Page 49 of Pleasure Island

16

Mila

Lesson two went just as well.

Now, curled up in the nest of tangled sheets atop my bed, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and sighed, quite smug and satisfied with myself.

“What are you grinning at?” Liam asked, his voice drowsy.

I looked down and found him watching me through slitted eyes.

“I’m just enjoying life,” I said loftily. Skimming my hand back over his short, dark hair, I added, “And considering I almost drowned earlier, I’ve got plenty of reason to enjoy life.”

His face darkened, and he sat up, scowling at me. “You’re going to be more careful in the future, right?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Relax. I learned my lesson.” I bit my lower lip as I

studied him. “Speaking of lessons, do you still think you suck at…this?”

He blushed.

Delighted, charmed, I leaned in and kissed him. “You can’t really think you’re bad at this,” I said against his lips. “But…you know.”

I pulled back and traced his cheek with my finger. “I’ve been thinking.”

“I’m scared already,” he said in a voice so dry, I almost missed the humor.

“There’s a smart-ass lurking under that stiff exterior of yours,” I said, pointing at him.

He caught my wrist in his hand, his thumb stroking over my pulse. It rabbited under his touch, and I shivered a little, enjoying the feel of him against me.

“Anyway,” I said before I gave into the urge to start on lesson three. “I was thinking…maybe you and I can help each other out.”

He gave me that look, head cocked, eyes slightly narrowed as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what I was up to.

I gave him an innocent smile. “Relax. It’s harmless.”

Well, I thought so anyway.

Liam didn’t appear to be as convinced as I was.

I’d change his mind. Confident of that, I started to talk.

“So, you’re offering to help me brush up on my missing bedroom skills if I’ll talk to your father about pulling security detail,” he said in a flat voice a few minutes later.

“First, I don’t think your bedroom skills are missing much of anything except practice.” I rolled my eyes at him. “People aren’t born knowing how to have sex. It’s a learning game. And you learn…fast.”

He didn’t return my smile. “Your life could be in danger. I’m not making some bargain to pull the detail off you until we know whether or not there’s a real threat.”

He sat up, and I moved until I could press my front against his back. Hooking my arms over his shoulders, I kissed his cheek. “I’m fond of life, Liam. But…come on…you’ve been with me almost two weeks, and nothing has happened.”

He covered my hand with his, still not looking at me. “I’ve got a job to do, Mila. I take it seriously even if you don’t.”

“I’ll have you know that I take my lifeveryseriously,” I retorted. “But has anything happened?” I stopped and rolled my eyes. “Okay, you can’t say my stupidity earlier was related to anything butmebeingstupid. I was careless. It won’t happen again, but that was my screw-up. I wasn’t hauled out to sea by some pissed off contractor my dad worked with.”

He dropped a casual kiss on my hand then untangled himself from my arms. He rose, moving from the room but came back in a minute later with a dry, fresh pair of shorts slung around his hips.

“You didn’t have to get dressed on my account,” I told him.

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