Christie ran down the hallway. She almost fell when her socks slid across the foyer floor. But she made it to the door and pressed her eye to the peephole. The porch light fell across Jonas’s stark face.
She wrenched open the door as fast as she could.
No present waited in his hands this time. No smile lit his face. He stared at her with glittering eyes. The snow had turned into icy rain, pelting down behind him. She grabbed his hand. “Come in, Jonas! Hurry!”
He let her pull him across the threshold. “It’s late. I shouldn’t be here.”
“This is exactly where you should be.” She shoved off his coat. He’d changed shirts, jeans.
His gaze dropped. “I stopped at my place, I should have”—his hands flexed, balling into fists—“should have just stayed there. You don’t need to—”
“I need you.” More than she’d realized. So much more.
His hands caught hers and held too tight.
“Jonas.” Her chest hurt. “It’s okay, I know—”
He kissed her. Not the sexy, hungry kisses he’d given her before. The kisses that teased and tormented and made her want more. Things were different. He was different.
The kiss was rough, demanding. His tongue drove into her mouth even as he lifted her into his arms. The bite of his fingers stung her arms, but she didn’t stop him. She wrapped her arms around him and held on as tight as she could, her grip as fierce as his.
They made it to the bedroom. He tossed her on the bed and stripped while watching her with his too-bright stare.
She didn’t wait for him to touch her. Christie yanked off her T-shirt and shimmied out of her shorts and panties.
He grabbed her ankle, pulling her to the edge of the bed.
“Can’t wait this time.” There was a dangerous edge to the words. Tension held his body tight. A muscle flexed in his jaw. “Can’t wait.”
She parted her thighs wider for him. “I don’t want you to wait.” She’d told him before that slow and easy wasn’t what she needed from him. “I just want you.”
“Careful what you wish for,” he muttered. He had a condom on already. She hadn’t even seen him pull out the packet.
He plunged into her, slamming balls-deep in a thrust that stole her breath. She’d said she could handle it, handle him, but she hadn’t realized…
Her hands pushed against his shoulders.
Jonas froze. His gaze held hers. Rage boiled in his stare. Lust.
Fear?
“Christie…”
She rolled her hips beneath him as she tried to find a better position. Then his hand was stroking her, pressing in just the right spot. His mouth went to her neck, and when his tongue licked her beneath her ear, a moan slipped past her lips and the tension eased away from her body.
This was Jonas. She could trust him. He’d keep her safe. Give her pleasure, always.
He withdrew. Thrust deep again. Still hard, still wild, but she was ready for him. Her hands held tight to his shoulders. The bed shook beneath them. The headboard banged into the wall.
More. Harder. Deeper.
His teeth pressed lightly against her throat. His hands caught her legs, and he lifted them high, even as he drove into her. Again and again.
The orgasm hit her, sweeping over her on a fierce wave of pleasure that had her tensing and digging her fingers into his flesh. His head shot up and he stared down at her with eyes that blazed too bright.
Too much lust. Too much need.
“Christie…” He took her mouth. Kissed her as he came.
She held him as close as she could and felt the frantic, thudding beat of her heart.
Her heart…or his?
In the aftermath, they didn’t speak. He pulled away from her, when she wanted to hold him close. But they were just about sex, right? Not emotions. Just sex.
So why was she blinking back tears when he withdrew from her? Why was she swiping those teardrops away as fast as she could while he was in the bathroom?
She pressed her damp hand against the bed, trying to wipe away the evidence, and she hurriedly slipped under the covers. The sex had been intense. Almost too intense. The climax had hit her when she hadn’t expected that much pleasure. It had dug through her, hollowing out her body until she felt like only a thin shell remained.
The lights clicked off, and the room plunged into darkness. She was grateful for the darkness then. It was so easy to hide in the shadows.
Was that why Jonas had turned off the lights?
The bed dipped when he climbed in beside her. She wanted to roll toward him, but—yes, dammit—fear held her back.
He reached for her instead, smoothing his fingers down her arm. “Did I hurt you?”
What? “No, of course not!”
“I was rough, I shouldn’t have—”
She rolled toward Jonas and grabbed him. “You didn’t break me. You didn’t even bruise me.” But she might have bruised him. There at the end, she’d held on as tightly as she could.
His hand broke from hers, and his fingers traced her cheek. Her breath caught. No, don’t let him feel—
“Were you crying?” His voice was gruff. “Jesus, Christie, I did hurt you!”
“Has anything ever felt so good,” she asked him slowly, “that it made you cry?” The pleasure had been that intense. So intense she hadn’t wanted it to end. She’d just wanted more.
“There haven’t been a lot of good things in my life lately,” he told her. His lips pressed against her cheeks as he kissed away the tear tracks. “Not until now,” he murmured, and her breath caught.
No, no, he couldn’t mean what she thought. Just sex. “I was worried about you.” It seemed safe to make the confession in the dark.
Silence. Tension hummed in the air. “No need, baby. It’s my job. I take down killers every day.”
But not killers that hit so close to home. Suddenly, she wanted to break through his shell and force him to open up to her. “I know what happened.”
“Yeah”—he slid away from her—“an asshole high on drugs shot his wife and then turned the gun on himself when the cops showed up. A wasted—”
“I don’t mean today.” Her tongue felt too thick in her mouth, and her heart still beat too fast. “I mean…b-before…with y-your parents.” Of course, the stutter would be back. No way to hide her nerves.
The silence was painful. Then he rolled away, fast, and light exploded in the room when he hit the lamp.
He stared down at her, naked, eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Good thing she’d already pulled up the sheet. “I-I know what happened to your family.” And how hard today must have been. So hard that when you came back—
“How?” he bit out.
Ah, now this part was dicey. “Jonas—”
“Did you call Daniel when I left? Did he tell you that shit about—”
“I’ve never talked to Daniel about this.” She took a breath, a deep one. No stutter.
“Then