Lila

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Lila lay in the bed, her entire body humming, and boneless. Dane's weight and heat pressed her from every angle, and she prayed the moment would never end. After crying her name, he'd slumped over her, his head buried in her neck, both of them breathing so hard she worried one of them might have a heart attack.

Why the hell hadn't she done that sooner?

No wonder everyone made such a fuss about it. What had she been thinking?

She'd been thinking she didn't really want to before she met Dane.

He took a deep breath, let it go and pushed up on one elbow. "Are you okay?" His voice was gravelly and sounded so sexy she was just about ready to go again.

"I think I can honestly say, I've never been better," she said stroking her fingers through his dark hair, pressing it back off his face so she could see him clearly. He leaned his head on his fist and gave her that lopsided smile that she loved.

"Is it… always like that?" she asked shyly.

Dane eyes widened. "I can honestly say, not on your fucking life."

She laughed, then marveled at the sensation of him, still inside her. His eyes closed for a minute and he swallowed, but when he opened them, he pulled her chin around and kissed her.

"You are the best I've ever had," he whispered, nuzzling her jaw. "No one else has even come close."

She snorted. "Now I know you're lying."

"No, Lila, seriously." He held her chin until she met his eyes. His face was deadly serious, his brow lined. "Never before. It's never been like that. And to think I've got you for the rest of my life…" He trailed off and his throat bobbed and she put a hand to his cheek, now scratchy with stubble. She'd have scrapes in a bunch of interesting places tomorrow. She loved it.

He just stared at her like he couldn't find the words. But it was okay, because he didn't need to.

"Me too," she murmured. "Me too, Dane."

They lose the next half hour or more in talking, kissing, touching, just finally, completely, being together. Lila found her eyes pinching more than once for sheer joy. And something in Dane had softened, like he'd broken through some barrier and given up on his anger.

The thought brought a passing sense of dread, a reminder of what waited for them tomorrow—and possibly every day. But she pushed it away. It was a thought for tomorrow. For another day. Not for now.

And unbelievably, Dane seemed to think the same.

He didn't mention his father, the picture, or the press once. Instead he talked about dreams from his childhood. They laughed about fights he'd been having with Chris for over twenty years. And spoke about love.

Lila never wanted it to end.

She refused to look at the clock, to begin calculating how many hours they still had by themselves. At some point Dane made them some food and brought it back to the bed—with a quip about how she needed to keep her strength up, and his eyebrows waggling like a puppet's.

Lila laughed, then ate like a horse, even letting Dane feed her grapes one by one, though she felt completely stupid doing it.

Soon they were kissing again, and Lila's heart immediately began to race. Her stomach trilled as if the fire he'd lit in her earlier still had coals, just waiting for fuel to bring them flickering back.

"Are you sure?" he whispered at one point. She just rolled her eyes and pulled him back into the kiss and showed him how sure she was.

A minute later, Dane had just buried his hand in her hair and pressed her back against the pillows again when he suddenly raised his head and looked at her. "Wait! I have an idea!"

"What?"

Flustered because he'd rolled off the bed and run out of the room, Lila sat up, heedless of her nakedness. "I thought we already had a pretty good idea going," she called after him. But a minute later he was trotting back down the hall towards her, carrying that blanket from earlier. Lila smiled. The feel of that softness on her skin had been delicious. Was he thinking about bringing it into the bed? She wouldn't argue.

She took the opportunity to admire his chest and shoulders again, cursing the dim light that was a great shade for her own imperfections, but a frustration when it came to looking at the sculpt of his impressive figure.

But when he got to the bed, he didn't leap on top of her. Instead, he held up a hand and said, "Don't move!" then opened one of the drawers in the room and dug through it to pull out a pair of long, soft pants.

"What are you doing?" she cried. "We just got married. I'm pretty sure you're contractually obligated to stay naked for at least ten hours."

He was just pulling on a thick hoodie and as his head popped out of it, he grinned lazily. "Not unless you want me to freeze off some very important equipment," he snorted.

"Freezing? Dane, what are you up to?"

He came back to the bed and picked up the blanket, then walked around to be on her side, throwing it around her shoulders, then tucking it underneath her before lifting her into his chest. She shrieked and grabbed at his shoulders. "What are you doing?"

He was busily tucking the blanket around her from her neck to her toes, completely hiding her, as if someone might see her. "I told you," he said cheekily, "we don't want to freeze off anything important."

"Where are we going?" she asked, actually worried.

But he kissed her for a long moment then, just as she began to relax, he pulled his head back and grinned. "For a bath," he said, then swung her around and started out of the bedroom.

Despite her protests, Lila was actually tickled. He was so excited about his idea, he was a little kid. And he navigated the door to the apartment, and the narrow stairs more quickly this time.

Within minutes they were back in the Penthouse. Lila heaved a sigh of relief. She hadn't really thought he'd drop her, naked, on the walkway. But it was definitely good to be back under a familiar roof where there were walls. And clothes. Even if they were sixteen sizes too big for her.

But she was so happy, she just held on as he walked her through the Penthouse and back to his bedroom.

Their bedroom, she reminded herself. She was his wife.

Holy shit.

But he didn't drop her on the bed as she expected. No, he walked her through to the bathroom suite, past the shower and tub she'd thought they were headed for, through the dressing room beyond, to yet another tiled room she'd never seen.

Dane was grinning like a kid at Christmas. "I saved this," he said smugly as she frowned at the room. "You can thank me later. Wife," he added after a moment.

She grabbed his face and kissed him as he kicked a door open and walked her into a completely black room—no windows. He had some trouble finding the light switch without putting her down, but after a few tries, he got there and the lights flooded on, and Lila's mouth dropped open.

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