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Butch growled again Crackingcloser He lifted the coentle fingertips "You want to tell ht about it "Not really"

The shadow thing sees Worse--he ht; too " about how I ca tear out my throat if I put " I’d alotten he could sense how I felt

The Chihuahua barked twice

"Nope," I said, sainst him in a movement so careful it didn’t even upset Butch His pal tiny circles with his fingertips With a sainst his chest, listened to his heart

"Better?"

I exhaled slowly "Soood," he whispered, like he couldn’t help it

His nose brushed my cheek Do I? It was just oatmeal soap and my natural scent No perfume

We sat there a while before I confessed, "I had another run-in with the forces of darkness That takes a lot out of you"

Naturally he couldn’t leave it at that, and with a cop’s skill, he pried the rest of the story out of me "He sent you away so he could hook up with Twila?" Jesse shook his head "The ive him that She’ll chew him up and spit him out"

I didn’t trust ht coive that impression when I sat in the circle of Jesse’s ar noncoht his deep dark gaze rovingti about me I hadn’t been with anyone who knewunder him in the dark in over a year I wanted a taste

"Corine," he whispered, soft and husky "You’re giving ain"

I lifted my chin "Which one is that?"

"It’s warm, honey sweet, and it tells me you want your mouth under mine"

"Maybe I do"

My eyes drifted shut again Jesse didn’t waste any led his head down so our lips touched To uessed that meant he approved

Bliss His mouth played just so, teased razed his Shifting, I sank es in a soft, sensuous give-and-take punctuated by tiny gasps and delicious shivers

He intuited what I liked fro at ainsta et ood at that"

Ridiculously I felt h me Without a doubt we’d enjoy ourselves in bed

Jesse’s smile sparked me all the way down to my toes "Not entirely Maybe I need to conduct a little ain, I heard Chance snarl, "Well, isn’t this fucking great?"

The Little Things

I refused to play further into the scene

We didn’t leap apart guiltily; in fact I rested my head on Jesse’s shoulder and smiled Chance had no claim on me I just asked, "Finished up in San Antonio, did you?"

Chance looked exhausted Guess she rode him hard and put him aet "Yes, no thanks to you I’ve been worried sick Why didn’t you answer your phone?"

That almost provoked me "I wasn’t in the mood to talk"

As he ca htened "Why’d you leave me stranded?"

"Why did you dismiss me like a bad employee?" I countered

Jesse frowned at Chance "Yeah, she could’ve been seriously hurt today You should’ve known better than to leave her unprotected"

That ht I doubted Chance could’ve done any better than I had, faced with that shade Still, I didn’t ot his grievance as he knelt, peering into my face

Before I could answer, Jesse did "She was attacked, you ass"

"It wasn’t supposed to work like that" Chance dropped down in Chuch’s recliner opposite us

I raised a brow "What wasn’t?"

"In exchange for reed to call the warlock out He was supposed to co"

"I’ll just bet," I said sourly "Well, he answered the call and sent so after ht I was sending you to safety"

"Yeah, well, we kno your ideas on that tend to work out" The retted theue because he couldn’t "Noill you go back to Mexico City?"