Page 107 of Dark Lover

He gave her a look which said he was sorry he hadn’t died.

She trembled. “Ian, you survived. You lived. And now you need to move on, because you have a lot to live for.”

He started to laugh at her. “Ah, yes, my fine homes, my fancy cars, the money, the art, the sex…”

“You might like your life a whole lot more if you had a family in it.”

“Well, I don’t and I never will.” Sweat beaded on his temples.

“I hate to argue with you, but guess what? Brie’s your stepmother, Aidan’s your father, and any kids they have will be your brothers and sisters.” He started. “So you do have a family, one dying to be given permission to care about you.”

Ian stalked to the chamber’s window, pushed open the glass pane, and stared at the starry sky outside.

Sam breathed in the scent of the Highland night. She could smell the loch and pine. She went over to him. “I didn’t come up here to fight.”

He kept staring outside. A shadow crossed the moon. When he didn’t speak, Sam took a moment to look at his perfect profile. Then she looked at his broad and bare shoulders, his chest. She was acutely aware of his heat.

He slowly said, “I shouldn’t have come here, not even to ask fer their help.”

“That is what family is for,” Sam said, laying her hand on his shoulder. His skin was warm and smooth. Her skin was turning hot, everywhere.

He glanced at her, his eyes beginning to lose some of their anger, taking on the light of sexual interest instead. “That’s what yer family is for.”

Sam didn’t quite smile. It had been an insane day, but they’d survived.

The night was only just beginning now.

“Did ye enjoy seeing yer sister and Brianna?” he asked softly.

Sam slid her hand down his bulging bicep, his muscular forearm. The muscles tightened beneath her caress. “Yeah. It was great. So you were worried about me, huh?”

His gaze was unwavering. “Ye can take care of yerself.”

“That’s why you leapt through time to save me. Brie said you were beside yourself,” she prompted, teasing now. But she was breathless.

He gave her an incredulous look. “Brie imagined it…an’ ye escaped.”

“With a little out of the ordinary help.” She couldn’t look away. “I saw you. When they had me in that surgical chamber, I saw you.”

His eyes hardened. “Did they touch ye at all?”

“No.” She almost smiled. “You do have great timing, Ian.”

His mouth curved. “An’ ye want to test it again.”

“I sure do. Maybe my memory doesn’t serve me correctly. Maybe your timing isn’t what I think it is.”

The curve of his lips increased. So did the gleam in his eyes. “Ye know ye recall correctly.”

“And then there’s that debt I owe you. The one you have yet to collect,” she whispered, smiling. Her heart was thundering.

Why even try to resist? Sam laid a finger on the waistband just above his fly, pressing down. “Come and get it, Maclean,” she whispered.

His smile vanished. He leaned toward her, his eyes blazing.

It crossed her mind that they still hadn’t kissed, not since that first time at Hemmer’s party, in spite of all the sex.

He looked at her mouth.