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rhythm of
delight as he pulled back and them pushed hard into her again and yet again.
The volcano inside her shook and jolted, pulsing closer and closer to eruption.
    Tension drew her body into hard knots. With her fingers on
his back, she felt the muscles of Raje’s body bunch and harden as he strained
toward completion. The rhythm of his plunges into her sped up. Each time he
slammed home, the fireball inside her swelled closer to release.
    Devonne sobbed and clung to him until he drew back one last
time and paused for a moment. Then he plunged deep into her. It set off the
explosion. She screamed as it rumbled through her, wave on fiery wave of pure
pleasure. And as she bucked and jolted with the spasms, he roared, slammed into
her again and stiffened with his own orgasm.
    Once the fierce jolts had subsided, she drew him down on top
of her, wrapping him tightly in her arms and holding him close. She’d had
orgasms before, but no man had ever brought her to this level of joy or reached
so deeply into her soul in the process. She’d worry about that later, but right
then it just felt intensely right to be joined with him in the most intimate
possible way.
    “I knew it.” He spoke next to her ear and his breath
tickled. “I knew it would be like this when we talked in the bar.”
    “Be like this?”
    “Hot, hard, gut-wrenching. The best sex that’s ever happened
to me.”
    It had been for her, too, but she didn’t dare admit it. “The
best sex you’ve ever had? Isn’t that always the sex you just had?”
    He laughed but drew back so he could look her in the eye.
“Not necessarily. I’ve had crappy sex. The bang-bang-done-gone variety. Bodies
in heat.”
    “That wasn’t what this was?”
    “Hell, no. And the next time’s going to be even better.”
    “The next time?”
    “Starting in about…five minutes, I hope.”
    “You’re in a hurry?”
    His wicked grin worked its way into her like a treacherous
bolt of lightning. “Oh, no. Unless you really wanted to get some sleep
tonight?”
    “Plenty of other time to sleep.”
    He pulled out and rolled onto his side on the bed, facing
her. “Want to check out the bathing facilities here? They’re pretty
spectacular—one of the reasons I got the room.”

Chapter Three
     
    “You planned to pick up a woman and bring her here all
along.” Devonne heard the note of accusation in her voice. “Sorry, I have no
right to—”
    He stopped her with a finger across her lips. A wash of
color stained his cheeks. “I did plan to pick up a woman. Hell, it’s been weeks
since the last time. But, then, weren’t you at least halfway looking for the
same thing yourself?” He waited for her nod but stopped her when she began to
say something. “The thing is, I wasn’t looking for you. I’d about given up
hoping you were out there and I’d someday run into you.”
    “Me? Have we ever—”
    His smile was tender and a bit sad. “No. But you’re the one
I’ve been looking for. The woman who’s enough like me to stay with me and
unlike enough to challenge me. Pretty enough to be intriguing but not
hopelessly vapid. Has a sense of humor that understands mine. Smart enough and
bold enough to make life interesting.” He shook his head slowly. “There aren’t
many like you around. The only other one I’ve met was old enough to be my
grandmother.”
    “Did you sleep with her anyway?”
    His grin crooked into a more wry humor. “Yup. Game old girl.
We had a good time. I learned a lot from her.”
    She looked into his eyes. Despite the self-deprecating
humor, he was serious. “You still see her?”
    He shook his head. “She retired to her garden and her
great-grandchildren on Xanthee’s Stake a couple of years ago. I’ve been kind of
missing her. Until you.”
    “You’re an unusual man, Raje Jernigan,” she told him.
    “Yeah, a few others have said so, too. Sometimes they use
cruder language, though. ‘You’re a weird bastard, Jernigan’. Heard that a