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imagine. And yet he was still trying to do right by the
world—he proved that much when he swooped in to rescue me.
    “Thank you for telling me all that,” I said,
squeezing his hand. The press of his skin against mine was making
me drunk with need.
    “Thank you for listening,” he said, keeping
my hand within his, “I don’t really talk about...stuff like that.
Ever.”
    “That’s what friends are for, I guess,” I
said.
    “Friends?” he echoed, looking at me with
those deep dark eyes.
    “Sure,” I said, my breath coming quicker and
quicker. “Is that...OK?”
    “Oh. Yeah,” he said, “Of course. I was
just...”
    Say it , I begging him in my thoughts, say that you don’t want to be my friend. Say that you want to
throw me down on this bed and —
    “You should get some rest,” he said, and
pulled his hand away from mine. He leaned over me, bringing his
face toward mine. I held my breath as he brushed his lips against
my forehead. A shiver of delight ran down my spine as he kissed me,
my every nerve ending erupting with anticipation. But he drew away
with a smile. I wanted to grab him, pull him down on top of me, and
cover his hard body with kisses of my own. But I held back, watched
as he walked across the room and switched off the light.
    “Good night Kaela,” he said, closing the
door.
    “Good night Anderson,” I said.
    The door closed with a click, and I buried my
head in the pillow, letting out a desperate little scream of
frustration. What the hell was happening to me? Not twenty-four
hours ago, I was just a lowly barista in Alphabet City with a
shitty apartment and no prospects. Now, I was falling asleep in a
hero’s pajamas, having been whisked away from death by an ultimate
fighter who happened to be the sexiest man I had ever seen in real
life. Not exactly your typical day at the office.
    I rolled onto my back, my whole body pumping
with unrequited lust for Anderson. There were men in the past that
I had wanted, but I’d never needed anyone the way I needed him. In
the darkness of the room, I let my hands slip beneath the covers. I
ran my fingers along my belly, across the twin peaks of my hips,
down under the borrowed boxer shorts Anderson had given me. A low
moan escaped my lips as I felt how wet I had become just thinking
about my savior. I stroked along the length of my throbbing slit,
kneading and rubbing myself toward bliss. My thoughts danced
through fantasies of Anderson and me together. I thought of how
good it would feel to slide down onto him, ride him, and give
myself over to those masterful hands.
    A gasp erupted from my lips as I sent myself
over the edge. I came with a shudder of bliss, Anderson’s deep,
dark eyes cemented in my mind’s eye. My breathing evened out as
sleep came to claim me for the night.
    With my last waking thoughts, I wondered
about Anderson’s secret life, this world of his that was such a
blessing and the ultimate curse. I couldn’t begin to comprehend the
scope of it—my own life seemed so small in comparison. But as I lay
there in the dark, falling into a much needed sleep, I realized one
thing for sure. I needed to know Anderson’s world. I needed to see
how it worked, what it looked like. If I could know all that, I’d
be that much closer to knowing him...Entirely. Anderson had saved
my life, snatched me from the brink of disaster. From that point
on, everything I did would be for him. For us. I drifted off to
sleep with that beautiful word echoing around my head: Us .
     

    Chapter
Three
     
    In what seemed like nothing more than the
blink of an eye, I was awake again. I burrowed deeper into the nest
of blankets and pillows, too comfortable to rouse myself just yet.
For a moment, my mind registered nothing but peace. But then the
events of the previous evening came tumbling back into my head; the
terrifying attack, my valiant rescuer, my inexplicable desire for
the man who had saved my life. I forced my eyes open, groaning as
my pain began