I was feeling nostalgic, and decided to go back over my fanfics. I didn't realize I never posted this chapter (requested a loooong time ago). So sorry!

Hazuki knew when Hei awoke. His body tensing as she ran the sponge lazily across his abdomen. He tried to sit up, to pull away from her hold. In response, she slid one of her legs between his under the mountain of bubbles, and pinched his nipples hard in warning, eliciting a soft cry. "Don't," she said, as she nuzzled his head to the side and bit down on his earlobe, earning a gasp for her effort. She really did love the sounds he made.

It had taken more maneuvering to get his unconscious form back upstairs from the basement than it had getting him down there, but she had always been resourceful.

Getting him into the tub with her was easy.

The sponge made its way up his chest to the tempting little buds there. Even after months of being around him, she still marveled that she could find the hard lines of him so tantalizing. He was tempered steel. There were no soft mounds holding the rosy nipples, no soft curving hips or thighs—traits she had always considered indispensable in a lover.

Instead, he reminded her of a katana. Like that sacred blade, he bore the sharp lines of a finely crafted weapon. Sleek and flawless. So perhaps it wasn't so hard to fathom her attraction. She had always appreciated the craftsmanship of a fine blade.

She ran the sponge and her nails across the buds, scraping the still overly sensitized peaks. She smiled against his temple as he arched, biting off a moan.

"Hazuki . . ." he cried, no doubt attempting to be stern, but sounding desperately needy instead.

"It's Mina, Hei," she whispered in his ear. "I believe we've finally progressed to a mutual first name basis," she added, running her tongue along the soft edge of his lobe. "Mina is my name. I expect you to use it," she told him, her sponge-free hand grasping his chin and lifting it to expose the slender column of his neck to her attention.

She felt him bury a hand in her hair as she nuzzled his neck, suckling the soft flesh just beneath the line of his jaw as she dropped the sponge to cup him beneath the water, dragging a stuttering gasp from him as she released his chin to explore him with both hands, all pretense to bathing him gone.

He buried his face against her neck—the flutter of his lashes and his hot, moist breath against her skin stimulating her. Oh, how she wanted him.

She couldn't rationalize it.

She couldn't explain it.

She just did.

Before she realized it, he moved. Twisting in her grasp so fast that most of the bubbles—with a large helping of water—were forced from the tub, but she hardly cared since his lips were on hers. His kiss was frantic with need as she dug her fingers into his hair and threw her leg over the lip of the tub, opening herself up to him. He accepted the invitation.

He entered her in one thrust, causing her to bite down hard on his bottom lip as his hips came flush against her own. "Hei," she whispered against his bruised lips as he sat back on his heels, pulling her up to straddle him. Her eyes met his midnight blue ones, and she felt something she thought was impossible for her as a contractor to feel—even now—even with this mad infatuation, this daunting fixation she had for him.

Her heart seized.

His eyes were so open, so vulnerable. She saw the fire—the need—there, but what caused her heart to seize, to flutter past a beat, was the raw fear.

She had broken down his defenses. She had made it in, and now he was afraid of losing her. She saw it in the way his eyes flickered across her features, how he sought to memorize every trait, every line, as if she might disappear. His fear for her, his sorrow at the thought of another loss was so strong in those heart-wrenching eyes that she could comprehend it without a word spoken.

She sensed that no woman had ever made it this far past his defenses before, with the exception of his sister, whom he loved before there was a need to defend his heart.

His thrusts were almost violent, a stark contrast to the kisses. She allowed him control over their coupling, but she held control of the kiss. Her eyes remained locked with his as she suckled his lips, pulling gently at them now with her teeth as he drew pleasurable sensations throughout every inch of her flesh. She kissed the tip of his nose, nipped his chin, and dropped wispy kisses across his cheekbones, all the time watching the emotions dance through those beautiful eyes.

So she saw as the first tears gathered. She was there to catch them as they fell. He tried to pull his face from her grasp as his thrusts became a slow, hard grind.

He sought to hide from her. "Don't." she said, her voice a husky growl as she fisted his hair and wrapped her legs tightly around him. Pressing her heels into his lower back, she pulled him as close as physically possible, the shift in angle pulling a stuttering groan from them both. "Don't you dare, Hei." She released his hair, wrapping her arms around him to trace the graceful line of his spine with her fingertips. "Don't you try to hide from me," she told him, her breath mingling with his as her hands framed his face and she kissed him with every ounce of passion she felt in that moment. Her tongue battled with his, fighting for her right to him. Fighting for this quiet, beautiful element of the night, the one she couldn't seem to get enough of, and couldn't seem to reason her way around.

He was a man. Her remuneration dictated she kiss a man because she despised them, and yet she was forcing this man to let her close as she had never dreamed she'd willingly allow any man. She would have killed any other man for even hinting at such a thing.

She rotated her hips, grinding down onto him in a way that had him gripping her hips hard enough to bruise, and burying his face in the crook of her neck with a whine. Her smile was wicked as she allowed a hand to follow the lovely line of his spine to his pert bottom where she pressed in a finger. He jumped.

"Mina!" The muffled sound of her name, and the feel of his hot breath against her skin, was titillating.

The position was awkward, but well worth it, as she felt him bite down on her shoulder as she came, her muscles clamping down on him. She pressed her finger deeper, finding that mysterious little bundle of nerves and toying with it mercilessly until he followed her shortly after with a choked cry.

Withdrawing her finger, she straightened, pulling his face from the crook of her neck and studied his features. His eyes were hooded, sparkling pools, his lips were kiss-swollen and begging for further attention. His pale skin was flawless, even tear-stained and in the harsh glow of the fluorescent lights above.

Relaxed like this, he looked so very young, and deceptively innocent.

She placed feathery kisses across his features while her finger tips continued to trace his spine, relishing in the feel of soft skin over taunt muscle.

"We can't stay here, Ha-" he began, halting as Mina dug her nails in his back, and a militant gleam took root in her gaze. "Mina," he corrected. She smiled down at him as she disentangled herself from him and stood.

"Good boy, Hei," she said, running her fingers through his raven locks before stepping from the tub.

"I'm not a dog, Mina," he said.

"I never said you were," she told him. She felt his eyes on her as she crossed the room and took her terrycloth robe down from its hook. She turned back to watch him watch her as she slowly wrapped its warmth around her. She held his intense gaze for what felt like hours before the moment was shattered by a roaring grumble. She watched fascinated as a fiery blush spread across his face and down to his collarbone as he grabbed at his stomach.

For the first time since becoming a contractor, Hazuki Mina felt the urge to laugh, and so she did. Hei looked startled by the sound at first, before he smiled at her, and what a lovely smile. It touched his eyes, making them light and inviting. So inviting, she found herself at the side of the tub pulling him into her arms for a kiss. A breathtaking kiss that she felt all the way down to her toes.

"Get dressed. I'll prepare dinner," she said, as she reluctantly pulled away and left the tempting sight of a wet, and very naked, Hei behind.