“Sold,” said Carter. “I’m glad we have some pawpaws left for breakfast, though.”
“We’ve got enough to have some for dessert tonight.”
They finished choking down the toasted cattails, then broke open a pair of pawpaws. Fen ate daintily, holding her hair back from her face with one hand. Carter also ate with one hand, using his other to aim the hair dryer on his clothes, but he too tried not to get the custard-like pawpaw all over his face. He might be lost in the swamp, but he didn’t want her to think he was some kind of barbarian.
“Turn around?” she suggested when they finished. “My clothes are dry.”
“So are mine.”
The back-turned reverse strip-tease was only marginally less sexy than the one where they’d both gotten naked. They scrambled into their clothes, but he still had plenty of time to listen to Fen pulling on her skirt and blouse, and to imagine what she looked like doing it. Spontaneous combustion was a definite risk.
“Done?” he asked.
“Done.”
They turned and faced each other. Her rumpled business suit looked like it had been plastered with mud, then rinsed off in swamp water, then blasted with a jerry-rigged hair dryer. Carter didn’t even want to think about what his suit looked like.
But she was looking at him with a desire that matched his own. He could see it sparking in her dark eyes, feel it rising off her skin like smoke. It was unmistakable. And he knew that she felt his desire for her, the same way he had felt hers for him. Maybe you could only feel it this clearly when it was mutual.
“This is such a bad idea,” Fen murmured in a husky tone that drove him wild.
“Terrible,” he said.
She took a step forward. He could feel the warmth of her breath when she said, “It’s sleeping with the enemy.”
“Never a good move,” he agreed.
“We absolutely shouldn’t do this,” she purred.
“Definitely not.”
He bent down. She put her hands on his shoulders. Time seemed to stop with them caught in that moment, touching but apart. And then they were clutching at each other, bodies pressed together and lips locked.
For a moment, he forgot where he was. He practically forgotwhohe was. There was nothing in the world but her pliant body melting into his, her tongue caressing his, her sharp little teeth nibbling on his lip, the taste of pawpaws, the scent of her, and the force and flame of their mutual lust.
“Let’s do the strip-tease again,” whispered Fen. “And this time, let’s watch.”
Her eyes looked huge, the irises swallowed up by the pupils. A light danced in that utter darkness as she reached behind her back to undo the fastenings on her blouse.
Carter felt dizzy with the intensity of his desire. He knew what the strip-tease would lead to, and he wanted it so much that not having it would cause him physical pain. All he had to do was say yes, and he could make love to Fen. He could run his fingers through her tousled black hair, he could reach between her thighs and feel exactly how wet she was, he could see what she looked like when she came under his touch. He could breathe in the scent of her arousal, and it drove him wild.
But she wanted Carter Howe, genius inventor and businessman. She had no idea of the monster that lurked beneath his skin. If she did, she wouldn’t invite him to strip with her, she’d run screaming. He couldn’t have sex with her—he’d be doing it under false pretenses.
He wished he hadn’t remembered that, and then hated himself for having that thought.
It was as hard to do as if he was in some dream where the air had solidified like gelatin, but he forced himself to take a step back. “Wait. We—We can’t—”
“It’s all right.” Fen touched his cheek, smiling wickedly. “We’ll only use our hands. And I know you’re good with yours.”
The thought of her curling her fingers around him sent a wave of lust crashing over him. He wanted so much to say yes. Hewasgood with his hands. And he bet she was too.
I hate my life,Carter thought.
Feeling like he was throwing himself head-first into a pit of bullfrogs, he said, “No. Wait. I—”
As she dropped her hand, looking at him quizzically, he ground to a halt. A wave of cold horror hit him as he realized that he was either going to have to tell her there was something she needed to know first and then tell her what it was, or else turn her down flat. He couldn’t say “Not yet,” and then string her along waiting for a revelation that would never come.
Tell her,growled a monster.
