The Departed

emotions she saw there, there was emotion—a whole hell of a lot of it.
    “Change?” He laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. “Oh, nothing changed exactly. Except for that wake-up call I mentioned.”
    Her breath caught in her throat as he rolled onto his knees and crawled across the bed. It should have looked awkward. Seriously, who could crawl and not look awkward? Obviously Taylor Jones. Caught in the blue of his eyes, she felt like she was being stalked and she couldn’t have moved for the life of her.
    He stopped only scant inches away and lifted a hand, stroking it down her cheek. “The past year has seriously sucked, Dez. I don’t know if I can do any sort of relationship and chances are I’m going to fuck it up something awful. I’m probably going to end up hurting you. But if there’s any chance at all that you and I  might have something between us, I want it.”
    Shit . Her heart slammed against her ribs; her breath was trapped inside her lungs. This was happening—this was real. Staring at him, she swallowed back the dazed, delighted giggle that wanted to break free. No. She wasn’t going to fall for this so easily. Hell, no.
    “For how long?” she asked, clenching her hands into fists to keep from reaching for him. “While we’re both here? Until you go back to D.C.? How long, Jones? If it’s just until you’re bored with it, then just get the fuck away from me.”
    With a featherlight touch, he stroked a finger over the scar on her neck. His eyes held hers. “Dez…I could live a thousand years and never be bored with you. And I don’t know how long. Probably until you’re fed up with me and boot me out on my ass.” He slid his hand back to curve around her nape, his thumb rubbing back and forth over her skin. “But I don’t have hard-and-fast answers. If you’re looking for them…well, I’m no genius at relationships, but I don’t think they come with hard-and-fast answers. We just do our best and see what happens.”
    Relationship . As his fingers slid up to tangle in her hair, Dez closed her eyes. She was sitting here, in bed, talking about a relationship with Taylor Jones.
    Hell had frozen over. That was the only logical explanation for this weirdness.
    His lips brushed over her forehead and she tipped her head back, looking at him. “You know how insane this is?” she asked, her voice soft. “I shouldn’t even want to see you, talk to you. I’ve spent the past year trying not to think about you at all.”
    “Same here.” A faint smile curled his lips. “Did you have better luck than I did?”
    Dez made a face. “Every time I slowed down more than five minutes, I’d find myself thinking about you. Thinking about you, cursing the ground you walked on in one breath, and missing you in the next.”
    “I just missed you.” His mouth brushed across her cheeks, first one, then the other. “Missed you, then I’d curse the ground I walked on. I’ve spent a lot of time wishing I could kick my own ass. Dez?”
    “Yeah?”
    “If you’re going to kick me out, do it now, because if you don’t, I plan on having you naked in the next two minutes.”
    Her heart skipped a beat and her breathing hitched. Pulling back, she stared at him, while inside her head a war raged. Kicking him out was exactly what she should do. She knew that.
    But she wasn’t going to.
    “Two minutes, huh? Do I have time to brush my teeth?”
    “It’s closer to ninety seconds now.”
    She grinned at him. “You’re counting—”
    Before she could finish, he had her mouth under his. She shuddered and opened for him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He hauled her against him and twisted, rolling across the bed until he had her flat on her back and under him.
    His hands flew over her clothes and although she wasn’t counting, he had her clothes off pretty damn fast—it just might have been two minutes. As the last of her clothes went flying, she worked her hands between them and pushed him back when he would have covered her body with his.
    “Now you,” she demanded, grabbing the hem of his shirt in her hand and tugging on it. “I want you naked, too.”
    He scowled but pushed away, dealing with his clothes with the same speed and efficiency he’d used on hers. He came back to her, his body hard, strong, and warm, chasing away the cold that always seemed to linger. She groaned, all but wrapping herself around him.
    His mouth caught hers and she bit his lip, then sucked it into