Their mouths were fused together each time she climbed to the heights of his length and then plunged down the cliff to engulf him in his entirety. This time, their lovemaking lasted longer and the need a.s.sociated with it wasn't quite so great.

James recognized the stutter in Mandy's hips when it started to build and he matched his pace to hers from beneath. They dropped over the chasm together this time, their bodies entwined and weary, their hearts joined and happy.

Once their shudders subsided, James stood never releasing her from his arms and staggered around the side of the bed. He reached down, pulling the covers back so he could climb beneath them.

He was careful when he situated them for sleep, pulling Mandy completely on top of him so he could wrap one hand in her hair and hold her lower waist in place with the other. His heart was still hammering, and sleep was threatening to overtake him, but he had to be sure.

"Are you okay?"

Mandy sighed, snuggling closer to him. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For everything."

"We'll talk about that later," James said. "I need to know that ... I need to know that I didn't hurt you."

"You didn't hurt me," Mandy said. "You could never hurt me not in that way. You made me feel better. You always make me feel better."

James brushed a kiss across her forehead as he pressed her head down so her ear was situated over his heart. "I need to hold you so I can sleep," James said. "I just ... you're probably not tired."

"I need you to hold me," Mandy said. "I've slept more in the past week than I have in the prior month, and yet I'm still exhausted."

"I guess I didn't think about that," James said, yawning. "Then sleep right here, baby. Just ... stay with me."

"I love you," Mandy admitted, tightening her arm around his waist.

"I know," James murmured into her hair. "It's really nice to hear and you have no idea how much I needed to hear it today. You can tell me again in a few hours when we wake up and do this all over again."

Mandy chuckled, although she was losing the battle with sleep, too. "Okay."

"Okay," James agreed, his body sinking into sleep.

"James?"

"Hmmm."

"Was that a bouquet of stuffed sharks on the dining room table?"

"I was playing to my audience and I was desperate," James said. "Sue me."

This time, when he slipped into sleep, James Hardy's nightmares were kept at bay by the belligerent blonde on his chest who refused to let them by. For the first time in almost ten days, James found respite in slumber and the arms of the one thing he loved beyond all else.

Things were finally better.

Thirteen.

Sunday morning found Mandy in a state of bliss she worried she'd never discover again. The warm man underneath her was the reason why although the bright light of day cast a harsh glare on her unruly actions from two days before.

She shifted when she realized James was awake, and he was texting with his arms around her. "What are you doing?"

"Telling Grady to bring breakfast when he comes," James said, pushing the "send" b.u.t.ton and then dropping the phone on the nightstand. "You have nothing here, and I'm not eating leftover pizza for breakfast." Once his attention was on her fully, he greeted her with a sweet kiss. "Morning."

"Morning," she murmured, his words slowly sinking in. "Why is Grady coming? I thought we would have the day here together, just the two of us."

"We are going to have the afternoon together, just the two of us," James said. "After we clean this place out and get you home."

Mandy's brain was always jumbled in the morning, but she was especially slow today. "Clean this place out? I don't understand."

"Well, you see, this comes back to that whole men-and-women-thinking-differently thing," James said, pressing another kiss to her forehead. "I was under the impression we were already living together. I didn't realize you didn't feel the same way."

"I ... ." Mandy bit her lower lip. She wasn't sure what he was getting at.

"I kept hearing you say that we technically lived apart when you explained our living situation to people," James said. "I didn't think much of it until you fled to your place instead of telling me what you were feeling.

"There's not going to be any more of this your place and my place c.r.a.p," James said. "There's going to be home, where we live together. When you're angry, we're going to talk about it at our home. When I'm angry, we're going to talk about it at our home. There's not going to be any more of this running away from each other. I can't take it."

Mandy remained silent.

"And, when I texted Ally to make sure that I wasn't being a dumba.s.s on that front, too," James continued. "She told me that I was supposed to ask you to move in with me. I don't feel like risking that, though, so you're just moving in with me. Period."

Mandy lifted her head up, balancing herself on James' chest. "What about ... what about the house?"

James ran his hand over her tangled hair, his chocolate eyes confused. "What house?"

"I didn't tell you last night because I thought we were dealing with enough for one evening, but one of the other reasons I was convinced you wanted to ... get out ... was because you didn't want to help me look for a house," Mandy said. "I love your ... our ... place above the office, but it's not really a house, and it's kind of small. I kept asking you to come look at houses with me, figuring we could pick one out together, but you kept putting it off."

James' chest rumbled with laughter. "Oh, we are so screwed up. I didn't want to help with the house hunting because I thought that meant you wanted to move out on your own. I didn't want us separated."

The invisible hand clamped around Mandy's heart released its grip. "Really?"

"Really," James said, smacking her bottom lightly. "I think this further ill.u.s.trates that you and I need to talk to one another instead of holding things in and trying to figure each other out separately. I don't think like a chick and despite your filthy mind, which I love, by the way you really don't think like a man."

"So, wait, we're really cleaning this place out today?"

"No, you're watching and supervising," James said. "My brothers, Sophie, Emma, and I are cleaning this place out today. We can put most of it in storage at the office until we find a house."

"You're really going to help me look for a house?"

"I'm really going to help us look for a house," James corrected. "And, you're going to have to settle for living in the apartment until all of this is taken care of."

Mandy mulled his answer over. "Are you going to tell me what's going on with the case?"

James nodded, blowing out a deep breath. "I am. You were kind of out of it before, and I didn't want to give you anything else to freak out about. I realize that was probably the wrong thing to do, because that's what started the whole secrecy thing, and that spiraled out of control really fast.

"I'm going to ask you to put your questions off until tomorrow," James continued. "I can only deal with one big thing at a time. Let's get this place packed up and all your stuff moved in at our place."

"And then we'll deal with this big thing for the rest of the afternoon," Mandy teased, wrapping her hand around his morning erection under the covers.

James groaned, shifting. "Ah ... well ... maybe we could get a jumpstart on that one right now."

"I thought you said Grady was coming?" Mandy brushed her lips across James' neck, not caring if Grady was in the same room watching them at this point.

James shifted to his side, keeping his arm under her waist. He moved his hand up and down her bare thigh, leaving a sensuous trail on her bare skin. They were face to face, so James took advantage of the situation and pressed his mouth to hers.

"We have a half hour before Grady gets here," he said. "Let's make it count."

Mandy nodded mutely as she slipped her tongue into his mouth. James ma.s.saged it with his own, lifting her left thigh with his hand so he could hook it over his hip. He then shifted closer to her, lowering his pelvis so he could press his length into her welcoming core.

He pushed forward, entering her fluidly, never moving his mouth from hers as he pumped rhythmically between her thighs. Once he was sure her leg would hold him securely and she wasn't in any pain from the position he moved his hand around and started to rub her mound in a tantalizing circular motion.

"Oh," Mandy sighed. "Oh."

"Oh," James agreed, sucking her bottom lip into his mouth. "Oh, my baby."

AFTER they were finished, they showered together quickly. James removed the bandage on Mandy's back so the warm water could cleanse the area. He helped her into a pair of yoga pants, a fresh bra, and a new tank top and then he had her sit down so he could tackle her hair.

"Just braid it," Mandy said.

"I don't know how to braid," James said.

"Then just put it in a ponytail."

The sound of knocking on the front door of the apartment grabbed James' attention. "Do not move. I'll be right back."

True to his word, he walked back into the dining room a few moments later with four curious and relieved faces behind him. He had the hairbrush in his hand, and a determined look on his face. "How hard can a braid be?"

Grady dropped the McDonald's bag he was carrying on the table and grabbed the brush from James' hand. "Let me handle the hair issues, shall we?"

James sighed, but he relinquished the hairbrush. Grady used his hip to clear him out of the way, focusing on Mandy. "You look better than yesterday."

"Thanks."

"You don't say that to a woman," Sophie said, smacking Grady on the arm lightly. "She always looks good."

"She looked crazy yesterday," Grady said, brushing through her hair and then dividing it into sections. "She was raving like a mad woman, and she looked like a reject from a 1950s asylum."

"She was tired and upset," James said, grabbing a new bandage and medicinal tape so he could cover the wound on her back. "Leave her alone."

Grady smirked as he finished his braid, tying the end with a simple rubber band. "Voila!"

Sophie glanced down at his handiwork, impressed. "Where did you learn that?"

"I'm a man of many talents, my dear," he replied.

"Ally and Mandy used to make him do French braids when they were teenagers," Finn replied. "He got good at them. He'd even add ribbons in to match their cheerleading uniforms. He was like another sister for a time."

Emma fought the urge to laugh as Grady shot his younger brother the finger. "So, you guys are finally moving in together?"

"I was under the impression we were already living together," James said. "Ally set me straight on a few things."

"She's good like that," Finn agreed. "She's the one who had to explain to me that when Emma said she wanted to take a bath alone that wasn't code for interrupting her for s.e.x."

Grady barked out a laugh. "When they take a bath alone it's so they can shave their legs, you idiot."

"I know that now," Finn said, his face rueful. "I might have screwed it up a time or two ... or five ... before Ally explained it to me."

Mandy laughed, leaning forward so James could finish taping up her back. He pulled her tank top back down and dropped a quick kiss on the back of her neck. "Maybe we should have Ally put a manual together."

"That could only help," Grady agreed. "So, where do we start?"

"We start with a quick breakfast," James said, glancing around the apartment as he pulled breakfast sandwiches and hash browns out of the bag. "Do you want all this furniture?"

"What do you mean?" Mandy asked.

"Well, no offense, baby, but I'm thinking we should just dump most of this stuff and buy new for the house when we find one," James replied.

"House?" Grady raised an eyebrow. "You guys are buying a house together?"

"We are," James said, no trace of guile or embarra.s.sment on his features. "When all of this is settled, we're going to buy a house."

"Doesn't that freak you out?"

James glanced down at Mandy's curious face, rubbing his thumb across her cheek briefly. "After this past week, nothing freaks me out. Nothing."

Fourteen.

A week later, things were back to normal. Mostly.

Mandy's cast was off, her st.i.tches were out, and the only remnants of the explosion were James' memories and her quickly healing back wound.

In addition to Mandy's sa.s.sy mouth and flirty att.i.tude returning, so had James' bossy nature.