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“Tomorrow night, then,” Marissa said, wrapping her arms around herself.

V nodded, then looked at Butch. “I imagine you two are going to want some privacy today. I’m going to crash here at the main house, so you have the Pit to yourselves.”

Butch was so stunned out, he couldn’t make sense of anything. “Marissa, are you—”

“Yes, I’m sure. And I’m terrified.” She walked past him, heading for the doorway. “Now, I’d like to go to the gatehouse if you don’t mind.”

He grabbed his shirt and went after her.

As they went along, he took her elbow…but had the sense that she was leading him.

When they got to the Pit, Butch could not read Marissa’s mood. She was quiet, but she’d marched across the courtyard like a soldier, nothing but strength and focus.

“I’d like a drink,” she said as he shut the door.

“Okay.” This at least he could handle. Assuming they had anything but hard liquor in the house.

He went into the kitchen and cracked the fridge. Oh, man…decaying bags of Taco Hell and Arby’s. Mustard packets. Two inches of milk that was now a solid. “I’m not sure what we’ve got. Um…water—”

“No, I want a drink.”

He looked up over the icebox door. “All…right. We have Scotch and vodka.”

“I’ll try the vodka.”

As he poured her some Grey Goose over ice, he watched her walk around. She checked out V’s computers. The Foosball table. The plasma screen TV.

He went over to her. He wanted her in his arms; he gave her the glass.

She put it to her mouth, tilted her head back, took a long one…and coughed until her eyes watered. While she choked, he maneuvered her onto the couch and sat down next to her.

“Marissa—”

“Shut up.”

Okaaay. He clasped his hands together as she struggled with the Goose. After she got down about half an inch, she put the stuff on the coffee table with a grimace.

She tackled him so fast, Butch never saw it coming. One second he was staring at his tightly laced fingers. The next, he was pressed into the sofa and she was straddling him and…oh, God, her tongue was in his mouth.

She felt so damned good, but the vibe was all wrong. The desperation and the anger and the fear just weren’t appropriate background music. They were going to end up further apart if they kept going.

He held her back from him, even though his cock screamed in protest. “Marissa—”

“I want to have sex.”

He closed his eyes. Christ, so did he. All night long. Except not like this.

He took a deep breath, trying to frame the words right…and when he opened his lids, she’d pulled off her turtleneck and was working the clasp of a black bra that totally knocked him out.

His hands tightened on her waist as those satin cups came off her and her nipples tightened in the chill. He leaned forward, ready to put his lips to the first piece of her he hit, when he stopped. He was not going to take her like this. The air was too hard between them.

He stopped her hands as they went to his pants. “Marissa…no.”

“Don’t say that.”

He sat up, putting her back from his body. “I love you.”

“Then don’t stop me.”

He shook his head. “I won’t do this. Not as we are now.”

She stared at him in disbelief. Then snatched her wrists out of his hold and turned her head from him.

“Marissa—”

She shrugged off his hands, batting them away. “I can’t believe this. Our one night together and you say no.”

“Let me…Christ…let me hold you. Come on, Marissa.”

She rubbed her eyes. Laughed in a tragic little burst. “I am destined to go to my grave a virgin, aren’t I? Sure, technically I’m not, but—”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t be with you.” She glanced over at him, tears glimmering on her lashes. “I just…Not with the anger. It’ll pollute the whole thing. I want it to be…special.”

So what if that line was right out of a high school playbook. It was the truth.

“Baby, why don’t we just go into my bedroom and lie down in the dark.” He handed her back the turtleneck and she put the thing to her breasts. “If we end up doing nothing but staring at the ceiling all night long, at least we’ll be together. And if something