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I gasp, clutching the case as a flurry of electric sparks seehter, until they threaten to explode And then I’m close, so very close and--

I start to cry out, then feel his hand close tight over my mouth I tilt my head back and s the screa hiain

I openmy face with an expression of such unabashed passion that I think I will coain merely from the look in his eyes

"Daer I see the rapture cut through his body, I feel hi tenser and then the warainst me

"Nikki," he says

"I know," I whisper

His lips brush softly over mine, a tender kiss that contrasts the wildness of our coupling, and is just as perfect

He is soft now and slips out of h I know I have to, I don’t want to wipe away the feel of him on my skin

"Here," he says He has a handkerchief in his hand, and he gently cleans me up, then adjusts my dress "Good as new," he says

"Better," I say

He strokes my hair, then traces the line of my ear, then brushes his thu to prove to himself that I am real "I didn’t like the way I felt today," he finally says "Seeing you like that Knowing you were angry with me"

"I didn’t like it, either," I ad to be said for makeup sex"

"Definitely"

He takes my hand "I meant what I said, Nikki I don’t want this to end I don’t want us to be over"

I look at his face, at the chiseled expression and the fir eyes, and I am confused "I know," I say "I don’t, either"

He strokes er "No," he says "I need to be clear I don’t want our arrangement to end You’re aame

The force of these unexpected words crashes over h I take his hand without hesitation, I find that I a my head Not necessarily in protest, but in confusion