Price trailed kisses over the curve of my ass, up my spine to my shoulders and neck, making me shiver. His hard cock pressed between my cheeks.

I knew what he wanted—the ultimate intimacy, the ultimate show of trust.

We’d always enjoyed anal play, but now it seemed to have an even deeper meaning. He was asking me to trust him completely.

I always had in the past, and I did now. He’d shown me his ultimate trust as well, by coming back to New York with me. I vowed that his trust would not be misplaced.

“Take me, Price,” I said softly. “I trust you.”

He rubbed the head of his cock over my ass, further lubricating me with my own juices. “Ready?”

“Yes. Please.”

He breached the tight rim of muscle.

I swiftly inhaled, adjusting to the invasion. Then he thrust all the way inside me.

So full. So full of my love. Such an intimate joining.

“Okay?” he said.

“Mmm, yes. More than okay.” I pushed back against him.

“God, Kate.” He pulled out and then plunged back in. “So fucking good.”

I closed my eyes, relishing the fullness, his presence in my body. This was the one act we’d only done together, never with anyone else. Only Price had been to this private place within me, and only he would ever be. I reveled in the closeness, so visceral and real.

This was the essence, the very blood of life—love and trust reduced to pure physical form.

He pumped into me furiously, taking my hand and leading it to my clit where we massaged the hard bud together, he instinctively knowing the right rhythm, until I began to ascend into orgasm.

“That’s right, baby. Make it feel good. Show me how much you love what I’m doing to you.”

His words threw me over the edge, launching me like a catapult into beautiful oblivion.

“Price!” I cried out.

“Kate! God, Kate!”

He pushed into me with one last mighty stroke, filling me, our climaxes summiting together in a kaleidoscopic rush.

I never wanted to come down again.

---

I awoke a few hours later in Price’s arms, still in our spoon position. Night had fallen. I had no idea what time zone my body was in. I didn’t even know what day it was.

I smiled, allowing the bliss of our joining to saturate me once again. I settled into the curve of his body, when a sound jarred me.

I widened my eyes. Price still snored softly next to me. I stealthily moved out of his cocoon toward the edge of the bed. I rose and put on the first clothes I saw, a pair of old jeans and a tank top. God, this place was a sty.

Slowly, my nerves a jumbled mass, I walked to the front door, flipped the light switch, and looked out the peephole. What I’d heard couldn’t have been a knock. Anyone coming into the building had to use the intercom. I opened the door. A piece of paper sat on the floor. I looked around quickly and then picked it up, my pulse racing.

An advert for a local pizza place.

A heavy sigh escaped my lips. I’d gotten all worked up about a flyer. Some kid had probably been paid to distribute them inside the building.

But in the middle of the night?

I shook my head. Maybe the flyer had been there for a while and we hadn’t noticed it before. After all, we’d been carrying our bags and looking over our shoulders when we arrived. Or maybe it had gotten shuffled toward our door by someone else walking by.

Still…what had I heard?

It hadn’t been a knock, so what the hell was it?

Icy shivers ran through me, and I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to ease the chill. Were we safe here? I truly believed Price and I could get through anything together, but had I been wrong to suggest coming back here? I didn’t want to keep running, but what had I gotten us into? If I’d put Price in danger—

I shook my head to clear it.

Could not go there.

I’d said it before. We were in this together now.

“Kate?”

I looked up. Price stood in the doorway of our bedroom.

“Hey,” I said. “What are you doing up?”

“I woke up and you were gone. I’ve had too much of that this past year.”

“I’m sorry.” I laid the flyer down on the mail table and looked around the room. “I heard a noise.”

Price stiffened. “What noise?”

“It was obviously nothing. I think I’m just on edge. I know it was my idea to come here, but I can’t help it. I’m having second thoughts. I know we used the fake IDs and all, but still… Maybe we should go to the island where Michelle is, do our investigation from there.”

“That’s not possible and you know it. If we show up there, we’re liable to put Chelle and my parents in danger.”

“So your parents got there safely?”

He nodded. “I just checked my phone. I got a text from Otis.”

Good old Otis. “And where is he now?”

“He’s there with my folks for now, until we decide what his next move should be.”

“We?”

“Yeah, we. The decisions aren’t mine alone to make anymore. They’re ours.”

“And Otis is fine just waiting around until you tell him what to do?”

He smiled. “I pay him very well for his time.”

Right. All the money I never knew my husband had stowed away. I stopped my hackles from rising. It was all water under the bridge now.

Now. That was what we had to focus on.

“You want to come back to bed?” he said.

“Yes, Price. I do. I want to go back to bed and lose myself in your body again. I want to forget about our reality and live in a fantasy world.” I walked toward him, pulling at a lock of my hair. “Maybe I was wrong. Maybe we should have stayed on that island.”

“That was no longer possible, baby. We had to go somewhere else. They had picked up my trail. They know I’m alive, Kate.”

“We could have gone to Bali. To another tiny island somewhere. An uncharted one.”

“On a three hour tour?” He smiled again, his dimples as gorgeous as ever.

I melted against his body, chuckling for a few seconds at the memories of sitting together in Price’s old recliner, watching reruns of Gilligan’s Island in college. But I quickly became sober again. “How long until they find you here?”

“I don’t know. Could be weeks. Could be hours. I just don’t know, baby.” He stroked my head. “Come back to bed with me.”

I nodded into his chest.

He undressed me and pulled me to him, kissing me gently at first, and then more passionately, sliding his tongue against mine. Price’s kisses were magical. In his arms, I could escape anything, be only Kate—Kate who was perfectly safe with her true love.

He cupped my breasts, still kissing me, thumbing my hard nipples. I deepened the kiss, needing more intensity, more…everything.

He laid me on the bed and covered my body with his, trailing his lips over my cheeks, neck, shoulders…and then to the swells of my breasts. I arched into him, my nipples aching for his lips. He didn’t disappoint me. He tugged one hard bud between his teeth while pinching the other between his thumb and forefinger.

I moaned, my pussy yearning to be filled. His granite cock pushed against my thigh, and I rubbed against it, eliciting a low grown from his throat.

“God, baby,” he said against my flesh.

“I want you, Price.” My voice was a husky rasp.

He let my nipple drop from his mouth and slid down my body, leaving soft kisses in his wake. When he got to my vulva he inhaled. “So ripe.” Then he flicked his tongue over my clit.

I cried out, spreading my legs farther apart, reaching downward and grabbing a fistful of his silky hair. I ground into his face.

He devoured me with lips, teeth, tongue, fingers until I was reduced to a sobbing mass of jelly. One orgasm became two, two became three, until my entire body flooded over with a pleasure so intense I was almost in pain.

But oh, what pain it was. Perfect pain became perfect pleasure, morphing back and forth until I begged him to stop.

“Please, Price. Your cock. I need your cock.”

He flipped me over onto my belly and pushed my thighs forward so my ass was in the air. Then he thrust into me, filling me completely. When his finger touched my asshole, I nearly exploded again, and when he breached the tight rim, I unraveled, my already sated body sinking into the softness of the bed as my husband penetrated me from behind.

My pillow muffled my cries and his thrusts increased.

“I love you, Kate. I love you so much.”

As he joined me in climax, I sobbed his name.

“Price. Price. Don’t you ever fucking leave me again.”

---

The sun streamed into our bedroom, waking me once more. At least it was daylight now. Price still slept. The poor man was exhausted. He’d no doubt spent the last year exhausted, always on the run, always looking over his shoulder.

I still firmly believed that was no way to live. So why did I keep having doubts?

Simple. As much as I knew the right thing was to be here, to be home, I wasn’t ready to lose Price again. And the reality was that our lives depended precariously on how quickly we could come up with some kind of resolution to this situation—a situation I still didn’t fully understand.

I crept out of bed, trying not to disturb Price, donned the same old jeans and tank, and walked to our small galley kitchen. Price and I had enjoyed cooking together on occasion. I smiled, remembering the time we’d prepared sushi completely naked and then eaten it off of each other’s bodies. Neither of us was a master chef by any means, but we enjoyed doing almost anything together.

I opened the refrigerator. Not much there. What was left of a dozen eggs I’d purchased a couple weeks ago, some green onions that were now wilted, a moldy piece of cheddar cheese, and some ham that had seen better days. I threw out the last three items and then looked at the eggs. They were still decent. One of my not-so-famous omelets was out of the question, but I could prepare my husband some scrambled eggs. Later, I’d go to the market.

But first, coffee. I reached for the canister of beans. Empty.

Shit. How were we supposed to deal with all of this sans caffeine?

I could run downstairs to the little coffee shop on the corner and get some fresh-brewed goodness. No one was supposed to know Price was here, but I still lived here. Nothing wrong with me getting some coffee. After all, the whole reason I’d wanted to come home to New York was because I didn’t want to live a life on the run.

I went quietly back into the bedroom and put on some shoes and socks, grabbed a jacket and a wad of cash out of my purse, and left.

The Kaphi House was run by a sweet middle-aged Nepalese couple, and they brewed a mean cup. I got two large coffees, a bag of beans, and a loaf of their homemade sweetbread, and then hurried home.

“Kate!”

Price was pacing around the living room when I entered.

“What? What’s wrong?” I set down the cups and bag.

“Where the hell were you?”

“Relax. I just went down to the corner to get coffee. I’m fine.”

“You shouldn’t have left the apartment. What if someone had seen you? God!” He raked his fingers through his disheveled hair. “Someone did see you. Who was working today at the shop?”

I gulped. “No one. I mean, no one I recognized.”

“Aaryan and Nina weren’t there?”

“Maybe in the back. I don’t know.” I handed him the bag. “I got some of that bread you like.”

“Jesus Christ, Kate. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking I wanted a fucking cup of coffee! This isn’t a huge deal, Price. Everyone knows I’m alive. Did you expect me to hole up in here forever? We need food.”

Price grabbed the bag containing the bread and coffee beans from my hand and threw it to the floor. “Who was there? Who saw you?”

“Why does it matter? I’m a regular there. It would look more suspicious for me not to go. No one knows I went to the island other than you and Chelle.” I retrieved the bag. “You’ve probably ruined the bread.”

“Just answer me, Kate. Who saw you?”

“A new guy. He was young. Had an accent.”

“You’ve never seen him there before?”

“No. Usually Nina is there in the mornings, except on weekends. What day is it, anyway?”

“Fuck if I know.” Price plunked down on his old, ridiculous recliner. “I’m serious. What if someone had seen you?”

“Aaryan and Nina are my friends. They’d never do anything to hurt either one of us.”

“They wouldn’t? What if someone went into their shop and put a gun to their heads? Do you think they’d remember seeing you this morning?”

My breathing became rapid, but still I persisted. “They didn’t see me. Their barista did.”

“And you’re sure he didn’t know you?”

“I’m pretty sure.”

“I need you to be damn sure.”

“He didn’t know my name. I didn’t recognize him. It’s fine, Price. I promise.” I hoped I was right. What if I’d just made a huge mistake? For coffee? I cleared my throat. “Besides, it’s just as likely that someone saw us when we came home last night. Or last…whatever it was.”

“Don’t leave the apartment without telling me again.”

I sat next to him and cupped his cheek, fingering his stubble. “I’m truly sorry I worried you. But I have to leave the apartment. I need to go shopping or we’ll starve.”

“We’ll have groceries delivered.”

“We still have to answer the door and pay for them, especially if you insist upon using cash.”

“Shit.” He stood. “Why didn’t I think of this before? I’ll get Otis to arrange everything. We won’t have to leave this place.”

I smoothed his hair. “We can’t stay in here forever. You know that as well as I do.”

“This isn’t like me. I should have arranged for food with Otis. I should have—”

I touched two fingers to his lips, quieting him. “You’ve had to do the thinking of about ten people during the past year. Don’t beat yourself up for forgetting something as mundane as grocery shopping.”

“This isn’t like me.”

I brushed my lips over his. “Let it go. I’m fine. No one saw me except the new kid working the front at The Kaphi House. Okay? He doesn’t know me from Adam. I won’t go out again without telling you. But Price, I will go out. Otherwise we’re prisoners here.”

He grabbed a fistful of my hair and tugged on it lovingly. “You’re so brave, baby. You always were. But you still don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”

“Yes, I do.”

“You don’t. And God, I wish you never had to find out.”

I kissed him again. “Well, I do. For better or for worse, remember? Why don’t we get started? I’ve got caffeine, sweetbread, and eggs for fuel, and we’re going to need it if we’re going to start digging through your files.” I stood, retrieved the coffees and sweetbread, and took them to the kitchen.

Price followed me and sat down on one of the bar stools where we usually ate our meals. He took a long sip of his coffee and sighed. “I have missed this.”

“They do make a great cup,” I agreed.

“I just wish…”

“No one saw me. I promise. Do you want some eggs? That’s all I have, other than the bread.”

He shook his head. “Coffee is fine for now. I need to think.”

“Okay.” I pulled off a piece of the doughy sweetbread, inhaling its yeasty aroma. “While you’re thinking, I’d like to take a look at your files. Where should I begin?”

He took another drink of coffee. “Most of them are on my computer and are encrypted. But I do have a hard file you can start with.”

“Great. Where is it?”

He stood. “It’s in the living room. I kept it hidden behind that old Melville anthology your father gave you. One book I knew neither of us would move from the shelf.” He walked toward the bookcase.

I couldn’t help a chuckle. My father was a Professor of Literature at Brown, and he loved the classics. Other than Jane Austen, I wasn’t a fan.

Price pulled the book off the shelf. “I installed a little safe behind here a while ago, a few months before my plane went down.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“I couldn’t, Kate. Now you know why. I’m sorry.”

I nodded. Though I did understand, I still felt a little sick every time I learned something new that Price had hidden from me. A secret bank account. Now a safe in our home. Not to mention the fact that he’d been alive all this time.

I stood behind him while he turned the combination lock and opened the narrow door.

Then I gasped.

He turned. “What?”

“I heard something.” I looked over my shoulder. “Nothing.”

“Christ, Kate. You scared the hell out of me.”

God, my nerves were on edge.

He looked back to the opening, reached inside, and then faced me.

My nerves couldn’t take much more of this. “What now?”

His face was white, his lips twisted into something I hadn’t seen before. My heart leaped into my throat.

“Kate. Damn it!”

“What? You’re scaring me.”

“This morning. At The Kaphi House.”

“We’ve been through that. Everything’s fine. I won’t go again without telling you.”

“Everything’s not fine.” He banged his fist onto the shelf, hard enough that two books fell to the floor with a thud. “And you won’t go again, period.”

My lips trembled. “Why? What’s the matter?”

“You got two cups of coffee this morning.”