Page 69 of Try Me

Try Me

Pearl

Pearl woke laterto sounds she didn’t recognize.

There was the muffled noise of rain hitting the tin roof, and the sound of soft music, an old tune from her mother’s days of shiny-haired crooners. There was the shuffle and creak of floorboards and humming.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Pearl listened closely. There was definitely humming. It was low and deep, and of the male variety.

The events of the previous twenty-four hours came back to Pearl like a wave crashing over her head. She remembered everything at once. First, she had flown in a horrible contraption, barely containing her fear as they whizzed over the blue Pacific in a tin can topped with a propeller. Then, they had surfed all day in epic waves. They’d been abandoned and rescued in one fell swoop. They’d eaten, they’d argued, and then they had spent all night and most of this morning exploring each other’s bodies.

Aside from flying in the death machine and being terrified that she would be murdered by three huge Hawaiians and left for dead on a remote beach, it had been a pretty good twenty-four hours.

Pearl stretched her arms over her head, aching in places she hadn’t known existed. Her mouth felt tender, and her cheeks burned as if they’d been rubbed with sandpaper. Her back felt brittle enough to break if she bent too quickly, and between her legs there was a deep throb, a pulsing ache that intensified the moment she focused on it.

She felt raw, bruised and scraped, but at the same time hollow as if something was missing.

Her eyes drifted open, and she saw Declan in the tiny kitchen. He was what was missing.

The ache between Pearl’s thighs throbbed as she watched Declan. He bent to peer in a lower cabin, then straightened and reached for a high shelf. He did it all while humming.

Pearl’s skin flushed at the sound of Declan’s low, sexy voice. Even his hum turned her on.

He was a tall, blond, romantic hunk of a man. A man who crashed through her resolve like a relentless six-wave set.

Pearl watched Declan pull a container off the high shelf and twist it open. Her eyes skimmed down his muscled back, over his firm ass (adorably clad in a pair of polka-dot briefs), and down his strong legs to his bare feet.

Gluteus maximus. Gracilis. Sartorius. So ono.

Declan must have felt Pearl’s stare, because he turned his head to look at her. He smiled, and his whole face lit up.

“Hey,” he said. His voice smoldered, dripping with sex. Her heart skipped and resolve to resist him disappeared. “I’m trying to scare up something to eat.” He pulled a face. “I can’t eat any more of that Spam.”

Pearl swung her legs off the bed and reached for a T-shirt on the floor. “How long was I out?” she asked.

“A while,” he said. “We only have another hour or so of daylight.”

She pulled the T-shirt over her head and stood up from the bed. Her legs wobbled, and she braced a hand on the mattress to steady herself.

Declan was across the room in two long strides. He caught her around the waist, wrapping her in the solid warmth of his body.

“You don’t have to get dressed,” he said. “There’s no one out here for miles.”

“You’re dressed,” she said, threading her fingers through the wavy hair at the nape of his neck. “What’s fair is fair.”

He kissed her lips, then trailed his warm mouth along her jaw. “I don’t have to be dressed.”

Pearl’s stomach growled, making them both laugh.

“I’ve starved you,” he said, setting her back on her feet. “There has to be something in here that doesn’t come in a pink cube.”

They went back into the kitchen and searched. After a few minutes, Pearl found a throw net. She held it up triumphantly.

Declan cocked an eyebrow at her. “That doesn’t look very appetizing,” he said.

“Funny,” she said, shoving the net at Declan’s chest. “Wait till you see what I can do with it.” Rising on her toes, she kissed him on the mouth. “You will fall helplessly in love.”

Declan pressed his lips to hers. “I think it’s too late,” he said, a teasing tone in his voice. “I fell in love with you the minute I saw you take Sam Henderson’s head off at the awards banquet.”

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