tucked them behind her ear. His fingers trailed down the side of her neck, and he felt her little shiver.
“I’m not going to lie to you, starshine. I agonized over the choice for a week. But I kept working on your ship, and helping you sell books, and wanting you every second I saw you. I was hell-bent on getting you away safely; I wanted to hold on to you and keep you with me; and I wanted the damn bounty. It was like a three-way war inside me. But then you came to me that last night on Albion 5, and you turned into the easiest decision of my life.”
Her lips parted on a surprised inhale. Her always-fabulous blush sent a hot bolt of lust through him.
“Me?” she asked in a tempting whisper.
“You.” His voice dropped, thickening.
“Was my door really half price?” Tess’s eyes narrowed. The sultriness disappeared from her voice, replaced by suspicion.
Wariness blew a hole in the warm haze wrapping around him. Shade cleared his throat. “Yeah, it was half price.”
“Because you paid for the other half?” she asked.
He hesitated. “Might’ve,” he eventually said.
Would she hate that? She’d been determined to pay him what she owed and had even sold her precious books to Susan for it, probably for a mere fraction of their true worth. What he’d done to provide a solid door for the Endeavor hadn’t been charity in his mind. This was Tess. He did what he needed to.
She fisted her hands in his shirt and abruptly pulled him close. The fire that had only been banked inside him roared to life as his hands clamped down on her waist, and she went up on her toes for a kiss. There was nothing hesitant about it. Her lips devoured his, pushing, moving, parting, and then her tongue swept into his mouth for a fuck-me lick that nearly made his knees give out.
Shade released a guttural sound. He didn’t care if he came across as needy or weak. She made him both. He was about to spin her up against the wall and show her just what she did to him when Tess drew back, breathing hard. Shade could barely see. Want pounded through his blood.
“Shower?” Her breathless question went straight to his groin.
Right. She’d wanted a shower. He could do that. Get her all soaped up and slippery and…
Tess grabbed his hand and pulled. Shade followed. This was going to be fast.
She led him to her room and shut the door, yanking off her boots as she locked it. Her now-wrinkled pink scrubs and skimpy underclothes hit the floor before he could even reach for her, and the sight of her naked body thumped through him like a beat of deep percussion, resonating in his chest. The heavy thud of his heart told him things he already knew. Tess. Mine. Us. Want.
She moved toward him and grabbed his shirt, lifting it up and over his head. Shade’s abdomen tightened, and anticipation made his cock grow thick and hard. A wave of warmth surged through him when Tess’s fingers fell to his belt.
He let her undress him, helping only to toe off his boots. Her blue eyes landed on his erection and then roamed greedily over the rest of him. The way she looked at him was so fucking generous and sexy. No holds barred. She’d take a mile and give two. They stood together in nothing but skin, and Shade was more than ready to leave the shower for later and drag her into bed.
But Tess turned and moved toward her washroom, beckoning for him to follow. He stepped into the shower with her. It was tight for two. No matter; he’d make do. He couldn’t wait to be closer to her, so close they were joined from top to bottom, inside and out.
“Here goes,” she said, drawing in a deep breath.
It seemed like an odd thing to say and do, but Shade was beyond caring about anything other than getting inside her. He wanted her. And he wanted to show her, to prove to her… He wasn’t sure what. Whatever it was men proved.
Tess turned on the water. A timer beeped on, and an ice-cold spray hit him square in the back.
Shade jumped. “What the fuck?” he yelled.
“Go!” she cried. “Four minutes and seven seconds before the tank runs out.”
She pushed past him and slipped under the frigid stream, scrambling to get herself wet. She leaped back out again and went for the