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Would he welcos? Or run from them?

Whatever the answers, they scared her, too All she kneas that every point of contact re like this--and probably never would again How could she? He was the light in the darkness The harbor in the storm The hope she needed in the middle of the war

There was no other man like him He was one of a kind And she wanted hi with hiht him, and not disappoint him

His hands roamed the contours of her backthen lower He caressed and he kneaded andandshe was consu, too, she realized, as affected as she was, his fingers rough, a little desperate, and the knowledge shattered her

"Koldo" Frantic, she tunneled her fingers under the collar of his robe The fabric ripped aith a si her skin-to-skin contact, the sizzle of his flesh heating her up And when hiscloser contact, the heat got worse--and a thousand times better He was so soft, so hard, soexactly what she’d always craved without ever knowing she craved it

"Nicola," he gasped out

"More," she de of its own volition She continued to rip at his robe, finally baring the full breadth of his chest

Sweet nificent!

Bronzed and toned, stacked with muscle and sinew, chiseled by the hand of a master artist His chest That stomach rippled with iron bars That perfectly dipped navel A scar here, a scar there, but still, nothing about him was flawed He’d been honed on a battlefield, every th

She kissed his neck, and his head fell against the back of the couch, allowing her better access to him She kissed his shoulder, his collarbone, reckless in her bid to show him just how deeply she accepted hihtened on her hips, and she lifted to once again fit their lips together Heher in theto breathe, she realized, trying to suck in a single gasp of oxygen but failing Her ?"

"I’mokaywill be" No, no, no Not this Not now She would ruin the ed his robe together, theitself He cupped her face in his big hands "Inhale slow and easy, all right? Now exhale just as slow, just as easy" His thumbs traced her cheeks, his skin so hot she could have been pressed against the sun "That’s the way In Out Yes Good girl"

A ained her composure And then she kind of wished she hadn’t

She had ruined the moment, she realized Worse, she’d revealed the depths of her weakness and proven just hoorthless she was in the relationship depart man like Koldo had to despise people like her

"I’aze locked with hers, unwavering "You’re upset Why?"

"Just forget it, okay?"

"I can’t Are you angry about so I did?"

"No" She couldn’t let hio Please"

"I can’t Talk to me"

"Look, I--" Wanted to leave the rooet this had ever happened

But she wouldn’t be able to forget, would she? This was burned into her mind--and every cell in her body

"Knock, knock, is ho past the door and into the rooled when she spotted the interrupt? Wait That cale "Much better"

Nicola cli over herself Stupid legs "I thought you were asleep," she said, happy for the reprieve Only, she jolted backward

The monkeys--the demons--were perched on Laila’s shoulders

"Koldo," she whispered, and pointed "Look"

Laila spun in a full circle, nearly fell "What?"

Koldo pushed to his feet, the beads in his beard clanging together

The monkeys squeaked out a protest and darted fro on," Laila said with a stern tone ruined by a goofy expression

Why hadn’t she seen the demons? Her eyes had been opened--she should be able to see theht?

"I was in the kitchen and found this" Grinning, Laila raised a bottle of vodka

Koldo stiffened "Where did you find it?"

"In the hands of one of your friends And a good thing he brought it, because I almost died of a heart attack when I spotted hi to calm me down"