Page 46 of Ricochet

“What do you do?” He walked his fingers along her bookshelf.

“A little of this and that.”

“Like?”

“Mayhem stuff. Mostly logistics. I travel some.” And lied. Her life involved a lot of lying to those she cared about—or could care about, like right now.

“That’s not what I thought you did.”

She smiled into her coffee. “What didyou think I did?”

Colin studied another set of pictures on the wall then turned. “Rescue damsels in distress?”

She choked on the coffee, nearly sputtering it everywhere. “Shoot!”

“Oh, man.” He rushed back to the table. “You okay?”

“Yes.” She grabbed a napkin, dabbing at her face. “More embarrassed to choke than anything else.”

“But I’m a super hero. You wouldn’t have died.”

God, he was cute.“Fair enough.”

They stood awkwardly together, as though they didn’t know what to do or say next. He had to fly home, and she needed to not choke again. But all she wanted to do was curl in his arms and hug him. It didn’t make sense.

“Don’t go yet.”

“I don’t have to.” He leaned back on the edge of his chair, nursing his coffee. “Maybe in an hour or two.”

Adelia needed his arms around her. Shestood and moved in front of him. “Can you just wrap around me? Like a hug.”

“Sure.” His thick arms engulfed her into the kind of hug she’d never known existed. She barely breathed, and there wasn’t another sound but the promise from his heart that the next thump of his pulse would come.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to thank me.” Colin nuzzled her cheek, brushing her ear. “Thisworks for me too, beautiful.”

Her eyes floated shut, and butterflies swarmed. “You make me feel like life could go anywhere.”

“Lie down with me.” He inched them toward the couch.

She wanted to stay in his arms but not on the couch. They’d spent all night on the roof and then in the car. Now, with his arms around her, they held each other almost how they’d started their evening yesterday, andshe wanted to end their time together the same way. “Could we just stand here?”

“You don’t want to lie down with me?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Not after we spent the night on a roof. I’m only laying on a mattress for the foreseeable future.”

“Come on now.” He moved close enough to let his lips tease hers. “It builds character.”

“I have character in spades.”

Colin’s lips drifted acrosshers, and the simple touch felt like an act of passion. She wanted to lose control, to be possessed, to feel him, be taken. She wanted something she couldn’t describe and didn’t understand.

She gripped his hands, walking him backward. He gripped her waist. Her fingers tangled with his, digging into her own flesh. Colin backed her against the wall with athudhard enough that the pictures hangingon either side shook.

Her eyes went wide, and her mouth watered. Need exploded deep in her—desperate, wanton. And in that flash, pressed between the wall and his rock-hard body with the thick stalk of his erection between them, she couldn’t breathe.

“Be careful of what you’re asking, beautiful.” Colin’s forehead pinned hers. His deep blue eyes sent a shiver of heat rocketing to every limb. “I’llgive you all the orgasms you want.”

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