All he knew was that he didn’t want the night to end.
Chapter 9
Bright light pressed against Holly’s eyelids, forcing her to open them and blink.
Sunlight streamed in through the bedroom windows, a definitive indication that it was morning.
Having stayed up through most of the night, she groaned, pulled her pillow over her head and tried to go back to sleep.
Events of the night before flooded her thoughts, bringing her fully awake and aware of the warm body taking up more than half the bed beside her.
She shoved the pillow aside, rolled onto her side and stared at the man who’d absolutely ruined her. Well, ruined her for sex with anyone else ever again.
She drank her fill of his gorgeous face and sexy body while he slept peacefully. She loved the shadow of his beard that had scraped deliciously along her inner thighs as he’d gone down on her during the wee hours of the morning. When the sky had remained dark, fireworks had lit her world in the small bedroom.
Her pulse quickened. Was it too soon to wake him and ask for a repeat? She didn’t want him to think she was needy.
But she was. Now that they’d taken things to the next level, she couldn’t seem to get enough.
The next level.
What exactly was that level? Lust? Sex without commitment? Was there any hope of a level beyond the purely physical stage?
Neither one of them had promised anything. With things as uncertain as they were, it would be foolish to entertain the idea of a future together. Not to mention, they barely knew each other.
How long did someone need to know someone else before she knew he was the one?
And if Simon was her one, would that certainty only be on her side? What if she wasn’t his one?
Throw in the potential curse she was carrying around with her, and he might not survive for her to find out if she was his one. Was he doomed because of the fake relationship they’d led everyone to believe?
“Why are you frowning?” Simon whispered.
While she’d been running increasingly disastrous scenarios through her head, Simon had opened his eyes and was now staring at her.
“We shouldn’t have told everyone you’re my boyfriend,” she blurted as she rolled out of the bed, pulled a T-shirt over her head and stood at the window.
“Too late. It’s a small town. By now, we’re practically married. We’re even house hunting together.” Simon sat up. “Why? What brought that up?”
“Paul was murdered. And my parents...” She swallowed hard on a sob, forcing it back. Crying wouldn’t bring them back. “Whoever did that might come after you next.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Simon said and came to stand behind her, his arms encircling her belly. “They might not have known what was coming. We have the advantage now because we’re looking for something to happen.”
Holly stared out at the bayou. “Something isn’t right,” she murmured.
“A lot isn’t right. But we’re going to figure this out. Swede’s working on it from his end. We need to go find people close to what happened and ask the right questions.”
Holly raised her hand. “No. Something isn’t right with the view.”
“What do you mean?”
Holly pulled on her jeans from the night before and darted for the stairs.
Simon rammed his legs into his jeans and hurried after her. “Slow down.”
She didn’t stop until she reached the door and flung it open.
The gangway was there. The dock wasn’t. In fact, it was nowhere in sight.
