Chloe read Jared’s distress as he stood, quickly pulled on his clothes and glided across the floor in two easy strides. An invisible band tightened around her heart as she sat there stock still watching him run off, the same way he’d run off the previous night.
Sure, at first she’d thought what was between them was just a vacation fling, but with the way they’d made love and connected on a deeper level, she knew it was about so much more. Every fiber of her being told her Jared felt the pull as much as she did. Which made his retreat all the more confusing and painful.
Why was he running away again? Had he been hurt in the past? Damned if she didn’t have every intention of finding out. Michael might have recently walked out of her life, and she’d stood back and watched him go because he wasn’t worth the fight, but Jared sure as hell was.
He offered her a look full of intimacy as he exited the room and pulled the door closed behind him, and it was then that she saw his sadness and felt his fear. What was he afraid of? Her heart went out to him, and her bed felt empty and cold without his presence. God, she ached to touch him again, to have him touch her. Restless and needy she climbed from her mattress, pulled on her soft cotton robe and began pacing, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened.
She moved to her window and stared up at the full moon. She and Jared had been so lost in each other’s arms that she hadn’t even realized that nighttime was upon them. Her stomach rumbled, a reminder that she’d missed a day’s worth of meals. She narrowed her eyes and scanned the grounds, looking for Jared and wondering where the few guests had gone. The cove was empty, the beachside bar deserted. Music drifted in on a breeze, and it was then that she remembered the evening festivities — bachata night in the ballroom. Off in the distance a slight movement on one of the footpaths caught her attention. If she hadn’t been looking, concentrating on her surroundings, she never would have noticed. The shadow disappeared into the trees than resurfaced near the tall fence erected at the foot of the mountain.
She examined the shadow, studying the way it maneuvered around the trees smoothly, effortlessly. Then it seemed to be on the other side of the fence. She blinked, and caught of flash of something big and red beneath the moon rays before it disappeared up the mountain. Her brow furrowed, her head jerked back with a start. What the hell was that? A bird of some sort? She’d never seen a bird move quite like that before. And it was so big.
Something jangled in the back of her mind. Her blood began tingling and she focused on the niggling, trying to understand what her subconscious was telling her. There was something so damn familiar about the way that shadow moved, they way it danced in the shadows. Suddenly her body rippled in remembrance.
Jared…
Her hand flung to her chest. Was that Jared she’d spotted moving in the shadows before climbing the fence and morphing into a big red thing that took to the mountain? Suddenly visions of a ferocious dragon flashed in her mind. She quickly pushed that ridiculous notion out of her head. She couldn’t deny that she’d seen something glide up the mountain and disappear into the skyline, but dragons didn’t exist. And surely to God it wasn’t Jared who she’d spotted moments before that…that thing…took flight. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her, probably because she was exhausted from the best sex she’d had in her life.
Still, it wouldn’t hurt to investigate, and maybe she’d get lucky enough to meet up with Jared and entice him back into her bed so she could get to the bottom of his hasty exit and show him he had nothing to fear.
Even though she craved Jared’s scent, wanting his rich aroma to linger on her skin so she could draw on it at whim, Chloe knew she needed another shower. After quickly washing and drying, she dressed in a pair of shorts and T-shirt, and made her way outside. The warm evening air hit like a tsunami wave and immediately dampened her skin.
As she moved along one of the empty footpaths she listened for signs of nightlife and was surprised that all was silent. How odd. She made her way to the fence, to the exact location she’d spotted the shadow and ran her hand along the seams, looking for a way in, or over. Climbing the fence might not be her smartest move, but curiosity propelled her forward. That, and it’d be nice to confirm that the fence had only been erected to keep the guests safe. Right?
Then what the hell was the big red thing she’d seen?
She walked the fence carefully and cautiously, feeling a path with her hand until she came to a loose board. She pulled on it, and it popped open. Her breath caught, and her body tightened. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one had spotted her, then slipped behind the fence and pulled the loose board closed. Heart racing, she swallowed and worked to get her bearings before she carefully picked her way along the moss-covered
