“Give me a break. Surely a man who can come up with a phrase like
He smiled. “You’re right. Maybe this is an omen.”
He switched off the flashlight and guided her down the steps to get a better view of the spectacular display.
“Talk about special effects,” Charlotte breathed.
“No movie studio could produce a light show like this.”
The brilliant green lights crashed and cascaded endlessly across the night sky, creating an otherworldly effect that dazzled all of the senses.
Energy heightened in the atmosphere. Slade realized that Charlotte had jacked up her talent a few degrees in order to savor the full effects of the aurora. His own senses responded, not to the rippling, glowing lights in the sky but to Charlotte’s energy.
He knew then that he had miscalculated badly. He had told himself that sex with Charlotte did not have to be complicated, just a simple case of two adults who were attracted to each other acting on that attraction. But he had been wrong. Sex was going to be very complicated. In that moment, however, entranced by Charlotte’s upturned face and the air of wonder and fascination that shimmered around her, he did not give a damn about the potential complications.
He put his arm around her shoulders, acutely conscious of the delicate, feminine body beneath the light sweater she wore. Her scent stirred the banked fires deep inside. He turned her toward him. She did not resist.
“Charlotte,” he said. And stopped because he could not think of what to say next.
“I know, I know,” she said, her voice a little husky now. “You’re not long for this island. You’ve got plans for the future that don’t involve hanging around here. We’re just two talents passing in the night, blah, blah, blah.”
“I may have said blah, blah, blah, but don’t think I actually said that we’re just two talents passing in the night.”
She put her hands on his shoulders and smiled up at him. Her eyes were luminous pools of mystery.
“How about two talents who happen to find themselves stranded together on an island,” she said.
He pulled her closer. “I don’t think I said that, either.”
“No, I did.”
“That works.”
He brought his mouth down on hers and kissed her beneath the radiant green night skies. Heat and energy flashed in the atmosphere. Charlotte made a small sighing sound and melted against his chest. Slowly, he reminded himself. You don’t want to screw this up by running too hot.
But the fires of passion were already flaring and getting hotter by the heartbeat. Against his better judgment he deepened the kiss. It was okay. He could handle this. He was in control. It was just a kiss.
Charlotte’s mouth softened and opened under his. He felt her fingers tighten on his shoulders. A shiver swept through her. The knowledge that she was responding to him was making him reckless.
He eased his hands down her sleek back until his palms rested on the enticing curve of her hips. He cradled her snugly against his thighs. He heard Charlotte’s sharp breath when she felt his erection through the fabric of his jeans.
“What’s the matter?” he asked into her ear. “Didn’t you realize how much I want you?”
Her fingers clenched tighter around his shoulders. “It’s not that,” she said tightly. “It’s just . . . never mind.”
She kissed his throat and then he felt her teeth on his earlobe. There was a sense of urgency about her now, as if she was suddenly desperate to leap off an unseen cliff. He almost laughed.
“It’s okay,” he said. “We’ve got all night.”
“No,” she said. “We don’t. We need to do this now. Before I—Never mind.”
“Before you what?”
“It’s not important now.”
“Whatever you say. Maybe we should find a bed, first?”
“There’s one in my cottage.”
He scooped her into his arms and carried her up the front porch steps. She managed to find the key where she’d dropped it, fumbled, got the lock opened, and then they were inside.
“The lights,” she whispered. “On the wall.”
“Don’t need them,” he said.
“Oh, yeah, right, the night-vision thing. Wow, that’s handy.”
“Oh, yeah.”
He got her up the stairs to the second floor and down a short hall to a bedroom. There he fell with her onto the bed. He managed to sit up long enough to get her shoes and his boots off and then they were locked in sensual combat on the quilt.
She twisted into his body. He found the sweet, vulnerable skin of her throat. He was playing with fire but he was satisfied that he was still in control.
He removed her glasses and set them carefully on the nightstand. Without the crystalline armor of the lenses, she suddenly looked more innocent and vulnerable. It brought back a vivid memory of how she had looked that night fifteen years earlier. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.
“Ack.” She turned her head aside, batting at his shoulders with both hands. “Don’t do that. I promised myself you wouldn’t kiss me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you did that night. As if I were your kid sister.”
He grinned. “Trust me, I never thought of you as a sister, not fifteen years ago, not tonight.”
“You’re sure?”
“There are some things a man knows with absolute certainty.”
“Okay, then. If you’re sure.”
He kissed her on the mouth, letting the heat rebuild. When she groaned and shuddered beneath him he unfastened her sweater and peeled it off. He slid his hands under her blue pullover. The fine bones of her rib cage felt bird-light and bird-delicate under his big hands. Her breasts were small, full, firm, and ripe, the nipples like berries between his fingers. He squeezed gently and Charlotte seemed to levitate off the bed.
“Ah,” she gasped. “Yes.”
She got his shirt open, got her hands inside. When he felt her palms on his bare skin another wave of heat rolled through him.
He raised his head to look down at her. Charlotte’s eyes burned with passion. He knew that his own eyes were equally hot. The scent of her body acted like a drug on his senses, threatening to suppress what remained of his control.
He’d thought he could handle this, but things were getting out of control fast.
He could not resist moving one palm down to the crotch of her pants. He could feel her heat even through the fabric. He cupped her and pressed hard.
There was more than urgency in her hoarse voice now, he thought. There was an element of desperation. He did not understand it but the desire to sink into her was so strong now that he did not want to take the time to ask questions.
It wasn’t until he started to undo the fastenings of her jeans that he realized that his fingers were trembling and his mind was clouded with need. Shock slammed through him. The atmosphere in the small, shadowed room was too hot, way too hot.
His senses flared higher and suddenly he was far out on the spectrum, heading into the red zone, staring into the dark storm of psychic oblivion that awaited him.
He had to crank it down a few notches, he told himself. He could do that. Grimly he reached for and found his control. He was still rock hard, still ready to explode, but he was able to partially close down his senses. The dark storm receded.
