the swollen bundle of nerves, making her moan.

“You’re not playing fair,” she crooned.

“Me?” he nearly shouted. “Who climbed on top of me and started using her womanly wiles in order to get her way?”

She blinked at him, her lips forming into a half-grin. “Did you just say womanly wiles, you big dork?”

“Mm hmm.” He pinched her clit and then started stroking it rapidly until she moaned.

“I can’t think when you do that,” she breathed. “You’re ruining my seduction.”

He chuckled. “Good. Maybe you won’t try to use sex to get me to do something in the future.”

She met his gaze, her eyes dancing with love and lust and teasing laughter. “I find it’s useful. I think I’ll be inclined to use sex to my advantage often.”

Without warning, he grabbed her hips, lifted her off his length, and spun to set her on her hands and knees at his side.

“Graham,” she yelped. “I was busy.”

“Now I’m busy, my love,” he informed her as he turned to kneel between her legs, lined himself up once again with her center, and thrust deep.

She rocked forward, a shocked gasp escaping her lips. “Oh God.”

“Yeah. I thought you might say that.” He held her hips steady as he pulled almost out and thrust back in, deeper this time. So deep he needed to hold his breath and concentrate on the wall in front of him to keep from coming prematurely.

“Graham…” she whispered, which didn’t help his problem. He loved it when she called out his name. He loved it even more when she barely whispered it because she was lost to him.

“You like that?” he asked as he continued pounding into her.

Her gasps of pleasure were his answer. And then she started moaning softly in that way he’d come to realize meant she was about to come. “So good,” she murmured. “I didn’t know…”

He loved the way she responded every time they did something new. Shock filled her. He’d obviously done a bit more research on sex in his life than she had. She wasn’t wrong. This was one of his favorite positions so far. Sliding one hand around from her hip to her clit, he stroked the little nub again as he continued to thrust in and out of her. Desperately. With an urgency that defied logic.

It was like he was in a hurry to claim her, to show her how much he loved her, to demonstrate his feelings with his body.

Suddenly, she cried out again, her head tipping back as she pressed herself more fully against his erection. Her body shuddered, and he couldn’t stop himself from coming on the heels of her orgasm.

When he was finally spent, he wrapped one arm around her waist and lowered her shaking body to the mattress, landing half on top of her and half at her side.

She was breathing heavily, but she managed to say, “We’re still going to Montana.”

He chuckled as he brushed her hair from her face and then kissed her neck. “Neither of us is going to win any awards with these negotiating skills.”

She twisted her face to meet his. “If you’ll listen to me,” she began, still gasping for oxygen. How she managed to form solid thoughts so quickly after coming hard around his length was amazing. “I’ll finish telling you how we both benefit.”

He narrowed his gaze. “I’m all ears.”

“Good. Now that I’ve had some time to think more clearly about our future, I realize Montana is the safest place we could be right now. As much as I’d love to go to Atlanta and hide at my parents’ home, there’s a possibility we would be putting them in danger if we went there.”

He watched her face closely as reason leaked out in the form of her words. He let her continue.

“I don’t want to feel as out of control as I did two days ago ever again in my life. I don’t like the man I love getting shot at while I can do nothing about it. I don’t want to get shot either. But the best way to ensure that never happens again is to join with the rest of the team and fight for our future freedom.”

He kissed her shoulder blade and then nuzzled her neck. “Your logic is sound, as long as you’re not making this sacrifice under duress because you think I won’t love you if we skip town.”

“I didn’t decide we should go to Montana suddenly this morning. I’ve been thinking about it for two days. Putting an end to the insanity that follows us everywhere we go has to be our top priority. As soon as we’re safe, however, I think I can guarantee you I won’t want to return to the bunker. The idea of stepping into that facility ever again makes me cringe. I wouldn’t be able to even breathe the air without hearing the echo of those shots in my ears.”

“Deal,” he agreed. “I promise we won’t go back to the bunker. As soon as it’s safe to move about the country, we will head for your parents’ home for as long as you’d like. After that, we’ll head for mine. When we’re fully recuperated, then we can pick a spot to call home and get civilian jobs. Yeah?”

She wiggled out of his grip and rolled onto her back. She was smiling up at him as she spoke. “Sounds perfect.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. The only thing I’m more sure about is how much I love you.”

He kissed her gently. “I love you too.”