Then why did her heart feel heavy? She should be rejoicing that Bennett was under guard in the hospital and, when he recovered, would be back in prison permanently. That she’d faced true evil and triumphed. That she could return to her normal routine and the job she loved, and not live in fear. Yes, she should be very happy. I’m just adjusting back, she told herself firmly. Right now, she was going to take a shower, tell Adam “thank you” and “good-bye” and get on with her life. And it was absolutely for the best.
She went into the marble and gilt bathroom, took care of necessities, brushed her teeth, and stepped into the gorgeous glassed-in shower. The hot water streaming down on her felt heavenly. She closed her eyes and savored the moment—no stress, no worries, and the joy of being safe . . .
“What do you want for breakfast?”
She jumped and yelped, her eyes flying open. There he was, in front of the open shower door. Her heart felt like a battering ram in her chest. “Damn it, Adam! You scared the daylights out of me.” She threw the washcloth at him, and it hit him before falling to the floor, leaving a huge wet area on his black shirt. “The bathroom ban is in force. Go. Away.”
“The ban is permanently deactivated. Has been since . . .” He gave her a heated look that curled her toes. “You know when.”
That glowing gaze sent tingles through her body. She felt her breasts growing heavy, and flames flowing due south. She definitely had the water temperature too high.
“Go away, Adam.”
He curled an elegant hand around the doorframe, leaned against it. He looked dark and delectable. “I was ordering room service and came to see if you wanted . . . anything.”
Her body temperature shot up even higher, the mercury bursting the top off the thermometer. Oh, man, this was dangerous. He was dangerous, and way too tempting. Any sensible girl would hit him over the head with the soap and make a run for it. But when had anything about the past ten days been sensible or practical or even remotely realistic?
Tomorrow, she’d be returning to the real world, to her job at the university. She’d be plain, staid Julia—ordinary, celibate, single lady. She’d already drunk from the sexy-supernatural-male chalice. What was one more sip from the fantasy fountain? Okay, so it was holding up a metal rod in an open field during a fierce lightning storm. But what a charge when the lightning hit.
Even more importantly, she needed a memory to wipe out that of William Bennett. Something clean and good to remove the taint of evil, to reassure her yet again that Bennett hadn’t won. Just one more time, she told herself. And if she was going to do this, she might as well go over the top.
She took the plunge. “Yes, I do want something.” Reaching out, she grabbed the front of Adam’s shirt and yanked him close. She went up on her toes, tugged his face down, and kissed him.
One thing she liked about Adam—he caught on quickly. He returned the kiss, his tongue dueling sensuously with hers. His hands slid down her wet back, settling possessively over her rear and squeezing gently. The innate chemistry between them exploded into a wildfire. Just like that, Julia was inundated with need so intense, all logical thought evaporated. She tore at his shirt.
“Maybe the bed would be better—”
She yanked him into the shower before he could finish. He stumbled over the raised threshold and against her. The water pelted him, plastering his silk shirt and cashmere pants to some impressive muscles. His Gucci loafers were probably ruined as well. Big deal, since he had more money than God. And she absolutely didn’t care about anything but getting him naked.
He didn’t seem to care, either. Between heavy-duty kisses, they struggled together to strip off his clothes. “You know,” he gasped, “these would have come off easier when they were dry.”
“Shut up and take off your pants,” Julia panted, tugging at his belt.
He complied, and then he was gloriously, beautifully nude. She wrapped her hand around his impressive length, felt him harden even more. The starbursts flared in his eyes, and he groaned. Heady with her power over him, she stroked and squeezed. With another groan, he grasped her wrist. “We’re slowing this down.” His voice was deep, guttural, and sexy as hell.
She found herself spun around and facing the wall. Before she could protest, Adam leaned down and nipped her neck, then kissed it. He cupped her breasts, stroked her nipples. Her words dissolved on a moan. She leaned her head back, arched beneath his touch. She felt shockingly wanton and uninhibited, a lightning rod waiting for the strike.
She instinctively widened her stance. He took her unspoken invitation, and slowly, torturously, slid one hand down over her midriff and abdomen, through the curls to stroke lightly. Then he slid a finger inside her.
She felt her legs go weak. “Oh, God.”
“Really, you can call me Adam,” he murmured, running his tongue along her ear.
“You are so full of—” He moved his finger in and out, and her mind blanked. “Oh!” was all she managed.
Needing more, she tilted her head sideways and up, and he leaned down to kiss her. He seemed so in tune with her, with what she wanted and needed. His tongue mated with hers, imitating the movement of his finger below. She was wet and aching, and certain she was about to disintegrate.
“Adam,” she gasped. “Now!”
He turned her around to face him, lifted her. “Put your legs around me.”
She did, and he fitted himself to her. Holding her with effortless strength, he slid inside her, deeper and deeper, until he filled her completely and they were fused together, two parts of an amazing whole. A perfect fit.
He braced her against the tile, leaned down to kiss her. Then he began moving and her focus narrowed solely to the sensation, to the building anticipation of a nuclear detonation. There was nothing else but Adam inside her, and the climbing spiral to oblivion. Then the explosion hit with a blinding flash of indigo, and a tsunami wave of pleasure that seemed to last for infinity. Finally, she slumped against him, too weak to move.
“Enjoyed that, did you?” he asked.
“I think I’ve lost my motor functions.”
“Then I’ll carry you to the bed.” He shut off the water, and keeping them joined, stepped out of the shower. She lay against him, totally drained, as he grabbed two towels. “I could feel your pleasure through the third-eye link,” he said, walking into the bedroom.
She made an effort to clear the orgasm fog from her mind. “We were linked? Is that why I saw the indigo color?”
“Yes. So I shared your climax.” He disengaged them, lowered her to the bed.
She lay back against the pillow. “Then I must have felt yours—” She looked over, saw Mr. Energizer Bunny was still ready to go. “Oh. Well.”
He settled on the bed beside her and stroked his hand down her arm. “I believe I mentioned the Sentinel stamina.”
“And here I thought it was just a male-ego fantasy.”
He slid his hand over her breast. “I also mentioned it’s enhanced by the presence of water.”
“I vaguely remember that.” Pleasure tingled through her, along with a new rush of desire. She couldn’t believe her body was reviving so quickly.
Adam rolled her into his arms and kissed her, and everything else blurred. Only the two of them existed in the Universe. It was slow and tender this time. Between kisses and verbal sparing, they caressed and explored each other. When she was vibrating with need, he slid over her and settled between her legs. “Are you all right with me like this?” he asked.
She looked up into his face, into those mysterious eyes with their starbursts. She saw his concern, his caring. And her heart turned over. He was honorable and strong; he carried enormous responsibilities with intelligence and competence and grace.
He’d given her life back to her, freed her from the debilitating doubts and fears Bennett had bequeathed her. She ached with the knowledge that she and Adam didn’t belong together. This wasn’t a fairy tale, it was real life. And gods weren’t supposed
to mate with mere mortals—especially ones as ordinary as she was.
She slipped her arms around him, and drew him close. “This is exactly what I want,” she whispered, and leaped into the fire one last time.
ADAM held Julia in his arms, stunned by how profound their joining had been, how perfect and right. Nothing like this had ever happened in the long history of the Sanctioned, but there was no doubt Julia was his soul mate. She completed him, on every level.
Yet he knew she was still holding back from him. The only time she was completely open to their bond was in the throes of passion. He’d like to think that meant he hadn’t gotten too rusty in the sex department the past few centuries, but he knew it was more likely the chemistry of the Sanctioned/conductor link.
He’d just have to keep chipping away at her defensive armor. She stirred and moved away from him, slipped out of the bed. She had a classic, curvy body—feminine and mysterious, womanly. He sat up as she walked to the bathroom. “Are you ready to eat?”
She looked at him over her shoulder. “I’m not hungry. I’m going to finish my shower.”
He liked her wet. “I’ll be glad to scrub your back.”
She shook her head. “I think it’s safer for me to do this alone. I’m not up to more sex—” She looked at the tented sheet above his lap and rolled her eyes. “Even if you are.”
She went into the bathroom and closed the door. She’d put the barriers back up. Frustrated, he got a change of clothes and went to the other bathroom to clean up. After that, he ordered room service. Julia had to eat sometime. And he had to figure out how to tear down her barriers.
He was in the living area, reading faxed reports, when she walked out. She was dressed and had her coat and purse. Her expression was resolute. He sat back, watching her, although he already knew what she was going to say.
“I’m leaving, Adam.”
It was a jolt to his system, although it shouldn’t be. “Where are you going?”
“Home. I just spoke with Marla. The front door is fixed, the carpet has been replaced, the house is clean, and she has my new bedding. She’s on her way to pick me up.”
He stood and walked over to her. “Stay here with me.”
Emotion flashed in her eyes before she blanked her expression. “I can’t, Adam. I won’t. This is as far as we can go.”
He willed himself to stay calm. “I don’t see why.”
“Yes, you do. We’re not a good match. If anything, I’d say we’re completely mismatched. Oil and water. Prime numbers and transcendentals. God and mortal.”
“I am not a god.”
“You’re not truly human, either.” She moved in and kissed him on the cheek. “Good-bye.”
It took every ounce of willpower to keep from grabbing her and tying her up until she saw reason. But he knew he couldn’t force her. His highly tuned instincts told him she wouldn’t listen to any arguments he made now. So he let her go—for the time being.
She walked to the door then looked back at him, her eyes glistening. “Have a good life.” Then she was gone.
Damn it! She was stubborn and infuriating. Adam went to the wet bar and poured some scotch. As he sipped, he considered the situation. He never failed when he set his mind to something. Julia would see reason, would accept that she was his mate. Hopefully during this lifetime.
He was, however, willing to give her some time. She’d been hit hard, emotionally and physically, these past two weeks. She’d been traumatized by the Belian murders and by Bennett; she’d been hospitalized twice, with some serious injuries. She was understandably damaged and fragile. Forcing the issue of their future together wasn’t in the best interests of either of them right now.
He would wait. He would give her time to heal, to call on her formidable will to put the traumas behind her and get on with her life. She was, above all, a survivor, with a steel core of strength and determination.
Yes, he’d give her time to get her balance back. And then he’d simply manipulate circumstances, as he had once before, so that she had no choice in the matter.
Absolutely no choice at all.
TWENTY-ONE
JULIA got through the next weeks, although it was a battle. She alternated between night terrors, unsettling daytime memories, and missing Adam. The first three nights after she returned home, she woke from nightmares, and carried her gun as she checked the house and alarm system. Then she lay in bed, unable to go back to sleep, and thought about Adam, despite her attempts to vanquish him from her mind. His absence from her life was like a physical ache.
But in the tough Reynolds fashion, she pushed forward. Her pain, the hellish memories, her unrealistic yearnings, could all be steamrolled into a level, functioning pavement. Mind over matter had been her mantra for so long, it was imprinted on her brain cells. Still, she wasn’t above getting help, so she called Dr. Jackson, the clinical psychologist who had kept her sane after the first attack. She’d had several sessions now and was coming to grips with the recent traumas she’d faced.
Thank God for the university and for teaching. Outside of her family, they were the constants in her life. Her classes kept her focused on lesson plans and exams and grades. Then there was the never-ending paperwork, in triplicate, that a large university demanded, and the departmental meetings, and of course, the politics. There was always work to be done, and Julia embraced it like a long-lost religion. And yet, there was a void in her life, one that hadn’t been there before. She’d just have to keep finding more things to occupy her, to dam up the void.
She got off the elevator one Monday morning, glad the weekend was over, although most of her students wouldn’t agree. Today was the final exam for her thermal physics course. The semester had ended, and the holidays were just around the corner, but Julia couldn’t get excited about them this year. She started down the long corridor, which was currently decorated in a Christmas theme. How convenient that the red and white dancing candy canes on the walls happened to match the UH colors.
She heard people talking and laughing as she approached the reception area, and wondered what was going on. A holiday party, perhaps? As she entered the large open area, she saw at least a dozen people milling around—Tami, Dr. Moreno, Dr. Richards, Dr. Wilson, a number of other professors, several of the graduate student assistants, Miriam, and—Shock speared through Julia as she realized Sean and Adam were also there, at the far end of the room.
Her heart jolted as she stared at Adam, who looked as good as ever in a dark gray suit with a gorgeous gray and lavender striped tie. As if sensing her, he looked over and their gazes locked. Electricity sizzled through her, jump-starting her heart into a mad rhythm. It was one of those moments where her stunned mind couldn’t compute, so she simply stood there.
Tami saw her and let out a good old Southern whoop. “Dr. Julia! You’re here!” She rushed over and threw her arms around Julia. “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you, girl.” She stepped back and wagged a finger. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this before now. You little secretive thing, you.”
“What?” Julia asked, totally confused.
The other staff members gathered around and started congratulating her, and asking her when the big event would be. She stared at them blankly, wondering if she was dreaming.
“Well, you sure caught yourself the pick of the litter,” Tami said and grinned at Adam as he made his way to Julia’s side. “Although I’m not sure it’s legal for cousins to do this.”
“We’re very distant cousins,” Adam said, slipping a possessive arm around Julia. “Hello, darling.”
The assault of sexual energy was immediate, scattering all rational thought while heightening her senses. She felt the heat he radiated, inhaled his expensive male scent. It took all her self-control to ignore the impact—similar to that of a meteorite hitting the Earth—of his nearness and make her brain function. Had he just called her darling?
“Legal? Cousins?” She asked, feeling like she was
in The Twilight Zone. What the hell was Adam doing here? She tried to move away, but he tightened his arm around her.
Tami laughed. “Aren’t you the funny one? If I was marrying a man this hunky, I’d be telling the whole world.”
Marrying? Alarm bells started going off as some of the mental fog cleared. She glared at Adam, tried again to get free, without success. “What are we talking about here?”
Dr. Moreno—her conservative, uptight boss—actually let out a rusty laugh. “She’s such a joker, our Dr. Julia. Getting engaged is a special event. Mr. Masters suggested we might want to have a celebration.” He waved what looked like another check. “Your future husband, he is a generous man, no?”
Before Julia could respond, Tami grabbed her arm. “Look over there,” she said gaily and gestured to the back wall. Julia glanced over, blinked, and looked again.
There was a huge blue banner on the wall, with the words Congratulations, Dr. Julia and Adam! printed on it in red block letters edged in white—the UH colors again. A table had been set up beneath the banner and covered in a scarlet red cloth. A cake and several bottles of champagne were on it. Suddenly she couldn’t breathe. The floor felt like it was falling out from under her. She tried to think of something to say, but couldn’t seem to force the words from her constricted throat.
“Julia didn’t want to tell anyone just yet, but I thought it would be nice to surprise her with a celebration with her coworkers, so she could make the announcement,” Adam said smoothly.
The bastard! How dare he just show up after all these weeks, and then pull this stunt? Did he think she wouldn’t call him on his colossal lie? She would set the record straight immediately. She would—She looked at the people gathered around her, all smiling and watching her expectantly.
Crap. Did she really want a scene in front of her boss, Tami, her coworkers? She’d worked long and hard for her position here, for the respect she’d garnered. Crap, crap, crap! This was insane. Adam was going to be one dead Sanctioned, as soon as she got him alone.
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