The pulse in her throat, in her wrists, the beat, beat, beat of her heart, all that life twined with his.
She needed this, just this, more than sleep, more than food, more even than breath at that moment. Needed his body joined with hers. A testament to what she was, what he was. What they were.
Away from death, away from brutality, away from the cold.
She opened for him, took him in, gave herself utterly to that joining. Rising and falling together, pleasure building on pleasure until nothing else existed.
And reaching, reaching for that moment, that exquisite moment when they emptied all they were into the other.
Filled with him, she wept.
“What’s this, what’s this?” Undone, he gathered her close again, tried to kiss away the tears.
“I don’t know.” Trembling, she held tight.
So he shifted, cradled her, rocked her, and still felt helpless.
“It’s stupid. Who am I crying for?”
“You’re worn out, that’s all. Just worn out, worn down.”
It was more, she knew it, but couldn’t pinpoint it. The tears, so hot, so strong, came from something, fell for something.
“I’m okay. Sorry. I’m okay.”
“I’m going to get you a soother.”
“No, no, I have to be up in a couple hours, right? What time is it?”
Even as she asked, her communicator signaled.
She bolted up, cheeks still wet, scrambled for the device still in the pocket of the pants she’d worn the day before.
“Lights on ten percent,” Roarke ordered.
“Block video.” Eve sucked in a breath. “Dallas.”
“Dispatch, Dallas, Lieutenant Eve. Report to Madison Square Garden, Thirty-First and Seventh. Multiple victims.”
“Acknowledged. Contact Peabody, Detective Delia, Lowenbaum, Lieutenant, ah, Mitchell. I’m on my way.”
Roarke tossed her clothes, grabbed his own.
“It has to be the lawyer,” Eve said as she dressed. “Unless she’s gone off script, it’s the lawyer we couldn’t find. It’s after two in the goddamn morning. How did she find him?”
“Concert at Madison Square,” Roarke told her. “Newly rebuilt. I expect it let out near to two. Christ Jesus, the place would have been packed. Eve, Mavis was one of the headliners.”
Her hand jerked as she hooked on her weapon harness, then she forced herself to move, to just keep moving. Mavis wouldn’t have exited with the crowd. It wouldn’t be Mavis among the fallen.
I’ll kill everyone you care about.
“We had tickets.”
She pulled herself back as she dragged on boots. “What? Tickets, to this thing?”
“I gave them to Summerset.”
He moved so fast, so efficiently, tossing Eve her coat, grabbing his own. But his eyes, she saw now that his eyes were stricken.