“Our souls had nothing to do with it. Do you want me to tell you that we were drawn to each other because we were both slum kids? I can’t do that.” She was saying exactly what Catherine had warned her against. She couldn’t help it. She wouldn’t be anything but honest with Joe. “We were both loners. The only reason we came together was chemistry. And the reason we separated was that both of us realized that chemistry could ruin any chance of our climbing out of the dung heaps where we were born.” She was silent, then said, “Is there anything else you want to know?”

“Hell, yes. Every single detail, but I’m not going to ask because that would probably drive me crazier than not knowing. Damn chemistry.”

She suddenly started to chuckle. “Joe, don’t damn something that we value so highly. Chemistry may not have brought you and me together originally, but it’s helped to keep us together and strong for years. Do you think that anything I had with that kid, John Gallo, could have had the same kind of endurance and staying power?”

“I’ve no idea. But you’re not going to find out.” He was suddenly on his knees on the bed. “And I find I’m becoming annoyed at being thought of as the steady, boring stallion in the barn.” He threw the sheet that covered them on the floor. “Endurance? Staying power?”

She inhaled sharply as she gazed at him. She always loved the look of Joe naked. Beautifully muscular shoulders and thighs, tight buttocks and belly. He looked completely at home with his nudity, like Adam in the garden, or a sultan in his harem. Joe was a magnificent lover, innovative, passionate, sometimes teasing, sometimes wicked. In those moments, he was completely sexual, completely devoted to the act itself. Yet tonight there was something else …

His expression. His eyes were glittering recklessly as his hand reached out and cupped her breast. “Shall I show you endurance, Eve?”

Her heart was suddenly pounding beneath his hand. “I don’t know. Should I be worried?”

“Not you.” His mouth was suddenly on her nipple, drawing strongly. “You can take me.” His lips moved down to her belly. “You can match me. We just have to go to the next level.” He moved over her, cupped her buttocks in his two hands and sank deep. “Like this.”

The fever was starting. No, it was here, rising. She was moving, arching against him, trying to take more.

“That’s right.” His tone was guttural. His words came hard and fast with every thrust. “Give—me—everything.”

Harder.

Madness.

Deeper.

It couldn’t be deeper, but it was.

Her entire body was on fire. The sensitive nerves beneath her skin were causing the flesh to swell, become part of the act itself.

He was shifting her back and forth and rotating, each movement taking, building, peaking.

“Now,” he whispered in her ear. “Now, Eve.”

He drove deeper.

She arched. Her teeth bit into her lower lip as her entire body convulsed. “Joe!”

Pleasure. Intense. Explosive. Mind-blowing.

She was panting, clinging desperately to him, as the room whirled around her. Over. Dear heaven, it had been more intense than she could—

But it wasn’t over.

Her gaze flew up to his face. “You didn’t…”

“No.” His mouth was tense, but full and sensual. Everything about him held that same extreme sexual tension. He lowered his head and kissed her, his tongue teasing hers, then outlining her lower lip. He whispered, “Endurance.”

And he started to move again.

Skilled, teasing, alternating hard and gentle.

Her climax had been so intense, it wasn’t possible that she could climb to that peak again.

But it was happening. Joe was bringing her with him, using every sexual skill in his arsenal.

And it happened again.

“Endurance?” Joe asked as he looked down at her. “Not such a bad trait, is it?”

And he started to move once more.

The entire night became a sensual dream of arousal and satisfying that arousal. It was hours later that the passion ebbed enough for her to roll over and put her head in the hollow of his shoulder. It was her favorite place, but tonight even that position seemed to lack a certain security. “Were you … angry?”

“Did I seem angry?”

“I don’t—I guess not. It was just … fierce.”

“You didn’t enjoy it?”

“Of course I did. Don’t be an ass. You were … extraordinary.”

“Then I’ll have to do it more often until it becomes ordinary.” He kissed her temple. “And then we’ll go on to the next level.”

“There can’t be a next level.”

“Yes, there is. We’ll find it.” His tone was absolutely positive as he got out of bed and strode toward the bathroom. “Maybe I can’t ever know what made up the psyche of that sixteen-year-old girl, but I can make sure that our chemistry comes out way ahead of anything you knew back then.”

“It always did, Joe.”

“Maybe.” He stood there in the doorway, naked, confident, handsome, totally mature. Joe, who had been her salvation and her love. Joe, who could raise her to the realm of complete eroticism.

He smiled. “But I’m an overachiever. I think we’ll stretch our limits.”

He disappeared into the bathroom.

She lay there, her gaze on the door. Her body felt flushed, lazy, yet her muscles had an underlying tingle that wouldn’t leave her. It was as if they were waiting for the next touch, the next—

Her cell phone rang on the bedside table.

She reached over to get it.

Catherine.

“Sorry to call you in the middle of the night, but I thought you’d want to know as soon as I did. I just talked to Nate Queen.”

“And?”

“Nothing. He says he can’t find any more information than he gave me before. Bullshit. He knows something. He’s stalling.”

“So what are you doing?”

“I’m going to keep after him. What else? And if I don’t get answers, I’m going to zero in on him in person. I won’t let him weasel out on getting us what we need.”

Joe had come back into the room and was staring at Eve. “Catherine?”

Eve nodded, before saying to Catherine, “You thought he’d be able to tell us. What changed?”

“How do I know? His superiors stomped on him? He got panicky? I don’t know much about him. Queen wasn’t my original contact. I’d done a favor for Dan Murphy, an agent on the lower rungs at Army Intelligence, and I tapped him for help. He was willing at first, but he just handed me off to Nate Queen like a hot potato when I brought up Gallo. I’ll call you back when I know more. What did you find out from Montalvo?”

“Not much. As far as anyone knew, he never worked with a partner and was never in the service.”

“That’s a start. Elimination can be valuable, too. Bye.” Catherine hung up.

“Am I to be told what Catherine found out?” Joe asked quietly.

“Zero. Nate Queen, with Army Intelligence, thought he might be able to find John Gallo. He just told Catherine he was mistaken. She thinks someone got to him. She’s going after him.”

His lips tightened. “Maybe she needs help.”

“Believe me, she can handle him.”

“You’re probably right. It appears half the Intelligence community owes Catherine a favor, and the other half is wary of her.” He got into bed. “And she’s collecting all of their debts in your cause, Eve.”

“I told her she didn’t owe me anything. Catherine doesn’t listen to anything she doesn’t want to hear.”

“Single-minded? Is that the pot calling the kettle black?”

Catherine and she were alike in so many ways and also had a multitude of differences. “Whatever. This time, I’ll take what she’s offering.”

“Naturally.” He had not pulled her close. He was lying on his own side of the bed. “That goes without saying.” He was gazing into the darkness. “She’s offering you Bonnie.”

*   *   *

CATHERINE CALLED HER BACK AT TEN the next morning. “Still no luck with Queen. He’s not taking my calls. I did find out that he wasn’t at headquarters. He was out in the field.”