Page 10 of Hot Island Nights

I cock my head at her and take a bite of my salad. Waving my fork at her, I mime continuing and although she glares at me, she doesn’t fight it.

“My husband died last year.”

My fork clatters to the plate as I reach out to grab her hand and stop her. Her sad silver eyes lift up, shimmering with tears. “I am so sorry, little flower. I didn’t think it was anything like that. You don’t have to say another word. You must miss him a great deal.”

She nods her head but she opens her mouth and it’s like she can’t stop talking now that she’s started. “But I don’t. Not really.”

“I can see how sad you are just thinking about this. You can’t tell me that you don’t miss him. I didn’t even love my girlfriend there at the end but when she left I still missed her a little bit. And we weren’t married or anything like that.”

“Your ex probably didn’t spend every day telling you what you did wrong. Over and over again.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask her, my eyes narrowing, searching hers even as she ducks my gaze.

I grasp her chin and tilt it up, feeling her delicate chin and cheek bones warm in my hand. My thumb caresses her soft skin and it feels like silky-soft fire under my touch. Her gray eyes latch onto me and it’s like I can’t look away. I’m swimming in a sea of silver light, warming and surrounding me like the waters all around our island home. I can’t take a deep breath, can’t even suck in enough air to stop the light-headed feeling that’s engulfing me.

“Sarah, tell me what you mean,” I whisper, hoping that she doesn’t see the way my lower body is swelling, aching for her.

“My husband, Dave, was a fearless guy,” she says softly. “I wasn’t. I was always nervous and it seemed like it was getting worse and worse the longer we were married. I didn’t realize it until after he died but…he had started to nitpick every little thing I did. Your hair doesn’t look right today, don’t scrape it back like that. I told you I don’t like it when you wear that dress. It makes you look like a hooker. On and on. There was always something that he didn’t approve of. I started feeling like I wasn’t good enough at anything. Even the sex had fallen off.”

She stops talking, her face flushing and tries to jerk her face out of my hands but I stop her, my fingers still gentle but firm. “That man sounds like an absolute asshole. If he didn’t want you then he was an idiot. You’re a beautiful woman and I don’t know why he was saying those things to you but they aren’t true. I can’t picture you ever looking trashy and your hair is gorgeous no matter what you do with it.”

She lifts a golden brow at me, her lip quirking in a smirk. “I had long hair. I cut it after he died and I wish I hadn’t since it turned into a mess of curls that I can’t control.”

It was an act of rebellion. I can see it in her eyes and it makes me smile. The man put his boot on her neck and criticized every damn little piece of her. But she didn’t let it break her. I can see it in her every move. She wants to live and be free of the memories of him and his loss. She’s just afraid.

She’s got nothing to fear from me. I don’t want to hurt her. I want to cleanse her soul and make it mine.

CHAPTER 9

Sarah

It feels like all the air sucks out of the room when I look into his clear blue gaze, as deep and mesmerizing as the warm ocean on a cloudless summer day.

The room feels charged with something unlike anything I’ve ever felt. Leon’s hand lifts and gently caresses my cheek. I close my eyes at the warmth of his fingers and turn my face into his palm, kissing it softly, eyes opening when he sucks in a sharp breath.

He stands and towers over me. “Sarah?” He holds his hand out to me and I nod my head jerkily.

My head reels as he leans down and picks me up so fast that the room whirls around me. His hands under my ass and back feel so good that I moan.

He growls under his breath and the gentle man that I’ve come to know over the last day is replaced with another man entirely.

His face comes down to block out the light and then his firm lips are on mine and I groan, melting into the taste and feel of him. His lips move and I open under his mouth with a gasp that turns to a tortured moan when his tongue surges inside my mouth and tangles with mine.

My heavy arms reach up and wrap around his neck pulling him closer and it’s like an explosion lights us both on fire.

Bodies straining desperately, needing to be closer. His scent dances tantalizingly around me. Like the surf and sand meet the woods. Cool, clean and woodsy. My clit pounds in my pussy as he sets my feet down on the floor without breaking the kiss, his hands tugging my hips to him and his hardness bumping into me where our two bodies meet. Mating tongues meet shivering breaths of desire and I whimper deep in my throat. His hands slither up and wrap in my curls, tugging them loose from the pins and shit still left in them, holding them back, controlling them.

His kiss lightens and he mutters under his breath, his lips against mine. “You should never pull your hair back like this. You’re so damn beautiful. Like an angel with a glorious golden halo.”

His fingers plunge all the way to my scalp, kneading into the silky strands, wrapping them around his fists until I can’t move. A little pang distracts me from all those good feelings for a minute. Ice skips along my spine.

Is he telling me that I shouldn’t do something? Is he trying to control me?

But then lust slams into me as he lifts me up, his hands moving my skirt higher until I can wrap my legs around his hips. My head falls back as his fingers wrap around my thighs, digging in until I know he’s leaving fingerprints.

“Oh god,” I sigh, my hips rocking into the hard bar in his pants.

“Tell me to stop if you don’t want this,” he growls, his voice so unlike him. Rough, raspy, needy.

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