pages into the manuscript. He put his arm around me. I stroked his chest and kissed his jaw.
'I'm trying to read this really good book here,' he said, his eyes not leaving the page.
Not knowing whether he meant it or not—and not wanting to know yet—I ignored him. 'Thank you for not leaving me.'
He pulled his eyes away from the manuscript, looked into mine and smiled. 'Thank you for coming back to me…and for saving me from myself.'
He kissed me gently. After nearly two weeks of hardly any sleep, and now finally content again, I was out as soon as his lips left mine.
Chapter 18
Sweet breath, wet kisses and a gentle tug on my lower lip awoke me.
'Rise and shine, sweet love of mine,' Tristan murmured in my ear.
I smiled and stretched and peeked through my eyelids. He'd opened the window shutters and light flooded the bedroom. I squeezed my eyes shut. 'Mmm…do I have to?'
I felt him crawl onto the bed next to me and lay behind me. He snuggled tightly against my back. 'I've been waiting too long for you to waste the day sleeping.'
I slowly opened my eyes and let them adjust to the light. When I could finally focus, I saw blue sky and the Gulf of Mexico spread out forever before me. 'Wow. I could wake up to this every morning.'
'That could be arranged….'
I turned onto my back and Tristan propped himself on his elbow, gazing down at me, the gold in his eyes sparkling brightly, the green shining like emeralds. I reached up and caressed his face.
'I missed you,' I whispered.
'I missed you, too, ma lykita .' He gave me a long, loving kiss, then he scooped his arm under me and the next thing I knew, I was on top of him. He pushed me up into a sitting position, straddling his waist. 'That's why I'm tired of watching you sleep.'
'What time is it anyway?'
'Almost noon. You've slept over fourteen hours.'
'Yeah, well…' I decided not to mention the last two weeks of hell. 'How long have you been up?'
'A couple hours. I slept in, too. It's been a while since I've slept at all and then I was up most of the night reading.' He grinned and winked. I stared at him stupidly, not even realizing I traced random shapes on his bare stomach until I felt his muscles flex.
' That feels incredible…and distracting,' he said, grabbing my hand and entwining his fingers with mine.
'I'll remember that,' I said with a smile. 'So, what's on the agenda?'
'Whatever you want.'
That was easy. 'Can we ride to Gasparilla?'
He frowned. 'Except that. It's rainy season and the storms will come in before we get back. It won't be much fun.'
'Well, if we need to stay indoors, then we should get you unpacked.' I glanced around at the boxes.
'We should probably leave that for now. Could be a waste of time.'
I stiffened. ' Why? '
'Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere without you.' He brushed my lips with his fingertips. I immediately relaxed and narrowed my eyes.
'Don't do that to me.' I swung my leg off him and crawled to the side of the bed.
'Don't leave . I'm sorry!' He sounded nearly as panicked as I'd felt a moment ago. I smiled.
'I'm just going to the bathroom.'
When I came out, the wall of windows had disappeared and the room opened to the outside. The air was already muggy, but a breeze blew off the water, cooling the dampness. Tristan stood at the balcony railing, still wearing nothing but tan cargo shorts, his bronzed, muscular back to me. Seeing him without a shirt on made me shudder, for more than one reason. Of course, his body was absolutely delightful to look at…and touch…and kiss…and… Yeah, it's quite distracting . But the muscular build also reminded me what he was made for. He might not have looked exactly like you'd imagine the ultimate soldier to look like—bulky and brawny beyond attraction— but the strength and power were obvious.
When I joined him, I saw a cup of coffee, my manuscript in its folder and a rose on the little table. He handed me the cup and the rose. I took a sip of coffee then stuck my nose into the flower.
'Nice,' I said. 'Thank you. But you do know you're spoiling me.'
'I intend to. Every day. Forever.'
We stood against the railing in silence, arm in arm. I sipped my coffee while watching the waves crash on the beach. I could do this forever.
'So,' I finally said, 'why would unpacking be a waste of time?'
'I don't know that it is yet. We'll find out tonight. We need to discuss some things, figure out some plans.'
'Like getting married?' I asked excitedly. He smiled down at me.
'Yes, that may be part of it, but we have more pressing issues to worry about.' His brows furrowed and he frowned. 'Just because you and I are good—'
'Perfect,' I corrected.
'—doesn't mean everything else is,' he finished, ignoring my correction.
'What's going on?' His concern was contagious and he must have seen it on my face. He changed his expression, smiling again.
'We'll get there soon enough. Let's not ruin our time together right now, okay?' He picked up the folder with my manuscript in it and handed it to me. I flipped through it. Notes marked the margins on many of the pages. 'You're very talented.'
'So you liked it?' I asked. He nodded. 'Really? Wait. You finished it already?'
He nodded again. The notes went through to the last page.
'Oh, no. No, no, no. That's not good ,' I cried.
His brows knitted with confusion. 'I thought that meant it's a page-turner.'
'A page-turner is good, but if you breeze right through it, it's usually because it's just crappy writing.' My heart plummeted to my feet.
'Alexis, you're being absurd. How old is your target reader?'
'Teens, I guess. Young Adult.'
'I think I have a few more years of reading experience than they do. It's just right for them.' He looked at me earnestly. I let out a deep breath and nodded. 'My only problem…a witch and a werewolf ? Puh-lease.'
I'd expected him to tease me about that, so I just laughed as I put the manuscript back on the table.
'There's no way a witch and a werewolf would fall in love …unless she put a spell on him or something.'
I shrugged. 'It could happen. It's my world. I'm making it up and that's their story.'
'Hmph. Still…' He rolled his eyes mockingly. 'I admit you did very well at making it believable. Your characters felt real, even with all the good qualities that don't quite go along with canon.'
I grinned, ecstatic that even Tristan liked my characters. 'Mom gave me some fantastic ideas for them in the beginning. It's almost like she knew them before I did.'
He gave me a significant look, his eyebrows raised, that I couldn't understand. It cleared almost immediately. 'So, what's next? A normal human story, I hope.'
I braced myself for the teasing I knew was about to come. 'Well…I've kind of been thinking of something a little different than this one…like a human falling in love with a vampire.'
'A good vampire, I assume. One that drinks donated blood?'
I smiled slyly. 'I don't know…maybe he or she is horrible. I haven't decided who's human and who's vampire
