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MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 162

she thought she could borrow Tyler but you weren’t supposed to have any fun on the side either.

I don’t know what to make of her, one minute she’s doing all she can to destroy you and the

next, she is being all sisterly with her love and protection. Just know that I am not going to let

you go, Samantha. You’re mine if you stay here with me.”

“I don’t want to be Tyler’s anymore, so that won’t be an issue.”

“Are you sure?” He cupped her face gently with his hands. She had never known that

Devlin could be this tender. She put her hands on his.

“As sure as I could ever be. If you wanted me to, I would readily become the next Lady

Devlin.”

His eyes sparked. “Really?” he asked. “I think I just might have to take you up on that,

Star.”

“Star? That’s a different endearment.”

“You’re my shining beacon. You were the light that pulled me back at my darkest hour,

and I could not have wished for anyone better.”

She thrilled at his words. She’d finally found what she needed. She had finally given

into destiny, shattering the lies that surrounded her for so long. Most would say she was

behaving erratically by jumping so quickly into another man’s arms but she hadn’t really been

Tyler’s for a long time. Even after she’d saved his neck from the gallows there had been an

invisible barrier between them.

“Maybe we never should have reconciled,” she murmured, shoving Tyler to the back of

her mind.

“After this, as I said before you will never be able to reconcile with Tyler. He isn’t your

husband, anymore…not legally, and judging by the ardent fervor in your eyes not emotionally

either. I won’t be your man on the side, Samantha.”

She smiled. “So, let me get this straight, no British beefcake on the side for me, huh? I

guess I’ll just have to settle for you as my main dish. Just don’t think I will change how I react

to you when we are not behind closed doors.”

“Why would I ever think that, Samantha? I know full well you will not change. I just

hope you’ll know that I do not regard you the same way I did before.”

“Let me guess, you used to think I was a cold hearted frigid witch of a bitch.”

He smiled, his hands roaming up and down her back. “I think we’ll have to remove you

of this very bothersome leather coat of yours. Leather might feel sensual to the touch but I want

to feel your skin against mine, I am already half exposed to your eyes.”

Turning away from him, she quickly took off her leather jacket and threw it on the

nearest chair. “I just realized I don’t have any clothes on this ship,” she laughed.

“The
Excalibur
is close. I will go and get you what you need when you need it.”

“Johanna won’t be happy with me and Charlotte....”

“Since when did you care what others thought of you, Samantha? You told me on more

than one occasion that you didn’t give a rat’s ass what I thought of you.”

“That’s because I didn’t want you thinking of me too much. I was afraid of what it

would lead you to do.”

“If you thought I was turned off by you, Samantha you are sorely mistaken. From the

first time you blew my life apart I was attracted to you. I would have taken you to my bed far

before this, except I don’t think you’d be willing and that doesn’t turn me on.”

She smiled. “You said you would not be my man on the side, well, I won’t be one of your

many women that you run either.”

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His eyes twinkled. “No other woman will share my bed as long as you share it. Why

would I even want to think of any other woman?” His eyes sobered. He kissed her long and

hard, she nipped his lower lip with her teeth.

“We’ll either be each other’s downfall or we will make each other by this union,” he

mused.

She smiled. “Don’t worry, being with me will not ruin you. Let me just call it a hunch.”

“I won’t let you reform me.”

“How ever would I begin to reform such a scoundrel and a rake? You’re as devilish as

they come, Dev. You’re a real bad boy with a true heart of gold. Besides, I always was the bad

girl in the family. I might be worried you’re going to try to reform me. I say things that

shouldn’t be said, I do things that can drive a man wild, and I am addicted to coffee and danger!”

He pulled her shirt out from where it had been tucked into her pants and ran his hands up

underneath it. “You might be a bad girl but you feel so good,” he murmured huskily. He took his

hands and gently undid the hooks of her bra.

The cotton of her shirt rubbed against her naked breasts making her nipples pucker

tightly. She’d already been aroused but now.... He knew just how to push all of the right

buttons. His hands cupped her breasts, and he kneaded them gently making her almost crazy with

pent up desire. “They are like ripe little berries and now I am about to taste the forbidden fruit.

God definitely endowed you with a hefty blessing, Star.”

He kept avoiding the terms sweetheart and darling, and she knew why. “You call me Star

and what do I call you?” her head whirled.

“I call you Star because it’s something I doubt Tyler has ever called you.”

She paused as he kissed the valley between her breasts. “I will just keep calling you

Devlin, then, shall I? You don’t have to concern yourself about calling me sweetheart or darling

as long as you don’t say it in the tone that Tyler said it. Yuck. He always sounded like he

wanted to be somewhere else, I guess he did.” She sighed, the sharp pain of his infidelity searing

her like a hot poker.

He smirked, “Whatever makes you happy and whatever makes you happy makes me

happy.” His tongue swirled around her nipple, his hot licks driving passion through her. She was

almost breathless. Tears welled in her eyes as she thought back to Tyler. She’d given him her

heart and he’d served it right back to her on a silver platter. That bastard would pay. She would

make him pay. He’d never wanted her. When he’d left her once before, she should have let him

go. He’d made a laughingstock out of her. Her marriage coming to an end would probably

make the
Ice Comet Tabloids
.

Devlin didn’t seem like the sort of man to leave the women he loved. She doubted he

would ever feel that way toward her, but even if he didn’t, she could live with that. In fact, after

tonight, she just might swear off men all together.

As if he sensed her thoughts, he looked up at her with a frown, his eyes swirling with

passion.

“Swearing off men. You?” he laughed, circling his hands around her waist, he brought

her close to him so her breasts pressed against his chest. “I can’t wait to get you totally naked,

and you’re driving me up the wall with passion, but I have to ask.... Why can I sense your

thoughts?” Her heart slammed down in her gut. A smuggled sob escaped her.

“I was always afraid of this.” She drew in a deep shattering breath.

“Afraid of what? If you’re afraid of me, I can still walk away without too much difficulty,

granted I will need an extremely cold shower, I realize I come with a lot of baggage and our age

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 164

difference might scare you.”

“It’s not the age difference, it’s not your baggage…I mean, I always thought I would

spend my life with a man who wasn’t an intergalactic crime lord, but hey, you can’t always pick

the cards fate deals you. Two days ago, I believed I was with the man who made me complete. I

never wondered why he couldn’t sense my thoughts when we made love. I never wondered why

he could leave me so easily. When I was running to save Tyler I sensed him but not like I should

have sensed him. I never believed in the tales, but with you, you’re a game changer. You’re

making myth a reality.”

“Okay, I am a little lost here, your thoughts are so wild and random.”

“You won’t want to know what I have to tell you. You’ll be repulsed no doubt. I sort of

understand that I am just a conquest. Fucking me is one hell of a notch on your bedpost and I

admit, I would love to screw you as well, I think we’d be wicked together, but there’s still time

for you to escape everything that will happen if you do actually join with me.”

“By joining you mean intercourse, right?” he asked.

She nodded her head, “Yes. Already the connection between us is being forged, you can

sense my thoughts, you saw my pain when I saved you from the telepaths, but if you stay with

me, we will be linked until one of us dies, maybe even beyond death. I have never really put

much research into how the dynamic between someone like me and her twin heart works.”

“Twin heart?”

“Soul mate. That’s why you can hear my thoughts. You’ll always be able to if I want

you to and when we’re aroused like this, not only will my body be exposed to you but my mind

and soul will be as well!”

“Heavy,” he said dryly. “From lukewarm enemies to lovers in one fell swoop.

Interesting.”

“Tell me now if you want to run. I won’t hold it against you.”

“If I run will you ever find anyone else who can do what I can do with you?”

“If you mean have sex with me, probably. If you mean make passionate love to me in the

only way you would be able to—no. No one could take your place. This is why I have

continually pushed you away. I suspected it, I knew it as soon as we locked gazes, and I lived in

fear of it. If I hadn’t had Tyler in my life…if you hadn’t been involved with Johanna when we’d

first met. But then, come to think of it, you weren’t really involved with her at that point. You’d

only met her the day before. When you saw me, we both felt the fireworks and when I brushed

you off, you continued to pursue, Johanna. I couldn’t let you do that, could I?”

“That’s why you broke Johanna and me up.”

She let out a frustrated cry. He was right. “I had to break the two of you up. I knew she

wasn’t meant to be yours and I knew Dylan was meant to be hers. I am sorry. I am so sorry for

some of the things I have done in the past. I am sorry that I stayed with Tyler and that I didn’t

throw myself into your arms as soon as we met. I could have avoided a world of pain for both of

us.”

“We can’t go back and fix things in the past, Samantha. We all make decisions we

regret. I do not blame you, I am only mournful of the time we could have spent loving each

other instead of sniping at each other.”

“I suspect we might just continue to snipe at each other. Our relationship is a highly

combustible one.”

“Yeah, well, now when you make me almost mad I will be able to release my frustration

by throwing you into bed and not letting you out until you can say sweet nothings to me.”

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“Oh, really?” she laughed, covering his mouth with hers. “Well, here’s a sweet nothing,”

she murmured against his lips. “I would love for you to strip me down naked and make love to

me. Make me forget I ever knew Tyler Cassidy.”

“Who is Tyler Cassidy?” He smiled at her, as she helped him to strip her bare of her

boots, leather pants, leaving her only wearing her stockings that stopped just below her knee and

her underwear. She was so hot she was afraid she was going to make something else in the room

explode. She stood totally exposed to him, save for her underwear and stockings, which he had

yet to remove. Devlin looked shocked when he glanced back up into her eyes. “Your eyes are

glowing with a purple fire. Please tell me you won’t inadvertently cause me damage?”

“I won’t blow anything on you up. You should be immune to my powers once we join.”

“Whatever happens if we fight and you want away from me? You won’t be able to hurt

me.”

“Oh, well, I can still shoot you,” she explained. “I wouldn’t worry too much, I don’t think

the rate of divorce or estrangement is too high between lovers like us. Take me, Devlin. Take

me now hard and fast and with just the right amount of tenderness.”

He smiled, his eyes sparking with hunger. He moved over to a desk and swiped all of the

contents onto the floor. “Now, I have never seen that done before,” she said, her voice throaty.

Apprehension rippled through her. Tyler had never been a very adventurous lover, Devlin on the

other hand....

“Stop thinking about Tyler!” he said, his voice raising. She shivered, he really did seem

jealous. “Well, of course I am hellish jealous, Samantha. I am about to make love to you and all

you can think about is your ex-husband. I don’t want him to always be between us, I am not into

ménage a trois! I refuse to share you with anyone especially that little prick!”

She smiled. “Okay. I won’t think of Tyler purposefully but I just can’t help it, he has a

way of sneaking into my brain.”

“Well, why don’t you get ready for your adventure?” he asked, his voice dropping an

octave. Warmth coiled deep in her belly. She swallowed thickly, her breath quickening.

Hoisting her up onto the desk, he reached for her panties and worked them down her legs.

Tossing them aside, he stared at her like he was going to eat her up right there and then.