Chapter Forty-Two

Devereaux inhaled deeply, drawing in every last aromatic epithelial of the man she loved into her soul. Making Seth hers on an animalistic, fundamental level. Absorbing the sensual sensation of his hair-roughened skin against her more delicate flesh. Relishing every last angle and hardened contour of his manly body while he held her in his arms, her back to his very impressive front. Snuggled naked together in her bedroom, still in Florida, there was nowhere else she’d rather be.

The admitting doctor had discharged her on the condition that she return for an appointment with a local plastic surgeon. The damage done to her breast and nipple required reconstructive surgery to set things right. For now, that poor little girl was saturated with a numbing agent and wrapped by an abundant bandage that circled Dev’s torso and bound both of her breasts. Overall, she was quite comfortable, considering.

The most unexpected surprise of all came when Seth’s boss stepped up to pay for her hospital costs. Who did that these days? Tears still sprang to her eyes at Alex’s more than generous offer. She’d honestly tried to deny him. She’d never taken charity, not once in her life. She knew how to work, and she had her pride, but when he’d tugged her into his side, and told her, “Get used to it,” she’d broken down and cried like a little girl.

He’d told her he was sorry that he’d made her cry, which made her cry even harder. Exasperated, he’d finally handed her off to Seth and told him, “Take her home, for Christ’s sake.” Which of course Seth did. It wasn’t like he had to be asked twice.

Devereaux now knew the rest of the story behind Agent Reynold’s drive to wipe the Saudi prince from the face of the planet. Yes, his wife Shea had eluded Bagani at their first meeting, but years later, he’d tracked her down to Ireland with the intention of picking up where he’d left off.

Fortunately, she’d been with another of Eric’s and Seth’s buddies at the time, an older gentleman, Senior Agent Murphy Finnegan. He’d had the presence of mind to enlist his friends on the Irish police force, who’d apprehended and jailed Bagani. Not that Bagani stayed behind bars that time, either. Once the sly weasel declared diplomatic immunity, away he went to hunt other unsuspecting women.

Damn the politics that had let him slip through too many law enforcers’ hands. But thank God for the hard men who weren’t afraid to stand up and do the right thing when called upon. Men like Alex and Eric. Like Cord. Like Seth.

“You’re awake,” he murmured drowsily in her ear. “How are you feeling?”

“Right now?” she breathed. “Like I’m in heaven and wrapped up in the arms of my sexy guardian angel.”

“Hmmmmm. Just you wait.”

That was Dev’s problem. She was tired of waiting. Rolling over carefully so as not to set her poor damaged breast to thrumming, she bumped his forehead with hers playfully and said in her sexiest, sultriest voice, “Hey there.”

Two dreamy browns flickered open with a light in them that quickly turned molten. “No,” Seth murmured before he shut his eyes again. “You’re still healing. Go back to sleep.”

“But I’m not tired,” she whispered as she planted a kiss between his eyebrows and took in a deep breath of his hair. The scent of warmed up manly spice had become a heady aphrodisiac to her. Running her nose over his hairline, Dev smoothed her palms under the sheets and over his broad chest. Without a doubt, she was in love with Seth’s body. Nothing tantalized more than the heat and very masculine sensation of his skin beneath her roving fingertips.

Seth had the grace and sculptured physique of a Grecian god. The latent strength in his pectoral muscles lay coiled and dormant for the moment but running her fingers over the smooth bulges.... Rubbing her palms through the chest hairs that dusted those pecs and narrowed down his centerline to where she wanted to go… How had she gotten so lucky to have this man in her bed?

“What are you doing?” he asked, his eyes still closed.

“Seducing you,” she breathed.

“No,” he repeated, though his voice didn’t sound nearly so groggy now.

Dev lifted his warm hand from under the cover to cup her tender breast, while she dipped under his nose to kiss his lips. “No?” she whispered, her voice breathy and light against his mouth. “Are you sure about that?”

The moment he cracked his lips just the tiniest bit for her, Dev knew she had him. She leaned into him and tongued him so slowly and so thoroughly that he groaned. Their tongues danced, sliding past each other with more and more energy. The callused palm at her breast cushioned her even as she pressed into him, needing the warm, wet haven of his mouth.

Easing into his pillow, he hissed a quiet but firm, “I said no,” into her mouth.

But I said yes, she thought as she cupped his jaw, threading her fingers around his ears and into the short hairs of his sideburns. Anchoring him until she was finished with him. This man thought he could tell her no? We’ll just see about that.

“I love you, Seth,” she murmured as she attacked his mouth again. Seth’s lips were soft and willing. He didn’t mean no. He was just worried he’d hurt her.

“It’s too soon, Devereaux,” he mumbled around her greedy lips, which only made her giggle.

“It’s never too soon, Seth McCray,” she said as she nipped his lower lip, then nibbled her way over the two-day stubble on his chin.

Trailing her tongue down his neck, she cocked her head and sucked in a mouth full of a shaving-lotion flavored raspberry until he growled, “You’re killing me, Devereaux. No. For the love of all that’s holy and right—Ahh.”

“Yessssss,” she hissed in delight, blowing gentle puffs of air over the sensitive skin she’d just slathered with her lips and tongue. “Yes, yes, yes!”

His back arched, and with one muscled arm, Seth snagged her over and onto his hips. “Trust me. It’s too soon, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You would never hurt me,” she reminded him as she lifted his hand and repositioned his palm under her still healing breast. “Holding you makes me happy. I just figured if you held me, you’d be happy, too.” She cocked her head as she poured on the innocence. “Is it working?”

His eyes turned dark as they scrolled over the bandaged mound now in his palm. She’d never been very large in the boob department, but a woman knew when a man couldn’t resist the temptation he’d just been handed.

“I’m so glad he’s dead,” Seth murmured, his voice gone husky and deep, rippling over her bare body like an intimate caress.

“Me too, but I don’t want to talk about that. This is my bed, and you’re in it, and when we’re together like this, I want…” She took advantage of his compassion to rub her core against his belly like a wanton cat. “… crazy. I don’t want to talk about anyone or anything else but you and me, got it? And I want crazy, happy sex. Right now.”

He smiled. “Got it, but the answer’s still no. It’s too soon and—”

She cut him off with a full-on body press, her mouth to his mouth, her knees at his hips, and her core making wild, horny love to the rough hairs on his bare belly. Cupping both his shoulders for balance, Dev began a slow, rhythmic dance of skin-to-skin and heart to heart. To hell with too soon. There was no such thing in her book.

“Devereaux,” he said sternly. “This is serious, babe. I can’t take the chance—”

And enough! If he wanted serious, she’d give him serious—for all of thirty seconds. “No, Seth. Life is not just serious,” she told him with a determined, warm, slick bump and grind over his hips. “It’s a risk each morning you wake up and smell the coffee, damn it. The only thing we know for sure is that every day’s going to be the first of something wonderful and the last of something else. Hurricanes happen, but so do rainbows and new days and second chances. Live, Seth. Just live every second of whatever time we’ve got left. With me.” Dev punctuated with another forward thrust. That was how she was made, one forward thrust at a time, though none had ever felt this sublime.

Most men would’ve given in by now, but Seth still held her as if she might break. And that was okay. She knew he still carried strong feelings for Katelynn in his heart. What he obviously didn’t know was that Dev had no intention of giving in to his past sweetheart. Not this time. Not until he was good and sweaty, totally molested, panting into her mouth, and screaming her name.

“Mhmmm,” he moaned, the sweetest smile tweaking the corners of his mouth. “Maybe…”

‘Maybe, my ass,’ she thought as she eased away from him just enough to slide her fingers down the corded muscles to his waiting cock. Leaning up onto her knees, she took him in hand and gave him a taste of what he was missing. “Maybe?” she teased, growing more aroused by the second as the friction between them heightened.

“Yeah. Maybe,” he breathed, his eyes closed and bliss softening the rugged lines of his face. “I might be wrong. It happens.”

And maybe was good enough. With one slick slide, Dev impaled her body onto his, swallowing him to the hilt. The man was a goner, and he proved it by not arguing or saying another word. Just smiling. Both hands settled on her hips as the real dance began. There was so much to love about this gentle man, but the way he always pleasured her first meant a lot.

Until he shifted his knees and bucked her off and onto her back.

“Hey,” she squealed. “Not fair. I was just getting started.”

“But this way will be better for you,” he insisted, the light in his eyes gone feral. “With you lying flat, your muscles won’t bounce when we do this.” He wasted no time entering her as he settled his elbows alongside her shoulders and the dance began again.

“I’m not going to break,” she whispered as the first tingle began in the depths of her core. They’d been snuggled like spoons in a drawer for so long, she was well past the need for foreplay. One touch could push her over the edge, and Seth was doing a lot of fine touching and stroking.

“This has nothing to do with you breaking, Devereaux,” he murmured, the brown in his eyes swallowed up by the black.

Aww, the tenderness in those words brought tears to her eyes.

“This is about putting you first. Protecting you. Always. I should’ve told you before I left for Cuba, but I needed to be sure. I don’t fall easy, but you—”

She rolled her eyes. “I know. I fall too easy, but—”

“Shush.” The pad of his index finger pressed over her lips. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. Let me finish. I don’t fall easy, but you need to know that when I do, I fall forever. Understand what I’m saying?”

She could barely see through her tears by then. “Ah-huh,” she replied, so damned thankful for the love light gleaming through his rugged countenance, as well as the aching fire clenching her feminine muscles. The heat in his voice cut her to the bone. If he kept talking…

“I love you, Devereaux.”

That did it. Those sent every quivering muscle at her core into overdrive. Without trying, her body squeezed him with a warm wet rush and…

“Seth,” she gasped, her heart gone crazy happy in her chest. “Seth, I… Seth… Seth!”

“That’s it, baby,” he murmured, his breath warm in her ear. “Come with me. Stay with me. Love with me… Forever.”

“I will. I mean, I dooooooo,” she ground out. There was no holding back this time as the most powerful sensation blasted up from her toes and launched her into pure bliss. What a rush! What an extraordinarily excellent ride. Stars. Galaxies. She saw them all.

In seconds, Seth joined her, growling his release into the hollow of her neck, his breath hot on her already feverish skin. “Devereaux.”

She clung to him, her legs wrapped around him and her heart pounding against his in a rhythm as old as time. There was no him or her, just them. Just two lost and lonely halves come together in one complete whole. Finally.

She couldn’t speak as her happy heart leaked out between her eyelids.

“I knew it. I hurt you.”

Dev managed a breathless squeak. “No. I’m fine. Really.”

Leaning on his elbows, his eyes went soft and tender as he scanned her chest. “Are you sure? We got carried away. I didn’t mean to hold onto you so tight.”

“There’s no such thing as holding onto the person you love too tight,” she whispered as she buried her face in his neck. “Or too soon. Trust me. I know.”

She wanted to bawl. No one had ever put her needs first, not even her parents. Cord thought he did, but more often than not, he had ulterior motives or needed something. A place to shelter his guys between missions into Cuba. A resting stop for the women and children he rescued. With Cord there was always something, but Seth wanted nothing more than to please her. To shelter her for a change. And please her he had.

“I love you so much,” she told him, her heart pounding. Wow, that orgasm was another first. It thrilled her how quickly they’d come together, both as in this very primal, physical act, but also, how they’d found each other. Maybe there were such things as fate and destiny.

“I’m thinking a year will be long enough,” he grumbled as he rolled over and settled her under his arm. “Are you comfortable? I’m not squeezing you too tight, am I?”

“No, I’m fine. Promise.” Man, she loved this charming, gentle warrior. “A year? For what?”

“To court you. The only problem is that I live in Virginia, and I don’t want another long-distance relationship. I’d never survive it.” Sliding her palm over her bicep, he squeezed her ever so gently. “I want this, my arms around you, every night and every morning.”

That made her smile. “Are you asking me to move up north with you?” She hoped.

He cocked his head, the whiskers from his chin abrading her forehead. “Would you?”

Dev lifted both shoulders. “I don’t know. No one’s asked me yet.”

Seth’s head dipped low as he claimed her mouth until she came up for air. “Well?” he asked as he licked her lips.

“Mmmmmm,” she purred. “I’m not sure. Ask me again.”