Shifting Gears by Jayne Rylon Page B

until he was fairly certain he would survive the barrage of rapture and the near explosion of his heart she had instigated.
    The sting in his eyes horrified him. Straining to read while fucking must have dried them out—a bedroom hazard he’d never expected.
    He swiped at the hint of moisture at the corners surreptitiously as he rolled, taking Sloan with him so he reclined on his back and she lay on his chest, truly looking like a cat who’d slurped an entire bowl of cream and then some. The bright red of her nails on his tan skin shot a twinge through his exhausted cock.
    They breathed together, sharing the consummation of their joining for long minutes until he couldn’t help but speculate. “Can I ask you something?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    Mark traced the edges of Sloan’s satisfied smile with one finger then wondered aloud, “Of all the books you’ve read, what makes that one your favorite? Why is that scene so special?”
    She bit her lip and closed her eyes.
    “No, Sloan.” He shook her gently until she reopened them, surprising him as always with the gorgeous depths of her hazel eyes. “Don’t do that. Please. Not after what we shared. Stay my aggressive, sexy Cougar.”
    “Sorry.” She winced. “The physical part is easier. I don’t have a lot of practice with this kind of…intimacy.”
    “Me either, but let’s try it. Say whatever you want. I can take it and you might like sharing.”
    More like confiding, but he didn’t want to scare her.
    She nodded then shot him a feral grin. “Well, the sex is tame compared to some of the books I read, that’s true.”
    Mark groaned. That was tame? What if he’d picked a different book? Or a different chapter?
    “But something about this one feels… real. The connection between the characters gets me every time. They aren’t flawless. They screw stuff up. But they always come back to each other. To the undying passion between them. I cry during their fights, laugh when they’re happy and get turned-on when they have sex.” She sighed then nodded as if to herself. “Their story is everything I wanted for myself and gave up on when I couldn’t repair things with my husband. A relationship that’s not always utopian, but where the love—affection and friendship—endures.”
    “You deserve that, Sloan.” Mark despised the shadows in her eyes but couldn’t bear to ruin their calm by pushing her further. Not tonight.
    He smiled as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “All that and more.”
    Then he kissed her, snuggled her close to his heart and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Five
     
    Sloan watched out the window as streaks of emerald foliage gave way to industrial buildings. One of the other crew members had taken them to Guangzhou to catch the high-speed train to Hong Kong. The drive to the station bombarded her with sights and experiences. Every time she left international housing and immersed herself in the environment around her, reality annihilated her preconceived notions.
    China, to her, consisted of so many contrasts. The terrain, the cultures and the fascinating mix of contemporary and ancient all jumbled together to create a diverse and captivating land. If she spent ten years here, she’d never absorb all the nuances. Asian aesthetics—buildings with tile roofs, paper lanterns and bold red slashes—surrounded her with beauty even in crowded, rundown neighborhoods.
    She’d never been somewhere she felt more isolated—a complete foreigner—and yet reassured that many human truths were universal. A smile from a child in a stroller, graffiti in the form of characters etched into the broad leaves of tropical plants, a passerby waving hello, hawkers shouting from overcrowded stalls, and taxis blowing their horns were familiar but different.
    Guangzhou appealed to her. It teemed with industrious people going about their day-to-day life, embracing a simplicity that highlighted how many times Americans overcomplicated things. Here, an