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"Will you really solve this?" she asked

"Yes"

"You’re so certain"

"We have to be"

She pushed away from the balcony and looked at hiain I already made the play, and I fumbled badly"

For half a heartbeat, he was still Then he moved He covered the distance between the used; he wasn’t sure he cared So, whatever lay between theued He’d been looking for it without even being aware ever since he had lost her

Feeling her in his arms, he found it

He lifted her chin and touched her lips with his, and when he kissed her, she returned it with a passion and hunger that made his knees weak He had to pick her up and sweep her off her feet quickly--while he still could

He did so

"Your rooainst her lips

"Either!"

He chose his own He was certain that Eal knew all about this desperate kind of love and would leave the into the cool, clean touch of the sheets and the gossamer mist that surrounded her He sown and met the crystal beauty of her eyes She stared up at hied to ask her why she had turned from him so completely, but he didn’t dare take a chance with the ain, rubbing his thu the contours of her face Then his ain their kiss was instantly hot and wet and filled with passion and hunger As they kissed, they fu, his easy since he earing nothing but briefs, hers a bit ht robe and a sheath of silk beneath Butlove had always been easy and natural for theer and awe that he should be lying here with her once again She was as sown, and he swept his hands over her shoulders, cradled her breasts, pressed his lips to her collarbone and shuddered with the pleasure of si of her fingers in his hair

"Jake," she whispered

It was as if there should have been more, but it didn’t need to be said

"Ashley" He ainst the taut sleekness of her abdoertips played over his shoulders and teased down his spine He tried to hold on tightly to everyht eclipsed to the back of his ain, found her lips and felt her tear away then to press her ainst him She was a naturally exotic lover, sensually seductive, writhing or undulating just to cast the ultiiven place upon his body Hethe erotic aroma of her soap and essence with his kiss Her breasts were beautiful and perfectly for and her hips were pure fascination He couldn’t touch thery kiss As he iving, yearning He hs, caressed her sexuality and grew ever ently in need as he felt her response to his touch At last he rose above her, hungrily capturing her hs and entered her Sinking slowly into a state that was sure heaven, only to be followed by the blinding light of ent and passionate, and the explosive feel of her beneath hi to hiripped his shoulder, his back, his buttocks She wound her thighs around hihtning Thunder tore into his heart, and storled breath The world was still, nonexistent, and everything And then he felt her gasp, felt the give of her body against his, and he allowed hi as if he had eh hiainst hiht, back into the bed, back into each other

I think that I have loved you all my life

The words didn’t escape him; he somehow held on to that modicum of control Instead, he just held her Yes, he had loved her Yes, she had turned away from him And no, he had never really understood Maybe she hadn’t herself

He hadn’t allowed himself to become a pitiable hermit; he had lived life, and he had enjoyed it He had even had other lovers

Never like this

And it was frightening to be with her again He’d gotten his soul back once He didn’t know if he’d ever be so lucky again

So he didn’t speak He just felt their breathing subside together He listened to her heartbeat, and to his own, and it almost seemed that they there were in a harmony of motion

"Jake," she said softly

"Ashley," he murmured

She was silent for a minute, and he wondered what she had really wanted to say Was it possible that it would have reselad that you’re here," she said

"So am I," he told her "So am I"

He didn’t ask her questions; she didn’t try to explain They lay together and drifted, and awoke, and ain

And in the end, he slept with her in his arht that there were those who had to be found He had seen Ashley, and he had reached for her, and her fingers had slipped through his again and again

But now he had caught her

And he could dare pray that the nightht had been exhilarating!

There had been those moht in the act, that he would be captured

There had been those terrible moments of indecision