LITMIR.BIZ

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      Jason rubbed his chest as, for the first time, he worried he might not be physically able. His body was the one thing he’d always taken for granted. Even when his mom had died and he’d been left on his own, he’d been healthy.

      “Okay. What if I’m not?”

      “Don’t even think it,” Dennis said.

      “You’ll have to name someone else, won’t you?”

      There was silence on the line for a long minute and Jason felt a burst of anger. Dammit.

      “Hemi’s good,” Jason said finally.

      “He is, but he’s not ready. Not yet. I want you, Ace. But we won’t send you to space if we can’t bring you back whole.”

      “Fair enough. I can’t get down to Houston today. Can I come tomorrow?”

      “Yes. Call Lynn first and then Tomlin. She’s going to want to set up a series of exercises and tests.”

      Dennis finished the call and Ace hung up the phone but didn’t leave the room. He didn’t make the other calls he needed to make. He glanced down at his body. He’d been working out every day and he felt like he was in the best shape of his life. But he had no idea if his bone density had improved. Hell. He wanted to punch something. He wanted...

      There was a knock on the door.

      “Who is it?”

      “Molly.”

      Yeah, that was what he wanted.

      * * *

      MOLLY HAD KEPT Jason at arm’s length as much as possible during the last five weeks, burying herself in work. Done the smart thing. But she wasn’t too sure how much longer she could do it. Hence, standing outside her own den door, knocking.

      She’d seen the look on Jason’s face when Dennis’s name had been mentioned. She thought they’d have a little more time before NASA made a decision about the facility, so maybe instead this was...news about Jason and the space program.

      She’d stood outside this door more than once. When she’d set herself on fire in the barn, Dad had taken her to town for emergency treatment and then when she’d come home and was healthy again, he’d told her to meet him here. She’d known she was in trouble...

      This time it was Jason in trouble. Not her. She felt it. She had no idea what kind of news he’d gotten, but she heard banked anger in his voice on the phone and she told herself it wasn’t her problem.

      She could just walk away and no one would blame her. Jason wouldn’t blame her or expect anything else from her, but she couldn’t do that. No matter how much she’d been trying to think of their lovemaking as sexy fun, she cared about him. Always had.

      She’d spent most of her teenaged years pretending that he was just another one of her dad’s boys. But he never had been. She couldn’t lie about that. Her heart wasn’t fickle.

      She opened the door. He sat there on the edge of her desk. The look he gave her was desperate and dark.

      It hadn’t been good news.

      Of course, it hadn’t. Good news wasn’t usually urgent.

      “Want to talk?”

      He shook his head.

      “Want to be alone?” she asked.

      “No. Molly, I don’t want to be alone,” he said slowly, emphasizing each word.

      “What do you want?” she asked.

      “You. No more pretending. Can you do that? If not, turn around and leave. Give me some time to get my head back to the polite place I’ve been in for the last few weeks,” he said.

      She stood there. She should walk away. That would be the smart thing to do. This wasn’t the sweet Jason who seduced her with barbecue sandwiches and stories. This was a man who was broken and he needed something raw from her.

      God, she wanted to give it to him. She wasn’t going to leave him alone. She closed the door behind her and then leaned against it, her hands behind her back.

      He looked down at the floor.

      “Leave, Molly. I’m not the nicest guy right now.”

      “I can’t,” she admitted. “I’ve been trying to pretend that all the little things that make you the man you are haven’t affected me, but they have. I can’t keep ignoring it.”

      He lifted his head and in those light blue eyes of his she saw so much emotion. Anger, agony, fear and need.

      Focus on the need, she told herself and subtly locked the door behind her as she took a step forward. Rina sometimes just let herself in and Molly didn’t want to be interrupted. Not now.

      She toed off her boots, noticed that Jason shifted on the desk to face her. “What are you doing?”

      “Not leaving.”

      “I can see that.”

      “Well, I think you’re smart enough to figure out what I’m doing...”

      She tugged off her socks, too, and stopped where she was. “Unless you really do want me to leave.”

      “No. Don’t go.”

      He opened his arms and she smiled at him.

      She pulled her T-shirt up over her head and tossed it aside, hearing his breath catch.

      She stopped to look at him. He’d said he liked her appearance and in his eyes she read the truth of those words. The way he watched her was the way...well, the way she’d seen men look at underwear models.

      She felt the power of being a woman. At this moment she held Jason captive and she wanted to make the moment last. She wanted to make him forget whatever was troubling him.

      “Like this?”

      “I do. I’d like it better if you took off your bra,” he said.

      “I might. But first you are going to have to show me something. Maybe that strong chest of yours.”

      “You like my muscles?”

      “I do. They turn me on. And when I see you flex your biceps...it takes my breath away.”

      “It does?” he asked, slowly undoing the buttons of his work shirt and letting the sides fall open.

      He left the shirt on with just about two inches of lean masculine chest visible. Her fingers tingled with the need to touch him and she took a step closer. She was trying to be seductive, but she didn’t want to wait any longer. The truth was, she knew what she wanted. And it wasn’t all this distance between them.

      He held his hand up. “Wait. Take your hair down.”

      She reached up, pulled the hair tie free and shook her head as her hair fell around her shoulders. She took another step forward.

      He just watched her. His eyes were half closed, but she knew she held all of his attention. She put her hand in the center of his chest. He had a light dusting of hair there and she ran her fingers through it. She pushed on his chest and he leaned back on his elbows, causing his shirt to fall away from his body. She reached underneath it, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head over his heart. Just for a minute she wanted the comfort of his body. Then the heat that flowed between them demanded her attention. This wasn’t about comfort. This was about raw need. Just Molly and Jason and nothing else.

      She pushed his shirt down his arms and he sat up to shrug out of it, then tossed it aside. Pressing him back until he was sitting on the desk, she climbed onto his lap. She tunneled her fingers through his close-cropped hair, drawing his mouth toward hers. Then she sucked his bottom lip between her teeth and kissed him slowly. Taking her time to explore him.

      She shifted back, resting her butt on his thighs as she

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