Free Vital Signs by Em Petrova Page A

pitched and heaved on a white-capped wave—and came with a yell.
    Hips churning, he shook with a roar of completion. Liquid heat filled her. His breath sounded in her ear as he pumped his orgasm into her. It seemed to go on forever, and he shuddered.
    No matter what he said, she worried for his chest wounds. Had he broken them open again? The one on his back she hadn’t looked at for a while, and she had no idea if it was healed as well as the one high on his pec.
    “Corey.” She grappled for his hand on the mattress where he braced himself.
    “Hmmm.” The noise was music to her soul. Total completion. If she’d surrendered then he’d gone down after a long, hard battle. Her smile spread across the sheets.
    He squeezed her fingers back and toppled into the bed, disjoining them and pulling her against his hard body. The perspiration on their skin mingled, but it was a pleasant, intimate feeling.
    She rested her head on his shoulder. “Your chest?”
    “Fine,” he panted.
    “You’re not too tired?”
    He cracked an eye and gave her a dirty look—one he’d perfected over the time period she’d known him.
    “Okay, I’m nagging.”
    He smiled and flexed his arms, drawing her closer. When their breathing fell into the same rhythm, she relaxed against him. “Corey?”
    “Yeah, baby?”
    “You weren’t kidding. I’m very satisfied.”
    He brushed his lips over her temple. “Just very?”
    “Very, very.”
    He chuckled, the sound burrowing deep into her psyche. Whatever he’d been fighting to stay away from her had been vanquished. He didn’t seem eager to leave anytime soon.
    After several more silent moments, his voice came, low. “You surprise me, angel.”
    She started and twisted to stare into his eyes. “Why?”
    He ran his hand down her body to her ass cheek. She winced, her tissues sensitive after the spanking. His touch softened and he stroked her into a melted puddle of gooseflesh.
    It was as if she were the satellite and he the sky. She belonged with him.
    “You surprise me because you enjoyed everything I did to you. Every bite, every spank.” His dark words thrilled her. Heat climbed her cheeks as he gazed at her. “Don’t be embarrassed by it—I’ve never been so turned on in my life. Seeing you responding to me…” He shook his head. “But what surprises me is your stress. I never would have guessed that your job leaves you feeling that way.”
    She pushed onto her elbow to look at his face. “Don’t you feel that way too?”
    “Of course. But you don’t let on. I never would have guessed, and that’s wrong of me. I should have asked you about your days, especially when you were coming to help me. And of course, I was just giving you the lion with a thorn in its paw act.”
    She smiled. Maybe this was something that came with age—the ability to admit his shortcomings. It was sexy as hell, she had to say. Along with the silver in his hair and the few lines around his eyes and mouth. Those traits only pointed to his experience, and she’d just learned he was very capable.
    “Don’t feel bad about it. It’s my job and I do it gladly. I enjoy helping people, but at times it’s hard.” Like today, she’d spent twenty minutes resuscitating a patient who could not be revived. Finally being forced to give up and let the patient go was a terrible feeling and one that was hard to shake.
    “I know how you feel, angel. C’mere.” He drew her head down to rest on his chest again. “You know that I’ll always listen to you, right? Talk to me about your day, Sarita.”
    A smile spread through her heart and reached her lips. She turned her mouth into his salty-sweet skin and pressed a kiss there. “I’m here for you too, Corey. You can tell me what’s going on at work.”
    “Not much so far, as I haven’t been there for weeks.” She sensed the strain behind his words.
    “Soon, though.” She waited for him to mention the arson investigation but he remained silent.
    “The