Running Hot

swung his legs over the side of the bed. “In other words, you were afraid that I wouldn’t be able to do my job, that I wouldn’t be able to protect either of us if someone broke in while I was out of it.”
    “We’re a team, remember?”
    He rubbed the back of his neck. He might be linked to her in some special way, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get pissed off at her.
    “For the record,” he said evenly, “I can handle the occasional aftereffects of my job.”
    “I’m sure you can. I just thought it would be best to take precautions.”
    “I would have awakened if someone had tried to get into the room. Trust me.”
    “Do you always wake up this grouchy?” she asked, sounding curious, rather than accusatory.
    “No, only on those mornings when I discover that the client I’m supposed to be protecting thinks she has to protect me.”
    “I’m not your client. I’m your partner.”
    “I’m here to do my job.”
    “Last night you did it. For heaven’s sake, this is a stupid argument. Why don’t you go take a shower?”
    He thought about that. It was probably a good idea.
    “What about you?” he said. “You need some sleep.”
    “I rested in the chair. Dozed a bit off and on.”
    “You didn’t have to spend the entire night watching over me.”
    “It isn’t the first time I’ve gone without a good night’s sleep. I’ll be fine. Now, go take a shower.”
    He grabbed the cane and got to his feet. When he looked down he realized that he was still wearing his shirt and trousers. When he looked up he caught sight of himself in the mirror. His clothes were rumpled, his eyes were wells of shadows and he needed a shave. Badly. Not a pretty picture.
    On top of all that, he was hungry and not just for food. He looked at Grace, trying to gauge the extent of her fatigue.
    “You know,” he said, testing the roughness of his morning beard with one hand. “A sensitive guy probably wouldn’t ask a woman who’d had a sleepless night if she might be interested in showering with him.”
    Her brows crinkled together in a repressive glare. “You’re right, a sensitive man would certainly not suggest sharing a shower at a moment like this.”
    He nodded, resigned. “Yeah, I know. I look a little ragged around the edges right now.”
    “For Pete’s sake, it’s got nothing to do with how you look,” she snapped.
    “What, then?” he asked, going blank.
    “We just had a fight.” She waved her hands. “You were growling at me a moment ago. Now you’re talking about having sex as if nothing happened.”
    “You call what we just had a fight?”
    “How would you describe it?”
    He thought about it. “It was a discussion. Now it’s over and I’m going to take a shower. Just wondered if you’d like to join me, that’s all.”
    “It was a fight,” she said.
    “You’re blowing it out of proportion. Probably because you’re tense from lack of sleep.”
    “It was a fight and I am not tense from lack of sleep.”
    “You know, showering together would be a good way to relieve that tension.”
    Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times. Before he had time to say another word, Grace picked up one of the small decorative pillows and hurled it at his head.
    He batted the pillow aside and started toward her, circling the bed.
    “Now, a pillow fight is something I do understand,” he said.
    He quickly closed the distance between them. The room was suddenly ablaze with energy.
    She took a step back toward the wall. “If you think for one moment that I’m in any kind of mood for sex after our little discussion, think again.”
    “See, that’s the thing about men and sex.” He tossed the cane onto the bed and braced his hands on the wall behind her, caging her between his arms. “Thinking doesn’t usually enter into it.”
    “That explains so much.”
    “Always glad to be of service.”
    He kissed her, a slow, morning kiss; the kind a man gives a woman he knows he has satisfied; the kind that makes it clear he intends to satisfy her again. And be satisfied in return. A claiming kiss.
    But she did not respond like a claimed woman. Instead, she kissed him back with the kind of fierce intensity that made it clear she had a claim on him.
    “Good,” he said against her mouth. “That’s how it should be.”
    She pulled back an inch or so. “How what should be?”
    “Forget it. I’ll explain some other time.”
    Her mouth softened, her aura shimmered and began to resonate with