She felt the bed give as Mitch got into it, heard the click of the lamp switch, stirred under the sweet weight of the darkness. “Are you going to make love to me?” she asked.

He chuckled and drew her close, holding her. “No,” he said.

Shay yawned. “Don’t let go, okay?”

“Okay,” came the hoarse reply.

They both slept soundly, huddled close in that gigantic bed, neither asking anything of the other except their nearness.

Mitch awakened to an exquisite caress and opened his eyes to see a tumble-haired vamp kneeling on the bed beside him, her whole face lit by a wicked grin. “Ummm,” he said, stretching, luxuriating in the pleasure she was creating. “The truce is over, I take it?”

“Every man for himself,” she agreed.

“In that case…” He stretched again, with deceptive leisure, and then flipped over suddenly, carrying Shay with him, imprisoning her soft body beneath his own.

Her eyes widened in mock surprise and he laughed, using his nose to spar with hers.

She caught her hands together at the back of his neck and drew him into her kiss; it was a soft, nurturing thing, and yet it sent aching waves of desperate need crashing through him. He sensed that she was exerting some tender vengeance for the way he’d pleasured her in the RV the day before and he was all for it.

When the opportunity afforded itself some moments later, Mitch pulled back far enough to rid Shay of the pajama top and then fell to her again, settling against her but reluctant to take her.

Suddenly she parted her legs and the warmth of her was too compelling to be resisted. He entered her almost involuntarily, thrust into the agonizing comfort she offered by the strength of her hands and the upward thrust of her hips.

She guided him, she taunted him, she rendered him mindless with need. For all Shay’s beautiful treachery, however, her moment came first and Mitch marveled at the splendor in her face as she cried out, tossing her head back and forth on the pillow and grasping at his shoulders with her hands.

“I love you,” he said.

It was clear enough that Ivy’s feelings were hurt. Entering the office, after a hasty shower and change of clothes at home, Shay remembered her promise to have lunch with her friend the day before and was chagrined, even though there had been no time to go out to eat.

“Hi,” she said, standing before Ivy’s desk.

Ivy kept her eyes on her computer screen. “Hi,” she said remotely.

“Free for lunch?”

Ivy looked up quickly, and the clouds separated, revealing the sunlight that was integral to her nature. “We might have to stay in. I got kind of behind yesterday.”

Shay was relieved that no permanent damage had been done to this most cherished friendship. Ivy might be nosy, but it was only because she cared so much. “We could always call Screaming Hernando’s and have them send over a guacamole pizza.”