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Her pulse leapt beneath his touch She kissed his fingers, then reached up and traced the firm line of his jaw "I don’t want your restraint, Michael I want you"

Just touch me Hold me Lovein his eyes What she was doing wasn’t fair, but there wasn’t any other way to drive Jasper frohts Was it too much to ask for just an hour, hts?

He sighed and closed his eyes Fighting the needs of his body, she thought It was a battle she didn’t want hi forward, she captured his lips with her own He groaned and tightened his arainst hers

Then he pulled away "Don’t do this, Nikki" His voice was ragged, dark eyes troubled

"Why not?" What rong anting to kiss him, make love to hi but the two of them alone?

Couldn’t he see she needed this, needed to keep the darkness and insanity at bay?

"Nikki, it’s wrong"

She raised an eyebrow "Why is it wrong?"

He didn’t answer She ently bit his earlobe He e her, yet she could feel the tension under her fingers and wondered what he was so afraid of Vaht not be able to love, but they couldof hith of his body until she touched the waistband of his pants Fingers tre, she slowly undid his fly

"Nikki--" he hesitated, his body tensing when she touched hi" She closed her eyes and briefly rested her forehead against his shoulder He was right This was neither the time nor the place for them to make love But what other choice did she have? She had to stop the stain of Jasper’s darkness growing stronger in her ain and crushed her to hi the taste of his lips, his mouth He caressed her breast, her stoent, setting her aflame with need She reveled in the play of muscles across his shoulders, the feel of his skin, so sainst hers

"Lay doith me," she said softly

Michael sentle curve of her side, watching the desire darken her ahts, the urgent need to deny Jasper’s growing control over her He touched her cheek, following the outline of her jan to her ood, like honey and cinnaently Heat ran through hi to explode

God, there was no denying his desire for her

"I cannot offer you anything more than this moment, Nikki" Not the words he should have said, by any stretch of the iht have been a three-hundred-year-old va he could not deny with her so close Her dark a more than this moment, that all she cared about was tihts It hurt soh God knew it shouldn’t have She was only using him in the sa his life

At least he would have the hts of loneliness left ahead

"Good" Though her voice was light, there was an edge that hts "If you had stopped right noould’ve killed you" He touched her lips, then ran his finger lightly down her neck to her breast "The only thing likely to stop ," she ossahed against her lips, then pulled away slightly Using his own kinetic abilities, he eased the shirt up and over her head, then tossed it across the room

"Now I knohat the romance books h her smile was easy, fear flickered deep in her eyes He kissed her, savoring the sweetness of her lips as he drew her close Theireach sensation, each ehter, but right then, he didn’t care He had this httihtly, breathing in the scent of her hair as he battled the urgency pounding through his body, his heart

"Then takefire where they touched The gentle dance of their rew heated, wildfire ready to explode God, she felt so good, so right How in the hell was he going to walk away fro the heat of all this? How could he deny the harmony of their h the dark silk of his hair "Hush, Michael Just love ht without fear, one night to reone, and you walk away Pain flickered through her heart, but she ignored it She had no ti more than respond to the heat of his touch, the warhts Lord, it felt as if she had known hi to hih his touch and his kiss and his warmth were as vital as air As vital as the blood that thundered through his heart and hers

Maybe they were But that was so she’d worry about tomorrow She had this moment and time without Jasper in her ently caressed Nikki’s thigh Lord, it felt so good, lying here beside her in the warhts were as quiet as the gentle rhythm of her heart In a few minutes she’d be asleep But as much as he wanted Nikki to rest, he couldn’t let her, not just yet

"Nikki, we need to talk," he said softly

She stirred andhe couldn’t quite catch He reached out, brushing silken strands of hair away from her face "Nikki?"

Her eyes opened, and a smile twitched the corners of her hts ather vampires are immune to the make-love-then-collapse syndrome that seems to affect so many men"

He s more than to fall to sleep with her in his arms But Jasper was out there "We have to talk"