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Della felt a tickle against her temple and went to wipe it away Then the tickle hit the back of her hand

Her eyes popped open with a start The tickle was someone&039;s breath, easy in and easy out, wisps of air

And that someone was Steve

Steve, asleep in bed with her Steve, on his side, sharing her pillow

Steve, not even the least bit ugly, with dark long lashes resting against his upper cheek His equally dark brown hair lay scattered across his brow

Asleep, he looked younger, except for his five o&039;clock shadow She tried to remember if she&039;d felt any of that stubble when he&039;d kissed her last night at the restaurant She hadn&039;t But she wanted to run her fingers across his chin now

Her gaze shifted doard to her chest, to her not-so-big boobs The sheet had slipped down around her waist

Frowning, she snatched the sheet up and wondered if Steve had been privy to the view before he&039;d fallen asleep Of course he had, she realized, he&039;d been the one to remove her bra and play doctor when he dressed her wound A depressing thought hit Had he been disappointed that she wasn&039;t bigger?

She stared at the two slighta bit of hope that they were a little bigger than they used to be In the last few months, she&039;d actually started to fill out a B cup Not that she aspired to get to a C cup like Miranda and Kylie But a full B or B+ would be nice

She glanced to her left side and lowered the sheet just a bit to see her bandage It didn&039;t look like a half-assed job Shifting her shoulder, she realized it htest ae was

She vaguely re her drink blood two or three ti her yesterday that hisa doctor hi up, she loosened the bandage below her shoulder blade to see the wound The cut still showed, but it was close to being healed

"It looks good," a deep, sleepy voice said beside her

She cut her eyes to the guy sharing the rinned "Technically, it&039;s my bed I rented the rooical!"

He chuckled "Actually, it&039;s not early, either"

She sat up a little, holding the sheet to her chest, and vaguely recalled not being able to sit up earlier "What time is it?"

He rolled over and looked at the clock on the bedside table "Six"

"That&039;s early," she said

"In the afternoon" He ran a hand through his sleep- it

"Wait It&039;s six in the afternoon? Shit!" She sat up straighter "I slept all freaking day? Burnett&039;s probably livid I was supposed to check in"

"I did"

She frowned "You told him I was hurt!"

"No, well I did, but I downplayed it-a lot I had to tell hihtings of giant lionsinto a lion both at the warehouse with the rogues and to fight off the weres "You were spotted?"

"A drunk in the alley, so it&039;s not too bad"

"Sorry," she said, re the rules and not shifting in a public place And yet he&039;d shifted becausebecause she couldn&039;t protect theain, like he cared or soot out alive And we coo in and "

She nodded "I&039; every fifteen ot another problem on his hands"

"What?" Della asked

"Supposedly Helen was attacked"

"Helen? Our Helen?" Helen was a bashful half-fae who Della couldn&039;t believe anyone would hurt "Is she okay? Who did that?"

"Burnett&039;s been at the hospital with her He said she was okay I asked who did it, and he said they didn&039;t know But you know Burnett, he&039;ll get theet hell"

"Yeah, and I&039;d like to help him dish out that hell Thank God she&039;s okay" Della&039;s stoly loud, too

Steve chuckled "I think you&039;re hungry" He bounced out of bed "I&039;ll get it for you"

Sitting up, she leaned against the bed&039;s headboard and held the sheet to her chest She watched hi with blood But it wasn&039;t the saht with her on this trip That blood she&039;d left at the cabin

Questions started floating around her head "That&039;s not my blood Where did you-"

"My mom worked at this town&039;s ER for a couple of weeks e first ht down the street, that&039;s why I chose this hotel"

His words bounced around her head "You stole blood from a blood bank?" She shook her head "You&039;re never supposed to do that!"

"I didn&039;t Well, not technically" He moved to stand by the bed and handed her a cup

She took the cup and stared down at it The wonderful aro how good it had tasted when she&039;d been semicomatose

"Only the best for you" He sent her a crooked suess you can&039;t take it back, can you? And if you try I rinned "Drink up, and besides, I didn&039;t exactly steal it"

She glanced at him fro at her "What do you mean?"

"I went in to donate a pint and just left with it"

She licked the last drop of blood froative?" No wonder he always srin now spreading to his eyes, he said, "You&039;re welcome"

"I didn&039;t say thank you"

"Yeah, but your appreciation was in your eyes"

She frowned, hoping toup a little more, she drained the cup and set it on the bedside table "Where are my clothes?"

"In the bathrooood But before you get dressed I need to put some more ointment on your cuts One last time"

"I think I&039;m fine"

"Oh, you&039;re fine," he said and smiled, "but your cut still needs one more dose of ointment" Healong with soe of the htstand, and carefully ree from her arm He squirted some medicine on a cotton swab and dabbed it on the cut She studied the cut on her arm, and like the one on her chest, it appeared aled the sheet down Not low enough to see anything, but low enough to hint at the breast below and to get to her bandaged wound Gently, he pulled back the dressing and patted the h her lashes he was staring at her "You&039;re beautiful, by the way"

She felt her face heat up Okay, now he stared at her like a nor about how naked she was beneath the sheet Yet, instead of being repulsed, she wasShe was relieved to know he didn&039;t find her unattractive And he&039;d obviously seen almost all of her, too

"If you tell anyone you saw me naked, I&039;ll kick your ass"

He dropped the cotton swab on the nightstand and then reached over and tilted her chin up with his index finger "I wouldn&039;t tell anyone" His voice came out a little deep, and he sounded coer over her lips

"You aren&039;t going to kiss me," she said

"We&039;ll see about that," he said and then he did it He kissed her

Hoent from a simple kiss to him stretched out beside her, the sheet down at her feet and his shirt off, was a mystery A delicious one

His mouth moved from her lips to her neck and then lower She ood it felt But when his hand softly, seductively slid down below her waist, she grabbed it, and sed a big dose of reality

"I&039;m sorry," she muttered and sat up "I can&039;tWe can&039;t"

She heard him inhale and she kneas filled ant and desire just as she was But supposedly it was even worse on a guy It had always been hard on Lee beforebefore she let things go all the way

The thought of Lee had her breath catching again

Tears filled her eyes and all she could think was how she&039;d gone down this road already She&039;d given herself to Lee and look where that&039;d led her

"Go take a cold shower" She gave him her back and pulled the sheet over herself

He took several deep breaths of air, and after a few long seconds he said, "I didn&039;tto kiss you Shit," he said, his voice filled with self-loathing "I never e of the fact that-"

"You didn&039;t" She closed her eyes "Didn&039;t take advantage I went there with you Butwe shouldn&039;t havegone there"

"To soon?" he asked

"Too everything," she answered Too good Too real Tooreally special Toolater on "If you&039;re not going to shower, I aer in her tone and hoped he understood it wasn&039;t because of him It was because of her She siain

In the shower she heard a phone ring and listened as Steve told Burnett they would be back in a couple of hours He took a shower after her, and thirty ot into a hotel elevator, one she had noup in

Had he carried her? She hated not knowing so she&039;d been that vulnerable

Once they arrived in the crowded lobby, he led her into the hotel&039;s restaurant

A complaint rested on her lips, but she remembered she&039;d eaten today and he hadn&039;t So she shut up and followed the hostess when Steve told her they needed a table for two