hospital—I was speaking under duress.”
“Meaning?”
“I wasn’t thinking too clearly, but now I realize, it doesn’t matter if you remind me of the past. I want to know about the future—I want to know what comes next for us.”
He smiled a tentative smile, and for the first time Yasmine realized how vulnerable he was, waiting for her to come around. “We haven’t talked about what comes next,” he said.
“I don’t know.”
A burst of light in the sky lit up Alex’s face for a moment, and Yasmine was afraid of what she saw. He was about to say something she was pretty sure she didn’t want to hear.
“I want there to be a ‘next.’ A next day, a next month, a next year, a next lifetime.”
Yasmine’s throat closed up, and she made an insensible sound.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“You have to know I love you, don’t you?”
She wanted to shut him up with a kiss, make the whole discussion just stop right there, sealed in time, before things could go bad. But time never stopped. Through the good and the bad, it marched forward, and so she joined the march with the only thing she could say.
“I love you, too.”
He smiled. “We should do something about that, don’t you think?”
“Like what?”
“I can’t imagine my life without you. I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you a decade ago.”
Yasmine’s breath caught. He’d wanted her all this time. He’d wanted her, and he’d testified against her. She tried to imagine his inner turmoil, and then she realized, this was why he hadn’t fought his termination from the FBI. Because of her and his overblown sense of honor.
It was the most romantic thing she’d ever heard. And the craziest.
“You gave up your FBI career because of me.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does. You should have fought for it.”
“I’d rather have you.”
“I’m not worth losing a career over.”
“You’re the most fascinating woman I’ve ever known, and there’s some kind of special connection between us—you have to feel it, too.”
She did. There was no denying they were soul mates.
“I want you more than anything,” he said, and they were the words she’d been waiting all her life to hear.
“Anyway you want me, you’ve got me,” she said, and she melted into him.
Had she ever been wanted so completely? Had she ever been the most desired thing in a person’s life?
She couldn’t say she had, and she couldn’t imagine a better feeling in the world now that she knew she was.
Epilogue
Five Months Later
YASMINE HAD BEEN BREATHING paint fumes for the past few days, and now she liked to think she’d become immune to their side effects. That they were no longer killing off her brain cells one by one.
“Nice work,” Alex said from behind her, startling her out of what was likely a paint-fume-induced stupor. “I can’t believe you’ve already finished the whole room.”
She turned to see him admiring the shade of gray blue she’d just painted their front office. DiCarlo Consulting and Investigations’ new business office officially opened tomorrow, though they already had enough clients to keep them busy for several months.
Yasmine had been freaked out at first by the idea of going into business with Alex, doing independent security consulting and investigations. But once she settled into the idea, she knew it was exactly the change she’d needed.
The sex game industry had been fun, but she wanted a different challenge, and she loved the idea of working closely with her soon-to-be husband.
People had warned her about working with a spouse, but she couldn’t think of anyone else she’d rather be with all day. They needed to make up for lost time.
“I didn’t want you to think I’d grown soft during those two weeks in the South Pacific.”
They’d taken a vacation together last month, a cruise during which Alex had proposed to her. Those blissful days and nights aboard the ship and in Tahiti had been two of the best weeks of Yasmine’s life, but what she’d been looking forward to most was now. The everyday routines together, the day-to-day hum-drum life. She’d had enough of excitement, and she’d traveled enough to last her a while. What she’d never had, and what she craved, was this closeness, this intimacy that came only with living your life with another person.
They hadn’t picked a wedding date yet, but it didn’t matter to Yasmine. She’d already given herself to Alex heart and soul. The formal part could wait a few months.
“What I think is, you’re working too damn hard. You need to save your energy for me.”
“Oh?” She turned and slipped her hands around his waist and up the hard planes of his back.
“I’m a man with certain needs, you know.”
“Believe me, I know.” Every night, he had needs—needs she loved fulfilling.
He dipped his head down to kiss her, and she felt him grow hard against her abdomen. A few feet away, the soon-to-be receptionist’s desk sat covered in a drop cloth, the perfect destination for them.
“I’ll just close these blinds,” Alex said, letting go of her for a moment.
“Is the door locked?”
“Yep, just locked it.”
“So you had no intention of helping me clean up when you came in here,” she said as he lifted her onto the desk and nestled between her legs.
“Well, I did, but then I saw you bent over that paint can, and—”
“You’re so predictable.”
“I’ll do all the clean-up,” he said, “if you’ll do me.”
Afternoon sex breaks were definitely an unexpected and most welcome benefit of working together.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5751-5
ANY WAY YOU WANT ME
Copyright © 2005 by Jamie Sobrato.
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