She managed, just barely, to avoid glancing at Vincent.
"To Chimera," she said smoothly. She raised the glass to her lips.
"And to us," Cruz added before she could take a sip.
She hesitated, searching for any and all possible traps. But, really, where was the harm in acknowledging their affair?
"Okay," she said.
"Nothing like a little enthusiasm in a woman," Cruz said.
She smiled. "To us."
They each took a sip. Cruz touched her lips with one finger.
"You are one of the gutsiest people I've ever met," he said gently. "Why are you so afraid of what's between us?"
"I'm not afraid," she said. "Oops. Almost forgot. There's something I've been meaning to do ever since we got out of the tunnels this afternoon."
She put the glass of Amber Dew on the counter, crossed the room to the coffee table, and picked up the vase of purple orchids.
"What are you going to do with those?" Cruz asked.
"Dump them in the garbage." She went into the kitchen and used the foot pedal to raise the lid of the trash can. She crammed the orchids inside and let the lid slam closed. "So much for modern romance."
"Quinn really called you his chosen bride?"
"Oh, yeah. Said we were destined to rule together with the power of the pyramids, or something quaint along those lines." She picked up her glass and went back across the room to the sofa. She sat down and propped her bare feet on the coffee table. "But you came back and ruined everything. Don't you dare laugh."
"Believe me, I'm not laughing. Got a hunch the bastard was going to kill you after you tuned the stones for him, though. I could feel his intent when I saw him with you in the chamber."
"Sadly, it turned out that I wasn't quite what he wanted in the way of a bride."
Cruz crossed the room and sank down beside her. "You're everything I want."
A shiver went through her.
"Cruz—"
"You are afraid to give us a second chance. Admit it."
She drank some of the liqueur. "The Dore luck, you know. Just can't depend on it."
His jaw tightened. "The Sweetwater luck doesn't seem to be working real well at the moment, either."
She stopped smiling. "Did you really think it would be that easy, Cruz?"
"No, I knew there would be a price to pay. I wouldn't have come here if I hadn't been prepared to pay it." He contemplated the liquid in his glass. "Which reminds me, I think the time has come to tell you a little more about my family."
She chuckled. "Okay, now you're starting to make me really nervous."
He did not say anything. Instead, he removed his shoes and put his feet up on the table beside hers.
She looked down and noticed the bottom edge of the leather knife sheath showing just below the cuff of his trousers. Her mouth went dry.
"And exactly why do you feel it necessary to have this conversation?" she asked.
"I'm serious about us. You and me. I'm hoping for a future together. That means you have a right to know everything."
"Is this some more of the dark family secret thing?" she asked warily.
"Yes," he said and lowered the glass. "I told you that my family has a long history in the security field."
She put her own glass down on the table. "You did mention the old family business. Out of pure curiosity, why was Big Jake so determined to get out of that line of work, anyway? Sounds like Sweetwaters had been successful in it for a few hundred years."
"We were." He looked at her. "But that kind of work eats away at your soul, even when you think you're doing it for all the right reasons."
"Yes," she said. "I can see where there would be a huge psychic price to pay. Nobody except a total sociopath gets away with killing another human being without getting hit with some blowback, even when the killing is justified." She shuddered. "I found that out, myself, this afternoon. I don't think I'll be sleeping well for a while."
"No," Cruz said. He covered her hand with one of his own. "But you won't be alone."
In the highly charged hours following the scene underground there had been no time to process the events, no time to absorb all the implications. Now it was hitting her hard.
She sighed. "I didn't know for sure that the pyramids would kill him."
Cruz just nodded. His hand tightened on hers.
"Right up until the last few seconds, I thought maybe the energy in the stones would just shatter his senses, probably permanently. Whatever happened, I knew he would never be the same. But I didn't know for certain that he would die."
"It's okay," Cruz said again. "I've been there. I understand."
She stilled. "You mean you've—?"
"Yes." He swirled the last of the Amber Dew in his glass and drank it down. He turned his head on the cushion to look at her. "The Sweetwaters' decision to go mainstream didn't change everything. The really bad guys, the psychic sociopaths, are still out there. And sometimes just finding hard evidence against them isn't enough. Sometimes the Arcane Society drugs aren't enough. Sometimes only a really powerful talent can track and take down another powerful talent."
She exhaled slowly. "What you're saying is that occasionally you still get called back into the old family business."
"Occasionally." He watched her. "But I swear to you we no longer take money for those jobs. I know it's a fine line, but to the family it's an important one."
"I see."
"You don't look all that shocked."
"You forget," she said quietly. "I've had some experience with the Sweetwater family, namely you and Jeff. I've tuned amber for both of you. You're arrogant, stubborn, and inclined to be annoyingly dictatorial, but you were obviously born with a psychic predisposition to serve and protect. You're the good guys. Like we in the tuning business say, it's in the psi."
"That's not what you were saying three months ago."
"I told you, I understand that you did what you thought you had to do three months ago."
"And I came back because there's something else I need to do now."
"What?"
"Make love to you."
He leaned over her and kissed her, a long, deep, aching kiss. Passion, heat, and energy swirled in the atmosphere. She felt the rush across all her senses and throughout her body. The sense of rightness shimmered through her.
Maybe she couldn't trust the Dore luck when it came to love, but the energy of desire between her and Cruz was real. The bond between them was real. It might not last forever, but she knew in her bones that she would never find another man like Cruz Sweetwater again. Dores might not be the luckiest people on the planet, but they weren't stupid. What was it Nancy had said? Time to go for the amber ring.
She put her arms around Cruz and kissed him back. He crushed her lightly down onto the cushions and started to move over her. A soft skittering sound from somewhere in the vicinity of the kitchen made her freeze, her fingers buried in Cruz's hair.
"What?" he said, his lips on her throat.
"Vincent. We can't do this in front of him. He'll be embarrassed."
"He's a dust bunny. I doubt if he knows the meaning of embarrassed."
"Okay, I'll be embarrassed."
There was a few seconds of stillness before Cruz finally moved.
"Right," he said.
He rolled to his feet, picked her up, and carried her into the screened bedroom. In the shadows he undressed her slowly, sliding the black gown down over her hips. The dark fabric pooled on the floor around her bare feet. He unhooked the lacy black bra next and tossed it onto the dresser.
When he put his powerful hands on her breasts, a tremor of exquisite delight surged through her. She undid his shirt with shaking fingers and slipped her hands beneath the fabric. His skin was warm, the muscles of his chest sleek and hard.
He went down on one knee in front of her and kissed her stomach. She felt him hook his thumbs in the waistband of her black panties and draw them down to her ankles. And then his hand was between her legs, urging her thighs apart. She could feel her own liquid heat and knew that his fingers were already slick with it. The flare of urgent tension inside her made her dig her nails into his shoulders.