Mastering the Devil (Rush Series Book 4) by LR Potter Read Free Book Online

her for a long time before answering. Slowly, he brushed his fingers against her cheekbone, being mindful of her injuries. “Devon, I’ve always understood why you do what you do… what drives you, and if I knew with a certainty that your mother was alive, I’d be right by your side.” He allowed his hands to fall to his sides and stepped away from her, turned his back to her, and ran both hands through his hair, before interlocking his fingers behind his neck. The beauty of his massive shoulders made her catch her breath.
    So caught up in his bared body, she almost missed his words. “I’ve already buried one wife, I don’t want to bury someone else I care about,” he said.
    She drew in a quick breath that caused her ribs to hurt. “A wife?”
    He turned to face once more. “It was a long time ago… long before I met you. She killed herself. It hurt and I thought I’d never get over it… and then I met you. I don’t want to lose you like that… not if I can help it.”
    She blinked as she finally understood his resistance to her being in the I.D.E.A. She struggled to squash the jealousy she felt for the other woman he’d loved enough to marry. She’d never doubted he’d had other women, but she’d taken comfort in the fact, that he’d always come back to her eventually. Not liking the distance between them, she moved up behind him and pressed her body as close as she could to his, pressing her lips against the smooth plains of his back. “If there’d been a chance you could have saved your wife - any chance… would you have taken it?” she asked, as she nuzzled her face against his bare skin.
    Slowly his lungs filled as he drew breath into his body. “You’re determined to do this… no matter what I say, aren’t you?” he asked.
    She only nodded her head against his back and wrapped her good arm around his waist, waiting for his next words… waiting for him to push away from her again… she began trying to store up strength for the coming pain.
    H e turned slowly, so as not to jostle her injuries, and surrounded her with his arms once more. She looked up to stare into his face, trying to memorize it in case this was the last time she would see it. Her body tensed as he contemplated her silently for several long agonizing moments.
    He brushed the backs of his fingers gently over her bruised cheek. “Don’t you know it ’s hard to move forward in life if you’re continually looking behind yourself?
    She closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek into his touch. Whispering, she said, “What kind of future would it be without those you love?”
    Exhaling sharply, he said, “If you’ll agree to wait one week…” he grabbed her face within his palms when she immediately began to shake her head. “No, listen to me. If you’ll wait one week to give yourself time to heal, I’ll go with you. I’ll help you. A week will, as well, give me time to get my business here situated.”
    She blinked up at him uncomprehendingly for a moment until his words actually sank in. He was n’t walking away… he was offering to help. Her lips trembled into a wide smile. “Oh Cowboy,” she murmured, her tensed body immediately sagging in his arms.
    He lowered his h ead and pressed his lips gently to her, brushing them side to side against her pouty, full lips. She shivered in his arms.
    She gazed up into his face and whispered, “I want to stay.”
    He sighed heavily as if it cost him a great deal, and said, “I think you need to be back in the hospital.”
    “I’ll sleep better with you. You always make me feel better,” she said, as she slowly stroked a hand up his arm. She pressed soft lips against the sectioned muscles of his chest, remembering how much she liked them. His body tensed beneath her touch and she swallowed hard. “I… I want you,” she said a little more hesitantly. Against her stomach, she immediately felt his shaft harden, and she rubbed up against it unashamedly.
    “I remember now