Edge of Midnight (McClouds & Friends #4)(63)

“Yeah, I know,” he said. “You love it.”

Relax. Hah. She wrenched her hands free, swatting at his face.

Sean caught her arms again, and pinned them to her chest, hips pulsing sensuously against her. “What the hell is the matter with you?” he demanded. “Is it the position? Do you need to be on top?”

“No!” she yelled. “It’s the look on your face that I can’t stand!”

He looked startled, and stopped moving, staring down at her with a frown. “Uh, that’s a tough one,” he said warily. “I don’t even know what look was on my face, baby. Being as how I’m behind my face.”

“Do not smart-mouth me.” Her voice shook. “It’s that ‘I’m entitled to this’ look. Like, you saved me from T-Rex, so now it’s your God-given right to f*ck me, however, wherever, whenever you want, right?”

He looked horrified, and withdrew instantly. “Whoa.” He rolled to the side, still holding her. “I didn’t mean to make you think about him. I’m sorry.”

Her face dissolved. She covered it with her hands.

Sean leaned closer and nuzzled her, kissing the side of her face over and over with soft, pleading kisses. They stayed that way for a long time, silently cuddling, until she managed to speak.

“He was going to cut me,” she whispered. “He was going to do horrible things to me, and then stick my dead body in the ground.”

His arm slid around her. “Yeah, but he didn’t. Because you’re strong and brave and quick. He’s in my sights, believe me. I’m sorry he got near you. I’m sorry he breathed the same air as you.”

“No.” She shook her head violently. “Don’t make me out to be some big heroine. I’m only alive because you came after me. Not because I’m so great or smart or brave. That’s bullshit.”

He petted her hair. “Wrong. I saw you bite that guy when he was holding a gun to your head. You don’t fool me for a second.”

“You don’t understand.” Her voice quavered, broke. “I was so scared. I would have told him anything. Anything, you get me? I told him I brought Kev’s note to you. I could have killed you by doing that.”

He pried her hand off her wet eyes and frowned, earnestly. “Babe. Everyone breaks under torture. Read my lips. Everyone. Human beings are not designed to withstand that kind of abuse. Don’t bother feeling guilty about it. It’s a big waste of time.”

She yanked her hand back, hid her face again, shook her head.

“I caved, when it happened to me,” he said. “In a nanosecond.”

She jerked up onto her elbow, startled. “You? What? How?”

“See these?” He lifted his arm, and pointed at the silvery lines slashing along his ribs. “That was in Sierra Leone. I had a job guarding a diamond mine. There was this rival warlord who wanted to…well, to make a long, boring story short, this was done with electrical wire.”

She gasped. “Oh, God. Oh, that’s horrible.”

“It pretty much sucked,” he agreed. “I’m not much of a stoic, to tell the truth. I was crying for Mama in no time. I f*cking hate pain.”

That was so ironic, after having witnessed his outrageous heroism in action, that she started to shake with laughter, eyes watering.

“Gee. I’m glad that my heart-wrenching tale of physical and mental anguish is so amusing for you,” he said dryly.

“Shut up, you idiot,” she wheezed, between peals of laughter.

His smile creased the sexy crinkles around his eyes. “That’s much better,” he said. “You’re scolding me. It’s kind of comforting.”

She laughed herself right back into tears again and rolled onto her stomach, burying her face in the covers. The storm moved through her, leaving her exhausted, but somehow cleaner. She lifted her head.

The white-hot anger in his eyes chilled her to the bone.

“I’m going to hunt down that sadistic piece of shit and rip him to pieces for doing that to you,” he said evenly.

She was unnerved. “Um, isn’t that vigilante justice?”

“Yeah.” His eyebrows quirked up. “So?”

“It has no place in a civilized society,” she said.

He leaned back and folded his muscular arms behind his head. “If civilization is civil to me, I’m civil to it.”

She thought for a moment. “I’d rather kill the bastard myself.”

He gave her a wary, sidelong glance. “Ah. I’m afraid I can’t make any promises about that, babe. We’ll see how it goes, OK?”

She snorted. “See how it goes, my ass.”

He smooched her butt. “It’s a wonderful ass,” he said.

“Don’t try to distract me with sex.” A fresh blaze of anger flared up, and she rolled over and lashed out at him, swatting at his face.

He parried the blow easily, and all the ones that came after it. She lost it completely, and flung herself at him, in a frenzy of frustration.

He pinned her onto the bed and held her squirming body down.

“You want me to teach you to fight? For real?”

“Yes!” she shouted, writhing. “You bastard! Get off me!”

“It’s a long, slow process,” he warned. “I’m a tough teacher. I kick ass. Just ask Miles. I taught him. Me and my brothers.”