"I'm too old for you?"

"You're taking it way too personally, Michael."

Michael's grey-green eyes flickered captivatingly in the half-lit bedroom they shared at Volker's mansion. "So what do you think, Kita? Your opinion is the only one that matters anyway."

Nikita glanced sideways at Michael, hiding her bemused smile behind her hand. "To be honest, age never came into it for me."

"You're laughing at me."

She giggled merrily, tracing a finger down the side of Michael's face. His lightly stubbled face gently abraded her fingertip. "I love you."

"He doesn't interest you at all?"

"He's a target."

"A fool."

"More than that, I think. No one could be that…" She grimaced, trying to think of a word to describe Helmut Volker. "It's not charm, exactly, and yet…"

Michael captured her mouth, plunging his tongue deep inside to plunder her hidden treasure. Nudging her lips further apart, he began to nibble on the lower one. She sighed. Quite breathlessly.

"Mi-chael…"

"We're supposed to be lovers, Ki-ta." He pressed another kiss to her mouth, his lips lingering, as if they were reluctant to leave her.

"Then this is just for show? To maintain our cover?" Despite her newfound self-confidence, she heard the slight quaver in her voice. She needed reassurance. Specifically, his reassurance.

His verdant gaze caressed her face lovingly, as if he were trying to memorize every feature for later recall. His eyes dropped to her mouth for a long moment. All at once, he buried his face against the hollow of her neck, his lips seeking the most tender flesh there. She closed her eyes, content, for the moment, to let him feast upon her.

His fierce murmur caught her ear, however, and she opened her eyes again. "What did you say?"

He stared intently into her brilliant blue eyes, looking darker and more intense than he had in a long time. His arms claimed her possessively, his hands working and kneading and massaging hers, as if their only objective was to seduce her through touch.

"I didn't bring you back only to let someone else have you, Kita."

Nikita's initial reaction was outrage. How dare Michael presume to act like he owned her?

But this was closely followed by a surge of love so intense, it threatened to overwhelm her. Tears sparkled in her sapphire blue eyes. "You don't want me to be with anyone else?"

"No." Typical Michael. Terse. Monosyllabic.

"Even if it's part of the mission parameters?"

He looked conflicted. His grey-green eyes flickered almost nervously over her face. "We do what we have to do, Kita." That sounded almost like a question, not a statement, for once.

"So if I'm ordered to 'get friendly' with Helmut, you'll be okay with that." Now that wasn't a question. It was a deliberate attempt to bait the truth out of Michael.

He sidestepped. Carefully. "I've done it."

"Yes, you certainly have, Michael." The bitterness etched in her voice surprised her. "Many times." She blinked away the unshed tears. "Maybe you should sleep with Helmut, Michael. The idea doesn't seem to bother you."

He grabbed her by the shoulders with both hands, his fingers deeply imprinted upon her skin. "I don't want you to sleep with him, Kita. Is that what you want to hear?"

She nodded wordlessly. A tiny sound escaped her. All at once, Michael kissed her, pushing his way deeper and deeper inside her mouth. Nikita opened for him, granting him free access. Their tongues met and mated, in imitation of the act of love. "Michael…" she sighed restlessly against his mouth.

"I don't want you to sleep with anyone else, Kita." He buried his face against her hair, shivering.

"Exclusive rights come with a price, Michael. Maybe we can't afford to pay it."

He groaned, his lips moving against the soft pale strands. "Maybe we can. I've still got Adrian."

"How much time do we have, Michael? Before Madeline finds out where Adrian is. She has all of Section at her disposal. All we have is…each other."

He claimed her mouth. Full rights of possession. "It'll be enough, Kita. It has to be."

"Cause I'm not giving you up…without a fight."

A sudden noise outside the bedroom door froze both of them. Michael kissed the side of her face and turned his back to her. Lying on his side, eyes closed, he appeared to be asleep. Nikita pretended to be asleep as well, but the tap of a cold bottle of champagne brought her eyes open again. It was Helmut.

Indicating that Nikita should be quiet, so as not to awaken Freddy, the drug dealer/lover of Nikita's persona, Anna, Helmut helped her out of bed. The moment they left the room together, Michael's eyes flew open. Staring straight ahead, he betrayed absolutely no emotion. But inside, he was both furious and jealous.

Furious, because Helmut had the effrontery to come right into the room where his guests were sleeping, to entice Michael's woman into God-knows-what. Wait, now Michael was having trouble separating truth from fiction. Freddy was Anna's lover. There was no Michael or Nikita here. Only Freddy and Anna. Jealous, because he wanted to be the only man in Nikita's life. If that made him possessive and controlling, so be it.

He loved her. Though he had never said so. He would not use those words in an effort to manipulate her into following him. She had to be with him of her own free will. Deeply frustrated by the situation they found themselves in, he could not protest, could not say anything to jeopardize the mission. They needed access to Helmut's party circle to gather certain intel about Red Cell. Only then could they prevent Red Cell from gaining access to some "extremely sophisticated weaponry", to quote Operations.

Lost in thought, Michael was so preoccupied with how Helmut was trying to seduce one or both of them, he nearly missed backing up Nikita. He flew downstairs, slowing down only as he approached the door to Helmut's study. Lounging against the open door, Michael appeared the picture of relaxation. No one could have guessed the fire that burned within. He hated Helmut with a passion at that moment.

For there was Helmut with his fair Nikita. Excusez-moi, Michael corrected himself. Anna.

Did Helmut really assume that drug dealers routinely allowed their buyers to shoot them full of heroin? Dealers were rarely users. It clouded judgment. Not to mention, it made for poor business sense, using up whatever profits one made on one's own habit.

Michael crooked his head sharply, indicating that Nikita should leave Helmut's side immediately. She hid her relief at his eventual appearance. She had been worried that Michael would not arrive in time to prevent her being subjected to IV drug use. Didn't he care?

He hooked an arm around her neck and shoulders possessively. He made it very clear that Nikita, sorry, Anna, belonged to him. Nikita leaned back against Michael's body, feeling his underlying tension. To look at him, one would never guess that he felt that way. Or that it was the result of his all-consuming desire to be with Nikita.

Michael and Helmut exchanged words, and Michael could not resist threatening Helmut, albeit in a very subtle way.

Helmut raised an eyebrow. "I'm terribly sorry if I somehow gave you the impression that I thought I could buy this glorious creature. As you must know…she is priceless."

"Consider what would happen then if you were to break something."

Helmut glowered for a second, then instantly resumed his too-good-to-be-true avuncular manner. "Are you threatening me, Freddy?"

His handsome face creased in an obsequious grin that somehow managed to bare all his sharp white teeth. "I think I'm beginning to like you."

"We're here to conduct business. Let's do just that, and we should have no trouble getting along."

"Splendid. Eight o'clock. Tomorrow morning."

Helmut inclined his foppish head to the two of them, and Michael was only too grateful to close the door on him. After he and Nikita returned upstairs to their bedroom, Nikita took him to task for his apparent lapse.

"Michael, I almost ended up with an armful of heroin, thanks to you. What happened to your sense of timing? Did it fly out the window with your manners?"

Michael's green eyes glowed fiercely, even in the darkened room. He was right on the edge of losing control. One push and he would surely topple all the rest of the way into oblivion. Without the woman he loved.

Maybe she wouldn't believe a word he said anymore. There had been way too many lies between them in the past. But there were other ways to convince someone of the truth. And the simple truth was…they belonged together.

He wrapped his arms around Nikita's neck, his hands tangling restlessly in her hair. "Come back to bed. There's something I need to show you."

"In bed?" Nikita looked askance.

"Trust me…"

"Michael…we have to be up early. Helmut said 8 am. On the shooting range," Nikita reminded him.

Michael let some of his exasperation show for the first time. "I don't care what Helmut said."

"So, what? We blow off the mission? Tell Operations, So sorry, but Michael had a hissy fit? Couldn't get next to Helmut?"

Michael's eyes narrowed to a precise spot on Nikita's face. Her mouth. He desired her with every fiber of his being. Right now, he didn't care if Operations wanted to cancel him. In his heart, she was already his. Operations had no right to forbid him to see her, talk to her, be with her.

"Come here." He crooked his finger, beckoning her closer. She pulled her robe a little more tightly around her body, but she needn't have bothered.

"What now, Michael?" she drawled sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Helmut's expecting us at 8. On the shooting range. You told him you were a little out of practice. Maybe you should…go practice…"

"I haven't had any complaints about my…aim…so far, Kita." There was just a glint of humor in Michael's eyes, and Nikita wondered if the double entendre was deliberate.

It was.

He blinked slowly. "Why don't you help me sharpen my…skills?"

All at once, he pulled her tightly against his body. His arousal was unmistakable. Her blue eyes grew hot on his face. "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?" she whispered huskily.

He nodded very slowly, his grey-green eyes shifting color once more to a dark jade. "Maybe you'd better…check my weapon…and make sure it's…loaded." He brushed the hair away from the side of her face with one hand and slid his tongue along her cheek. She closed her eyes, conceding defeat with a breathless gasp.

His hands crept up her thighs, pushing her robe further and further up her body. "Take this off."

She shrugged out of the robe, leaving herself clad only in a soft mauve silk nightgown. She no longer had any will of her own. She followed Michael's direction as submissively as if this were part of the mission.

He stepped into the vee of her thighs, his bare knee pressing against the very heart of her. She stared at him in disbelief. She hadn't even realized that he had been disrobing until now.

"Michael," she whispered. "We must be under surveillance…" It was her final warning. Given faint-heartedly. Never meant to be taken seriously. If they were canceled by morning, at least they would have these few moments.

Pulling his white T-shirt over his head, he suddenly stood before her, completely naked. He slid his hands under her nightgown, pulling it up until it cleared the rest of her body. He threw the gown onto the bed behind them. His palms caressed her breasts until the points of her nipples grew sharp and hard. Kissing his way down the center of her body, he bypassed her navel to catch the edge of her panties with his teeth.

Tugging on the fragile material with his teeth, he gradually pulled her panties away from her body, successfully revealing the hidden treasure they had guarded. His fingers opened that treasure so carefully, it was clear that Michael cherished every part of her.

She sobbed with relief as his tongue found her. Her hands resting on his shoulders, she would have fallen if he hadn't grasped the backs of her legs. "Ohhh…Michael…"

"You're so wet…so warm…so ready. Is it for me or for him?"

Her eyes flew open with a start. "Michael!"

Suddenly her eyes softened, both with pleasure and with affection. "You're jealous. You think I want him." She laughed merrily, and his face grew dark.

He throbbed for her, even as his heart ached. He wouldn't look at her. Grabbing the bedlinens, he literally threw himself under their protective cover. He rubbed his cheek against his pillow, trying to ignore the fact that he still wanted her. His body didn't lie. It told her things he thought were better concealed.

She crept into bed behind him, lying on her side, facing his back. Blithely paying no attention to his carefully erected facade, she saw past the blank stare to the angry, wounded man underneath. Winding her arms around his neck, she touched his nape with her lips. Pressing her breasts against his back, she sighed heavily. "Michael?"

"What?" She could hear frustration in his voice, but more than that, she sensed his very real pain at what he assumed was rejection.

She traced a slender finger down his spine to the small of his back. Trailing angel kisses down the length of his body, she stopped only when she reached the base of his spine. He rolled over so suddenly, she was trapped within his embrace.

His mouth right up against hers, he breathed, "What, Kita?"

She looked directly into those grey-green eyes that were now the color of dull pewter. Helpless to dissemble any longer, she said, "I love you."

He swallowed, as if he had only just realized how very much he wanted to say those words back to her.

"Show me."

"Show me you belong to me. Not to anyone else." Michael's voice was hoarse yet commanding.

She pushed him onto his back, her soft mauve nightgown hiking further up her legs, uncovering the treasure she sought to give him. Twining her fingers through his silky hair, she bent her head and bit at his mouth. As her tongue slid between his lips, she felt him react with an unconscious but heartfelt sigh. "Ki-ta…"

She broke contact with him, her mouth moist and slightly open. Grasping his hand in hers, she guided him to the place between her legs that craved his touch above all others. "This has always belonged to you, Michael. But you were too stubborn to take it when it was offered."

"Anyone can give their body, Kita." His fingers sank deeply into her center. "I want what no one else can have. Your heart. Your soul."

"Those are gifts not easily given, Michael. How do I know you won't take them, only to betray me once again?"

Michael had opened himself to Nikita. Far more than ever before. Far more than he even thought he could. But she had struck on the very thing that held him back. If he told her how much he loved her, if he showed her just how much he cared, wasn't he giving her a loaded weapon to hold at his heart?

Then again…he thought of what Nikita had once said. She was willing to risk dying, if it meant that she could live, really live, for just one day.

He took a deep breath and held it for a long moment. "Because I love you," he whispered almost inaudibly.

Certain that she had heard him wrong, Nikita angled herself closer, hooking one leg over his hip, his arousal brushing against the very heart of her. He wanted entrance. She would gladly grant it. But first, she had to know what he said and what it meant to him.

Lowering her face to his, so that their lips barely touched, she murmured, "What did you say, Michael?"

He swallowed, tempted to close his eyes and hide whatever emotion lurked behind those strangely expressive eyes. "I love you." Suddenly the relief at saying those words lifted his spirit, and a faint smile crossed his face. "I do, you know."

He framed her face with his hands, struggling to give her time to deal with what he'd said, before claiming what she offered so freely.

"Michael, you don't have to tell me that you love me, just to sleep with me," she said almost sadly, trying to avert her face.

"I know." His changeable grey-green eyes followed her face, almost anxiously. "You're the only thing in my life that still means anything, Kita. You're the only thing I'm still willing to fight for. Doesn't that tell you something?"

Suddenly her face lit up, a soft, almost ethereal glow from within. "You really love me."

He joined their bodies, sliding gratefully inside her welcoming depths. His fingers crept up and down her back, as if he were trying to absorb her into his very being. Slanting his mouth over hers, he kissed her again and again, desire warring with love and affection.

"There will never be anyone else…for either one of us, Kita."