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As he stared, he lifted his hand, touched two fingers to his lips, and turned them to her. She didn't move, she never responded, and his movements had been subtle enough, smooth enough, that any eyes that watched, other than hers, would not have caught the gesture.Advertisement

But she did. Even across the distance he saw the flinch of her expression, and the need that filled her.

He swung into the back of the car, silent, furious, as Abdul moved around the vehicle and slid into the driver's seat.

"When we return to the house, you will prepare for a trip," he told the other man.

"Yes, Mr. Khalid." Abdul's voice was strangely subdued.

"Have the jet waiting at the airfield. We will leave before noon."

"Where should I tell the pilot we are going?"

The limo moved out onto the deserted street and the shadows eased in behind him.

"Away," he said softly. "We are just going away." Away from the shadows. Away from her.

Kia curled against Chase, back in their own bed, warm and sated, and loved.

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"Thank you," he whispered against her hair, his voice lazy and relaxed now.

"Thank you." A whisper of a laugh left her voice before she stilled again. "He was hurting."

She could feel it. There had been something in Khalid's expression, in how he held her, touched her, that reverberated with a sense of sorrow.

"I know." He kissed her forehead, her cheek, before rolling away from her and pulling out the drawer on the bedside table.

Kia watched as the light snapped on, the soft glow glistening over his hard, muscled shoulders as he turned back at her.

"You okay with what happened?" he asked her then, leaning against the headboard and pulling her into his arms. "With Khalid being there with Drew?"

"Okay in the sense that I'm glad it was him." She shrugged. "He really did save me, Chase. He pulled Drew from me and allowed me a chance to get away. I could not have done that with Drew." Her voice lowered as she frowned.

So what made it different with Chase? It was more than just loving him. Perhaps it was the freedom he gave her. The lack of chains, but the bonds were still there.

He picked up her left hand, played with her fingers for a moment, and then, as she watched in amazed surprise, slid a diamond onto her ring finger.

"Chase?" She lifted her head, stared into his eyes.

His black hair was mussed around his face and only emphasized the light green color of his eyes.

"You're marrying me."

She almost laughed. He wasn't asking. It was a demand. A demand that had a smile tipping her lips.

"Am I really?"

"Yes, you really are." His hands framed her face. "If I have to live much longer without knowing you're mine, forever, I might not be able to function. Ian could fire me. Then where would I be?"

Her lips twitched. "Rutherford's could always hire you," she suggested.

He stared back at her with steely determination.

"I thought it was only for the pleasure?" she asked him then, knowing, just as he did, it had always been more.

"For the love, Kia," he whispered. "I love you with everything I am. Marry me."

"You just asked," she pointed out.

He stared back at her, and she saw all that love, felt all that love.

"I want nothing more than to marry you," she said softly.

He touched her cheek. His thumb whispered over her lips.

"I love you," he whispered. "More than I ever thought I could love."

"And I love you, more than any woman should be able to love."

Their lips met, their hearts, and for the first time in memory, Chase knew something, someone, was totally his. But even more, for the first time in his life, he belonged to that someone just as well.

Cameron came awake slowly, disoriented, then his expression eased and a smile lifted his lips.

He was sleeping in the new bed Jaci had bought months before. A monster king-size, heavy, four-poster of dark wood and masculine lines. So he would always be comfortable in it, he knew.

She was curled against him, her rear tucked into the curve of his body, his arms around her as she slept.

It wasn't Jaci who had awakened him, but Chase. Once, as twins, they had been aware of each other's nightmares. There were no more nightmares, and it seemed that now they could sense each other's joy as well.

He could sense that in his twin.

He smiled and let his eyes close again. Once, long ago, they had planned for just this. A life where they held love in the palms of their hands, where their families would always be close, always secure. And those dreams, so fragile at the time, were coming true.

But even more important, his twin was happy. He was complete.

Chase, unlike Cameron, hadn't lost the need for the darker passions, but Chase's reasons for them had always been different, too. For him, it was the pleasure; for Cameron, it was for the distance.

And Jaci allowed no distance.

He tucked her closer and let sleep take him once again. It had taken a while, but life was finally just right. pqdm.com