"I thought you said you had a key?" Nicholas asked grimly, his wary gaze sliding over the closed apartment doors in the hall outside Sam's apartment. "I do." Jo didn't even glance up from the lock she knelt before. "At home. The only thing I had in my pocket when we left so precipitously was my wallet. Don't worry, though, I've got this."

Nicholas shook his head and continued to watch the other doors, thinking he should have left her at the hotel for Bricker to catch, or, failing that, he should have taken her straight to the enforcer house. "It's a good thing you had all those tools in the van though. What do you use them for?" Jo asked as she fiddled with the lock.

"Stuff," he muttered, and she paused to glance at him, one eyebrow arched. Nicholas merely shrugged. He could have told her he hadn't used them for anything yet. They were all new, purchased that morning to replace the tools he'd lost with his old van, but why bother?

"Stuff, huh?" Jo asked dryly, and then turned back to what she was doing, saying, "It must be pretty technical stuff for you to have these tiny screwdrivers and-Got it," she interrupted herself happily as a click sounded. Retrieving the borrowed tools, she straightened and opened the door.

Nicholas followed her inside with relief, glancing around as she flipped a switch on the wall and a light burst to life overhead. His eyes widened as he saw that the apartment was still fully furnished. Sam hadn't yet taken out anything; even knickknacks and pictures still decorated the place. The decor was modern, the colors muted and calming.

"The pizza's probably cold by now," Jo said, turning into a room off the hall. "Sam has a microwave though."

Nicholas grunted and followed her into what turned out to be a kitchen. His gaze slid over clean white cupboards and stainless steel appliances and back to Jo as she crossed the room away from him.

"Look, we even have wine," she said happily, and he followed her gesture to a wine rack on the counter holding half a dozen bottles as Jo added, "Pop is better with pizza, but beggars can't be choosers, right?"

Nicholas glanced back to Jo as she opened a cupboard door and retrieved a couple of plates. She sounded anxious; the good cheer she was trying for seeming forced. He crossed the room, set the pizza on the counter, and then slid his arms around her from behind. Jo stiffened at once, and he pressed a kiss to her cheek and started to withdraw his arms, saying sadly, "You're afraid of me now."

"No." Jo released the plates she'd started to grab and caught at his hands to keep them where they were. She hesitated then, but finally sighed and assured him solemnly, "I'm not afraid of you, Nicholas. I'm more afraid of what you have to tell me."

He remained still for a moment, regret sliding through him. She had every right to fear what he had to tell her. Once Jo knew what he'd done, she wouldn't only be afraid of him, she'd no doubt loathe the very sight of him. The thought was painful to even consider and Nicholas tightened his hold on her briefly, holding her while he still could. He was about to turn her in his arms and kiss her when a scent reached his nose that made him frown and sniff delicately.

"What is it?" Jo asked, and tilted her head back to peer at him.

Nicholas lifted his head, pausing when he noted the glossy sheen on her hair. Withdrawing one arm from around her waist, he brushed a hand over the tightly bound strands, his fingers coming away greasy. Raising his hand, he sniffed at the oily liquid, and then glanced to her face, his eyebrows rising when he saw some on her cheek as well.

"What is it?" Jo asked again, frowning at the liquid he'd removed from her hair.

"Motor oil," Nicholas said wryly. "You must have got it on you when you were rolling around in the back of the van. It's old so I bought a bottle of oil in case..." His words died off as Jo stepped away from him to raise her hands to feel her hair. His gaze then dropped over the rest of her and he grimaced. She had it all over her. The bottle must have opened. The back of the van was probably covered with it now too. It looked like she'd rolled in it.

"Ew," Jo muttered, glancing down and catching sight of what he had. Sighing, she let her hands drop from her hair and moved past him. "I'm going to shower and find something less 'car mechanic' to wear. I'll be quick. You heat yourself some pizza and open the wine, I'll be right back."

Nicholas turned to watch her go, telling himself he'd best get used to it. He suspected soon she'd be walking away and not returning. When Jo disappeared from view, Nicholas turned to collect two plates and a couple of wineglasses. He set them on the counter and then moved to the wine rack to consider the selection as he heard a door close somewhere in the bowels of the apartment. It was followed by the muffled sound of running water that sounded far away, and Nicholas wondered where the bathroom was, and then frowned as he realized he hadn't seen anything of the apartment other than the kitchen.

Deciding it was in his best interests to check out the rest of the place and all the exits in case of problems, Nicholas turned from the wine rack to do a quick exploration. He passed back out into the hall, and then walked through the living room, noting the black leather and chrome furniture, and state-of-the-art entertainment system before continuing on into a hallway that had three doors off it. One door was closed, the sound of rushing water coming from beyond it.

The bathroom, obviously, Nicholas thought, and forced away the sudden image in his mind of Jo stripping her clothes and stepping under a steaming spray. It wasn't an easy task, mostly because he was enjoying the vision. Of course, he'd prefer the reality, but that was definitely out of the question. Jo would take her shower, he would let her eat and then tell her what he'd done to make himself a rogue, and quickly return her to the enforcer house when she requested it. Nicholas had no doubt she would.

Pushing that thought away as firmly as he had the image of Jo showering, Nicholas glanced into the first open door, and then flipped the light switch on. The room had been set up as an office with a desk, an expensive leather chair, and shelf after shelf of books, most of them legal in nature. He flipped off the light and moved on to the next room. This light was already on and the closet doors open to reveal the first signs that Sam had actually moved out. The closet held only a few items of clothing, what he suspected were rejects left behind when she'd taken the rest of her clothes. Hopefully Jo would be able to find something among them to replace her own oil-stained clothes.

His gaze slid to the bed next, taking in the voluptuous red satin comforter and arrangement of pillows on it. For one moment Nicholas envisioned Jo lying on that bed, her naked body pale against all that deep, rich red, and then he forced himself to look away and moved back out of the room to retrace his steps back to the kitchen.

Nicholas had reached the wine rack when the sound of the shower died. He glanced toward the door, but then forced his eyes back to the wine to consider the selection, eyebrows rising as he noted the bottles with little blue penguins on them. For some reason it made him smile. His gaze slid over the other bottles, but then returned to the penguins, and he picked one of those. It had been fifty years since he'd had wine and he had no idea what was considered good, but three out of the six bottles bore the penguins and suggested it was a house favorite.

Taking the bottle, he crossed back to the counter, found an opener and quickly uncorked it and set it aside to breathe as he opened the pizza box.

Nicholas had two slices on a plate ready to go in the microwave-whatever that was-and was pouring wine into the glasses when Jo padded back into the kitchen. Setting down the bottle, he glanced over his shoulder and then turned and simply watched as Jo crossed the room toward him. Her feet were bare, her hair damp, and her face completely lacking makeup. She would have looked about twelve were she not wearing a sleek, red silk robe that clung in spots where she'd still been damp when she'd donned it, emphasizing that her figure was a woman's.

"It's the only thing Sam left behind that will fit," Jo said wryly as she reached the counter. "She's as skinny as a rail. So I threw my clothes in the wash and this will have to do until they're dry."

"It's lovely," Nicholas said, frowning when he heard how husky his voice was. Clearing his throat, he picked up one of the glasses of wine and held it out to her.

"Mmm, Little Penguin," she said, glancing at the bottle on the counter as she accepted the glass. "It's my favorite among the not ridiculously expensive wines. Sam's too."

"That explains the three bottles then," Nicholas said with amusement.

Jo smiled and took a sip as she moved around him to the microwave. She opened the door, grabbed the plate of pizza, and placed it inside.

Nicholas watched as she started hitting buttons, but knew he'd never be able to replicate the action himself. It seemed if he was going to be eating again, he had some things to learn. Though it was possible his desire to eat would disappear once Jo was out of his life as it had when his first life mate, Annie, had died.

Swallowing at the painful thought, Nicholas turned and picked up the other wineglass to take a drink. Losing Annie had been hard, but he knew losing Jo would be harder. She wouldn't be dead, but simply beyond his reach. He would forever be the poor and hungry young lad peering at the fine cake in the shop window, able to see the sweet that lay beyond, but never to touch or taste it.

"A couple minutes and we can eat," Jo announced, turning toward him as the microwave began to hum. "Do you want to eat at the table or in the living room?"

Nicholas stared down at her silently, watching her drink from her glass. When she lowered it, her lips were wet and a drop of the red liquid remained on her lower lip, just one drop of the smooth wine, trembling there, but it fascinated him. Nicholas couldn't seem to tear his eyes away, and then it began to roll off and her tongue slid out to catch it and he growled, "The table."

"Okay," Jo murmured. "Well-"

Whatever she'd been about to say died and her eyes widened in surprise as he suddenly took her wineglass and turned to set it on the counter with his own. Nicholas then turned back, scooped her up, and carried her to the table. Her eyes were wide and questioning when he sat her there.

"What are we doing?" Jo asked uncertainly, but he knew she had a good idea of what he was up to. He could smell the excitement coming off her and could see her nipples beginning to grow and harden to press against the silk of her robe.

Nicholas raised a hand to lightly brush one finger over the pebbling nipple through the silk and growled, "I'm hungry."

"Oh," she breathed.

Nicholas smiled and raised the finger to run it over her lips, feeling how soft and giving they were. He then let it trail to her throat, and finally down to follow the collar of her robe. Jo shivered as his finger slid along the neckline, cresting the curve of her breast, and then he suddenly changed direction, moving to the side and pushing the cloth before it until he exposed her breast.

Jo's breathing had become low and fast, but stopped altogether when he paused to run his finger lightly around the nipple he'd exposed. He knew she was excited, her response was hitting him too, and he felt it shoot upward in strength as his finger followed the circle around the pale rose areola, lightly brushing the outside of the darker nipple as it went.

"Nicholas," she half breathed and half moaned.

Smiling, he bent his head to rasp his tongue over the erect tip. The shiver that caused in her rolled down his own back as well and made him close his lips over the nipple and draw on it lightly, and then more urgently as their mutual excitement grew and reverberated between them. This was another sign of a life mate-shared pleasure, his feeling hers and her feeling his. The first time he'd taken her in the hotel, Nicholas hadn't gotten the chance to enjoy this. Wound up as they'd been from the shared dream, their first time had been a blur of need and urgency driving them on, but this time he intended to enjoy this aspect of their relationship, he decided, and released her breast to straighten abruptly.

Jo blinked her eyes open and gasped as he suddenly tugged her robe completely open, revealing all of her to him. Nicholas met her gaze, watching her as he clasped her knees and drew them apart so he could step between them. He then slid his hands around her back and lifted her, forcing her to arch upward so he could merely bend his head and lave first one nipple and then turned his head to do the same to the other. Jo clutched at his shoulders, her head dropping back on a moan as he licked, nipped, and suckled her, sending wave after wave of need and excitement coursing through them both.

"Nicholas, please," she moaned, wrapping her legs around his and pulling him tight against her, but he knew this might be his last chance to be with her and he wanted it to last. He wanted it to be something he could remember on all those long, lonely nights ahead.

Reaching up, Nicholas caught her hands in his and pulled them away from his shoulders as he pressed her back on the table with his own body. Holding her down, he then released the nipple from his mouth and ran his mouth down over her stomach, pausing to dip his tongue into her belly button. She smelled of oranges. Obviously it was a result of the soap she'd used in the shower, but Nicholas couldn't resist licking and nibbling her sensitive skin, making it jump and tremble as he moved lower to trail his mouth along her hip bone.

Jo was gasping and panting now, her body trembling and her nails biting painfully into his hands as she held on to the hands holding hers. But Nicholas hardly felt the nip of her nails, his own body was awash with the same mounting excitement she was experiencing... but it wasn't enough. Hooking the nearest chair with his foot, he drew it behind him, and dropped to sit on it. Nicholas then released her hands, spread her legs wider, and drew her forward to make a meal of her.

Jo screamed, her hips bucking on the table as Nicholas buried his face between her legs as if she were a slice of melon. She felt his tongue rasp over her sensitive core, and then closed her eyes and gasped for breath as he proceeded to drive her crazy. Her body was suddenly as taut as a bow string, her muscles straining toward the satisfaction he promised, and her brain was hit with wave after rebounding wave of pleasure that seemed magnified with each rush and soon became almost unbearable.

Either she would find that satisfaction or she would explode into a million pieces, Jo thought dazedly, grabbing at the table edges and squeezing until it hurt. Just when she thought it would be the second option and that her mind would shatter under the pressure, Nicholas suddenly rose up between her legs. She blinked her eyes open to see that while he was still fully dressed, his jeans were open. She closed her eyes again on a moan when he caught her by the hips, drew her forward, and finally thrust himself into her.

Nicholas froze then, and Jo forced her eyes open to see that his own eyes had closed. His face was a portrait of what appeared to be pleasure-pain. Jo waited a heartbeat and then clasped her legs around his and sat up on the table to touch his cheek.

When his eyes blinked open in surprise, Jo whispered, "I'm hungry too," and then kissed him, her hips shifting against him in demand. A sigh slid from his mouth to hers and then Nicholas began to kiss her, his arms enveloping her and his hips beginning to move, withdrawing and then thrusting into her again and again until the world shattered around them and they fell into the gentle darkness waiting for them.

Jo woke up to find herself splayed on the table like some sort of human sacrifice. Her body was sated but a bit chill, her legs were hanging off the table, dangling in the air, and Nicholas was nowhere in sight. Frowning, she sat up, drawing the robe around her as she did, and started to slip off the table, nearly stepping on Nicholas. Pausing abruptly, she teetered on the edge of the table and gaped at the man lying slumped on the floor at her feet.

"Nicholas?" she said with alarm, and managed to drop to the cool tile surface without stepping on him. Jo then knelt at his side and reached for his face. The moment her palm touched his cheek, Nicholas rolled over, his eyes opening.

"Oh, hello," he mumbled sleepily, reaching for her head and drawing her down as if to kiss her, but Jo resisted.

Pressing against his chest, she took in his eyes and coloring, trying to see what had happened to put him on the floor. "What happened? Are you all right?"

Nicholas chuckled at her concern and sat up. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips before shifting to get to his feet and drew her up with him.

"Maybe you shouldn't get up," Jo said fretfully as they straightened. "You seemed to have passed out or something and-"

"I'm fine," he interrupted her soothingly. "I just fainted."

"Fainted?" she asked with dismay, clutching at his hands. "Are you short of blood or something? Do you need to feed? We can-"

"Jo, it's all right. It's perfectly normal. I'm fine," Nicholas repeated.

"Normal?" she echoed with disbelief. "It's not normal to faint, Nicholas. It's-"

"It is for life mates when they make love," he said patiently, and Jo stilled. She stared at him blankly for a minute, then glanced to the table where she'd woken up and realized that she'd rather blacked out after...

"Oh," she said weakly, but glanced back to him with uncertainty. "Why?"

Nicholas hesitated, and then said, "I'll explain while we eat."

Jo opened her mouth to insist he explain now, but the rumbling of her stomach changed her mind. Nodding, she moved to the microwave and checked the pizza inside. Enough time had passed that the slices she'd heated were room temperature again. Clucking her tongue, she put them on for another minute and then picked up the wineglasses and glanced to the table. Just looking at the damned thing brought back memories of what they'd done there, and she felt her body responding to those memories.

"Maybe we'll eat in the living room," she muttered.

"This time," Nicholas murmured, eyes flashing silver as he took the wineglasses from her.

Jo flushed at the naughty glint in his eye, her body tingling with remembered pleasure, and when he bent to press a kiss to her lips, she opened for him at once and started to raise her arms to slide them around his neck.

"Food first," he growled, withdrawing quickly from her reach. "Food, and then talk."

Jo watched him walk out of the kitchen, a little sigh slipping from her lips. At that moment she didn't care if she ever ate again. She just wanted to feel Nicholas's body against and in hers again. She wanted...

The microwave beeped, announcing that it was done, and Jo gave her head a shake and turned to it thinking that Nicholas was like a drug. She couldn't seem to get enough of him. Sighing, she retrieved the pizza slices from the microwave, divided them between the two plates, and carried them out to the living room.

Nicholas had set the wineglasses on the coffee table and settled on the couch before it. Jo dropped to sit beside him, and then handed him one of the plates and settled in to eat. While she would have been happy to bypass eating moments ago in the kitchen, now that the smell of pizza was wafting under her nose, she was more eager to feed herself... first. It had been quite a while since she'd had that breakfast with Bricker and Anders, and she was really quite hungry.

Jo might have been hungry, but Nicholas was absolutely ravenous. He seemed to almost inhale the slice of pizza and had finished it before she had finished even half of hers. With a little direction, he managed to warm up the next two pieces and brought them out to the living room just as she finished her first piece. Jo had three slices before stopping. Nicholas was on his sixth piece when she set her plate down and turned to him expectantly.

"So? Explain how fainting is normal," she prompted as soon as he chewed and swallowed his last bite.

Nicholas peered at his now-empty plate, glanced toward the kitchen as if considering fetching another, but then set the plate down and explained, "The combined pleasure is too much for the mind to take at first and in response, the brain sort of overloads and winks out as the orgasm overwhelms it. It's perfectly normal for the first year or so that life mates are together."

"What's this combined pleasure business?" she asked at once.

"I feel your pleasure and you feel mine," he said simply.

"So when you were..." Jo paused and bit her lip, trying to think of a way to describe what he'd been doing without having to use a crude term that would demean the beauty of it.

"Every time I kiss, caress, or touch you, I experience your pleasure as if it was my own," Nicholas said solemnly, solving the problem for her. "I experienced your pleasure, and it mingled with mine and then bounced back to you, mingling with yours again and bouncing back even stronger, and so on until neither of us could take it anymore."

That explained the overwhelming pleasure she'd experienced, Jo supposed, and then asked, "So this combined pleasure business only happens between life mates?"

Nicholas nodded solemnly, and then asked, "Why are you smiling?"

"Because you're over five hundred years old and have probably bedded a load of women and I'm glad as gonads that you didn't experience this with them."

"Glad as gonads?" Nicholas asked, wincing at the term. Shaking his head, he smiled reluctantly, but then admitted quietly, "I have experienced it once before, Jo."

"Your wife," Jo remembered.

He nodded solemnly.

Jo considered his almost guilty expression and then shrugged mildly. "I guess I can deal with that. I'm still the only one alive you can enjoy it with, so..." She climbed onto his lap and slid her arms around his neck, commenting, "I imagine that makes infidelity less likely."

"We are a monogamous people for a reason," Nicholas murmured, clasping his own arms around her. "Once you find a life mate, no other woman can compare. It's like trying to kill pain with aspirin after years of morphine."

"That seems an apt description," Jo assured him quietly. "Because I find you're like a drug I can't get enough of. I want you again already."

She raised her eyes to his to find that the blue was fading, replaced with silver again.

"So," Jo whispered, moving her face forward so that their lips were almost touching. "If I were to kiss and caress and touch you, I'd get to experience your pleasure too, right?"

Nicholas gave a very slight nod.

"That's a pretty cool deal," she murmured, reaching down to clasp him through the cloth of his jeans. He was hard and grew harder at her touch, and she shuddered at the excitement it sent shooting through her.

Damn, Jo thought faintly, he was right. She had been so consumed by the rush of passions that had overwhelmed her earlier as he'd ministered to her, Jo hadn't understood what was happening, but now... She squeezed him gently and closed her eyes as another rush of pleasure slid through her. In the next moment, she'd slid off his lap and between his legs to rest on the floor as she reached for the button of his jeans.

"Jo, wait, we have to talk," Nicholas said, trying to stop her.

"Later," she said quietly. "It's my turn now."

Nicholas met her gaze briefly, a conflict taking place on his face, and then he stood up, pulling on her hand to urge her up with him.

"What-?" Jo began uncertainly.

"The bedroom," Nicholas growled, tugging her around the table and toward the hall. "I fancy waking up in a bed this time rather than sprawled on the couch or the living room carpet."

Jo grinned and teased, "Where's your sense of adventure?"

Nicholas paused abruptly in the hall and whirled to take her in his arms. His mouth was demanding, his hands stripping away her robe before her chest even came to rest against his, and then he pinned her to the wall, grinding himself against her and thrusting his tongue into her mouth as he kicked off his shoes.

Moaning at the pleasure coursing through her, Jo clasped his bottom. She squeezed briefly, and then managed to work her hands between their bodies to undo the button and zipper of his jeans. They both groaned with pleasure when she slid her hand inside and found him, and then Nicholas broke their kiss to step back and remove his clothes. His T-shirt was dragged up and off in one step, and then his jeans followed and he was back, clasping her by the upper thighs and pulling her legs around his hips so that his erection rubbed against, but didn't enter her.

Jo grabbed for his shoulders, kissing him frantically as he pressed her back against the wall and drove them both wild, and then she tore her mouth away with a cry as he suddenly thrust into her.

Nicholas paused then. Breathing heavily, he briefly rested his forehead against her neck, and then raised his head enough to lick her throat, kiss it, and then nibble a trail up to her ear.

Jo moaned as he withdrew and slid into her again, pressing her back into the wall.

"Is this enough adventure for you?" he growled, and then chuckled breathlessly when she nodded. "Good," Nicholas murmured, then caught her lips in a gentle kiss before thrusting almost violently into her again. Breaking their kiss again then, he added, "The real adventure is seeing whether we can make it to a soft surface before passing out."

Jo blinked her eyes open and peered at him. "How-?"

Her question died on a gasp as he suddenly stepped back from the wall, taking her with him, and turned toward the end of the hall. Jo's legs tightened instinctively around him, but she needn't have bothered, his hands were clasping her bottom, holding her in place as he started up the hall.

"Let's see how many steps it takes to blow our minds," Nicholas said through gritted teeth as he walked, their bodies rubbing together with each step.

"Oh God," Jo breathed, burying her face in his neck and closing her eyes as wave after wave of mounting pleasure rushed through her. She suspected they wouldn't make it to the bed and just hoped the padding under Sam's carpet was a soft one.