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  Ethan swallowed the pill and downed the water in one gulp. “Do I have you to thank for stripping me naked?”

  She grinned. “Yep. Rick left you in your underwear, but I thought you’d be more comfortable sans clothing.”

  “Thanks.” He felt clean except for the gritty taste in his mouth. And, damn, but he wanted to kiss her. To that end, he swung his legs over the bed.

  “Where are you going?”

  He flinched against the pain in his head but made his way to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He emerged feeling refreshed ‑‑ empty bladder, clean teeth, and clean face. Too bad he wasn’t up for a shave. But from the look on Jewel’s face, she liked him just fine.

  Ethan sat on the bed again, propping himself against the headboard, and drew her to him.

  “So what now?” she blurted.

  “Now we make love, slowly for a change.”

  She blushed and glanced down at his growing erection. “Honestly, Ethan. You were nearly brained to death Thursday. Take it easy.” She glanced away from him. “I meant, what are you going to do now? I imagine you need to head back to Seattle. With your business and all…”

  “Yeah, but I’m in no rush.” He dragged her over his hips, her knees straddling his groin, and hugged her tight, inhaling the subtle fragrance that was all Jewel. “I guess you’re heading back to Jersey, right? Back to Dreemer’s, Inc. What is it you do, exactly?”

  She began stroking his chest, small circles of feather-light touches that had him hard and aching in seconds. “I work for my uncle. I’m an investigator, kind of like what you do, I guess, but I normally work more behind the scenes. This case was pretty different from what I normally do.”

  “Which is?”

  “Computer investigations. And on occasion, I’ve been known to help reacquire items our clients have lost or had stolen.”

  “What, as in repossessing stuff?”

  “Ah, yeah. You could call it that.”

  “Or as in stealing stuff? You seemed pretty confident that a thief could easily steal the Mirvolo Cup, despite the security. You almost did it yourself.”

  She huffed. “If I hadn’t been pressed for time and if I’d had my equipment, I’d have bagged the cup my second day here.”

  “Oh?”

  “No offense to Rick’s security.” She eyed him slyly. “But his electronics need work. That coding was child’s play.”

  “You don’t say.” He’d seen the modifications Jacobs had made and been impressed. Then again, Ethan knew more about physical security than the electronic type. He hired the eggheads at home to take care of the IT side of things. Not to mention Jared had a real knack for computers. “You know, Jewel, I subcontract a select group of folks like you to work for H&R in Seattle.”

  He kept his voice light, conscious she’d tensed. “Maybe you might think of branching out.”

  She said nothing, but she raised her eyes to his again. He quickly removed the shirt she wore that blocked her from his view, trying to handle his chaotic thoughts.

  Why was this so awkward? “In fact, this job has probably tired the hell out of you. So much physical exertion, the stress of lying to your master…”

  She frowned, and he grinned, pleased at the way her nipples puckered. God, she was so beautiful. She made him ache in so many places, namely, his overemotional, maudlin freaking heart.

  “Your point, dear Master, who fell over the slave he was supposed to be protecting?”

  Ethan scowled. “Low blow, Jewel. My point, you little witch, is that you should take a break after such a hard case. Come out to Seattle and relax for a while. I’d be happy to show you around town.”

  Jewel stared at him. “Is that an official invite?”

  He felt on edge, tense. “What if it is?” Okay, so that came out much more harshly than he’d intended. “Come out and see my town. You’ll like it, baby, I promise.”

  Before she could deny him, he kissed her. Softly, with all the emotion caged up inside of him. She sighed into his mouth and twined her arms around his neck, so careful not to hurt him.

  His heart raced, and he settled her firmly over him, his cock pressing against her heat. “Have I ever told you how much I love the way you taste?” He kissed his way down her neck and cupped her breasts, marveling at her perfection.

  “You’re sexy, smart, so beautiful, and all mine.” Mine. I claim you. And he showed her by chipping away at her kiss by kiss, caress by caress. Whereas before he’d taken her forcefully, this time he asked with his body. Both hesitant yet firm, he urged her responses with tenderness.

  His lips sought the hollow of her throat, and he sucked her passionately. She was moist over him, and he found her wet heat with light petting, drawing his fingers over her clit time and time again as he made love with her mouth.

  Rubbing his chest against her breasts, he made her moan. Sucking the tight beads of her nipples with warm, giving kisses, he made her sigh. And when he slowly eased into her narrow channel, he made her cry out his name, her eyes shiny with emotion.

  Ethan thrust slowly, the effort not to slam up into her almost exhausting. But her sighs and moans as her climax built firmed his resolve. She took more and more of him, and the gradual orgasm took on a life of its own. When they finally crested together, she lay panting against his chest, their bodies still joined.

  His fingers teased her hair, stroking with possession, with affection, and more. He hugged her to him tightly, not wanting to let go. When she glanced up at him, he opened his mouth to tell her how much she meant to him…

  Except the peace and hesitancy that had been present before, now mirrored in her eyes as fear. And Ethan had a bad feeling he’d made the biggest mistake of his life by showing her how he felt. Without the stricture of their sexual games, his emotions had clearly reached for something that wasn’t there, missing their mark yet again. And it was all the more painful this time because he’d finally fallen in love.

  Chapter Ten

  A month later

  Jewel stared glumly at the picture of Ethan and his friend that she’d swiped before all hell had broken loose. The most cowardly, selfish act she’d ever perpetrated, against a man who’d done his level best to save her from herself.

  Ethan had held her so gently, so carefully as he’d thoroughly made love to her. No artifice, no master/slave games. Hell, his heart had been shining there in his eyes. And what did Julia Marciella do? The idiot ran away from the best thing that had ever happened to her. Some “Jewel” she turned out to be.

  Ethan hadn’t said another word. He hadn’t seen her off to the airport or even said good-bye. And she felt like the biggest jerk that walked the planet for turning down what could have been a wonderful thing.

  So what that she’d fallen in love with a man in a week’s time? She’d been away from him longer than they’d been together, and she’d been miserable every minute without him. She couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, was bitchy to her family and her friends ‑‑ those she hadn’t lost by being such an ass, that is.

  Jewel sighed and ran her thumb over the image of his hard face. She felt her eyes welling again and angrily blinked back tears. Nothing seemed to help. Working provided no relief; it was only something to fill the hours while she thought about Ethan. Her family constantly worried over her, so she found avoidance the key there. Nick and her uncle had even stopped haranguing her at the office because she cried every time they tried to be nice. Had she not known better, she might have thought she was pregnant. Lord knew she’d made love with Ethan enough to get the job done. But she’d just had her period, and her implant remained firmly in place. And that made her cry. No babies with Ethan. No seeing Ethan. No more “Yes, Master” with Ethan. Jewel sniffed and tossed another empty box of tissues in the trash.

  “That’s it!” Her uncle stormed into the room and slammed the door behind him. “You and I are going to have a long talk, missy.”

  Jewel scowled, knowing she looked ridiculous with re
d-rimmed eyes and a stuffy nose. Really threatening, Jewel. Maybe you can drown him to death in tears.

  “Don’t give me that look. Let’s get it out, right now. You’ve been a complete basket case since you returned, and according to Rick, sources close to Ethan Reaper say he’s in the same boat. Grouchy, arrogant, and a real pain in the ass to be around.” Uncle Tommy huffed. “Looks like you two are a match made in heaven.”

  She stared at her uncle, again amazed at how much he always knew. “How ‑‑”

  “Rick sent me a few e-mails, and I have to say I’m liking him more and more. He mentioned he thinks you’re an idiot for letting love pass you by. According to the grand master of sex and salutation, as Rick likes to think of himself, I quote, ‘Jewel is a smartass who needs a strong man to keep her in line. And none come stronger than Ethan Reaper.’”

  Her uncle rubbed his hands together and then took a small piece of folded paper from his sport coat. “This is Reaper’s current address. I put a blueprint of his home in your car, as well as an overlay of his security. I figure if you take the flight I booked for you tonight, coach, with layovers, you can make it to Seattle by tomorrow morning. That should give you time to clean yourself up and stop being so damned weepy. Honestly, girl, have some pride.”

  Jewel snickered around a sniffle. “Sorry for dragging you down.”

  “Good. Now go put yourself and this poor man out of his misery.” Her uncle sighed and stared around him. “I suppose I’m going to have to give this office to Danielle. She’ll fight Nick for it, but she’s meaner in the end. Promise me you’ll call and visit often, and I expect you to do Dreemer’s proud. You’re the first to launch our West Coast branch. So give H&R a run for their money.” Her uncle’s eyes twinkled. “Steal what you have to, just don’t get caught.”

  The family motto.

  Jewel rose and hugged her uncle tightly. “I’m sorry for being such a wuss, but I never expected to fall in love. And he’s such a major pain, Uncle Tommy.”

  He grinned. “I know. I’ve done some research, and he sounds like a real S.O.B. I like him already. Go steal his heart like a real Marciella, and make sure he knows you’re getting married here, by the shore. Your mother will never let me hear the end of it if you get married somewhere else.”

  “Mom agreed to all this?”

  He nodded. “She loves you so much, honey. And it’s been killing her, killing all of us, that you’ve been so unhappy.”

  “I know. I was trying to convince myself my feelings were just leftover from the job. But they won’t go away. I have it bad.”

  “Just like your father. He mooned over Felicity something fierce.”

  She smiled, thinking of her father. “He did, hmm?”

  “Oh, yes. And Felicity, a true work of art, made him bite, beg, and steal into her good graces. Let’s just hope your man is a lot more forgiving.”

  “Oh, he’s not, not at all. I can’t wait to grovel.”

  * * * * *

  Ethan grimaced. If Jared called him an asshole just one more time, he was going to beat the snot out of the pansy-assed college boy, Jared’s pending fatherhood be damned. It wasn’t his fault Marcy had threatened to quit yet again.

  And he’d told Mike and Steve he’d take this weekend’s shift, so why were they complaining about all the work they’d been given lately? Since he’d returned from hell on earth, Ethan had taken on three cases in the span of a month. He’d pulled overtime and then some, making the agency some primo bucks in the doing. High profile, too. Caught a celebrity stalker and a corporate spy soaking his company for millions.

  Too bad the successes did nothing to soothe the huge ache in his heart. He felt tired and cranky all the time, and Jared could go fuck himself if he couldn’t handle his own tender feelings.

  “Pussy,” Ethan muttered, as he let himself into his dark house. Once again, he’d returned long after the sun set, and the bleak, empty atmosphere suited him to a “T.” Greenlake usually gave him a sense of peace, but lately, the damned ducks made him want to go hunting. Cheerful assholes ran around the fucking lake trail at all hours, and his neighbor was two more muffler shouts away from getting his ass handed to him on the hood of his ’66 GTO.

  Grumbling to himself as he slammed his way into the hall, Ethan shoved his mail aside and dropped his keys on the table in the entryway. He didn’t bother turning on a light. Instead he felt his way into the kitchen and grabbed a beer. Sucking down the bitter ale, he climbed the steps to his bedroom, forgoing a dinner he didn’t feel like eating.

  Jared’s wife had been nagging him again today. “You’re losing too much weight, Ethan. Tell him, Jared.” As if Ethan needed to hear that he looked as good as he felt ‑‑ like shit. Hell, ever since coming back from that godforsaken island, his life had swirled down into a whirlpool of never-ending despair.

  Ethan thought about Jewel, that little witch, all the time. And his nights were the worst. He had the most erotic dreams, constantly waking to wet spots in his bed. Wet spots. As if he were some horny teenager instead of a damned thirty-five-year-old man. His brothers had thought his heartache was funny, until he’d punched Hale in the face and nearly broken Trevor’s arm. Now they avoided him like the plague. After another swallow of beer, Ethan admitted he couldn’t blame his brothers for doing so.

  Groaning, he realized tomorrow he had to show up for the family dinner or his mother would do as she’d threatened and move in with him until he sought professional help.

  Hell, the only professional help he needed was from a real “professional.” Maybe then he’d stop coming on his fucking bedsheets.

  Groaning at his thoughts, always of Jewel, dammit, Ethan flicked on the bedroom light…and froze.

  He blinked several times and barely noticed dropping his beer.

  There, in the middle of his bed on unfamiliar black satin sheets, lay Jewel, naked save for the black leather collar around her neck. Scarlet red rose petals lay strewn around her figure, and the contrast of the petals and the black sheets made her skin glow like the pale moonlight just outside.

  “Ethan.” She smiled, and he swallowed around the lump in his throat. Joy burst through his being like a ball of pure light, and he had to force it down, remembering how they’d parted.

  She didn’t flinch at his scowl, like everyone else at work did. Instead, she rose to her hands and knees and crawled to the edge of the bed and knelt there.

  Pulled as if on invisible strings, he met her there, standing directly in front of her, an inch from her blessed skin.

  “What the hell do you want?” Ethan wanted to smack himself as soon as he’d spoken. But he didn’t intend on going through the pain he’d already suffered again.

  “I missed you, Ethan.”

  “Right.” He snorted.

  “I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. All I can think about is you, how you feel, how you sound, how you taste.”

  She tugged at his shirt and unbuttoned it from collar to waist. Bastard that he was, he didn’t have the heart to stop her. The minute her fingers grazed his chest and tugged at his nipples, he got the mother of all hard-ons.

  “I’ll ask again. What do you want?” Christ, he sounded hoarse.

  “I want to tell you how sorry I am.” She teased the snap of his jeans, now tight against his jutting erection. “When you made love to me that last time…” She paused and unsnapped him. “I was so scared of what I felt. I couldn’t believe I could feel love for a man I’d just met, who I knew little about…it was overwhelming.”

  His breath came in fits and starts when she slowly lowered his zipper. And then the word “love” penetrated, and Ethan zeroed in on what she was saying.

  “You made me feel things, made me want things I never had before. I mean, I had sex with you in public. And I’d never been so turned on in my life.”

  He barely stifled a groan when she set him free, lowering his jeans and underwear to his thighs.

  “It was safe when it was all a game. Master
, slave, and all the positions under the sun.” She took him in her hands, and he was helpless to prevent the moisture pooling in his slit. Shit, he could see how hard her nipples were. Her tits were killing him. So were her soft hands. But the worst…she’d said she loved him.

  Ethan groaned.

  “You can’t know how sorry I am for the way I left you.” Jewel glanced up, and he saw tears in her eyes. “I love you so much, Ethan, and I want to show you how sorry I am. I’ve wanted you in so many ways since I left. But most of all, I just wanted to see you again.”

  She stared at him critically, and wonder of wonders, she grinned at what she saw. “You look terrible. You’ve lost weight.”

  He frowned, but before he could say anything, her hot little mouth engulfed him in one long suck.

  “Shit.” He moaned and couldn’t help thrusting into her mouth. “Jewel, baby, what are you doing to me?”

  She sucked him hard and licked him with her tongue before answering. “I’m loving you, Ethan. And I’m begging for you to accept my apology…Master.”

  He rasped her name and began fucking her mouth, needing the comfort and warmth that only Jewel could provide. Staring down at her, he watched as she took him in and out, only a collar on her delicate throat to shield her flesh.

  Wrapping his hands in her hair, he moaned her name, how much he’d missed her, how much he loved her as he pumped. All too quickly he came, unable to resist the temptation of her heat.

  “Swallow it, baby, take me.” Ethan shuddered into her mouth, spewing with a great cry.

  When he could finally catch his breath, he rubbed his hands in her hair and pulled her gently off the bed to her feet on the floor.

  “I’m sorry, Ethan. I should never have left the way I did.”

  “No, you shouldn’t have.” He didn’t let the elation he was feeling show on his face.

  “I, um, I’m ready to make things right. To make an honest man of you.”

  His heart wanted to explode. The woman wanted to marry him. What he’d been fantasizing about for a solid month was suddenly very, very real.