“Yes,” he managed, hoarse, reverent. “Please. Merge your power with mine.”
Her face crumpled, and then she leaned in, fierce and full of wonder.
“You beautiful, fucking man,” she murmured, almost feral.
She buried her face in his hair, fingers sliding through the dark strands, cradling his skull with a tenderness that roared. She breathed him in, deep, long, like she was taking him into her lungs and refusing to let go.
The heat of her breath?
It came like wind. Like storm.
Suffusing him with the energy of gusts and tempests.
Of lightning and flood.
Of a soul finally finding its rhythm in the sacred silence of his own name.
The steam curled around them like breath from the earth itself.
He turned his head, found her eager mouth, and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her to him. Immobilized by the onslaught of need, he wanted to crush her but was mindful of her injured body. He shouldn’t be doing this, but he was helpless against the want in him. The way his skin craved her like one huge ache that wouldn’t let go. She lifted herself higher and opened her mouth. Needing the heat of her, he shuddered, grinding his mouth against hers. Body to body, heat to heat, he took her mouth, and Bailee yielded everything to him. He had never known such raw, urgent hunger, and she gave him everything she had, knowing he wouldn’t let her fall.
He gentled his mouth, tamped down his desire. It was time to get her in the bath. Those kids would be back soon, and he would have to restrain himself again.
He broke the kiss, and she dropped her forehead against his mouth.
“Before we get in, can you help with this hair?” she asked. “I couldn’t even brush or braid it.”
“Of course,” he whispered and let her go. “Comb?”
“In the drawer of the vanity. He retrieved it. “Sit,” he said. Before he drew the comb through, he worked at the tangles. “I hate being helpless,” she whispered.
“I get that. Us special forces guys hate it even more.”
“So, what’s up with the backup teenagers? You know I could take them even with a bum wrist.”
He smiled, the laughter warm, filling his chest. “I have no doubt.”
“One of them is your brother, isn’t he?”
“Yes, that Nathaniel.”
“Or as redhead number one said, Than.”
Bear chuckled again. “He and Kavanaugh are going to be lethal together.” He explained how he’d met Flynn, how he ended up bringing Than to San Diego.
“It doesn’t surprise me they want you for a teacher. Training them. That’s a lot of responsibility.”
“I know. I believe in them…they taught me how to speak, Bailee. I owe them. But I’m not going easy on them.”
“That doesn’t surprise me either. You guys are freaking brutal, a well-earned Trident.”
He finished with most of the matting, now able to draw the comb through.
She sighed softly. “Thank you for coming.”
“Nothing could keep me away from you…” His throat tightened. “I thought…I can’t lose you, Bailee.”
She turned. “I know that feeling.”
