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"God, you're so bloodthirsty Sasha saved me"

"I' a wait-and-see policy You stay away from him" He lowered himself onto the bench she had at the end of the bathtub

"Bossy much?"

"That jacket offends me Take it off"

"Sheesh, Joshua, stop bossing me around and let me take care of these wounds Some of them are deep You need antibiotics and stitches"

"Butterfly bandages ork I get ripped up all the time Take off the jacket, babe You must have another top around here somewhere"

She hesitated and pulled the first aid kit from under the sink

He caught her ar to see sooner or later and he's already dead What do you think I' to do?"

She shrugged "You're a bit of a ain?"

He grinned at her "That's a possibility"

The jacket was already unzipped so she shrugged out of it, trying to keep fro in the mirror She knew there was a dark bruise over her nipple where Nikita had grabbed her so viciously It still hurt Not a single thing Joshua ever did to her hurt after, and yet Nikita had

"I mostly hate that he touched me," she confessed "He makes my skin crawl"

"He's dead now, but you're right, I want to put that gun to his head all over again" He leaned forward to brush a kiss over the bruise "I'et here faster"

"You got here," she said briskly, feeling the burn of tears behind her eyes To distract herself, she began cleaning him up when she really wanted to throw herself in his arms, have a co my life"

"You're ht have done it for selfish reasons"

She smiled despite the lump in her throat He was pretty torn up She felt torn up Their hoain, not after having Nikita and Filat there--and the dead man "We don't have any homes left"

"Baby," he said softly "Look at me"

She was kneeling on the floor, washing a particularly deep gash in his side, prepared to close it with butterfly bandages and cover it in antibiotic cream She looked up at him At his face That stubborn jaw Those eyes she loved

"We've got us You Me We're fine"

She took a deep breath and nodded They'd sort it out

20

SONIA had no idea of the extent of the operation against them Joshua was fine with that They'd handled it Fyodor and Mitya had helped Sasha in defeating Nikita's h the night to erase all evidence He'd called for help Help came They burned the bodies and buried the ashes deep at each location where a battle had taken place

Sasha had gone back to Mia on his house, so she never got a chance to see Sasha before he left He didn't want them near each other until Sasha proved he was no threat to her Or never Never would do

The lower verandah took e on three of the four sides One wall had e to it Because the inside of his home was livable, he had every excuse to keep her with hihte to her body He was gentle with her, learning how to like gentle as well as his rough play with her He figured that was a good thing, because even if she wasn't pregnant now, she would be soh then

The first thing he'd done, even before work had started to clean up the fire dae, was to prepare a roo the swas there All her brushes and paints in all the different mediu and was rewardedfor a reward, but welco the tables on him all the time

Upstairs in his office, he heard the sound of haht, she rolled out her plans and they pored over the in on thatway to go He knew that It wasn't going to be easy He was in a dark, ugly world She would always need protection But she would be that sunlight for him

He stayed where he was, letting her get her work done, even though he needed to see her Molly and Bastien had been over a couple of tione to dinner in town together He liked Bastien, but then, he kneould Tonight was going to be special because they had business to take care of before Molly'saround about Joshua

Several hours later, he put the phone down Arrangereed to the sah he ht on his end He stared out theSoht had crept in The sound of haone and voices had faded away

He stood up and stretched and then paced through the house looking for her Usually, she was in the kitchen She liked to cook He could s the pork roast froht before she'd soaked it in a citrusyto help He loved when she looked serious, like she was now

He'd contributed by handing her orange juice, lime juice and olive oil He'd watched as she'd arlic cloves and salt she'd crushed together She'd added ano, and then cut up fresh oregano She'da diamond-shaped pattern into the roast, she'd rubbed her marinade all over it

He found it fascinating to watch her It was her face he loved to look at when she cooked There was joy there It was undeniable Just watching as she'd poured the rest of the erator to chill, had turned him on

"That smells wonderful" He stated the obvious "Tellhe loved Hearing the enthusias what

she loved He would never be able to repeat what she said, but he listened to every word, every nuance of her tone

"It's nothing special, honey," she said She put the roast on the center island

He crowded her, leaning in to kiss her neck "Tell me" He couldn't very well say he craved the sound of her voice when she talked about cooking al what she'd made for them

"Silly" She scoffed, but she did as he asked She nearly always did--in the end Sometimes it took a little persuasion Those were the tiht to be wholly hirees Roast, pork skin side up covered in parchment I add a couple of cups of water and then foil over the parch and then broil it for five to ten minutes until crispy" She showed him the roast "It looks like that I's intoit until it thickens We have dinner!"

"What are you serving with it?"

"Fried sweet plantains, rice, green beans and pumpkin flan"

"Baby, you are aain and then left her to make her sauce

Setting and clearing the table was his self-appointed job After, they often washed and dried the dishes together rather than use the dishwasher

"Actually, Joshua, I think you are Thanks formy life really wonderful I had no idea anyone could ever be so happy" It came out in a little rush She touched her teht tee, right over her nipple The bruise had long since healed, but it still bothered her that Nikita had put his hands on her "You came for me I knew you would I was able to stay calm and think, because I knew you'd come for me"

He cleared his throat as he put the dishes on the table, his heart accelerating She did that to hi down a madman hadn't She hadn't talked about her ti him the minimum, and he hadn't pushed her She'd dealt with far too much that day The revelations about hi kidnapped twice in the same day He had been so afraid she would believe his bullshit story when he'd walked so brazenly in on Nikita and Filat He'd known both men were extremely violent He'd also known no woman was safe around them