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doing that? “Does it honestly matter? Oh . . . Gabe! Again . . .”
    It was some time later when she was near her third orgasm of the morning that Gabe linked with her. She wasn’t sure if it was a very smart idea, but what he was doing felt so damned good that she let herself go. Shared the sense of his rigid cock plunging deep and hard, the amazing shock of contact as he slid across her sensitized clit. This time she would see what was behind the darkness, discover what horrible thing lay hidden in her subconscious, rising up when she was vulnerable, when her defenses were down.
    She felt the crest of pleasure rising, opened herself to whatever it brought, though she knew the darkness was there, knew it would somehow taint the sweetness of Gabe’s loving. As she reached her peak and flew, the shadow leapt with her and so did Gabe, but he wasn’t lost in sensation. Fascinated even as her body convulsed in pleasure, Em saw the darkness fade beneath a glowing light.
    Gabe’s light, pushing it back into the corners, lighting the darkness and rendering it powerless, shrinking it back to nothing more than a pinprick of impotent fear. Nameless fear, ineffectual for the moment, but not gone. No, it waited. If only she knew what it was, where it came from.
    Why it waited.
    Blinking against dawn’s sunlight streaming between the window blinds, Em stared up at Gabe, lost in a sense of absolute disbelief. She’d seen it but still couldn’t describe what he had done. Yet, whatever it was, she felt lighter, freer than she’d been for as long as she could recall.
    “What did you do? You sent it away, whatever it was.”
    “Is. It’s still there, but smaller. Weaker.” He rolled off her and scooted back against the headboard. Then he easily lifted Em, pulled her up against his side and tucked her within the curve of his arm.
    She snuggled close and wrapped her arm across his chest. “But what happened?”
    “A long time ago, I asked Jace if he could teach me to heal injuries the way he does, going inside a person’s body as pure energy and fixing what’s broken.” Gabe laughed and kissed the top of her head. “Let’s just say it’s a good thing you’re not bleeding anywhere, because no matter what he tried to show me, I couldn’t do it. But I remembered something he said, that sometimes what needs to be done to fix something that’s wrong isn’t at all complicated. It’s common sense—following your gut instinct to do what feels right. Whatever it is in your mind that’s messing you up is dark. I mean it’s physically dark and noxious-looking, and no, I haven’t got a clue what it is, but I figured that if it’s dark, maybe all we need is light.”
    He shrugged and kissed the crown of her head. “It seemed to work. It didn’t make it go away entirely, but I’m hoping it won’t pop up next time we make love. Which reminds me. Did that feel as good for you as it did for me? Good Goddess, Em. I’m never going to see you as little EmyIzzy again.”
    “Well, that’s certainly good to know. It’s about time.” She felt his chest vibrate under her arm as he chuckled.
    “I agree. Ain’t gonna happen. I’m a true convert to the new and improved adult Emeline Isobelle Cheval.” He rolled over and kissed her again. She kissed him back but then she got the giggles. “Three times before breakfast, Gabe? You’ll keel over from exhaustion and starvation.”
    “But don’t you want to test what we just did? Make sure it holds for a while?”
    Before she could answer him, Em heard Gabe’s mobile phone chirping in the other room. “Hold that thought,” he said, heading for the kitchen.
    And didn’t that man have a truly fine ass. Grinning, Em rolled over on her back and stared at the ceiling. This wasn’t at all what she’d expected when she realized it was Gabriel getting off the plane. Not at all.

Chapter 5
     
    Gabe recognized Alex’s ringtone, so he grabbed the mobile phone and flipped it to face