Worth Any Cost

  "This is my shirt..." I shot her a questioning look. She tried to snatch it from me, but I pulled it away. "Were you sleeping with my shirt?"

  She blew out a breath and rolled her eyes, laughing. "No...sheesh. Why would I do that? You just leave your laundry lying around." But she didn't meet my gaze, trying to pull her hand out of my grip. I held on for dear life.

  "I threw that in my laundry hamper two weeks ago." I fought a shit-eating grin that I knew would only annoy her more. "How did it get here?"

  She turned back to me. "Maybe I liked cuddling with the shirt because it smells like you while not being annoying, like its owner."

  The grin could no longer be contained. It was unleashed, full force. In response, her mouth twisted, and she narrowed her eyes at me. I feigned innocence. "Wait, what? How am I annoying?"

  "Because you're trying to embarrass me for sleeping with your damn shirt."

  "I think I have a right to be upset."

  She frowned. "Upset? Why? I didn't ruin it."

  "No...but I get back from a long trip only to catch you in bed cheating on me with my dirty laundry."

  With wide eyes and open-mouthed shock, she leapt for the shirt, tore it out of my hand, and smacked me in the face with it. She expelled a snort of disgust. "You suck."

  "That's what you're counting on..." I threw up my arm, trying to fend off her blows. "Provided, of course, that I forgive you for your infidelity."

  "Jackass," she said between clenched teeth, but I could tell she tried hard not to laugh. Reaching out, I hooked an arm around her waist and rolled to pin her down. My kiss landed on her face as she wiggled underneath me. It felt so damn good, I could have taken her right there and then. But I managed to control myself--barely.

  "So how about getting a whiff of the real thing?" I waggled my eyebrows at her.

  "I want to take a shower. Plus, you are on my shit list now for your teasing."

  "Your shit list?" I faked a frown. "That doesn't sound fun. I'd much rather be on your Must Give a Blowjob ASAP list." But instead of letting her up, I rubbed my twenty hours' growth of whiskers against her neck.

  "Stop it!" she said breathlessly, squirming in an attempt to escape.

  And as good as it felt, I slid to the side to allow her room, since she tended to get claustrophobic. "You're free after you pay the fine."

  "There's a fine for cheating on you with your shirt?"

  "Yep." I nodded. "Gotta give me a proper welcome-home kiss."

  "Hmm." Her eyes rolled up to the ceiling as if she contemplated the pros and cons of such a request. "A hard price to pay."

  I grinned. "Better move quickly and pray I don't alter the deal further."

  "Darth Adam. I knew you'd show your face sooner or later. I always had suspicions that you might be a secret Sith lord. It explains so much."

  "You will give me a kiss." I feigned deep concentration.

  "I will give you a...kick." She jerked her leg toward me as if she was going to kick me and laughed when I reacted.

  "Those Jedi mind tricks used to work so much better before Obi Wan chopped my legs off and left me for dead beside the volcano."

  Her eyes widened in mock horror. "You've done the unforgiveable! You have invoked the dreaded prequels."

  I sighed. "So I have. That must mean I forfeit, then."

  She laughed as I slid off her. Then she hooked both arms around my neck, pulling my face to hers.

  Our lips met hungrily, eager for each other's taste, touch, smell...and a promise of more, very soon. I'd be making up for lost time with her later. Maybe I'd wait until after breakfast. Probably not, though.

  Chapter 2

  Mia

  Kissing Adam was like standing outside when the rain first starts to fall. A shiver runs down my spine in reaction, as if a chilly breeze has risen up. Cold prickles dot every inch of my skin, like the first icy drops sprinkling over me. The air around me thickens, as if full of precipitation. Smells amplify, from the scent of his skin to the fragrance of soap he used--fresh as the world washed by new rain. My senses easily become overwhelmed. Then, much like that rain as the drops beat harder, I start to feel change in everything around me. When he kisses me long enough and the right way, my clothes get too heavy and uncomfortable, as if weighted down by a sudden downpour.

  "I'm never going to make it to the shower if you keep kissing me like that," I gasped.

  He pulled back enough to look into my face, smiling. "Who said you needed to make it to the shower right now? You might have some more...pressing business." And he turned, his erection nudging my hip.

  I pushed against his bare chest, shoving him off me. "I said it. Besides...I need to make you suffer for all that teasing."

  When I sprang from the bed, Adam followed me into the bathroom. I hid a smile so he wouldn't see it in the mirror. He must have known that I wasn't truly annoyed with him, but I wasn't about to let him get the upper hand with his taunts, either. Someone had to keep that boy in check.

  He had a few more surprises for me, though. I turned on the shower to warm up the water and took off the t-shirt I'd slept in. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him shed his underwear--the only thing he'd been wearing. When he straightened, he held out the pair of boxer briefs as if to give them to me.

  "What? You know where the dirty laundry goes," I said, batting away the underwear he was practically waving in my face.

  His cocky grin widened. "I thought you might want to add this to your collection. You could have a whole load ready for the next time I go out of town." My face fell, and it only seemed to amuse him more.

  I gritted my teeth and, balling my fists, charged at him. "Ima kick your ass!" He laughed, dodging me easily. "You're nekkid," I growled. "You have your vulnerable bits hanging out. A perfect time for me to strike."

  Before I could deliver on my threat, however, he grabbed me. While we both laughed our asses off, he scooped me off my feet with my arms pinned to my sides and walked us into the huge shower.

  Our shower was gorgeous. I could spend all day in there if it weren't for the fact that I'd emerge wrinkled as a granny. In fact, this bathroom had spawned habit of taking long showers. One wall was all natural, hewn stone with a double rain-shower head inset into the ceiling above us and brushed nickel jets shooting out from the sides. The shower was recessed into its own corner, where there was no need to have a door over it. Heated wooden slats lined the floor around the drains. Five people could fit in the shower, though at most, it was only the two of us.

  "Fucker," I said.

  "Yep," he muttered into my ear. "That's exactly what's happening right after this shower."

  A slice of excitement from that promise glided through my blood as he pinned me against the freezing stone. Naturally, I made a show of protesting too much as he pressed against me, kissing me deeply, reminding me with his body that he had every intention of following through.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. "Well, mister, if you want to get lucky, you're going to have to be a lot nicer to me."

  He smiled, his face still inches from mine. "Oh, I intend to be nice to you. Very, very nice." We kissed again, his tongue exploring my mouth as the hot spray drenched our bodies. "I guarantee you'll be incredibly happy at the end of the day with how nice I am to you."

  I tilted my head, grinning up at him. "You don't usually offer a guarantee."

  His eyes darkened with mischief and lust and God knew what else. "I should tie you up and have my way with you," he growled.

  I hooked my arms around his neck. "I guarantee that none of that will be necessary in order to have your way with me."

  He reached over to one of the lit shelves inset into one wall and grabbed a bar of soap. But it wasn't his own manly, plain stuff that I loved to smell on his skin. No, he grabbed my frou-frou bar of French savon--bright purple and smelling of lavender. And instead of lathering himself, he soaped me up. I bit my bottom lip to keep my mouth from melting into a grin. It must be about that time
again.

  Slowly, methodically, his slippery hands glided over my wet skin, taking extra-special care with my breasts. Desire flamed immediately--stoked from the sparks of watching him strip naked and carry me, warmed by our frisky flirtations, and ignited by our kisses into something much hotter. Who knew such a blistering fire could flare up under a spray of water?

  Adam pulled my body against his, my back to his front, as he reached around me and continued to rub those tiny circles with his nimble fingers. I closed my eyes beneath the water, relishing the feel of his hands. It had been almost two weeks since he'd left, damn it, and I was over-the-top lusting for him. Given the feel of his hard body behind me, I could tell he was on the same page. But even if I tried to right now, I wouldn't be able to cut this shower short.

  Swaying against him, I swallowed as he kissed his way up my neck, his lips pulling my earlobe into his hot mouth. Fire and electricity crackled down every nerve ending. If he pressed me against the wall of the shower and took me here and now, he'd have me coming in minutes.

  I had to admit it was the sexiest damn breast exam I'd ever experienced.

  He never said that was what these were, but they came at regular intervals. The first few times, I'd thought it was the normal prelude to shower sex--a sport we'd been medalists at since the beginning. But though he'd been subtle about it, it hadn't taken me long to figure out the real intention behind his meticulous and specific soapy foreplay.

  I bit my tongue and never told him that I'd figured out what he was up to. Having undergone stage two breast cancer, I was attentive to my own regular exams. Adam had even asked me, once, if I did them, and I'd reassured him that I did.

  But that answer obviously didn't satisfy. And I couldn't fault him for wanting to be sure. He liked my boobs, and I loved it when he touched my boobs, even like this, turning it into a sexy game with some nice, sizzling foreplay. So why ruin a good thing?

  I worried my bottom lip between my teeth, my eyes still closed as he finished up, a smattering of guilt pricking like a needle near the region of my heart. Adam had been left with as much of a scar due to my bout with cancer as the one left on my breast from the surgeon's incision. And I wondered if he would ever truly breathe easy again. If either of us would.

  Most of the time we were fine, but there were those brief moments when the tiniest seed of worry could cause a split second of panic before all returned to normal again. Adam was washing my back now and murmuring about all the things he wanted to do to me after we'd dried off. My eyes still closed, I enjoyed envisioning every single one.

  But I hadn't gotten my revenge yet. A smart girl never let her man get away with epic mockery. Nope. She got even. And that's what I was going to do. Minutes later, I thanked him for his attentions and told him he should have of his own relaxing alone time--after I washed his back and did my own arousing version of a scrubdown on his perfect abs.

  He enjoyed it--at least, that was what certain body parts of his led me to believe as I slipped from the shower. "Don't dawdle," I ordered in my best come-hither voice, which probably sounded more like a toad with a cold than the effect I was trying to evoke.

  Adam promptly poured some shampoo into his palm and started scrubbing his hair, eyes squeezed closed. Gleefully, I seized this moment as my time to act.

  The rules are simple when it comes to schooling men--never let them see your weakness. Thus, his joking had been cleverly forgotten--or at least I'd inferred that from his honeyed words about how much he wanted my "sexy body."

  But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to strike back. This was my chance. I dried off, craning my head to see what he was doing. From the angle of the shower, he couldn't see me go to the linen cupboard and grab every last folded, clean towel from the shelf and leave the bathroom with the entire stack--even taking the ones hanging on the towel warmer.

  The next rule was to act fast. After all, Adam was highly motivated to get through his shower quickly. And that I did. After stuffing the towels in my closet, I returned to the bathroom. I slipped on my own bathrobe and removed his, along with all hand towels that he might resort to out of desperation.

  Satisfied with my results, I settled on the bed, all snug and dry in my robe. Pressing a stack of clean washcloths to my mouth to muffle the laughter, I heard the water turn off. After a few seconds' hesitation, he called from inside the bathroom.

  "Hey. Where are all the towels?"

  I didn't answer, just laughed some more and smothered my giggles.

  The slap of his wet feet on the bare floor sounded as he crossed the bathroom toward the door. He poked his dripping head out of the doorway. "What did you do?" His dark eyebrow arched, hair soaked and plastered to his forehead. A puddle quickly formed around his feet.

  I held up one of the tiny washcloths. "You want this, don't you? The hate is swelling in you now."

  His mouth quirked. "Something's swelling, but it isn't hate." He pushed the hair away from his forehead and cleared the water that had dripped into his eyes. "Somehow I thought getting away with that was too easy."

  I smirked. "You should know me better by now. As for drying off...you could always use your dirty underpants."

  "Underpants? What am I, five?" He clenched his jaw and then grinned. "Don't underestimate the power of the dark side, young Jedi."

  I rolled my eyes. "So you're going to try to one-up me? So predictable. I'm shaking in my boots."

  His dark eyes gleamed as he came closer. Rivulets of water had collected on his tasty abs. It was fascinating to behold.

  "And you should know me better, too." He grinned evilly. "I don't one-up. I one-hundred-up." Then he shook his head inches from my face. Droplets of water sprayed everywhere. I let out a screech and pulled back. "You are looking too dry over there, little girl. Let me help you with that."

  And he promptly pinned me, dripping wet, to the bed and started rubbing his drenched face in mine. "You're gonna soak the bed!" I screeched.

  "Collateral damage," he replied. He reached down and pulled the belt on my robe, opening it. Then he shifted, sandwiching me between his wet body and the bed.

  I squirmed and wiggled, and he only seemed to like it more. He shook his head again. My hand smacked his hard chest. "You're such a boy."

  He grinned. "I'm all boy," he said, pressing his erection against me.

  "I won't take this lying down," I muttered.

  "You don't have to take it lying down." He laughed. "There's always up against the door or the shower wall. Or you can take it bent over the back of the couch or a dozen other different ways. Whatever way you take it...you are taking it."

  "You've got a smartass answer for everything, don't you?"

  "It's one of the reasons you love me."

  "Uh huh." I made a face at him. "I just keep you around for the mind-blowing sex."

  "Speaking of which...I'm hungry. Time for breakfast." He punctuated his statement with a hard nip on my neck, and desire snaked through my body, insidious in its betrayal. I was going to lose this battle--happily so--but the war would rage on.

  "You're a pain," I muttered even as I closed my eyes, relishing the sensations as his mouth moved lower, over my chest.

  "So you've said. I'm also a lot of fun."

  I laughed. "You are."

  "And I'm irresistible."

  "Hmm."

  "Even when I'm soaking wet."

  I bit my lip. "Let's not push it."

  He pulled back so I could see the devilish grin, the lust in his dark eyes. "Oh, hell yes I'm going to push it over and over again. And you're gonna love it. Just like you always do."

  Thrill and anticipation clenched in my deepest center. I licked my lips, ready to drop the pretense. My legs opened and hooked around his hips, locking them tight around him.

  "Show me what you got, big boy."

  But he still had surprises--as always, full to the brim with those. "How about breakfast in bed?"

  And with one swift, powerful motion, he unhook
ed my legs and pushed them apart before settling his head and shoulders right between them. Oh, hell yes. This was happening. My thighs flexed and touched his cold, wet hair. I let out a yelp. "Jeez, your hair is cold."

  "Don't move your legs, then." He shifted, and suddenly his hot mouth connected with the most sensitive bundle of nerves, and my body instantly arched.

  Yeah. Right. A searing, liquid lust so intense it scalded my blood commanded my complete attention. Enslaved me with every movement of his mouth.

  When he wrapped his lips around my clit and started sucking, I nearly lost my mind. I did lose control. He was irresistible--even when soaking wet. And I proved that in a few short minutes when I screamed his name.

  But he wouldn't budge from that spot until he'd wrung out every last drop of pleasure from me like spilled water from a soaked rag. And I felt very much like that rag--all wrung out--once he lifted his head. But he wasn't done.

  Good God...what this man did to me. If he were around more, I'd probably be dead of exhaustion from all the sex. But damn, what a way to go.

  In spite of that thought, I did want him around more. And not only for the phenomenal sex.

  I lay there, boneless, buzzing with my afterglow as Adam moved to the nightstand to grab a condom and put it on. I watched, my eyes glued to his fantastic butt. I'd missed that butt. But damn, he was getting cocky, and I still needed to put him in his place.

  He was back with me again, though I knew not for long. He didn't have a lot of free time in the next few months, and I couldn't travel with him because of my rigorous academic schedule. We seized these moments the minute they appeared, savored them, and hung on for dear life lest they slip through our fingers like water.

  That didn't mean he still couldn't afford to be schooled every once in a while. And Adam had a tendency toward overconfidence that needed to be watched closely--and taken down when it got out of hand. Nevertheless, my next practical joke didn't go over as well as the previous one... When he returned to the bed, he didn't buy for a second that I had fallen asleep, despite my best attempts to feign it. And thank God he hadn't, because oh, what fun it was.

  ***

  The next day, when I'd much rather be spending more time with Adam, I had to go through the motions of meeting an old friend at a tea shop, of all places. My eyes drifted toward my best friend Heath where he sat across from me. The table was dainty, covered with delicate doilies. And Heath was a huge, blond Viking warrior in jeans come to sip tea with me and our mutual friend. Heath dwarfed everything around him, looking as out of place here as I felt. It hadn't been my idea to meet here...it had been Camille's.