“Who?” She blinked, unable to focus on his words when her eyes were busy diving headlong into his melting chocolate gaze.
His chuckle was low, indulgent. “Not who. What.” He pointed toward the sun as it touched down on the rippling waves at the horizon.
She’d always thought he had the sexiest hands. So large and wide-palmed. Long, knobby-knuckled fingers. Nail beds that were slightly rounded with ends bluntly cut.
They weren’t beautiful like the rest of him. They were far too rough for that.
Working hands. Worn and scarred. Strong and capable.
But just like the rest of him, they screamed man. She wondered, not for the first time, how easily they could make her feel like a woman.
Ridiculously easily, she decided.
All it would take was one touch of his callused fingertips against her hungry mouth, one graze of his broad palms across her eager flesh, one pass of his thumb over the aching tips of her—
“It’s a rare phenomenon that sometimes happens at sunrise and sunset when the conditions are just right,” he went on, unaware that her mind was headed down a one-lane path toward the Bone Zone.
Damn you, P.J. Warren!
The woman’s books would make a priest have impure thoughts.
Or maybe Mia was being unfair to Ms. Warren. Maybe the blame for Mia’s musings rested solely on Romeo’s shoulders. His big, wide, fantastically muscled—
“The air needs to be clear, like it is now,” he continued, and she forced herself to concentrate on the words coming out of his mouth instead of the way his lips formed around them. Lips that looked so firm and kissable and— Argh! “And you have to have an uninterrupted view of the horizon, like we do now.”
He dropped his hand and grabbed hers, interlocking their fingers. His palm was warm and dry. Her hand felt impossibly small inside his.
What other parts of me will feel impossibly small when compared to him?
“Watch,” he finished softly. “It’ll be quick if it happens at all. Just a flash of green when the top of the sun sinks below the water.”
She held her breath in anticipation as the molten globe slipped lower and lower. Lower and lower. Lower and then...
It happened. A strobe of bright, nearly neon green flamed on the horizon.
She stared hard, not believing her eyes. Before she could blink, it was gone.
“I saw it!” she whispered excitedly.
“Mmm,” he nodded. “It happens more down here than it does other places. I’ve seen it a handful of times since moving to Wayfarer.”
“Amazing,” she breathed. She’d always thought that narrow-lit time at dusk and dawn was enchanted. A magical space between two worlds. But after seeing the green flash, she was convinced the twilight hour was truly bewitched.
Or maybe I read too much paranormal romance, she thought with a silent chuckle.
“Why have I never heard of it?” she asked.
“Probably because you’ve never been around Alex at sunset. If you had, she would’ve filled your ears full of all the reasons why it occurs.”
“Well, then, I’m glad I missed seeing it with her, and happy I got to see it with you. I don’t care about the science behind it. All I care about is that it was...wonderful,” she finished lamely because she was too embarrassed to say fantastical or magical or romantic.
Although, it was all those things. Especially that last thing.
In fact, she couldn’t recall a more romantic moment.
Yes, they had been in a plane crash. Yes, they were stranded on a desert island that looked like it might wash away in the next hurricane. And yes, they had no idea who wanted to kill them or even if someone wanted to kill them. Not to mention, they didn’t have the first clue when they would be rescued.
But the setting sun had set the sky on fire in vibrant shades of red, gold, and orange until it seemed like a graffiti artist with a bold hand had painted the world to the west. Romeo was by her side, her hand held so possessively inside his. And very soon now, he would possess other parts of her. All the parts of her.
The thought was delicious.
It was also a little crazy-making.
“We aren’t going to start now,” he’d said before leading her to the log.
What did he mean? When would they start? Was he waiting for her to say something to let him know she was ready?
Dear god, was she ready. She’d been ready since day one on Wayfarer Island.
Or...was he waiting for her to make the first move?
Gah! I’m so bad at this!
She’d held many titles in her first three decades of life—daughter, sister, student, archeologist—but seductress had never been one of them. All her lovers... Ha! All. As if there’d been a multitude. She could count them on one hand and still have a finger left over. Anyway, all of them had been the ones to approach her. To kiss her. To start undressing her.
Not that she was opposed to being the instigator. She was as modern minded as the next gal. You know, equality of the sexes and all that razzmatazz. But she was clueless when it came to knowing how to start—
“The wheels are spinning so fast up there, I think I see smoke coming out of your ears.” He tapped her temple.
“That obvious?” She made a face.
“You want to tell me about it?” When she hesitated, he added, “Or talk to me about anything? I swear you could be listing the scientific names of molds and every word out of your mouth would still sound hot.”
When she cocked her head, he was quick to add, “I know you don’t like it when I talk about your voice. And I promise I’ll never mention it again after this. But, Mia, it is so unbelievably sexy. This soft, rusty-sounding bedroom voice. You have no idea how many times I’ve fantasized about making love to you and hearing you whisper in my ear.”
She nearly fell off the log at the thought of Romeo imagining them together. Maybe...touching himself while imagining them together?
Much to her astonishment, and she had absolutely no idea where her courage came from, she heard herself ask, “What do I say in your fantasies?”
One dark eyebrow winged up his forehead. She’d surprised him as much as she’d surprised herself. But he quickly recovered.
No. He more than recovered. He saw her subtle flirtation and raised her all the way to dirty talk. “My name.” He gave her a wicked, knowing sort of smile that instantly had an ache forming at the junction of her legs. “You say my name, my real name, as I make you come.”