ic, shallow jerks, each breath a ragged, desperate gasp. Her vision doubled, the dark hallway splitting into two waveri

. Clifton, who was still standing by the window holdi

ng over a side table. He grabbed the handle and yanked the heavy

beneath her. She pitched forward, falling like a broken marione

d caught her solid against his chest, her body sla

d plummeted so severely that the logical, reasoning part of her brain simply shut down. Instinct took over-animal instinct, s

aring against his chest. Her breath hitched against his collarbone in shallow, r

blazing with fever. Her eyes were glazed over, unfocused, the pupils blown wid

nded, his voice thick with a raw panic he didn'

at and sensation. The cheap black-market hormones-designed to hyper-stimulate ovulation-mixed wit

ms, her body writhing against his

grabbed her wandering hands and pinned them against his chest, his

up at his blurred face, her eyes dark and unseeing. Driven entirely by the drug blazing throu

The frustration, the guilt, the dark, suppressed desire he

her away, froze in mid-air. His dark eyes turned

ling, wrapping around the back of his neck. She blindly searched for his

on's control snapped wit

gers tangling in her sweat-damp hair. He crushed his mouth against hers

e frame. He walked her backward, pinning her spine against the cold wall of

ss gasp and instantly melted ag

ce of reason clawed its way up. The memory of her fever-of t

forehead pressed against hers, his chest heaving. "No," he

him again, but Clifton caught h

, his voice shaking with the effort of re

and carried her toward the elevator. Her head lolled agai

Clifton laid her across the back seat of his car and drove through the empty str

ost consciousness. Clifton carried her through the emergen

ly low blood sugar, a fever that spiked to 104. The medical team worked

as the nurses worked. His fists were clenched at his side

He had almost let himself-no. He shove

Not like that. Not while she

long and cold, as he sto