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“Seven hours to Rhodes,” Luke announced before he closed the door to the cockpit.

After they were airborne, Henri looked to Mike while she unbuckled her seatbelt. “I’m heading aft.” She didn’t invite him to follow, but there was no need to turn around to know he had.

“Seven hours to sleep,” he said, his voice close enough to send a thrill down her spine.

“I’m ready to drop.” She was...aside from the tingling all over her body. He was driving her insane. She had to get a grip on her feelings, compartmentalize and shut them down before she ended up in so deep, she’d be hurt. They’d agreed not to get serious. Hell, Henri hadn’t been serious about anyone since her first tour in Afghanistan and that hadn’t ended well. And she reminded herself for the umpteenth time the affair had practically ended her career with Delta Force before it started.

Pure and simple: continuing the romance with Rose was a bad idea.

After being dragged through the gutter and enduring the hell of prison, her self-esteem was still too fragile. Not that she’d ever let anyone know how much she doubted herself. Henri had spent so much of her life being rejected she’d built up an external wall that people couldn’t penetrate easily. Hell, she’d been rejected by her father. Her people looked at her as a half-breed freak, and then to have her military career crash and burn while she endured the humiliation of a court martial, it was no wonder her psyche roiled in the depths of hell. No, she couldn’t handle a relationship letdown right now. And that’s where this thing was headed. There was no other place it could head. Sooner or later, Garth would find out and that would be the end of it. Just like her CO had given her an ultimatum to end the affair with her heartthrob or quit Delta Force. Why did work always get in the way? Why was the op always more important than happiness?

Exhausted beyond rational thought, she headed for the shower. A quick duck under a spray of warm water ought to clear her mind as well as her unwelcome female urges. She didn’t say anything, just slipped into the miniature bathroom and locked the door.

It had been two days since she’d been shot. She’d slept a little in the car on the way to Dodoma but that didn’t count much. Combine that with their late-night intel gathering in Arusha and she hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in seventy-two hours. No wonder she was a wreck.

Henri peeled off her clothes and the field dressing and examined her wound in the mirror. She’d done a good job of ignoring it, but the sight of her bruised and swollen flesh brought on throbbing pain. When she stepped under the shower, she cried out with the toe-curling sting.

The sound must have been loud because in two seconds, Mike burst through the door. “You all right?”

The problem aside from the fact he’d ignored her privacy even though she’d engaged the lock? He’d stripped down to his boxers.

God save her, the man should be a fitness model, not a spy. His shoulders barely fit through the doorway. His chest put GI Joe to shame. And his abs? A six-pack of growler-sized pure steel.

“Fine.” Henri braced herself against the wall as he strode toward her with his mammoth thighs flexing with each step. God, her knees turned to mush along with her resolve.

“Mind if I join you?”

She shook her head and blinked. “The door was locked.”

“That’s the thing about airline lavs. They’re all fitted with external unlocking devices.”

Yeah, she knew it. But she could still say no. Until he dropped his shorts.

A rush of scorching need gushed to her vagina. Her clit felt like it would shatter with a single swipe of that thick shaft when he slid it between her legs. By the time he stepped inside, his cock was standing at attention and was the first thing to touch her.

Henri licked her lips, forcing her gaze to meet his eyes—eyes filled with the same ravenous hunger that thrummed through her breasts, her heart, her crotch. His breath caught as he pulled her against his naked body while hot water cascaded around them.

His lips plundered hers with hot, tonsil-probing passion. She met him with equal vigor, unapologetic and seductive. Every thought of trepidation melted from her mind as she gave in to the intensity caused by the frenzy of emotion pooling between her legs.

“You clean enough?” He asked, lifting her up and urging her to wrap her legs around him.

“Mm hmm,” she managed to sigh into his shoulder.

Her breaths came in ragged gasps, making him wild. They’d both been pushed to the edge of their endurance. Working beside her and not being able to have her had amped up the predator deep inside—aroused the woman-seeking beacon always on full alert just below his belt. Soaking wet, he lowered her to the bed and climbed between her thighs. Taking his weight onto his elbows, he stared into those liquid chocolate eyes. “I need you, lass.”

She sank her fingers into his ass with a quick nod, her lips parted just enough to look like sex served up on a platter. He watched her as he slid his cock up and down through the slick cradle between her thighs.

Gasping, Henri arched and swirled her hips, capturing the tip of his cock with the hottest, tightest pussy on Earth—or above Earth. Christ, in the entire freaking universe. Moaning, she sunk her fingers into his glutes and guided him deeper. Throwing his head back, he filled her with his length only stopping when he hit her wall. Tight, ribbed muscles clenched around him, milking him as he forced the frenzy to ebb and reveled in the turn-on of being buried inside the only woman who had ever made him want to possess her. That’s right. Possess.

“Faster,” she sighed into his ear as her hands dictated the tempo.

He wasn’t going to last long with her in control. His cum boiled in his balls, demanding release. “I want you to come first.”

“I want...” With a deep gasp, she rolled him to his back, working her hips in a fierce rhythm. God, she was on fire.

Mike nearly lost it when she threw her head back with a rush of erratic tremors squeezing him, begging for his release. But he’d found his second wind. With a growl, he the reversed rolls and took control, shifting her legs over his shoulders and pushing inside to his root. Lowering his head, he joined his mouth with hers dancing with her tongue while he slammed his cock in and out, deeper and deeper. The pressure mounted. He clenched his bum cheeks to make himself last. He arched and bellowed, too damned close...Yes! Yes! Oh, God, yes! His mind exploded with the power of his orgasm.

Henri barely held on for dear life as she peaked in tandem with Mike’s shattering orgasm—her own body coming with a detonation to rival a dirty bomb. Sex was off the charts, but they connected on a level she’d never been before. She couldn’t pull her gaze from his if someone came into the room with a loaded gun. The electricity between them was fierce. Frightening.

You can’t get too serious. Those words echoed in her head. She tensed for a moment until he captured her lips in a whisper of a kiss. Henri closed her eyes and reveled in the softness of it and the sweetness of those gentle lips. He pulled out of her gently while he trailed feathery kisses down her neck...all the way to her breasts. He cupped them like he was holding a bird while his tongue brushed her nipple.

She stretched against the want starting to recoil between her legs. “If you keep that up, we’ll never sleep.”

Grinning, he slid alongside her and pulled up the covers. “Watch me.”