Jo Leigh - One-Click Buy - September Harlequin Blaze

“Like breathing? Not passing out?”

He shook his head. “You’re going to be fine. You’ve been amazing, and there’s no reason that shouldn’t continue.”

“Except that I won’t be with you.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

She looked into his eyes. “Are you kidding? Of course it matters. You’re the only reason I’m not completely comatose. Or dead.”

“You may have gotten some confidence with me nearby, but you’ve done so much on your own. You don’t even break a sweat when they bring in the food.”

“I do so.”

“It doesn’t show.”

She sighed. “Not that much has changed, Michael. We’re living in a bubble here where it’s easy to pretend. But once I have to leave this room…If you’re counting on me, you’d better rethink things.”

“Don’t worry about it. The plan is only viable if you think it’ll work. There are too many unknowns to get too specific.”

“Well, let’s hear what it is. If I don’t pass out now, then maybe I won’t pass out in the bank.”

AT TWO-FORTY, MICHAEL came back to the room. There was enough light from the porthole for her to see the foray hadn’t been terrific.

“What happened?”

He came to the edge of the bed, stripping as he walked. His T-shirt hit the floor along with the jeans they’d bought him in Florida, leaving him in his skivvies. “Charlie lied again.”

“Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes. I thought I was home-free, everyone accounted for, and was just about to pick the lock where I’m sure the weapons are stored when that cabin boy he talked about-the one who was supposed to clean up-came walking out of the head. He’s monster-size. Thank God he flushed or I’d have been very damaged.”

“I’m very grateful you’re not damaged.” She threw the covers back and patted the bed. “But now you need to get some sleep.”

“Let me get washed up. Don’t move.”

By the time he’d finished brushing his teeth she’d worked herself into a small frenzy of worry. “You can’t do this anymore,” she said as he crawled in next to her. “It’s too dangerous.”

“I have to get to the weapons, Tate.”

“Find another way. I won’t be able to stand it if something happens to you.”

He pulled her close, putting his arm under her neck, positioning himself so he could look into her eyes. “I’ll be here,” he said. “I won’t leave you.”

She believed him as best she could. The closer they came to the island, the worse her fears were becoming. Michael tethered her to the earth, to sanity. If he were gone-

“Hush,” he said. “Stay with me. Don’t be anywhere else but right here.”

She nodded.

He kissed her. It was long and languid and she touched his skin wherever her hand landed. In the days and nights that had sailed by, she’d learned the heaven of familiarity, the comfort of knowing she couldn’t make a mistake.

She pleased him. She knew it, and it brought her an extraordinary confidence. If she could bring that feeling to her whole world…

“A little help?”

She looked at him, startled out of her reverie. “With what?”

“Panties.”

“I don’t think they would look that good on you, but, sure, give it a try.”

“Oh, you’re hilarious.”

“Come on, Michael,” she said, turning her head fetchingly to the side. “Haven’t you ever wanted to try a walk on the wild side?”

“The masculine wild side, sure. Panties? That’s a big no.”

“What a chicken. You’d probably look adorable.”

“The last thing in the world I want to look like is adorable.”

“Right. You’re a lumberjack and you’re-”

“Hold it right there. You want to see some wild-side action? How does a little spanking sound?”

“Hmm. Your bottom all red and rosy?”

“Not mine.”

“Oh, then no. It sounds terrible.”

His mouth opened, but no sound emerged. Finally he just shook his head.

“Don’t worry, Michael. You don’t have to understand. Just smile and say, ‘Yes, dear.’”

“Yes, dear,” he said as he dutifully smiled. “But just for the record, this isn’t over.”

“No?”

“It’s just going to take me a while to figure out my strategy. I’m thinking a surprise visit in the middle of the night. Something kinky but not too startling.”

“All for me?”

He nodded.

She pulled his head down so her mouth was an inch from his ear. “Add some leather to that mix, big guy, and I’m all in.”

“Oh, shit,” he said as he got to his knees and pulled her into a kiss that went on and on.

He didn’t have to remind her again about the whole panty situation. She got naked, fast, tossing her clothes somewhere away, and then she got him naked, too.

By that time he was hard for her, hard all over. She liked to run her hands over his chest and feel the hard buds of his nipples beneath her palms. He liked it when she tweaked him there, and she was happy to oblige.

He’d figured out a lot of her favorite things, too. Like now, when he used two fingers to get her ready for the main event. And how he nipped at the tender skin just below her ear until she shivered with pleasure.

Then oddly, his pace slowed until she pulled back to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, but the look he gave her was as pensive as she’d ever seen him.

“Michael?”

“I would never hurt you.”

“I know that.”

“Maybe. But I want to say it anyway. I miss a lot about my old life-the pace, the adrenaline. It was good for me and I was good at it. But meeting you…”

She swallowed and held her breath, afraid to speak or even breathe lest he stop.

“Meeting you has changed every damn thing. But I want you to understand something.”

He held her tighter, bruising her arm. She didn’t care, not at all.

“I’m going to get you out of this. And when you go back to your real life, you won’t be the same person. You’ll be stronger. Better.”

His eyes searched hers with amazing intensity, but he was starting to scare her now. This wasn’t the speech she’d hoped for. She didn’t know how she knew, but she knew.

“I’m going to miss you. But I want you to know I’ll be rooting for you to have the life you deserve. You will. You’ll be able to travel. It kills me to say it, but you’ll have your pick of men. The world will be yours. All you have to do is take it.”

“So you think I can have any man I want?”

“I know it. You’re beautiful, and that’s the least of it. Don’t you settle for anything less than the best, you hear me? Any man-the goddamn princes of the world-would be lucky to know you, let alone love you.”

She couldn’t have stopped her tears if her life depended on it. His sincerity slipped into her heart, and she knew it would be there forever.

He was also telling the truth. Not about the men who’d line up for her but that he wouldn’t be in that line. This was going to end. One way or the other, Michael was going to leave her. She didn’t want it to be so, but even a woman who’d lived most of her life in the land of magical thinking could see that he couldn’t continue as her bodyguard. Not after all this.

“Tate?”

She sniffed. “Hmm?”

“We still have right now.”

There was something so sweet about his voice, about his face. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for being my safe place. For seeing so much in me. I’ll never forget you.”

“You’d better not,” he said as he laid her down, as he moved between her legs. As he entered her body as completely as he’d entered her heart.

THEY DOCKED AT FIVE that morning. Tate held on to Michael as she listened for new voices, a chance perhaps to get someone’s attention.