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“I’ve been sick with worry.”  Quinn hugged Reese, so damned glad to see her. He’d tried to tell himself it was because he felt responsible for Reese’s safety, but that only contributed to his being a crazed lunatic waiting for her to arrive.

He had begun to believe he’d lost her.

The possibility of her dying here threatened to bring him to his knees, and that had rattled him.

He never wanted to go through the longest hour of hell again.

Her hair and clothes were drenched. She dug her fingers in, holding on to him. “I was worried about you, too.”  When she pulled back, her wild gaze raced over him with urgency, clearly taking in his ripped, dirty clothing and the gashes, now healing, on his lower arms. She started to say something, then shook it off.

“What, sweetheart? Just say it.” More than anything else, he wanted to kiss her at this moment.

Not true. After the battle he’d fought to reach this point, his body throbbed with the desire to drag her underneath him and feel her as he shoved deep inside her.

But Reese needed comfort, not to be ravaged by a wild man.

She’d fought just as hard to be here. She’d battled her way through unimaginable obstacles, though hopefully not as bad as the ones he’d faced. That had been the deal he’d cut with the Keith when Quinn discovered he had to run a deadly gauntlet and that he couldn’t prevent Reese from running an obstacle course, alone, too. Quinn had been offered the chance to lighten her challenge, but that meant his course would be even more difficult.

Reese cursed lightly under her breath, then muttered, “I earned this.” She lifted up and kissed him.

Well, hell. Who was he to say no to that?

When Reese kissed, she gave it her all.

No holding back.

She did everything with her whole being and kissed him now as if she wanted to imprint her mouth in as many spots as she could. It was more like imprinting her very soul on him and binding their bodies in this one moment.

More, sweetheart.

Quinn swept his tongue past her lips to entangle hers. She tasted of life and hope. Her warm body molded to his, letting him know she wanted him just as much.

That was so damn hot.

He felt everything about Reese. Her presence demanded his attention and he gave it willingly.

In many ways, this was a new sensation for him, to feel what he did for Reese.

He’d been a machine for too long, doing what was required of him and allowing no room for impulsive actions.

No chance to feel true emotion.

He wanted more than what he’d had with Kizira when they’d first met as young adults.

Talk about unhealthy relationships. That one deserved its own category.

It was in this moment with Reese that he realized the difference between what he’d experienced in the past and what he felt now. The sad truth was that Quinn’s own burden of guilt and shame over his secret relationship had kept him from moving on emotionally. His heart had wandered around lost while he’d clung to his grief and focused on duty. He’d denied himself any semblance of a normal life, justifying his actions as being necessary to perform his duty.

He’d betrayed his people even though he hadn’t known who Kizira was that first time.

For that, he’d truly believed he deserved no one.

But then Reese had burst into his world, planted her feet with force and refused to tiptoe around his pain or ignore the subject of Quinn’s own self-delusion. Reese had refused to be ignored, period.

He had no words to describe the fear he’d experienced in the past hour of waiting with no idea if she’d survive the Keith’s maniacal game. Quinn had paced constantly, listening for any small sound alerting him she’d survived.

Reese had her hands in his hair and on his face now.

Heat whipped across his skin at her touch.

By the goddess, he wanted this woman. Here. Now.

Nipping his lip, Reese said, “Stop thinking about anything but me.”

Damn, he loved that demanding side of her. No one compared to Reese when she wanted something. No one.

Quinn growled, “Yes, ma’am,” then reached for her ragged shirt and ripped it open, leaving her bare except for a frilly bra.

She gasped and looked at him with wide eyes.

That caused him to look around and realize where they stood. In the Keith’s realm.

She latched onto the collar of his shirt and yanked him down to eye level with her. “What’s wrong?”

“This could be happening because of the Keith’s realm influence, like back in our guest room.”

“Do you really think that?” she challenged, breathless.

“Honestly? No.”

“Me either.” She lunged up, smacking his lips with hers, hard enough to make him laugh. She grumbled about having to do everything herself.

Not on his watch.

He wanted her to feel as much as he did right now. He’d known beauties that a king would go to war for who could never reach inside Quinn and grip his heart the way Reese had.

One minute she massaged his heart with tenderness and in the next she crushed the brittle parts so they couldn’t re-form into the hard shell it had been for so long.

Reese had blown into his life like a breath of fresh air with a sharp bite. She’d pushed and prodded, forcing him to acknowledge feelings he’d long denied.

Reese was a force that called to him on every level as a man.

A woman he wanted in his world.

For more than just this mission.

Fighting through the Keith’s live-or-die game and wondering whether Reese would survive her challenges, had shown him that.

She might not trust him entirely yet, but he was willing to trust her and take the first step in keeping her close.

Quinn clasped her face in his hands, taking over and kissing her with fierce abandon.

But his conscience wouldn’t stand down. It reminded him that Reese deserved to know what he felt for her before he continued pawing her.

His body argued for talking later.

She pleaded, “Touch me, please, touch me. I want to feel your hands, Quinn.”

Evidently, their bodies were in agreement.

Her heated words snapped the thin resistance tugging on his fevered mind and locked his conscience out of the picture.

His hands were just as happy to join in as his mouth. He popped her front-clasp bra, appreciating the easy access, then filled his hands with her breasts.

“Oh, yes,” she moaned between kisses.

Her hands joined the party, pulling his tattered shirt apart. He slowed his attention to her breasts just long enough to shrug out of it.

She grabbed his hands and brought them back to her glorious breasts, demanding, “Me, me, me.”

He grinned in spite of the heat building between them. He lowered his head to take a nipple into his mouth and tease the tip with his tongue until it stood erect and happy.

The throaty sigh she released did him in.

Now he was glad the room he’d been stuck in while waiting for her had a bed and a bathroom and food on a table. There were candles. Quinn had lit one in the bathroom and had been on the way to light more out here when he’d heard three knocks.

He had no idea how she’d known to knock, but that had been the key to opening the door.

The Keith had left Quinn a message in his battlefield indicating that if Reese made it to the final point with Quinn, the Keith would send for them between three and one hundred hours after she arrived.

That wizard had a twisted sense of humor.

The only relief he’d given Quinn was to inform him that time stood still while Quinn was in the Keith’s realm. If he and Reese survived and left with Phoedra in hand, or at least information on how to find her, the time and day would be the same when they departed as when they’d arrived.

Quinn hadn’t missed the Keith’s specific point of if he allowed them to leave.

Reese hooked her arms around his neck.

Quinn lifted her by her hips and she wrapped her legs around him. She moved her hips against his surging erection in a rhythmic motion that no man could resist. He could feel her steamy body and smell how much she wanted him.

She reached for his snap. “Off. Now!”

Smiling at her, he shucked his pants then nipped her ear. She bit his shoulder. Using one hand, he tore off her thin, shredded pants.

The instant realization that no underwear shielded her heat untethered him completely.

Now they were bare to each other.

Time to get serious.

He wanted to see her face when he brought her to orgasm.

Hooking his hands under her, he lifted her sweet body until he could take a breast in his mouth and suck hard on her nipple.

She trembled and clenched her legs around his ribs. The sound that came out of her was so erotic it shot heat through his groin.

He lifted her further, forcing her to unwind her legs.

She grumbled and grabbed a fistful of his hair.

Staring intently at her, he backed her against the wall and ordered, “Put your legs on my shoulders.”

With a little twisting, which was no problem for a woman as athletic as Reese, she slid a leg over each shoulder.

That brought her most delicious spot up to mouth level.

He dove into her heat, using his tongue to torment the sensitive layers. She gripped his hair and cried out. Her legs hooked tighter around his shoulders and locked him to her as she arched backward.

Lost in pleasuring her, he kept teasing her near the edge and pulling back, then pushing her closer again and again. He could do this for hours.

She fisted her hands in his hair. “I can’t handle any more.”

Her legs shook with strain.

He wasn’t stopping to argue.

“Quinn! Please do it,” she pleaded and ordered at the same time.

Damn, this woman would drive him crazy and he’d go happily. With one last lick, he toyed with her sweet spot once more then gave her what she wanted.

She bucked and yelled, straining as she hit that pinnacle, but still holding on. Her tremors shook through her as he caught her around the waist and lowered her slowly until her legs flopped loose. She couldn’t stand yet.

Her fingers released his hair then caught his shoulders. Her eyes turned dark as night and met his. She whispered, “I want you, all of you. No stopping. Ever.”

His heart rolled around in his chest, wanting to take her literally, but accepting her at her word he picked her up then lowered her onto the tip of his erection.

He froze.

“What?” she asked with an unsteady breath.

“Condom.”

Her face shifted with hesitation, then she nodded. “Glad you remembered. Find one.”  Her gaze slashed over to the bed.

Angling to look in the same direction, he saw an array of condoms where there had been none before. Screw the bloody power rules. Quinn freed a hand to kinetically lift a package and pull it to him, catching the package with the same hand. Nothing negative happened.

He ripped the foil with his teeth.

She snatched the condom and tossed the foil away. She ordered, “Lower me down.”

Leaning over, he put her in position to slide the condom in place and now he shook. Damn, that was ... just damn.

Lifting her again, he slid home inside her. Feeling her this way shot stars across his gaze.

He dropped his head to hers, his hard-on throbbing in her heat. “You’re so incredible.”

“More,” she whispered the word in a soft plea.

Pushing deeper inside her, he lifted her slowly then pushed her down.

He’d never forget her face in this moment, with her eyes fluttered shut and her lips whispering words his mind couldn’t translate.

Not while he was buried deep inside her warmth.

She opened her eyes and a vixen stared back at him. She held his gaze and aggressively moved with him in that ancient dance males and females had been perfecting since the start of time. Quinn had no problem doing his part to get it right.

Gripping his shoulders, she rode the wave up and down.

Perspiration beaded on his face. “I love to watch you as you come.”

She gritted out, “Don’t blink. I’m—“ 

He reached between them, using a finger to push her over the edge.

Her words meshed into a high-pitched cry. She dug her nails in and her entire body tightened.

Trying to control himself while watching her reach that pinnacle was an impossible goal. He followed her into the vortex and roared through his orgasm.

They both shuddered as he slowed his motions.

Falling against him, she held onto his shoulders with limp arms. “Thank you for a truly fucking wonderful moment.”

What man wouldn’t grin at that compliment?

She had a mouth on her and he loved it.

When she let her legs fall loose, he held on until she could stand. “Ready for a shower?”

“This place has one? I figured you’d have to catch rain water and channel it to me with palm leaves.”

Turning toward the bathroom, he put his arm around her.

“Ow, ow, ow.” She leaned away from his hand.

He took one look at her back and lost it. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were hurt?”

“Because you would have gotten all cranky and then getting naked wouldn’t have happened.”

Truth. He’d lost his mind when she kissed him. He wanted to get out of here and be sure he hadn’t allowed the Keith’s realm to manipulate the two of them.

“Reese, about that—”

She jumped down his throat. “Listen to me, Mr. Too-proper-for-his-own-good. You can say you’ve wanted to do that since the first time you met me. You can say you were overcome with lust. You can say you were worried you’d never have this chance again.”

All three statements were true, but he held back from speaking until she unwound.

“Just pick one, Quinn, but if you start with saying this was a mistake, I will make you regret it as soon as I have my medallion.”

In the face of her words, he could only admit the truth. “I regret nothing as long as you aren’t upset with me.”

“Me? I just had the best sex of my life and you think I’m going to complain?”

He should be cheering her cavalier attitude about what had just happened, but he couldn’t shake the disappointment tumbling through his chest.

Setting all that aside, he said, “We have a few supplies. One is a cream to heal wounds.”

“Oh, really. So nice of his lordship the Keith to give us that.” 

He herded her into the bathroom, which had a strange mix of rustic walls and floor, but upscale facilities.

Opening a jar that had been left on the counter, he said, “Turn around.”

She crossed her arms and her breasts bulged. “That gooey stuff could be something that turns us into houseplants.”

Quinn shut his eyes. “I’ve used the cream. It’s fine. Please give me your back, Reese.”

“Okay.”

He opened his eyes and she was still standing there with her glorious boobs facing him.

She laughed. “Made you look. Twice.” Then she turned.

Heathen. He put a healthy layer of cream on a long slash across her back. “What did this to you?”

“A demon. I’m going to be pissed if they gave me the harder gauntlet to run without my powers. This was some kind of screwed up game. What happened to you?”

“When I woke up and realized I was not in the room with you, I was informed I had one chance to prove myself. I would have to play the Keith’s version of a live video game.”

“I knew it had to be something like that.”

Quinn took his time smoothing the cream and enjoying the delectable back, which was just as nice as her front and beginning to heal already. “He offered me a choice of which gauntlet to run, but seeing your back infuriates me.”

“Why?”

“He said the only way I would see you again was if we both survived our challenges. We could both face level two, or one of us could take level three and the other would get level one.”

She stepped away from him and shifted around. “You took level three, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” He hoped some of those creatures would not return as nightmares.

“You’re too good, you know that, Quinn?”

No, he was not good at all.

He wanted this woman and she might trust him with her body, but his gut was squawking that she hid secrets that controlled her life. He planned to tap every resource he could when he returned to find out who she answered to, because no one deserved to control Reese.

Looking over her shoulder, she said, “Huh. Feels like it’s healing. Think it will continue working while I shower?”

“Probably. If not, we’ll reapply the cream.”

Once she’d entered a steamy shower, he turned to pull off the condom and discard it in the receptacle provided. Before it hit the bottom of the empty trash can, the condom paused and twinkled into tiny sparks then blinked out of existence.

Had the can caused that or had the condom only been an illusion?

He had to stop questioning everything or he’d go mad here.

The condom had felt real. Enough said.