He pulled out and pounded into her over and over with long hard strokes. Audra met him thrust for thrust, raking her nails over his shoulders and back, clawing him and crying out hisname.
The heat poured out of her, lighting him on fire from the inside out with a sizzling passion that left him breathless. She was so tight. She was milking him of his control. He continued to pound into her, stroking her deep and hard, needing to fuse them together forever. Every thrust, she gasped, in a soft sound that stroked his soul and sent tingles down his spine. He’d never been in such ecstasy. She wanted him as badly as he didher.
Completely beyond reason now, he took her wild against the wall, needing her to feel the emptiness in his soul. He felt her tightening around him, her womb clenching and spasming. She screamed and he tensed, soaking up her orgasm with the frantic pleasure that robbed him of his strength. Of his will. Left him needing only her and what she could give him. Then he thrust into her one more time, heart pounding as he released inside her, so tight. Sohot.
When she’d rung the last drop from him, he let his head fall to the wall over her shoulder as her hot breaths panted against his neck and they both fought to catch their breath. The hot water splashed on his back, and he knew he should let her down and dry her off and take her to bed, but the last thing in the world he wanted now was to withdraw from her body. He could stay here for the rest of his life, the hollow yearning to know that he was truly needed finally at rest in herarms.
Diggs cut off the shower and sat her on her feet on the thick charcoal gray carpet covering the bathroom floor. Then he extracted a towel and carefully dried every inch of her satiny skin, reverence in his movements. He never imagined feeling such extreme intensity about anything, let alone afemale.
His experience with women had been limited, growing up with all brothers and then going into the military. Of course, his mother had been there, and she’d been available to him as much as possible but that wasn’t much. He had to admit he was in completely uncharted territory. Give him a Beretta or a grenade launcher or a sleeping bag in the desert and he felt right at home. But Audra was so small next to him, so petite and delicate, had he hurt her when he’d let go of hisinhibitions?
He finished toweling her off and wrapped a robe around her shoulders, concerned more about keeping her warm than satisfying his desire to see her body. Then he directed her over to the sink where he picked her up and sat her on the counter, loving how she naturally held onto his arms forsupport.
Her face was an absolute mess, right eye swollen and already turning purple, bruises marred her arms and shoulders. Diggs kept his expression neutral, drawing on his special forces training, but his insidesboiled.
Audra stared up at him with those enormous green eyes, looking even more vulnerable and worn-out than before. “That bad?” She made a turn to look in the mirror but he caught her before she could catch a glimpse of herreflection.
He bent at the waist and swept a kiss over her lips. “I’ve seen worse.” He had seen much, much worse but it had never affected him like this. Her injuries so blatantly displayed on her skin made him want to crush bones and break necks. Instead he crossed to the small cabinet at the end of the vanity and extracted the first aid kit he always kept stocked andready.
A knife wound requiring stitches was not an uncommon occurrence in their line of work, and all the men on his team had undergone field medical training. Audra might need stitches, and she needed disinfectant and antibiotic ointment where they’d broken through herskin.
“It’s going to sting a little, but it’s the good stuff. I want to make sure we completely clean your wounds so you don’t get an infection.” Diggs uncorked the bottle and dotted a cotton pad with disinfectant. He settled himself directly between her spread knees and gently pressed it against the cut near her eye. She winced and he blew on thewound.
“I think you just poured acid on me,” she said lightly. “Is this how you felt when I treatedyou?”
“Just a touch, sweetheart. Ready for the nextpart?”
She nodded and he didn’t bother stopping himself from pressing a quick, light kiss to her lips. Damn he wanted her like he wanted tobreathe.
“This next part won’t hurt all.” Diggs took a cotton swab and dabbed it in the ointment. “Just some antibioticcream.”
There was a gash splitting her skin on her right cheek bone just beneath the corner of her eye about an inch long. Diggs inspected it closely and blew out a sigh. “This one’s going to need stitches. I can do it, or if you’d rather have Melissa, I can take you back down to thelab.”
Audra didn’t flinch. “I’d rather you do it,” she saidquietly.
Feeling as if she’d gifted him with her greatest treasure with her trust, Diggs carefully extracted the supplies he would need and set them on the counter next to her. “You only need two. I’m gonna put a little bit of numbing cream on first.” He dabbed the cream around the wound. “You’ll feel something like a pinch.” He held up the curved needle with thethread.
“I trust you.” Audra straightened her spine and lifted her shoulders back, tilting her chin up at a proud brave angle. Her courage humbled him and Diggs made quick work of the stitches, noting every little twinge she made as he quicklyfinished.
“There. No more pain. You might have a little scar, but I think you’ll heal just fine.” He kissed her forehead and Audra’s arms went around his neck, clutching him toher.
Diggs lifted her against his chest, a blast of heat spreading out from his torso, little electrical impulses he felt all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes. He felt like he could hold her here forever. Every protective instinct he’d never known he had rose all at once and it was all he could do not to crush her in his arms, he wanted to squeeze her so tight. Instead he padded into the bedroom, pulled back the covers on his bed, and lay her down. Then he went around to the other side of the bed, flicked off the lamp, discarded the towel he’d wrapped around his waist, and climbed in right behindher.
He left the robe wrapped around her body. Even though he wanted more than anything to feel her skin on his skin, she needed rest and sleep to recover from her injuries. And he wasn’t gentleman enough to lie naked next to her and not be turned on. Hell, he was turned on right now, minutes after experiencing the most intense orgasm of hislife.
Audra wiggled her hips, scooting backwards until her backside nestled against his groin and her shoulders pressed against his chest. Diggs shut his eyes and clenched his jaw, striving forcontrol.
This might turn out to be one of the longest nights of hislife.
* * *
Audra layon her side wide-awake. Her fatigue had been washed away in the shower. Now her mind raced trying to catch up with the day’s events. Looking back now she realized she probably shouldn’t have run the way she did, but she had no idea danger was waiting outside. She thought the danger was right here. In this mansion. She’d been sowrong.
“Diggs?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you,” she saidsoftly.
