"I love you," he repeated, the words comfortable, easy on his lips. She wasn't just his mate, no matter the lack of mating heat. She was his heart.
She laid her head against his shoulder and breathed out with a little sigh of completion, and of weariness.
"We could hibernate tonight," she finally suggested with a grin he felt against his neck. "Just hide."
And he chuckled. Despite the pain, the betrayal he felt, by his own genetics and the body that refused to produce the mating heat, he had to laugh at the amusement in her voice.
"You call Dane and I'll call Callan," he told her, and he meant it. If she didn't want to go, they wouldn't go. It was that simple.
But she sighed. "Dane would pout. He's not nice when he pouts."
"Callan doesn't pout," Mercury laughed. "Games aren't his style. He would understand." He touched her hair, smoothed his hands down it. "But I'd probably lose vacation time. That fun in the sun you were talking about."
"Hell. Figures. Dane just gets stingy with the bribes. He doesn't bother revoking my vacation time."
"Do you ever take vacation time? Somehow I doubt you do." He helped her to her feet before dragging himself from the floor.
He looked at her then her messed hair, torn clothes and couldn't believe the hunger that had swept through him as they entered the cabin.
She wrinkled her nose mockingly. "Know-it-all."
He stared back at her, knowing he was totally besotted with her. "You will be now. I promise you, Ria. You're going to be begging for vacation time now."
If she stayed with Vanderale Industries. Sanctuary needed her more than Dane or Leo Vanderale. And Mercury needed her with him. He would do what she needed to do, what she wanted to do, but he didn't think she was as happy working for Dane as she would be here.
"Damn parties," she muttered, turning away from him and walking toward the bedroom before casting him a heated little look over her shoulder. "Want to shower with me?"
"Wrong question," he growled. "Because you keep me from it."
He followed after as she laughed, the thought of playing with Ria in the shower again causing his c**k to jerk in anticipation.
Hell, it might not be mating heat, but it was damned close. For now, for tonight, he would content himself with that. But he was going to have to stop rubbing his tongue against his teeth, hoping. Because he swore he was making it raw.
* * *
Later that evening, as Ria stepped from the bathroom, clipping the pearl earrings to her ears that she had chosen to wear, her hair pinned behind her head, it was all Mercury could do to hold back his growl.
He was in his dress uniform. The severe black pants and jacket were confining enough. The dress boots were a pain in the ass, but he tolerated them when he had to. He wore the insignia of his rank, that of second commander, a narrow golden bar attached to the left shoulder of his jacket. On the right was the gold lion's head denoting his genetic ranking, and below it the brass Bureau of Breed Affairs pin, a simple brass pin with the initials BBA.
The dress uniform was a necessary evil. Ria's hair pinned up wasn't.
"Take your hair down." He'd meant to make it a request as his gaze swept over the simple black gown she wore. The long sleeves covered her arms, while the material reached to the base of her neck in back.
The front was cut lower, scooped and rounded over her br**sts, leaving the barest hint of cle**age.
She wore pearls around her neck to match the earrings, and nothing more.
"I'm not taking down my hair." She moved to sit on the bureau and checked her earrings. "It would be . . . Mercury."
As she talked, he had moved behind her, pulled the anchoring pins and watched that thick, silken mass of hair as it unraveled down her back.
"You did not do that." She turned on him, incredulous. "Damn you!"
His eyes narrowed back at her. "Get as mad as you like. I want it down."
Her eyes narrowed back at him. "I want that damned cheesecake I mentioned before. Doesn't mean I'm going to get it."
He growled. "There will be four different kinds of cheesecake on the buffet. I requested it. Just for you. All chocolate."