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It was like nothing she’d ever felt This was no fumble in the dark as she’d experienced as a teen And far removed from the empty encounters she’d atteh with This was so her body like a virtuoso, he was taking her over Speaking to her with his touch

Making love

And she felt the chains around her heart loosen Then one by one, they broke and fell away until all but a feere gone She’d never survive this He was changing her, inside and out And she wasn’t sure if she was desperate for it or terrified

The tension in her body grew, building to a crescendo, taking her higher and higher until she rode atop a wave of such vast proportions that it almost overwhelmed her Secure in his arms In his touch In his care

“Give it to rowled the words

>His thued inside of her And the wave broke with her cry, “Michael”

Strong arms enfolded her as she floated away

In the back of her mind, a breath of a voice whispered, So this is love And then it was gone, as though it’d never been there to begin with

Chapter Seventeen

By the ti like she hardly knew Harvard Which wasn’t a surprise Retreating behind a wall of ice was how she coped with change All he could do ait her out Just as well he had an abundance of patience

“I’ll be in the security rooe with Ryan if you need me,” he told her once he was sure her office was secure and there were nofor her

“I won’t need you” She turned her attention to the open laptop in front of her, dis him

With an amused shake of his head, Harvard closed the door on her “Got anything for me?” he asked Elle, as busy at her desk

“You lad the bet’s off?” She pointed at his throat “That hickey would have cost me fifty pounds”

He wasn’t embarrassed “A hickey isn’t evidence of sex”