“Oh, I noticed.” She was rubbing her cheek catlike on his chest. “That’s what made it so extraordinary. I believe you must be quite wonderful at this. Or it could be that the way I feel about you makes the difference.” She looked up, her eyes twinkling. “Though it might be that I don’t have enough experience to tell yet. I remember you said something like that.”

“It’s unkind of you to throw it back in my face.” He kissed her again. “When I was trying to be one of the good guys.”

“You are one of the good guys,” she whispered as she nestled closer. “I can tell. I don’t need much experience to know that. And I might not be as good as you at this, but you just wait until Maria finishes with me. I’ll be fantastic.”

“You are fantastic.” He lifted her chin to look into her eyes. “You’re perfect in every way. You’ll always be that way because you’re constantly reaching out and changing. You don’t need Maria.”

He meant it. She blinked back tears. “Then I must be extraordinary, too. It’s good to know.” She swallowed hard and then said lightly, “But you’re wrong, I’ll still need Maria. What if you become more extraordinary than I am? I’d have to keep up.”

He gave a mock groan. “Impossible. Pressure. Pressure.” He suddenly turned her over on her back and smiled down at her. “So I’ll just have to go back to the basics. Which were not totally completed.”

“Of course they were,” she said flatly. “Nothing could have been more complete.”

“I beg to disagree.” His tongue was on her breast. “You mentioned dazzle, which was very close to reaching that point. But I admit I purposely rather shortchanged the music.” He bit down teasingly on her other nipple. “I’m not really into Grieg and Debussy, but I wanted it for you. Now I think we should go for the fireworks.”

“Fireworks?” She was trying to work out what he meant, but it was difficult when his hands were now between her legs and she could only feel. “What do you—” She gasped!

“What do you think I mean?” he asked softly. “Tell me.”

Then it came to her. Of course, what else could it be? And what else could be happening to her body.

Fireworks!

“Tchaikovsky!”

* * *

Taj Safe House
6:05 P.M., Next Day

Lara braced herself and then opened Maria’s door.

Maria was working on her computer and didn’t look up as Lara came into the room. It wasn’t like Maria to be this cold, dammit. “Are you still upset with me?”

“I’m not upset.” Maria looked up and then drew a deep breath as she saw what Lara was wearing. “The white gown. The one Tanner sent me a picture of. You look…beautiful.”

“No, I don’t. I don’t think it suits me at all. The only reason I’m wearing it is that it might be a distraction. Tanner said that distractions are always good during a game. Volkov isn’t used to seeing me in stuff like this.”