Aftershock. Jill Shalvis

think.”

      “But there’s so much’”

       “Don’t.”

      “I can’t stop. I can’t turn it off.”

      “You’re shaking again.” In his voice was a wealth of concern and compassion, two emotions sorely missing in her life. He worried. He didn’t even know her, and he worried. Just thinking about it had her eyes misting.

      How was it that a stranger could care so much for her in such a short time, when no one else ever had?

      That was her own fault, and she knew it. Another regret. She didn’t let people in, didn’t let people care. Things had to change.

      Starting right now. “I want to live.”

      “You’re thinking again.”

      “I can’t stop.”

      “Let me help.”

      “Yes.” Anything.

      “Try this…” He angled her head up and met her lips with his.

      Far above them, the ceiling groaned and strained under the weight of debris. The ominous, ever-present creaking got louder.

      In opposition to Amber’s surging, very real fear, Dax’s kiss was soft, gentle, sweet.

      “Stay with me,” he whispered against her lips.

      His warm, giving mouth was heaven, such absolute heaven, that she gradually did just as he asked, she stayed with him, lost herself in him, drowning in the very new sensation of desire and passion.

      A sound escaped her, a mere whisper of the pleasure starting to thread through her body. He soothed and assured, both with that magical voice and even more magical hands, kissing her again and again, until shyly, eagerly, she opened to him, only to jerk at the resounding thunder of more falling debris.

      “Shh, I’m here,” he murmured, then dipped his head again.

      The shock of his tongue curling around hers was a welcome one, and Amber pressed closer, grateful, desperate for more of the delicious distraction. One of his hands continued to cup her face, stroking her skin, the other drifted down her body, curving over her bottom, squeezing. He rocked her slowly, purposely, against his hips.

      But when the ceiling made yet another terrible straining sound, she cringed.

      “No, don’t listen to that.” Now his clever mouth was at her ear, his words sparking little shivers down her spine. “Stay with me, remember?”

      As their world crumbled around them, Dax was right there, commanding her attention, drawing her out of her fear. “Listen to the blood pound through your body,” he murmured, pressing his lips to her temple. “Listen to the sound of our breathing…do you hear it? Do you?” he urged, willing her to let go of the terror to concentrate on what he was making her feel.

      It worked, and when she felt his hot, wet mouth on her skin, she gasped and arched up into him.

      “Listen to your body craving mine….”

      Oh yes, yes she heard it now, the blood whipping through her system as he tasted her. She heard the sound of his low, rough groan when she writhed against him. Knowing she was causing his harsh, ragged breathing gave her an incredible sense of power. “More,” she begged. “Help me forget that we’re going to’”

       Die, she’d been about to say, but he simply swallowed the word and kissed it away. He kissed her mouth, her face, her throat, all the while using his hands to stoke the fire. Her blouse fell open beneath his hands, and he treated her breasts to the same glorious magic, sucking and nibbling and stroking her nipples until she begged for more.

      The rest happened so fast that afterward she could never fully recall it except as a hazy, sensuous, haunting dream. She tore open his jeans; he shoved them off his hips. He slid his hands up her skirt, groaning when he came to her thigh-high stockings, her one secret luxury. She might have spared a moment for embarrassment, but then he whipped off her panties and slipped his fingers between her thighs, dipping into her wet heat. Touching, stroking, claiming her until she couldn’t think of anything but getting more.

      Penetration wasn’t easy, it had been a pathetically long time for her, but Dax slowed, teasing her aching, swollen flesh with his knowing fingers until she was ready to take him. He was huge, hot and throbbing inside her. Unbearably aroused, Amber tossed her head back, lifted her hips and sobbed as unfamiliar sensations rocketed through her. She was on the very edge, teetering, madly trying to regain her balance, but he didn’t allow it.

      “Let it happen,” he whispered, his fingers teasing and urging and tormenting. “Come for me, Amber. Come for me now.”

      The pleasure was so intense she couldn’t have held back if she’d wanted to. She was wild, completely out of herself, as the orgasm took her.

      And took her.

      It was endless. Above her, she felt him convulse, heard his hoarse cry, then they fell together, trembling, their hearts pounding violently.

      Amber had no idea how much time passed before Dax lifted his head and stroked the damp hair from her face. “You okay?”

      She thought about it and smiled. “Yes.” Crazy as it seemed, she was definitely okay.

      Wrung out by their hollowing, grinding, shattering emotions, they dozed then, still locked in each other’s arms.

       “A RE YOU TAKEN ?” The minute the words fell out of her mouth, Amber winced. Stupid. And if she hadn’t so neatly cut herself off from socializing all these years, she could have done better. “I mean’”

      Besides her, Dax laughed softly. “I know what you mean. And no, I’m not married, I never would have made love to you otherwise.”

      They’d made love. Good Lord.

      And they’d had two more aftershocks. They sat side by side, still beneath the desk. Mortified as Amber was over what they’d done, Dax had refused to let her leave the safety of their meager protection.

      “Not that I have anything against the institution of marriage in general,” he offered. “But I come from a huge family. Five meddling sisters and two equally meddling parents. Ten nieces and nephews. Tons of diapers and messes and wild family dinners.” She felt his mock shudder.

      It had always been just her father and herself, so Amber could only imagine the sort of life he described. But family or not, she could understand his need to be alone, uncommitted. She herself was alone most of the time, and greatly preferred it to the alternative. Letting someone in meant letting someone have control over her, which was not an option.

      She’d had enough of that to last her a lifetime; first with her father, who’d been almost maniacal in his desire to curb her every impulse, and then she’d repeated the cycle with her ex-fiancé.

      She didn’t intend to make that mistake again, ever.

      “I plan to settle down in another twenty years or so.” Dax’s voice had a smile in it. “Maybe when I’m forty. Just in time to have a double rocking chair on my porch.” Then his amusement faded away. “That’s my hope anyway.”

       If I live.

      His unspoken words hung between them. “They’ll worry about me,” he said after a moment, very softly. “I hate knowing that.”

      She could hear the deep, abiding love he had for the people he cared about, and wondered what it would be like to know she was unconditionally loved that way.

      “How about you?” he asked. “Who do you share your life with? Who’s missing you right now, worrying about you?”

      She opened her mouth, but had nothing to say.

      “What? Too personal?” He let out a little laugh and nudged her. “What could be more personal than what we’ve