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Keira couldn’t catch her breath Her body was tre, and she couldn’t prevent it Her innerhin and natural to her

And Cody lay in her arms, completely spent

Time stretched out endlessly as she held him, and she smiled secretly to herself She loved him, and noas hers He hadn’t said the words, but they weren’t important—they were just words He’d shown her his love with his body, taking her to theher soar

Keira’s secret ser keep it froan to doze off Her high school boyfriends had been wrong about her, she thought as sleep claiid—in Cody’s arms

Cody ca out Keira was already asleep, but her breathing was shallow, so he knew she hadn’t been asleep long She whihtly when he withdrew froone But she didn’t waken

He slid quietly from the bed and made his way to her bathroo himself Then he dried off with her towel He ran the water in the washbasin until it was hot, held a washcloth under the streaht it back to the bed with him

He gently placed the warht her breath in her sleep She made a little sound deep in her throat when he tenderly washed her, but it wasn’t a sound of pain, and he was relieved He obviously hadn’t hurt her as he’d feared when he’d taken her virginity

No, he corrected hiave it to you

When he was done, he took the washcloth back to the bathroom There was a swater and washed the blood away along with everything else

She couldn’t knohat a priceless gift she’d given hi his name both tio had been savaged when the only woman he’d loved called hi to know that Keira was only thinking of him at that moment She wanted him Only him

Cody padded softly back to the bedroo for a minute—her face so unlike the usual one she showed the world when she ake And there was a tiny s, it ood

He suddenly needed to hold her even if it ainst the pillows, then drew her unresisting body into his arainst his chest as he pulled the covers around them Her curls tickled his chin, and he breathed in the unique scent that was Keira—plain soap and water and oman He wanted to hold her this way forever, especially now that he knew she loved him Especially now that she was his

He adht Hadn’t been able to erase the ain he had no business re about that episode other than the basic fact that it had happened It hadn’t done any good His body had a mind of its own It had rememberedand wanted

He chastised hih him now It was primitive Archaic Sexist He couldn’t help it Part of hi, Mine No one else’s, ever Mine

He didn’t knohy she’d still been a virgin at twenty-nine, but the reason paled in comparison to his primal male response to the fact No other man had ever held her this way No other hs No other iven herself to him, and to no other She was only and ever his

Then and only then did it dawn on him he hadn’t worn protection when he’d ether in a sudden frown, and he cursed under his breath Not because it mattered to him, but because it most certainly would matter to herwhen she came to her senses