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Light pierced Gray&039;s consciousness

He slowly cracked open his eyes and winced His body throbbed like he&039;d been thrown into a ring and gone fifty rounds with a heavyweight Jeas curled into his side, still asleep Her features were soft and relaxed and contentment lifted the corners of her lips

She was naked He was naked And his body liked the contact

God, she was lovely Her skin was as dewy as aand tapered perfectly Her waist dipped and her hips flared deliciously The hair at the apex of her thighs was soft and black and begging for his touch

Fighting the sudden fire in his blood, he brushed a strand of hair froh his mind He&039;d almost lost her This innocent little peach had almost died Just the reether, she&039;d come to mean a lot to him More than any woman ever had

She&039;s safe now, he re That was all thatto do a better job of looking out for her Ga with the Formorians had been risky, and he&039;d known better He&039;d just wanted to give her an honestly purchased present and the desire had clouded his co involved ell founded

The ar; he kneas there He just didn&039;t knohen - or if - he was going to give it to her He had to get focused on his job, and if he gave her the gift now, she ht think it meant

"Wake up, sleeping beauty" He wanted to wake her with a kiss, but didn&039;t dare If he kissed her, he wouldn&039;t stop kissing her until he had her under hi inside her They had stuff to talk about, and he had stuff to do It was tis in perspective

Jewel stirred and stretched like a newborn babe, purring low in her throat The sounds drifted over his nerve endings like an erotic caress She blinked open her eyes, her long lashes fluttering up and down He was suddenly thirsty for her

"Gray," she said, gingerly sitting up "Is everything all right?"

"Everything&039;s fine" He forced his ht&039;s adventure throw us off the path to Dunamis?"

She pushed her hair frorabbed her now dry sheet, tugging it around her "Not at all The te that long sounded about as fun as a full body waxing He gri to ask you so, and I want you to answer honestly Don&039;t answer me with a question Just tellin her head Reluctantly she nodded "Why ah escaped her "When the vampire and demon bit you, they left pieces of theht Revulsion, dread, and rage pounded through hi like them?" The words were stark, ripped from his throat He wanted to howl in denial; they were evil, he was not He believed in truth and justice, protecting the weak "Exactly like them?"

"Only certain characteristics We won&039;t knohich ones until you experience theoing to become evil?"

"No, never evil"

"You say that with such surety, yet you also say I&039;ll change"

"Who you are inside will never change"

He took co, then deter the subject froe as it caht now he needed to radio OBI, let them knoas okay And he didn&039;t want Jewel to hear the conversation As he struggled to a sitting position, he pinned her with a pointed stare "Why don&039;t you go to the river and wash, honey You&039;ve got mud all over you"

"No, you&039;re too weak - "

"I didn&039;t want to say this," he said, cutting through her words, "but you&039;ve forced me You kind of smell" Unlike Jewel, he could lie his ass off She smelled wonderful; she always did

Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open

"Coether to keep fro the darkness inside hih out loud at her horrified expression He pushed to his feet, everyin protest Damn, he hurt He picked up his backpack "I&039;ll escort you down there"

Cheeks flaed her htly around her

They lue, and Gray did a peri appears safe and sound"

"Then you can go back to caI won&039;t come to your rescue" She sto hileamed icked retribution, "Oh, and Gray? I plan to bathe naked, letting s"

Truth She couldn&039;t lie "Thanks for that," he said wryly, already growing hard, delicious ih his mind

"You&039;re welco herself in all the places he wanted to touch, daed a few feet away and eased down behind a bush Her words brought ies of soft, peach-colored skin, lips parted on a breath, dark hair spread like a rain cloud around her shoulders Nipples hard and begging for his s -

"Damn it" He withdrew his transmitter "Santa to Mother"

Static, then, "Mother here"

"Will have package in about two days and head ho longer than expected" "Maybe next time you need to rethink the words &039;in and out&039;"

Pause "What do you mean?"

"You know the text we discounted? Well, it&039;s true"

"You mean - "

"Yeah That&039;s exactly what I ain and work me up a list of every creature&039;s weaknesses" He didn&039;t knohy he hadn&039;t thought of Ra Dracas before "Have you learned anything else?"

"We found soht" "Tell me anyway"

"Basically anyone who tries to snuff out the breath of life froods&039; darkest wrath" His boss paused again "How can a gemstone breathe? Is it alive?"

Good questions

A coenious/dumb-ass idea crashed into his mind, and he stiffened He blinked his eyes No Surely not But maybe "I need to think about this," he said "Will contact you later for that list Over"

Gray set the radio aside, intent on finishing his tasks before he allowed himself to work on the puzzle that had presented itself with his boss&039;s words He checked his GPS syste was broken He didn&039;t understand It wasn&039;t water da while, he reworked the wires, reconnecting and tightening, to no avail Disgusted, he finally shoved the priceless piece of shit into his backpack

Because he himself wasn&039;t at his best, he needed his equip to happen He expelled a frustrated breath If he and Jeere going to sleep out in the eleht or two, he&039;d have to build so he could hook to his back and carry Soaze scanned the surrounding area, s, leaves, rocks He should have brought a caht he&039;d need one

"That damn Jude Quinlin"

Gray lumbered to his feet His head pounded sharply, and his wounds pulsed His legs were still weak froed to stay upright He really, really wanted to stroll down to the river and shock Miss Prudence Merryweather right out of her inhibitions To catch a glis that stretched all the way to paradise that soft belly and rounded waist those sed for his ain, ot all his aches but one But Gray stayed put - and not because of any gentle it to his shit list with Quinlin

Jeas a walking contradiction, a smart-in nun Both sides of her intrigued hi the two sides of her nature battle for supre which would ultiress? Or a combination of both?

As he forced his attention on his surroundings, the sound of splashing water echoed in his ears as loudly as screaine droplets of water cascading froathering in her navel, begging for his tongue, before finally catching between her legs and -

"Not again" He slapped himself across the face "Concentrate,several days&039; worth of stubble "Work You have work to do"

Holding his stinging side, Gray gathered branches and leaves, vines and sapling Over the years, he&039;d constructed hundreds of hideaways; the actual building was rained in his cells His expert eye quickly found the best location, a spot that provided an escape route yet hid the hill and between two trees

The trees stood roughly five feet apart Using the rope he&039;d stolen fro, solid branch to each trunk, reaching as high as possible He crisscrossed the sapling and vines he&039;d gathered, working his way down the beam, then did the same to the other side Sweat trickled down his brow, and he wiped it aith the back of his wrist

By the ti and his knees knocking He hated weakness of any kind - especially in himself He sipped at the water in his canteen, then jumped back into his work

After he covered the braided vines with brush leaves and grass, he pulled back and studied the end results "Not bad," he said with a nod Not a five-star resort, but it would hide them from their enemies and protect them from the elements When the time came, he would untie the vines fro it to his backpack

Deciding to rest while he could, Gray eased to the ground He closed his eyes Rocks dug into his back, but relaxing proved easy All around hi a soft symphony Who needed an MP3 player when the sounds of nature perfor would it take him to heal co, and keepLess chance the enemy could ferret him out

"God, I need a vacation" Once he returned hoo to the beach, find hi need for Jewel

Funny thing, though No woman appealed to him but Jewel His body wanted her, and only her Hiswith another wo without Jewel hts, a month, a year away from her would diminish his obsession in any way

He hadn&039;t lied to her If he stayed, OBI would continually send agents inside Atlantis, looking for Duna hands If he tried to take her hoet her through without their knowledge The moment they saw her, she&039;d be poked and prodded and dissected by scientists for the rest of her life She&039;d never leave the laboratory - not alive, at least

He scrubbed a hand over his face, infuriated with his lack of choices Sweat poured down his back as he realized, really realized, that these next few days were all he and Jewel had That was it After that, he&039;d never see her again A bitter laugh escaped him He wanted her in a way he&039;d never wanted another woman He wanted her taste, her body, her voice, and he knew she would willingly and passionately give herself to hiht, but he couldn&039;t keep her

"I&039;h his o I&039;ve killed before, and I&039;ll do it again"

Male laughter floated across the distance

Instant fury and concern burning inside hiain! Couldn&039;t they rest for a fucking hour before sos of discoun out of his bag and sprang toward the river As he ran, he checked tile weapon&039;s clip Only one bullet left Crap Had he lost one?