THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

a dream ?” She caught him by the hair, and this time, he allowed her to hold him back.
    “A very nice one. And in this dream, I’m going to find your carotid artery with my fingers, like so.”
    One hand splayed on her neck, and she felt her pulse hammer against his flesh.
    “Then I’m going to sink my teeth into your lovely white neck until I hit that life-blood, which I’ll take straight to my heart. When I’m done feeding, I’ll close your wound, but even as I’m doing that, you’ll feel me swell inside you. And then … oh, then, my sweet Ainsley, I’m going to take you all over again. Only this time, you’ll feel what I feel and I’ll feel what you feel, and when we explode together, it will be like nothing you’ve ever experienced.”
    Involuntarily, her hips surged against his. Christ, Ainsley. Get a grip . The man thought he was dreaming!
    She tightened her fists in his hair. “Del, this is real . I mean, really real. And I oughta know. You just made me come three times, and you’re still inside me.”
    His eyes lost some of their fire. “Real?”
    “As real as it gets. Real as the phone call I have to make to Lucy when I get up. Real as the anger I’m still struggling with over the way you deceived me.”
    He cursed and levered himself away from her with shocking alacrity. Though grateful he’d finally gotten the message, she felt the loss of contact like an ache. To cover her vulnerability, she resorted to flippancy.
    “Well, I must say, I’ve seen smoother dismounts.”
    “Hell’s teeth, woman!”
    Hell’s teeth? What kind of a cussword was that?
    “I was more concerned about your teeth.” Speaking of which, they had already retracted, but somehow he didn’t look any less menacing.
    “For God’s sake, why didn’t you stop me?”
    She pulled the sheet over herself and sat up. “Excuse me. I distinctly remember saying we couldn’t do this. You assured me we could.”
    “That’s because I thought I was dreaming!”
    “How was I supposed to know that? I thought you meant it was safe to … you know … fool around.”
    He made a strangled sound and ran his hands through his hair. It occurred to her that he made a very nice picture, naked.
    “Okay, let’s start here: what the devil were you doing in my bed?”
    She lifted her chin. “I couldn’t sleep.”
    “And you couldn’t pop an Ambien?”
    She glared at him.
    “What? You have a very tidy supply, right there in your medicine chest. I took pains to stock it.”
    “Argh!”
    “Come on, Ainsley, you’re a nurse. A nurse who was known to work quite a few extra shifts. Don’t tell me you’ve never resorted to a little chemical assistance to get the rest you needed between shifts.”
    “Go to hell.” Ainsley ripped the sheets from the bed and lurched to her feet, wrapping the material around her. “Why don’t you just admit that you sent your snoops into my apartment to find out every little thing about me. What food I eat, what clothes I wear. Christ, they even checked what underwear I favor. So I’m pretty sure they saw the meds in my cabinet. And yes, dammit, I take a sleep aid once in a while.” She finally managed to tie off the sheet above her breasts in a way that felt secure, leaving her hands free to prop on her hips. “I resent your suggestion I should have just taken a goddamn pill. I wasn’t suffering from your garden-variety insomnia last night, Delano. I was terrified out of my head. Every time I started to drift off, I saw Janecek coming for me, and it jerked me right out of sleep. I was worn out from battling stress hormones. All I could think about was human comfort. Companionship. Security. Contact . God, can you understand any of that?”
    “That,” he said, “is what Eli is for.”
    She’d been about to tell him she tried Eli first, but drew back. If that was his attitude, forget about it. It wasn’t Eli’s fault she was in this Godforsaken situation. Why should he be the one who had to hold her hand?
    “ That’s what Eli’s for? ” She laughed harshly. “You make it sound like that’s in his job description.”
    He shoved a hand through his hair again and glanced around the room. “I have to get dressed.”
    But Ainsley wasn’t listening. She was putting two and two together and coming up with a disturbing answer.
    “Omigod, that is in his job description, isn’t it?”
    He pushed past her to pick up a robe he’d left lying on the wingback chair. “Eli doesn’t have a