Page 10 of Atlanta Heat (Tempting SEALs 6)

She jerked, looked down. Her eyes widened. Terror ripped through her senses as a blood-curdling scream tore from her throat.

Emerson jumped as a pointed head lifted, the flickering tongue touching her bare ankle. Nothing mattered but escape.

She was screaming, screeching, trying to crawl into Macey’s body, frantic to evade a bite from the biggest, most terrifying snake she had ever seen in her life.

One minute she was climbing Macey’s body, the next he was cursing and they were falling. Was he laughing?

They rolled away from the too-long, too-thick reptile, but it wasn’t enough. Emerson scrambled to escape. She felt her knee hit Macey’s body, heard his grunt, his strangled curse. Clawing at the wood floor, she finally managed to drag herself up on the bed, panting, certain the snake had followed.

But it was gone. It was gone and Macey was curled up on the floor, his hands cupped between his thighs as something between a laugh and a groan left his throat.

“It’s a snake!” She jumped to the floor now that it seemed to be gone and tugged on his arm. “Get up, Macey. It’s huge. Oh my God, it’s horrible.”

He was laughing?

Emerson stared around the room, caught sight of the huge reptilian head peeking from beneath a chair and screamed again. She was back on the bed, staring at the chair in horror.

“Macey, get up. Oh my God. Macey, get up.” The head was the size of a platter, and surely its mouth was large enough to swallow an ankle whole.

“Drack.” Macey groaned, pulling himself to his knees and giving a faintly wheezing cough.

“Are you crazy?” she screamed, watching the chair carefully. “Where’s the gun? Tell me and I’ll get it.” She was terrified he wasn’t going to get off the floor in time.

“Drack.” He laughed; he was laughing, for pity’s sake.

Emerson stared back at him, fighting the panic, the fear.

“What the hell is Drac

k? Macey, please get on the bed.”

He laughed harder.

“What’s so funny?” she cried, still keeping an eye on the chair. “Would you please get in the bed until we can find a gun.”

He straightened, bent over laughing again, then restraightened.

“You just terrified my anaconda, Em. And de-manned me all in the same whack. Hell, I bet you’re related to Morganna.” He laughed again, drawing her shocked gaze as his words began to register.

“You live with a snake?” she wheezed.

“Well, she lives here.” He snickered, moved to the far wall, and pressed a lever.

And there it was, the biggest aquarium she had ever seen, ripples of water, foliage and flat stones displayed behind glass as Macey opened the door.

“Come on, Drack, time to go home.”

Drack. The snake. The huge snake. The twelve foot-long, at the very least, reptile slithered from beneath the chair with lazy ease and slid into the aquarium.

Once it was inside, Macey closed and locked the glass door before turning back to her with a grin.

“She watches the place while I’m gone.”

Emerson sat down slowly, staring at the well-lit aquarium, certain her heart had stopped and she had died.

“She lives here?”

“Right in there.” Macey nodded, chuckling as he pointed over his shoulder at the glass-enclosed cage.

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