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Chapter 36

SHE CAME AWAKE TO THE REALIZATION THAI SHE WAS alone in the bed. When she opened her eyes, she saw Fontana silhouetted against the window. He wore his briefs but nothing else. Elvis was perched beside him on the sill. They were both looking out into the solid wall of luminous fog. A couple of hunters bonding in the night.

She pushed back the covers and sat up on the side of the bed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Fontana looked at her over his shoulder. "I'm just doing a little thinking."

She got to her feet and walked across the room to join him. "What about?"

"My big plan. The one I intended to talk to you about tonight."

She stilled. "I thought the plan was for us to stay married for a while."

"It was actually a little more complicated than that."

Her intuition hummed. Whatever this was about, it was important to him. She tried and failed to squelch the little spark of hope that leaped to life within her. Maybe he was beginning to understand that what they had was very, very special.

"More complicated than an MC?" she asked.

He thought about that briefly and then shook his head. "I doubt if there's anything more complicated than an MC."

"What was the rest of your plan?"

He draped an arm around her shoulders. "I'm going to offer you a job."

"Doing what, for heaven's sake?"

"Managing the Guild's charitable foundation."

So much for her intuition.

"Are you kidding?" She waved her arms. "The Foundation is a joke. Jenner used it as a private slush fund for bribing politicians and shady CEOs. Hardly any money trickled down to legitimate charities."

"I'm aware of that. The Foundation needs to be cleaned up. Who better to do it than someone who really cares about doing good with the Guild's money?"

"Huh."

"You're a natural for that job."

"Huh."

"I should warn you that it's going to be a full-time position. You would have to give up journalism."

"Huh."

"Any questions?" he asked.

"I don't know where to start. The thought of working for the Guild is, well, it's mind-boggling."

"More mind-boggling than being married to the boss?"

She contemplated the matter closely for a moment. "Guess not."

"If it doesn't work out, I'm sure you could always go back to the Curtain."

"Huh," she repeated. "I'll have to think about it."

"You do that." He dropped a kiss into her hair. His hand closed gently around her breast. Heat and longing rose inside her. Energy flared. So did suspicion.

"Fontana?"

"Hmm?" he nuzzled her ear.

"This isn't some sneaky scheme to stop me from pursuing my investigative reporting on the Guild, is it?"

"Absolutely not."

"You're sure? Because when I see things going on that I don't approve of, I won't keep silent just because I'm married to you and working for the Guild."

"You have my word of honor that giving you the job has nothing whatsoever to do with trying to keep you quiet." He kissed her throat. "I've got something else in mind to achieve that objective."

A shivery thrill swept through her. "Is that so?"

His hands slid down to close around her buttocks. He lifted her up against him so that she was left in no doubt about his state of arousal.

"Probably won't work," he said. "But I figure it's worth a try. A lot of tries, in fact."

"Does this strategy involve sex?"

"How did you guess?"

He carried her back to the bed, settled her down on the tumbled sheets, and lowered himself slowly on top of her. She wrapped one leg around his bare thigh, thrilling to the weight of his body on hers.

He cradled her face between his hands and kissed her long and hungrily. By the time he raised his head, she was breathless and tingling. He had come free of his briefs. She could feel him hard and rigid against her leg. She reached down and stroked him, savoring the broad length of him. The knowledge that he wanted her so fiercely sent a rush of pleasure through all of her senses.

They twisted and coiled in the shadows for a time, growing hot and damp together. Abruptly Fontana pulled free and started to work his way down her body. He left searing kisses on her breasts and belly. By the time he reached his destination, she was shivering with need; so tightly rezzed she thought she would shatter. He eased two big fingers inside her, probing gently.

"I love your scent," he said, his voice low and rough. "I can't get enough of you."

And then his mouth was on her in the most intimate of kisses. The sensation was so overwhelming she cried out and clenched her hands in his hair.

"Yes," she gasped. "Yes, please, there. There."

The sweet tension that had built inside her came undone in a series of pulsing waves.

She gasped and cried out, amazed and astonished all over again that he could do this to her.

When the climax was nearly finished, he moved back up her body and thrust heavily into her. She was exquisitely sensitized. The sensual invasion was the most erotic feeling she had ever experienced. The pressure took her to the delicate point of balance that separated extreme pleasure from pain. Before she could decide which it was that she felt, Fontana's own climax struck. The muscles of his back hardened into sculpted stone beneath her hands.

She heard his harsh, muffled exclamation: satisfaction, triumph, and surrender inextricably entwined.

Together they fell into the sea of night.