~ 14 ~
COLSON
Paradise.
I felt guilty for enjoying it. Annoyed at myself every time I let my guard down, even for a moment, because a moment was all it would take for Donovan’s men to get the jump on us.
But it’s been days now, and we’ve covered our tracks. We’d made all the right moves. Put up all the right safeguards.
If we hadn’t, we’d be dead already.
All the more reason to enjoy things now, while we’re still ahead.
The smell of honeysuckle wafted in on the cool night breeze, as I stood barefoot on the smooth wooden deck. Everything was peaceful, here. Serene. Everything except the storm in my head, swirling with conflicting thoughts. I’d swam in the ocean. I’d drank rum from the bottle. I’d slept like a baby, six or eight hours at a clip, because even the air here betrayed my usual vigilance in its own, seductive way.
And that’s not all that was seductive.
Peyton.
No matter what I did, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. She lingered in the back of my head, even when she wasn’t gliding past me, half-dressed, smelling of jasmine, and vanilla, and—
“Soo… what kind of Chinese food do you like?”
Her presence surprised me. The question, even more. I turned my head to find her standing beside me, back arched, leaning over the railing. I followed her gaze, and together we looked out over the shimmering, moonlit water.
“I guess I’d have to say lemon chicken,” I played along.
Her sleep shirt was so loose-fitting it bared both slender, oil-bronzed shoulders. The sun had been good to her, these past few days. She walked the beach like she belonged here.
“Lemon chicken’s not bad,” she allowed with a chuckle. “Me, I’m a noodle girl. Lo Mein, Mei Fun. Oh, and I’m aslutfor some steamed dumplings.”
She pushed back from the railing and turned to face me, a slender hand guiding that long blonde hair behind one beautifully-formed ear. She did it so casually, it made my stomach drop.
“Are you craving Chinese food, all of a sudden?”
Peyton shrugged a bare shoulder. “I’m craving a lot of things.”
Those almond-shaped eyes gave me a slow, deliberate once-over. I could feel something warm, unraveling inside me.
“You don’t sleep much, do you?”
“No,” I admitted.
“Constantly watching,” she sighed. “Keeping us safe.”
It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t answer. Besides, I was too lost in those smoldering blue eyes. I’d fought so hard to forget about her tonight, to push all thoughts of her from my mind. And now here she was, half-dressed, the soft hem of her T-shirt dangling tantalizingly around the smooth tops of those bare, supple thighs.
“What made you do it, Colson?”
The question snapped me back from my exhilarating, three-second fantasy.
“Do what?”
“Go against Donovan,” she murmured. “Finally break free of him.”
I shook my head. “We’re far from free of him.”
“No, not yet,” she allowed. “But after this, there’s no going back for you. And I know your options are already limited.”
