He wanted her in her body so she could fully appreciate all the marvelously obscene things he planned to do to it. Toher.
“Let’s sit down.” He gestured to a small log that had washed up on the beach. It was bare of bark and made smooth by its time at sea. “Will you read to me?”
When she nodded, he led her to the driftwood. After sinking down beside her, he let out a contented sigh when she unzipped her purse, took out the book, and began to read.
Her husky voice drifted in the salty evening air, sounding like pure seduction. And the blush on her cheeks was a soft, delicate pink that matched the sunset-tinged clouds.
It was an odd feeling to know that, despite the loss of his plane, despite their precarious predicament, he’d never been happier than he was right then. Sitting next to her. His thigh touching her thigh. The waning light bathing them both. And the anticipation of what was to come humming softly in the air around them.
And what happens after?the voice in the back of his head asked.
He wished the sonofabitch had a face so he could plant his fist in it. The voice had never cared aboutafterbefore, so why the hell was it talking aboutafternow?
After doesn’t matter,he assured the voiceandhimself.After we’ll be friends, just like I promised. And in the meantime...
She would be his. And that would be enough.
He would make sure it was enough.
Chapter 16
6:39 PM...
“Lazarus leaned in and whispered, ‘The night is ours,’ and his words were warm on Ursula’s skin. She shuddered at the passion that made her blood run hotter than the full moon. Then Lazarus, her sworn enemy, the man who had promised to see her dead, kissed her. And the night itself became a dark seduction,” Mia read aloud.
Her voice choked on the last two words and she dared not turn the page. The rest of the chapter was sure to be all about the vampire, Lazarus Luxido, seducing the werewolf princess, Ursula Lobo. And like Ursula, Mia’s blood was already on fire. If she read any further, she might get so worked up that she jumped on Romeo with all the panache of a horny fifteen-year-old copping her first feel.
That would definitely prove he was wrong when he told me that my lack of lots of lovers was nothing I need to worry about.
After closing the book, she carefully slid it back into her purse. Tentatively, she met Romeo’s stare, expecting him to tease her about stopping before finishing the chapter. She was caught off guard when all he said was, “We might see the green flash tonight.”
“Who?” She blinked, unable to focus on his words when her eyes were busy diving headlong into his melting chocolate gaze.
His chuckle was low, indulgent. “Not who.What.” He pointed toward the sun as it touched down on the rippling waves at the horizon.
She’d always thought he had the sexiest hands. So large and wide-palmed. Long, knobby-knuckled fingers. Nail beds that were slightly rounded with ends bluntly cut.
They weren’t beautiful like the rest of him. They were far too rough for that.
Working hands. Worn and scarred. Strong and capable.
But just like the rest of him, they screamedman. She wondered, not for the first time, how easily they could make her feel like a woman.
Ridiculously easily, she decided.
All it would take was one touch of his callused fingertips against her hungry mouth, one graze of his broad palms across her eager flesh, one pass of his thumb over the aching tips of her—
“It’s a rare phenomenon that sometimes happens at sunrise and sunset when the conditions are just right,” he went on, unaware that her mind was headed down a one-lane path toward the Bone Zone.
Damn you, P.J. Warren!
The woman’s books would make a priest have impure thoughts.
Or maybe Mia was being unfair to Ms. Warren. Maybe the blame for Mia’s musings rested solely on Romeo’s shoulders. His big, wide, fantastically muscled—
“The air needs to be clear, like it is now,” he continued, and she forced herself to concentrate on the words coming out of his mouth instead of the way his lips formed around them. Lips that looked so firm and kissable and—Argh!“And you have to have an uninterrupted view of the horizon, like we do now.”
He dropped his hand and grabbed hers, interlocking their fingers. His palm was warm and dry. Her hand felt impossibly small inside his.
