I had no idea what my mate intended until she reached for the bottom of her shirt and pulled it off over her head. Stunned, I watched her drop it on the floor and reach for the fastening of her pants. We were alone in the corridor, but this was not the place to disrobe. “What are you doing, female?”

“Stripping. Get busy. Take if off. All of it.”

“I do not understand. I will go remove this offensive armor and return to you when I am clean.”

Abby paused her movement with both hands at her waist, ready to pull her pants off her body. I very much wanted her pants gone. I wanted to touch, taste and lick those breasts, that soft skin. I needed to bury my cock so deep in her eager pussy she begged for more.

“Let me put this another way, mate.”

Her emphasis on the last word was not lost on me.

“I want to play a game with you. It’s called the naked game. We take off all our clothes, leave them out here and then we wash each other in the shower.”

My cock hardened to the point of pain. And still, I did not move. “I am covered in blood and death. How can you suggest such a thing when I stand before you like this?”

Stepping forward, she reached for the bottom of my armor and tugged until I gave in and helped her. She was much too small to lift the offensive garment over my head. She dropped the blood-soaked garment on top of her own, making an even bigger mess on the floor.

“Don’t you get it, Cormac? I don’t care about what’s on the outside. I only care about what’s in here.” She placed her palm flat over my bare chest. “Somebody has to kill the bad guys. If no one did, they’d ruin everything, everywhere and hurt a lot of people.” She stepped forward and pressed her naked chest to mine, skin to skin, and wrapped her arms around me. “You are one of the good guys, Cormac. That’s why I love you.”

I grabbed her face, lifting her chin so I could kiss her. And kiss her. I didn’t care who saw us, who judged us, who frowned or who smiled in our direction. Did not fucking care. Abby was mine. She had, by some fucking miracle, fallen in love with me. I was brutal and merciless with my enemies, but I was no idiot. I’d been given a gift by Fate or the gods, destiny or the universe, perhaps by sheer dumb luck.

I wasn’t giving her back.

I released her and reached for my own pants. “I will play this naked game with you, mate.”