Page 76 of Try Me

“I won’t give you any more sex.” He winked.

“Hah! You can’t resist me and you know it.”

“Then I’ll tickle it out of you.” Declan scraped her neck with his beard scruff and squeezed her leg just above the knee so she broke into helpless laughter. “Just tell me,” he said as she squirmed against him.

“If I tell you,” she said, panting to catch her breath from laughing, “then you have to promise not to use it against me.”

Declan pretended to think about it, but he already knew the answer. “Deal,” he agreed.

“You promise?”

He looked her straight in the eye and didn’t flinch. “I promise.”

Pearl wiggled out of his arms and propped herself up against the back wall of the cabin with her legs stretched out along the width of the narrow bed. Declan came to sit beside Pearl, his long legs dangling over the edge almost to the floor. Light seeped in through the open curtains as dawn broke over the mountain. Rain drummed constantly on the roof.

“I’m very good at reading people,” Pearl said. “My grandmother says it’s my Ehu blood. But she says that about everything.”

Declan interrupted her. He hated to do it, but he was too curious to stop himself. It was the second time she’d mentioned this mysterious bloodline. “What is Ehu blood?”

“It means I’m a descendant of Pele.”

“The volcano goddess?” Declan asked. He’d often thought of her when picturing Pearl. Was that more than a coincidence?

“That’s the one.” Pearl took Declan’s hand. “Family legend says that my great-great-great-grandmother was the daughter of Pele and a warrior chief.”

Declan swept Pearl’s hair away from her shoulder and kissed her collarbone. He couldn’t sit so close to her without kissing her. She was gloriously naked, and the soft morning light did something magical to her skin.

“My grandmother says my Ehu blood gives me the power to read people’s thoughts. But the truth is that I’m very observant. I’m great at poker because I can always tell when someone is bluffing.”

“Remind me never to bet against you.”

His lips trailed up her neck to find the spot where she liked to be kissed. She moaned softly.

“Declan, try listen.”

He loved the way her soft skin tasted. He loved the sexy little sounds of satisfaction she made when he kissed her. He loved the way she dropped into Pidgin English when she was fired up.

“I’m listening,” he murmured as he made his way up to her ear. His hand massaged her knee where he’d been tickling her a moment ago and then traveled up her thigh.

Arching her back against the wall, Pearl opened her legs. “If you keep touching me like that, I won’t be able to tell the rest.”

Declan’s hand stilled. He wanted to know how Pearl knew he was lying. He needed to know.

“You have a tell,” she said.

“A what?”

“A tell. Your face gives you away.”

“How?”

“Your eyes.”

“What about them?”

Pearl sighed.

“Come on,” Declan urged.

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