When her strength sagged from her, he simply held her hips and took over, thrusting upward into her still quivering body until he went tense underneath her.

Then he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her down until there was no space separating them. He thrust one last time and then they both went limp on the bed.

She was sprawled atop him. She probably resembled a dishrag, but she couldn’t muster the energy to care.

He rubbed his hand up and down her back, down over her buttocks and then back up to tangle in her hair. He kissed her forehead and then ran his fingers through her hair again.

“That was incredible.”

“Mmm-hmm,” she agreed.

He stroked her arm in a lazy pattern. “What happened here, Bryony? It sure as hell wasn’t just sex. I’ve had just sex before. This doesn’t qualify.”

“No,” she said in a low voice. “It wasn’t just sex.”

“Then what was it?”

She raised her head and stared down into his eyes. “It was making love, Rafael. I love you. You loved me. I’d like to think that didn’t just go away. Some things the heart knows even if the mind hasn’t accepted it or has blocked it out.”

“It scares the hell out of me that something this huge could be forgotten. I haven’t loved anyone before.”

“Never?”

He shook his head. “I’m sure I loved my parents in the beginning. I don’t hate them now. I just don’t think about them, the same way they don’t think about me. I was an inconvenience. They were merely the people who gave me my DNA. It sounds cold, but it is what it is. I’m not saying that because I’m harboring some horrible psychological defect because my mommy doesn’t love me. I’m merely saying that I’ve never deeply loved anyone and now that I supposedly have, I forgot it? It and nothing else?”

“Maybe finally falling in love was so traumatic for you that you blocked it out,” she teased.

“I can’t believe you can joke about this,” he grumbled.

“Well, it’s either laugh or cry and crying gives me a headache. Besides, you’ll remember. I think you’re already starting to. A lot of things are instinctive to you. You don’t treat me like a stranger even though for all practical purposes I am. If you really thought I was unknown to you would you be in my bed sharing your deep, dark secrets?”

“Probably not,” he admitted.

She leaned down to kiss him and then rested her head on his shoulder again. “One day at a time, Rafe. It’s all we can do and hope that each day brings us closer to the time you remember us.”