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lust slamming their bloodstreams. It went beyond their awakening to each other as people. It went to the needs of their spirits, mutually calling to each other in a dance deep as time. Flint and kindling. Thunder and lightning. Water and wind. Elements designed for give and take…for domination and submission.
    Which meant, when she suddenly pulled away, it felt like ramming a glacier.
    He let her free, of course. The second her muscles stiffened, he backed off on the grip. Within seconds she stumbled all the way across the grotto. Her shoulders rose and fell with her breaths. Her face contorted on a look of confusion and conflict.
    “I’m sorry, Rose. I didn’t mean to—”
    “Stop! Don’t!”
    Deeper horror crossed her face, as if she’d transgressed some strange law merely with her outburst. She dropped her head, looking chagrined and so goddamned, adorably submissive. “I…I mean— It was just as much my fault, all right?”
    “What?” He felt his stare turning to a glare. “Rose, for Chrissake—”
    “You need to get back.” She held out her hands as if to stop him, though he hadn’t moved. “I’ll go back to the meeting room later, to get my things.”
    “I don’t have to get back to anything, and neither do you. I canceled the rest of the day.”
    She blinked. “Oh.” Her brow creased when he chuckled. “What?”
    Mark shook his head and cocked half a grin. “You really thought I’d treat those morons with a shred of civility after what they did to you?”
    “They’re not…morons. Not really. A little immature, maybe.” She fidgeted as he switched back to a glower. “Okay, a lot immature.”
    “Which is going to get their ignorant asses killed when they hit Baghdad.” He dragged a hand across his head. “Which I so wish I was kidding about.”
    “Then they’re lucky to have you, right?”
    There was genuine care in her voice. It dunked him in amazement. Despite everything Johnson and his posse had put her through, she still cared about their well-being on this project. He didn’t know whether to kiss her for that, or turn her over his knee and redden her delectable ass. He strongly favored the latter, though he opted for impaling her with a hard stare and stating, “You want to help them? Then get your backside into training again tomorrow, Miss Fabian, and lead by example.”
    Spurred by the conviction, he closed the distance between them again and reclaimed her hands in his. “I’ll be there every minute, Rose. I won’t let you fall under their ax again. I promise.”
    After a long silence, she finally answered. “I know.”
    “And the sky is fucking chartreuse.” He slipped a hand up to her nape. “You want to try again at convincing me you mean that, pet? Or perhaps you’d like to tell me what you’re really afraid of.”
    He didn’t know what possessed him to issue the order. He knew what she’d give as a response. Sure enough, that truth seared him from the depths of the gaze she lifted again to him, intense as a nuclear core and equally merciless. She didn’t speak it aloud. She didn’t have to. But he forced himself to do the deed, tightening his grip on her nape as he did. This incident was clearly going to be the first and only time they were together like this, but he’d be damned if he didn’t follow through on his obligation as the Dominant here, handling the hard stuff as well as the simple.
    “Rose. Rose . Why are you afraid of me?”
    She blinked again. And between one moment and the next, invisible shutters slammed over her gaze again.
    “I’ll see you in class tomorrow, Senator.”
    He tried, and failed miserably, not to watch the beautiful curve of her backside as she turned and left him with the water crashing in his ears and his senses flooding the dams of his logic.

Chapter Four
    “You’re not afraid of him.”
    Rose drilled the thought aloud at herself as she tied her running shoes with hard tugs.
    “You’re not afraid of him.”
    The