Three Fates

well.”
    He stopped, turned. “When something matters, you work for it. And the risks don’t count.”
    Alone, Rebecca let out the breath she’d barely been aware she’d been holding. So much mattered, she realized. So much it was almost too much. And the fear of that had held her back.
    That was foolish, she thought. You could never have too much that mattered. And a woman who continued to step back from love was wasting valuable time.
    In the shower, Jack turned the water to near blistering, braced his hands on the tile and let the pumping spray beat on his head. The adrenaline that had kept him going for a straight twenty-four hours was used up.
    His brain felt dull. He couldn’t afford to go up against Anita again until he’d had a little time to recharge. Couldn’t afford it especially since he was taking Rebecca in with him. He closed his eyes and let his mind empty.
    Nearly asleep on his feet, he didn’t hear the bathroom door open, or close again with a quiet click. He didn’t hear the soft slither of her robe sliding to the floor.
    But an instant before she opened the glass panel, an instant before she stepped into the heat and steam with him, he smelled her.
    His head snapped up, his body jerked to alert. And her arms slid sinuously around him, her breasts pressed, firm and wet, into his back.
    “You looked so tired.” Rebecca trailed her tongue up the line of his spine. “I thought I’d offer to wash your back.”
    “We’re naked in the shower because I’m tired? What was that you said earlier about timing?”
    “I thought the timing perfect.” She slithered around him, slicking her hair back as the spray soaked it, then sliding her gaze down his body. Her lips quirked. “And from where I’m standing, you don’t look so very tired after all.”
    “I think I’m getting my second wind.”
    “Let’s not waste it.” She rose on her toes, then sank her teeth delicately into his bottom lip. “I want your hands all over me, Jack. And your mouth. I want mine all over you. I have from the first minute.”
    He fisted a hand in her streaming hair. “Why did we wait?”
    “Because I wanted you from the first minute.” She laid her palms on his chest, spread her fingers.
    “Your brothers mentioned you were perverse.”
    “And they should know. Do you want to discuss that now, or do you want to have me?”
    “Guess,” he said and, lowering his head, savaged her mouth with his.
    She was breathless, laughing when he let her breathe again. “Why don’t you give me another little hint?”
    “Sure.” He pressed her back against the tile wall, took her mouth again while steam billowed and water pulsed, almost brutally hot over them.
    Then it was just as she’d demanded. Hands and mouths frantic and fast. Flesh sliding wetly against flesh as each of them tried to reach more, take more.
    There was a volcano of need in him, bubbling, boiling just under the surface. Recklessly she wrapped herself around him. Clung to him, shuddered and let herself burn.
    “This is what I want, Jack.” With her bones already melting, she bowed back as his teeth nipped down to close over her breast.
    It was everything. Beyond all. Having her reach for him, seeing her surrender. Feeling her body quake with passion was everything and more.
    And he could take her now, give to her now. When he ravished her mouth, she met the assault with equal urgency. Desperate for the heat, he plunged his fingers into her, and her hips pumped to match the frantic rhythm.
    She came with a fast and frenzied violence that left them both weak.
    He felt the long, lean muscles of her legs tremble and tense as he gripped her thighs and hauled her higher. The pure ivory skin flushed with rose and sheened with water against the slick white tiles. And water darkened her hair so it lay like fired gold ropes over her shoulders.
    She looked, he thought, like a mermaid rising up out of a white sea.
    “You’re beautiful.” He cupped her hips, lifted them. “So beautiful. Belong to me.”
    She sighed once long and deep. “I already do.”
    He slid inside her, filled her. And, with the savage edge dulled, loved her slowly. Long, deep thrusts that thrilled. As she crested, she said his name, lifted her mouth to his. Offered.
    Then she wrapped herself around him, cradled his head on her shoulder, and rode the thunder of her own heart as he emptied himself into her.

Twenty-four
     
     
     
     
    T HEY tumbled into bed, still damp, still