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My cheeks heat as I stare up at him in new awareness—and a hell of a lot of chagrin. Oh, God. I took the man’s hospitality and cordiality toward Atticus as total acceptance of their presence here and then let my anxiety cloud my mind from thoroughly thinking it all through.

Like considering that maybe Reece was acting out his part as much as I was mine.

Like realizing he has just as many reasons—no, more—as me to be skeptical of the Scorpios’ new “arrangement” with us.

Like trusting that he’s instructed Wade, Alex, and Fershan to lock away certain aspects of our intel until we comprehend the full scope of what the cartel is willing to share with us in return.

Like anticipating that he’s going to regard me exactly as he does now, staring through my eyes and right into all the fears of my heart and have just the right words to say to that anxiety.

“Concern isn’t something you have to go through alone, Velvet.”

Words exactly like that.

“We’re in this together, baby—and we have an incredible team of support to help us out.”

And yeah…that too.

“I know.” I owe him at least those words in return—especially because all of my spirit gets poured into them. “I know.” All of my trust, my fortitude, my faith—which I feel Reece absorbing and understanding, despite the subtle tightness that persists at the corners of his eyes.

At last, he murmurs back, “But…” And draws out the word until it lilts up, intimating a question.

I haul such a deep breath in, it makes the water slosh. “But what if it’s not enough?” I finally rush out—and don’t plan on stopping there, now that it’s honest confessions time. “What if Atticus doesn’t really want to get Faline? What if they’re still cozier than a pair of drunk girls in a rideshare and this is their way of robbing the new driver? What if—”

He silences me with a kiss. This one’s brief and brutal, but my heart skips for so many beats that I’m forced to listen as my breaths catch up to the rest of my system.

“Half-credit points for getting one word right,” he tells me. “Driver is right—which means that no matter what the drunk chicks in the back are doing, we’re still controlling the route and speed here.” From his position, still looming forcefully over me, he dunks his hand into the water and scoops my own inside it. “And I’m not leaving any fucking part of that equation to chance, either.”

My lips part in conjunction with the fresh ferocity in his gaze. “Meaning…what?” I manage to babble out.

The fierce silver fires get liquefied and then poured into blade molds. “Strength in numbers,” he explains as they harden into truculent daggers. “As we speak, Sawyer and the Bommers are calling in a few more old friends. A guy named Zeke is flying down from Seattle, and Tait contacted someone named Kellan, whom he calls ‘brother close.’ Guess that guy’s bringing a gal named Lani, who can hold her own with a knife and a gun. She’s married to one of them, I think—or maybe both of them, if I was really listening right…”

His narrowed gaze of confusion has mine expanding the other direction. “Well, this should be interesting.” I conclude with a little laugh because I can afford to. Because I know, without a shred of doubt, how seriously he’s been taking all of this all along—and because I don’t want to think about how ashamed I am for thinking he wasn’t.

“Oh, that’s just the beginning of interesting.” He flashes his finest rogue’s smile as soon as I tilt a curious glance that has me feeling like a cute puppy greeting card. “We’ve got even more enforcements on the way,” he explains. “I called Aliz and Kain and asked if they’d be interested in trial positions with us, starting right away.”

Screw the cute puppy dog card. I’m now the animated oh-hell-yes celebration card—albeit the not-safe-for-work kind, since I pop my chest and more out of the water to yank him into a wet, delirious kiss—in more ways than just the obvious. “You’re right,” I gush, my damp lips still on his. “That’s interesting on crack. And I’m beyond in love with you for it.”

I set myself up for one of his snarky Star-Lord lines, meant to charm me and disarm me at once. I am not ready for his adorably humble half smile and the dismissive dip of his head.

“Well, it kind of made sense, right?” he asks—making me wonder if he’s also about to demand if his butt looks big in his black and gray board shorts. “Kainalu can put all that technical prowess to work and learn the ropes from Fersh and Alex. And did you know Aliz used to be an au pair for several Bavarian nobles?”

“I didn’t,” I offer with a widening smile. “But that fits.”

Having taken advantage of my mermaid lunge out of the water and gotten a solid grip on my slick body, he secures his hold even tighter—before hoisting me all the way out of the water. I let out a startled yeep but don’t fight his move. Secretly, I even revel in it. As enticing as he is with the gee-whiz version of Star-Lord, he’s a straight-up ovary exploder as a seductive Starfox.

And freaking gawd, what a perfect evocation.

As he cradles me against his gleaming, rippled torso, both of us dripping with the water and bubbles that have escaped the tub with me.

As he wraps himself over and around me, turning my spine and ass into tingling lattices of sizzling sensation as he caresses them…pulses them…awakens them.

As he dips in to hover his face over mine, his wet waves and his dark stubble turning him into a dark and dangerous water god.

Dark, dangerous…and nearly naked.

A fact I fight to keep out of my mind—so unsuccessfully—as the man roams his face yet closer, his lips seeming to ride potent trade winds across the surface of mine, his breaths coating me in hotter, heavier heat. “Of course it fits,” he husks, referencing my quip—though he’s as far from giving a quip as we are from Antarctica. “Just like we fit, Bunny.” He extends his sensual flight over my chin, across my cheeks, up the bridge of my nose, and all the way to my upper hairline. Once he reaches that point, he adds heart-halting nips of his lips…and his tongue. “Our souls. Our energies. Our passions,” he whispers as he goes, following a different path on his way back down to my lips…causing me to tremble in new, nerve-opening ways. “And our bodies.”

I whimper with consuming craving from the second he speaks those last words against the front of my neck. I arch back, knowing the blunt offering I’m making of my suds-covered nipples, but I can’t help myself—just like I can never control myself once the man starts touching me. Awakening me. Worshiping me…