Rio could only stare in silence. Her admission made him feel helpless and vulnerable. No one worried about him. No one cared that much if he made it back to his house at night. He fully expected to die in a fight someday and he doubted if more than a handful of men would mourn his passing, and that would be a brief salute to his marksman abilities. Rachael looked at him with the world shining in her eyes. A gift. A treasure. And he was certain she was completely unaware of it.
“I’m sorry I frightened you, Rachael,” he murmured
softly and shut the door on the night—closed the door on his freedom. “I had some things to think about. I went for a run.”
“Yes, well, while you were gone, we had a little visit from your friendly neighborhood leopard. Fortunately it was on its best behavior so I didn’t shoot it. You may notice I’m choosing humor and bravado rather than classic hysteria. Although I thought long and hard about the hysteria.”
He could feel the grin forming. It started in his gut and spread warmth through his body. “I appreciate the sacrifice. I’m not certain what I’d do with hysteria. It may be beyond my coping abilities.”
“I seriously doubt anything is beyond your coping abilities. Did I upset you earlier? Is that why you couldn’t sleep?”
Rio crossed to the basin as he always did after his nightly disappearances, his muscles flowing like water as he moved through the house without a whisper of sound. He remembered to light a candle, knowing she liked the scent of it. The flame flickered and set shadows dancing on the wall. “I thought a lot about what you said, that I wasn’t willing to tell you about myself. Maybe you were right. I love the way you look at me. I haven’t ever had anyone look at me the way that you do. It’s hard to think of giving that up, or taking a chance of never seeing it again because you won’t look at me the same way after I talk to you about who and what I really am.”
She always did the unexpected. Rachael laughed softly. “And you must have forgotten who you’re talking to, Rio. The woman with the million-dollar price on her head. Has it occurred to you, I’m a pariah in society?”
“I know exactly whom I’m talking to,” he said.
Rachael stretched her leg out in front of her, careful not to jar it. She had to use both hands, even the broken one, in order to ease her leg fully off the bed. Blood rushed, causing pins and needles to add to the throbbing pain. That
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immediately drew his attention. Rio half turned, a small frown on his face. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Just stretching. I thought you could make me one of those drinks. I’m getting addicted to them. What do you put in them, anyway? Just for future reference, you understand.” She straightened her shirt, pulled at the tails to try to cover her bare thighs. The edges were gaping open over her breasts and she awkwardly tried to button it with one hand.
Rio dragged on a pair of jeans before crossing over to the bed. “The drink is made from fruit nectar and whatever fruit I happen to harvest that morning.” He hunkered down beside her and reached for the edges of the shirt—his shirt. It looked completely different on her. His knuckles brushed her full breasts. He could feel warmth and velvet-soft flesh. His knuckles lingered, deliberately rubbed gently. He hadn’t planned to take advantage, it just happened. He couldn’t resist the temptation. He looked up at her face, his fingers curled around the edges of his shirt.
Rachael was instantly trapped in the vivid intensity of his gaze. She fell, tumbled, dropped into his gazevLeaned into him in invitation. His mouth took possession of hers, a fusing together, wild and tumultuous, neither quite in control. His fingers moved between her breasts, sliding the button aside to allow his hands to cup the soft weight. She gasped, arched into his palm, pushed closer, her body every bit as sensitive as in her catlike dream. She needed his touch, ached for it, dreamed of it. Was familiar with it. His mouth was pure male, driving every thought from her head so that she simply wound her arms around his neck and held him to her.