FOUR
There was nothing else to do, no other data to examine or analyze, no other route to check. Tomorrow, she knew, there would be. Now she could only wait.
Eve walked into the bedroom with some idea of taking a catnap. They needed to salvage some of the day, she thought. To have their Christmas dinner together, to squeeze in some sense of normalcy.
The strong, dreamy scent of pine made her shake her head. The man had gone wild for tradition on this, their first Christmas together. Christ knew what he had paid for the live trees he’d placed throughout the house. And this one, the one that stood by the window in their bedroom, he’d insisted they decorate together.
It mattered to him. And with some surprise she realized it had come to matter to her.
“Tree lights on,” she ordered, and smiled a little as she watched them blink and flash.
She stepped toward the seating area, released her weapon harness, and shrugged it off. She was sitting on the arm of the sofa taking off her boots when Roarke came in.
“Good. I was hoping you’d take a break. I’ve got some calls to make. Why don’t you let me know when you’re ready for a meal?”
She angled her head and studied him as he stood just inside the doorway. She let her second boot drop and stood up slowly. “Come here.”
Recognizing the glint in her eyes, he felt the light tingle of lust begin to move through his blood. “There?”
“You heard me, slick.”
Keeping his eyes on hers he walked across the room. “What can I do for you, Lieutenant?”
Traditions, Eve thought, had to start somewhere. She fisted a hand in the front of his shirt, straining the silk as she pulled him a step closer. “I want you naked, and quick. So unless you want me to get rough, strip.”
His smile was as cocky as hers and made her want to sink in with her teeth. “Maybe I like it rough.”
“Yeah?” She began to back him up toward the bed. “Well then, you’re going to love this.”
She moved fast, the only signal was the quick flash of her eyes before she ripped his shirt open and sent buttons flying. He gripped her hips, squeezing hard as she fixed her teeth on his shoulder and bit.
“Christ. Christ! I love your body. Give it to me.”
“You want it?” He jerked her up to her toes. “You’ll have to take it.”
When his mouth would have closed hotly over hers, she pivoted. He countered. She came in low and might have flipped him if he hadn’t anticipated her move. They’d gone hand to hand before, with very satisfying results.
They ended face-to-face again, breath quickening. “I’m taking you down,” she warned him.
“Try it.”
They grappled, both refusing to give way. The momentum took them up the stairs of the platform to the bed. She slipped a hand between his legs, gently squeezed. It was a move she’d used before. Even as the heat shot straight down the center of his body to her palm, he shifted, slid under her guard, and flipped her onto the bed.
She rolled, came up in a crouch. “Come on, tough guy.”
She was grinning now, her face flushed with battle, desire going gold in her eyes and the lights of the tree sparkling behind her.
“You look beautiful, Eve.”
That had her blinking, straightening from the fighting stance and gaping at him. Even the man who loved her had never accused her of beauty. “Huh?”
It was all she managed before he leapt at her and took her out with a mid-body tackle.
“Bastard.” She nearly giggled it even as she scissored up and managed to roll on top of him. But he used the impetus to keep going until he had her pinned again. “Beautiful, my ass.”
“Your ass is beautiful.” The elbow to his gut knocked some of the breath out of him, but he sucked more in. “And so’s the rest of you. I’m going to have your beautiful ass, and the rest of you.”
She bucked, twisted, nearly managed to slip out from under him. Then his mouth closed over her breast, sucking, nipping through her shirt. She moaned, arched up against him, and the fist she’d clenched in his hair dragged him closer rather than yanking him away.