“Please don’t hate me,” she whispered, her face scrunched with pain.

“I’ll never hate you.”

“I don’t just want him dead … I want to kill him because he didn’t save my friend.”

Luke couldn’t take that away. No one could take that away. Two voices resided inside her, and she needed that separation to keep a small shred of her sanity. He, however, couldn’t separate the two. He had to love both of them as one for her to have any chance of offering forgiveness and finding acceptance.

“I can see it…” she blinked, releasing the tears “…in your eyes. You wonder what’s wrong with you. You wonder how you could even consider loving someone as awful as me.”

Dr. Jones needed to stay focused and not let his emotions override the progress they were making. But that man—the one who loved her more than a clean mirror, or a tidy coffee table, or oxygen for that matter—told the good doctor to fuck off. Then he stood and went to her.

That man, the one who never felt guilty for loving the woman, he sat on the bed and pulled her onto his lap, straddling his legs. She hugged him with a fierce intensity.

“You don’t see anything,” he whispered. “You’re so blind because the only thing in my eyes is adoration. God, I love every part of you so much I can’t even think straight. You’re my goddamn miracle and there’s nothing in life more amazing than a miracle.”

Love was not a problem to solve or a choice to make, simply an involuntary feeling that explained human existence. It wasn’t contingent on anything, and everyone was capable of giving and receiving it. Words couldn’t define feelings. Luke didn’t know why he had to love her. He just did.

“Show me …” she sat back, looking so vulnerable with her tear-stained cheeks “…show me how much you adore me, Luke.” It wasn’t so much a request as a desperate plea.

They held each other’s gaze for a few silent moments.

“I won’t hurt you,” she promised. “You’re my everything … the life that beats inside my chest.” She took his hand and placed it over her heart. “Do you feel that? Every. Single. One. Is for you.”

He took her hand and placed it on his chest. “Yours,” he whispered.

*

Luke became Jessica’s prodigy of love. He accepted her without judgment, held her in reverence, and trusted her implicitly. No one loved like Luke loved. For that, she gave him everything.

She unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it away from his chest.

Pressing her lips to the scar on his shoulder, she whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t—”

She moved her mouth back to his, tasting and savoring him. “Let me … let me be sorry for what I did to you. Okay?”

He nodded then removed her shirt. “I need to see you … all of you.” He smiled while unfastening her bra.

It was a vulnerable smile. Not like the controlled one he used every day with patients or even his family and friends. There was one very special smile that looked like a child who just had all his dreams come true. That was a very private smile for Jessica.

“What if I want more than your heart?” He cupped her breast and brushed his thumb over her nipple.

She smiled. “Take everything.”

He leaned back on the bed, letting her straddle his waist. “You first.”

Drifting forward, she kissed his neck, followed by every inch of his chest.

Never. Never again would she hurt him. He was the miracle.

She stood and removed the rest of her clothes and then his. That smile, her smile, came back to his handsome face.

That smile quickly faded as Luke cleared his throat. “Out.”

Jessica frowned at Jones who sat on the floor watching them.

“Sorry, Jones.” She ushered him out and shut the door. “Now … you need to remind me of what this whole adoration thing feels like.” She crawled up the bed and laid her naked body on his. There was no room for her past, no room for fear, no room for control.

His hands explored her body, hers explored his. Their lips connected as they shared soft moans. Luke lifted her hips and slid into her. “Luke …”

“I told you…” he kissed her neck “…if I had you in my bed…” his tongue slid over her nipple “…I’d never want to leave.”

“Oh … my … God …” Her eyes closed as she completely surrendered, letting him pull her under to depths of intimacy she never knew existed.

By the time she resurfaced—sated, exhausted, and thoroughly adored—Luke’s body was draped over hers. She didn’t panic and that realization flickered in her watery eyes as she hugged him. Jessica felt certain of very few things in life, but Luke’s love had become an indisputable law of nature—of that, she was absolutely certain. His body became her security. He would protect her from her demons … forever.

“Jess?” he mumbled into her shoulder.

“Hmm?” She teased her hands along his back, tracing each muscle.

“If I wake up tomorrow and live to tell about it … you should move in with me.”

She shoved him off her. Traipsing naked into his great room, she kissed Jones goodnight and put him in his kennel. Returning with two arms full of blankets and pillows, she blew him a kiss while tossing everything on the bed.

Luke turned on his side, resting his head on his hand with amusement tugging at his lips. “What are you doing?”

Jessica ignored him, proceeding to construct a barrier in the middle of the bed, separating the Qin dynasty from the Nomads. “Hurry up and go to sleep. Don’t flail, and let me wake you in the morning.”

He chuckled. “I can’t even see you.”

She peeked through a small hole in the pillow and blanket wall. “Jones is going to be so excited.”

“Not if you accidentally snap my neck in the morning.”

She blew him another kiss. “I’ve got you—I’ll always have you.”

Chapter Eight

Knight

Jackson scowled at Jillian from his piano as Brooke and her family settled into the lower-level bedrooms for their two-night stay.

“I know your mental state has been the hot topic for years, but this is truly insane.”

Jillian pressed her index finger to her lips.

“Don’t shush me. Those kids are going to tear this place apart.”

“Well, good thing we hired a cleaning lady.”

“She has a name you know.”

Jillian raised a brow. “Ryn, yes I know. I hired her … as our cleaning lady.”

“Well she could be more than that.”

“Oh?” A smile crept along Jillian’s lips. “Did you propose or offer her your body to help her stave off menopause?”

Jackson narrowed his eyes.

“I’m kidding. Either way she should invite you to stay the weekend so I don’t have to deal with your Oscar the Grouch attitude … oh wait, that’s right, you’re Mr. Snuffleupagus.”

“Not any more.”

“Ryn not into penis role-playing?”

Jackson failed to hide his grin. “Somehow I doubt it.”

“Hmm … that’s a shame. I was going to suggest that Lascivio create a line of penis accessories. I think action hero dress-up could be quite fun.”

“Would AJ do it?” Jackson raised a questioning brow.

“Would AJ do what?” Brooke asked, rounding the corner from the stairs.

Jillian gave Jackson the hairy eyeball before turning toward Brooke. “Grill out … even though it looks like it could rain.”

“Trust me … AJ would grill out in the middle of a hurricane.” Brooke shook her head.

Jillian smiled. AJ had softened her, exposed her humanity. Maybe it was crazy for her to invite her lover’s ex-wife to stay with her. Jillian didn’t have a boiling pot of jealousy waiting to erupt inside of her, but Brooke proved that with exposed humanity came a little spark of jealousy. It was a miserable emotion. AJ and Brooke had been married and raised a child. Of course Brooke would know him better than Jillian.

“Well, it was nice to meet you.” Jackson smiled at Brooke. “I’m going to … take off.”