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He could be rough and forceful with Jessy because he knew she could give it back, if not better than she got But Tara would have been frightened by so ive all her love like this—like this

It was his weight and his ar pitch of his needs that ed them both into its blissful undertoherethat was necessary

After slipping her arms into the sleeves of her robe, Jessy loosely draped the front of it shut She tunneled a hand under the nearly dry hair at the back of her neck and lifted it fro rooed feet, clad in a pair of Levi’s but bare fro where she was seated and handed her the hairbrush he carried

“You’re sweating,” she observed and picked up the towel to blot at the sheen of perspiration on the muscled points of his shoulders

“It’s the fire,” Tyin his eyes

“Which one?” Jessy inquired in a dryly teasing voice and laid the towel aside to begin brushing the tangles from her hair

His hand stopped her and tugged persuasively to urge her to lie back He was raised up on one elbow, and she lowered herself to rest her head on his muscled forearm His half-closed eyes studied her while he traced a slow circle from her cheekbone to her jaw to her lips, the skin around them reddened by the scratch of his mustache

“Still hate me?”

The faint sht in her eyes becahtfully with the hairbrush “It seems I’ve hated you on and off ever since I’ve known you”

“Such as?”

“That time you kissed me as a joke, thenthere have been a couple of other times” But she chose not to elaborate

A grimness took over his expression “Like when I married Tara, I suppose”

“That was one of the her hair Ty rolled over and reached for the pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket

Everything had been so infinitely pleasant and comfortable between theuilt and unease The ht, and he swore bitterly under his breath Then he siarette in one hand, the match in the other

“I’ve tried to stay away from here You know that, Jessy”