Northern Lights

shades of green and ivory.
    "I saw your equipment."
    She sent a slow smile over her shoulder. "Not yet."
    "Ha. I meant your personal fitness center next door."
    "You work out, chief ?"
    "Used to." Before Jack. "Not so much lately."
    "I like the sweat, and the endorphin rush."
    "So did I."
    "Well, you'll have to get back to it."
    "Yeah. This is some place you've got here."
    "Took me four years to get it done. I need space, or I get twitchy. Lights on, lights off ?" When he didn't answer, she straightened, glanced over her shoulder again. "Relax, chief. I'm not going to hurt you—unless you ask for it."
    She walked to the nightstand, pulled open a drawer. "Safety first," she announced and tossed him a condom in a foil pack.
    "You're thinking too much," she decided when he stood, looking a bit bewildered. And, she thought, adorable with all that messy roastedchestnut hair, those wounded-hero eyes. "I bet we can fix that. Maybe you need a little atmosphere. I don't mind that either."
    She lit a candle, wandered the room, lighting others. "A little music." Opening a cabinet, she switched on the CD player inside, adjusted the volume to low. It was Alanis Morissette this time, with her strangely appealing voice singing about the fear of bliss.
    "Maybe I should've gotten you a little drunk first, but it's too late for that now."
    "You're an original," Nate murmured.
    "You bet your fine ass on that." She tugged her sweater over her head, tossed it into a chair. "Thermal underwear makes the striptease a little less than erotic, but the payoff should make up for it."
    He was already brick hard.
    "You plan to shed any of those clothes, or do you want me to take care of that for you?"
    "I'm nervous. Saying that makes me feel like an idiot."
    Oh, yeah, she thought again. Seriously adorable. Honesty in a man always was.
    "You're only nervous because you're thinking." She dropped her trousers, stepped out of them. Sitting on the bed, she pulled off her socks. "If it hadn't been for the call of duty New Year's Eve, we'd have ended up in bed."
    "You were gone when I came back."
    "Because I started thinking. See, it's deadly." She pulled back the comforter and sheets.
    He laid his shirt over her sweater. When he took his cell phone out of his pocket, set it down, he shrugged. "I'm on duty."
    "Well, let's hope everyone behaves themselves." She pulled off her thermal top. Every muscle in his body bunched into a fist.
    She was porcelain—delicate white skin carved into curves. But there was nothing fragile. Instead it was all drama and confidence, a photograph in black and white with light playing gold over it.
    And he saw, with a surprised jolt of lust when she turned to switch off the light, to leave only the candles and fire burning, the little tattoo of spreading red wings at the small of her back.
    "Half the thoughts in my head just evaporated."
    She laughed. "Let's take care of the other half. Lose the pants, Burke."
    "Yes, ma'am."
    He unbuckled his belt, then his fingers went numb as she peeled off the rest of the thermal. His mouth was dry as dust. "You were right. You look really good naked."
    "I'd like to say the same, if you ever get those clothes off." She slid onto the bed, stretched out. "Come on, cutie. Come get me."
    She trailed a fingertip down her breast as he undressed. "Mmm, not bad, upper body wise. Nice muscle tone for somebody who hasn't been getting regular workouts. And . . ." She grinned, propped up on her elbows when he stripped off his pants. "Well, well, you really did stop thinking. Dress that soldier, and let's go to war."
    He complied, but when he sat on the bed, he simply brushed his finger over her shoulder. "Give me a minute to plan my battle strategy first. I've never seen skin like yours. It's so pure."
    "Can't judge a book by its cover."
    Balancing herself, she reached up, grabbed a hank of his hair and dragged him down to her. "Give me that mouth. I didn't have nearly enough of it before."
    It swept through him in a rush, all the needs, the desperation, the frantic urges that coalesced into blind lust. The taste of her exploded in side him, the ripe, greedy heat of her fired in his blood. His mouth bore down on hers, fed from hers until hungers he'd forgotten burst to life again.
    He couldn't get enough, her mouth, her throat, her breasts. Her gasps and moans and cries were like lashes against his naked need, driving him to take more.
    He clamped a hand between her thighs, crazed to feel the wet,