“I want to take you in the shower, position you with your hands on the wall and legs spread and take you from behind while the warm water pours over us.”

“Oh, yes,” Nicole gasped, pushing against the shower door and hips moving as she rode his hand.

“Then I want to take you in every position, in every room of this house,” Jake slid a second finger inside of her, his thumb still playing with her as he moved his fingers in and out, in and out.

“I want to fuck you until neither of us can stand up,” he growled, his finger thrusts becoming harder and swifter. “I want to be drenched in your pleasure, drown in it. I want . . .” He broke off abruptly and Nicole didn’t need to ask why. Her whole body was convulsing with pleasure as release crashed over her and she knew it had hit him too.

This time Nicole knew the screaming in her ears was herself as well as Jake, but it was just a brief awareness before the darkness began to claim her. She saw the floor coming up to meet her, realized she was falling forward into the shower, but couldn’t do a damn thing about it and didn’t particularly care at that moment. She never felt the blow when she landed.

Nicole woke up in her bed. For one moment she thought Jake must have woken first again and carried her there, but then she shifted her arm and her hand bumped up against something solid and warm in bed next to her. She turned her head swiftly. Jake was beside her, dead to the world. Apparently, he’d woken up long enough to carry her here, but this time hadn’t left.

Nicole stared at him silently. Dawn’s early light was coming through the open blinds and splashing across them both. He was a handsome man. She’d noted that from the first, of course, but now, with him unconscious and unaware, she could look her fill. Until now she’d only taken quick glances here and there, not wanting to get caught gawking at the man. But now she could gawk to her heart’s content and did. Jake had such a nice face . . . and those lips . . . A little shiver went through her as she recalled the various things his lips had done to her. The man hadn’t just been gifted with a pretty face and nice body, he knew how to use the gifts he’d been given.

That, or the fact that they both seemed to experience the other’s pleasure had transformed him into an amazing lover.

The thought made her consider that aspect briefly. It was pretty amazing. Seriously . . . it rocked. But it was over so damned fast. It was like having to gobble down chocolate cake when you wanted to savor it. And it was so overwhelming that they hadn’t yet even actually had sex.

Nicole considered that fact briefly, wondering if they would ever get past the foreplay. The passion came on so hard and fast, she suspected they wouldn’t at this rate.

Her gaze traveled down his body to where the sheet lay across his groin and she eyed it briefly, aware that she hadn’t really got much of a look at it. She’d had two mind-blowing orgasms and hadn’t really seen much other than his chest. The first time . . . well, it was hard to look at something when it was in your mouth, and the second time he’d been behind her.

Nicole’s gaze slid back to his face, but he was still dead to the world so her gaze dropped again and she contemplated the situation. She wanted to peek. She also wanted to feel him inside her. She wanted to be facing him, connected to him as they rode the wild wave of passion that rose up in them both, but she suspected Jake was too considerate for that to happen. Judging by his actions so far in prepping the coffee for her and making her snacks, Nicole suspected Jake was the type to always start with foreplay and as long as he did that, she wasn’t likely to get to the main attraction anytime soon . . . unless she took the situation in hand.

“And I don’t mean that literally,” Nicole murmured to herself and sat up. The action pulled the sheet away from his upper chest, and she tugged it the rest of the way clear of his body, then released a little sigh as she peered at him. Damn, the man looked good everywhere. Nice chest, flat stomach, nice legs and nice in between. Those nanos definitely kept their host at their peak. The man could have posed for Michelangelo or Rodin. He was almost as pale as marble too, she noted, and slid her fingers lightly along his hip.

Jake might be asleep, but his body reacted immediately to the touch, his penis growing and hardening. Nicole watched, eyes widening, and then brushed her fingers lightly over him again so that he continued to grow.

A sleepy murmur drew her gaze to Jake’s face. When his eyes started to open, Nicole quickly shifted and threw one leg over to mount his hips. She didn’t take him inside her right away, but glanced to his face and waited as he woke up.

Jake blinked sleepily at her and then confusion covered his face. It passed quickly though, his eyes growing wide as he noted her position.

“Your eyes,” Nicole breathed with surprise. “The silver is growing and they’re glowing.

“The nanos,” he said simply, his voice sleep-roughened. His hands rose to clasp her hips briefly, and then he slid one around and down to slip it between her legs. “Good morning.”

Nicole moaned, and promptly lowered herself onto him, only to moan again as he filled her. It had been more than a year since Nicole had left her husband and she hadn’t had sex since then, but that wasn’t the only reason he felt so big. She had noted that while Jake didn’t seem unusually long, he had girth and that girth filled her completely, even stretching her a bit. God, it felt good.

“Damn you feel good,” Jake muttered through his teeth, both hands at her hips again.

Since that was exactly what she’d been thinking, Nicole gave a breathless laugh and then began to move.

Much to Nicole’s surprise, she was the first to wake up again. This time, strong winter sunlight was glaring in through the sliding glass doors and onto them. Nicole automatically got up to close the blinds and then turned to peer at the now shadowed bed.

She eyed Jake curiously, as she realized that the light earlier and this time hadn’t seemed to disturb him . . . and he’d gone shopping with her in daylight. Obviously, that was another difference between vampires and immortals; sunlight didn’t bother immortals.

Nicole crossed the two feet to the bed, intending to climb back in, but she wasn’t really tired now. She was thirsty though . . . and her throat was a bit sore. It wasn’t the only place she was sore. It seemed that all this caressing and having sex after a year of abstinence was causing some tenderness. Interesting, she thought and then walked around the bed and through the en suite to the walk in closet. Her gaze slid to the shower as she passed through the en suite and Nicole briefly considered taking a shower, but suspected if Jake woke up to find her naked in the shower, she wouldn’t be leaving the room for another little while.

The idea held more than a little appeal, but Nicole was tender enough that she feared another round with Jake right now would just make it worse. Besides, she was thirsty . . . and hungry now too.

In the closet, Nicole pulled out a pair of plaid pajama bottoms and a bra and T-shirt to don, deliberately avoiding underwear this time to give her lower half a break. She dressed in the walk-in closet, her gaze slipping over the seventeen-foot-long and seven-foot-wide room. Built-in drawers were at either side of the far end of the room and a washer and dryer sat against the wall behind her on the other side of the door from the bathroom. But the rest of the room was lined with both upper and lower hanging rods, each side partitioned into two parts along each wall . . . except directly beside her, where there was only an upper rod to allow for robes and dresses to hang.

Nicole grimaced as she peered at the mostly empty rods. It had been stuffed to brimming when Rodolfo had been there. The man was a clothes horse, with so many shirts and pants he’d had a whole selection that still had the tags on. He’d taken up all of one side and almost half of the other with his clothes when they’d lived together, but now her own clothes barely filled half of one side . . . and that was with the clothes spread out to prevent wrinkling. That had never bothered her before, but now Nicole was thinking maybe she should buy herself some nice outfits to wear out on dates and such and perhaps some nice nightgowns and sexy underwear and—

Nicole stilled. What the heck was she thinking? She’d just got out of a relationship. She was not ready to get into another one. And she’d promised herself another six months before she’d even consider dating, but here she was, a couple of rounds of bouncy bed with Jake and she was ready to go out and buy clothes? Including sexy underwear? God, she was such an idiot. And a ho’ too, Nicole told herself viciously. She’d slept with her cook/housekeeper after barely knowing him a couple days. What was the matter with her?

Nicole knew that was harsh. She knew too that lots of women saw nothing wrong with sleeping with someone they’d just met in a bar and didn’t know from Adam. And she’d agree . . . for others. But Nicole knew herself well enough to know that she couldn’t just have sex. She would get emotionally involved, and the last thing she needed right now was to get emotionally involved with anyone.

Angry at herself and grumpy now, Nicole finished dressing and slipped out of the closet. She practically tiptoed through the bedroom in an effort not to wake Jake. She wasn’t ready to see him just now. She needed some time to sort herself out and decide how to handle this situation with him.

That might include firing him as her cook/housekeeper, Nicole admitted to herself unhappily. But she knew it was the smartest thing to do . . . because she very much feared that as long as he was around, she wouldn’t be able to resist playing more bouncy bed with the man. The sex had been that good. Hell, if she weren’t sore, Nicole would probably be crawling on the man right now.

“Jake isn’t here to be a cook/housekeeper.”

Nicole nearly leapt out of her skin at that deep rumble as she entered the kitchen. Whirling, she stared at Dante Notte. The man stood two steps behind her, apparently having followed her from . . . well, somewhere. The living room, probably, she thought, but hadn’t noticed him.

“You were busy thinking about bouncy bed with Jake and how to avoid it,” he offered helpfully.

“To avoid getting involved with him,” Tomasso added, stepping into view behind his twin.

Nicole flushed and turned sharply away to walk to the refrigerator. “Please stop reading me.”

“It’s hard not to. New life mates are often rather loud with their thoughts,” Dante explained.

“And in other ways,” Tomasso muttered, and Nicole felt her blush deepen as she recalled screaming her head off with pleasure, not once, but three times now. She supposed that explained why her throat was sore.

“My apologies,” she said stiffly as she opened the refrigerator door in search of something to drink. A bare second later though, she frowned and glanced to the men. “What do you mean, Jake isn’t here to be my cook/housekeeper? That’s his job.”

“That’s what you think,” Tomasso said with amusement.

“What do you mean, that’s what I think?” Nicole asked, scowling.

“Well, you think he’s here to be your cook/housekeeper, while he thinks he’s here to be your bodyguard,” Dante said with amusement.

Nicole’s eyes narrowed. “And which is true? Why did Marguerite bring him here?”

“Because you’re his life mate,” Tomasso said as if that should be obvious.

“You’re telling me that Marguerite thought I would be a life mate to Jake and—” Nicole began.

“She knew you would be a life mate to Stephano,” Tomasso corrected.

“Marguerite has a certain gift about such things,” Dante informed her quietly. “She has put together several life mates over the last few years.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure she has it wrong this time. I—” Nicole began but Dante interrupted.

“Please try to remember that we can read your mind and know when you’re lying . . . even to yourself,” he said solemnly.

Nicole slammed the refrigerator door closed with more violence than was necessary and walked over to sit at the table. Propping her elbows on the table, she dropped her face into her hands and scrubbed her eyes almost painfully with the heels of her hands. She did it hard enough that she almost saw stars.

“You know Marguerite is not wrong,” Dante said quietly, settling at the table on one side of her as Tomasso claimed the chair on the other side. “Jake told you that he cannot read or control you and that the lack of those abilities is a sign of a life mate. But that aside, you enjoyed the life-mate shared pleasure, and even if you didn’t know that was another symptom, you knew it was special enough to mean something.”

Nicole grimaced. Yeah, she’d known that was pretty special. Not only had she never experienced anything like it before, she suspected it wasn’t even possible, at least between two mortals. Still, she shook her head. “I—”