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"Hey you" Braced on his side beside her, Max ran his hand down her front "You look like a well-fed cat"

She scrunched up her face "That is not a sensual i as a coot her a kiss, a deep, intense clai?"

"Fine My inexplicable"--but viciously strong--"shields are still holding on the PsyNet"

"That’s good, but I was talking about the physical"

Her body flushed "Oh" She’d made a visit to the bathroom, had looked at her face in the mirror, amazed at the rumpled, pleasured woman with the kiss-bruised mouth who’d stared back at her "I’e to have such a conversation, and yet she could Because it was Max

He smoothed his hand over her abdomen "Let me knohen you’re ready for round two--like I told you, practice, lots and lots of practice, ht in his eyes, she punched hi to face hi the experience so very"

"Interesting?" A flash of the lean dimple she adored

"Yes," she said, tracing the laughter with her fingertip, feeling her own lips curve "It was suprelad" Sliding one arm under her head, he draped the hand of the other over her hip "For a Psy, you were okay"

"And you weren’t bad for a cop"

They looked at each other, both of thele closer to hi with sensation Better to wait a while, she thought, let things quieten a fraction "Turn around"

To his credit, he didn’t pretend not to know the reason for her deth of his spine, a sith the tip just below his nape and an intricate hilt at his lower back It was a gorgeous piece of art

Fascinated by the spare beauty of it, Sophia pushed down the sheet so she could view the whole thing "When did you have this done?"

"Sixteen," he said "I thought I was hot shit"

She considered the boy he h but slender, his , and wanted to trace every inch of that tattoo with soft, adoring kisses "The blade’s so empty in comparison to the artwork on the hilt"

His muscles bunched "I left it blank on purpose For you"

Her throat locked She wanted to give hi "It’s near lunchtime in Port Vila You could probably catch the professor in his office"

Turning to face her, he said, "I know"

Sophia stroked her hand down his arm, worried "Why do you sound the way you do?" As if he was holding so his head so his forehead touched hers "I’m afraid" A stark admission "What if it isn’t River? Or what if it isand he doesn’t want to see ht for his brother, tried to save hi path partly because of the guilt he felt at the way our olden child, Max the whipping boy "I tried to shield hiers twined with his on the sheets between them "If this is your brother, if he’s the boy I saw in that flash of backsight, he cares for you to the depths of his soul"

"Soh" Max knew he sounded harsh, but it was the only way he could handle this If he allowed it tomuch "I wouldn’t blame him if he doesn’t want to be re the decision up to him, those violet eyes ith an intense, unbreakable loyalty

In the end, there was only one thing he could do, his love for his torer and far ht to hold hi up his cell, he made the call--the conversation with the professor took less than ato pass on Max’s details to this River whobreath and drew the scent of Sophia into his lungs

The teet the world was al, but the cop in him wouldn’t settle He’d taken an oath, made a promise "I should let you rest," he said to the wo so hard to make sure he had a faer at being helpless in the face of her failing shields threatened toto taint the beauty of this strange, beautiful joy between a cop and his J

Sophia’s face lit up with an almost childish pleasure "Really? Yes!"