One Last Weekend Read Free Page B

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    Joanna plunked into the overstuffed armchair a few feet away, at the edge of the firelight. She swirled her wine in her glass but didn’t drink. “Maybe we should go back to the city,” she said. “We could catch the six o’clock ferry.”
    â€œGo if you want,” Teague replied coolly. “Sammy and I are staying here.”
    Joanna closed her eyes for a moment, trying to keep from being swept downstream into the Sammy conflict again. “If he’s staying,” she said, “I’m staying.”
    To her surprise, Teague laughed. It was a raw sound, gruff and low. “Damn,” he said. “One thing hasn’t changed, anyway. You’re still as stubborn as a toothless old bulldog with a bone.”
    â€œAre you comparing me to a toothless old bulldog?”
    Teague shoved a hand through his hair, swearing under his breath.
    Joanna set her wineglass aside on the table next to her chair. “Okay,” she conceded. “I might be a little stubborn, but I am not old or toothless.”
    â€œA little stubborn?” He moved out of the firelight and began rummaging again in the darkness. Just when Joanna had decided he was definitely going to strike her with a blunt object or stab her with an ice pick—by her own admission, she’d watched way too many episodes of Forensic Files and Body of Evidence —she heard the staticky crackle of a transistor radio.
    He was turning the tuning knob, probably looking for a weather report.
    â€œâ€”ferries temporarily out of commission,” a disembodied male voice said, between buzzing bursts of static, “widespread power outages—winds reaching—”
    Joanna sat up very straight and reached for her wine again. “We’re stranded,” she said.
    Sammy, lying on the rug in front of the fireplace, rolled onto his back, paws in the air and belly exposed, and snored.
    â€œI see the dog’s terrified,” Teague quipped.
    â€œTeague, this is serious. What are we going to do?”
    â€œWell, we could tell ghost stories. Or play checkers.” He paused. “Or tear off each other’s clothes and have sex on the floor like we used to, whenever we came out here without Caitlin and half her Girl Scout troop.”
    A hot chill went through Joanna, making her ache in some very private places. In danger of spilling the wine, she set it aside again with a thunk.
    â€œDon’t be ridiculous,” she said.
    And suddenly Teague was in front of her, kneeling, parting her legs.
    An involuntary groan escaped her.
    Teague slipped his hands up under her sweatshirt and cupped her bare breasts in his hands. Ran the pads of his thumbs over her nipples until they hardened.
    Joanna groaned again. “Teague—”
    He pushed her shirt up, tongued her breasts, then suckled.
    â€œThis is—” She paused, gasping. “This won’t solve anything—”
    He was pulling at the elastic band of her sweatpants, drawing them skillfully down, off, away. “Maybe not,” he murmured, raising one of her bare legs and placing it over his shoulder, “but it’s going to feel good.” The other leg went over the other shoulder. “Don’t be quiet, Joanna,” he said, sliding his hands under her backside and raising her until she felt the warmth of his breath through the nest of curls at the juncture of her thighs. “Please, don’t be quiet.”
    Clawing at the arms of her chair, bucking against Teague’s mouth, sobbing as she reached the first of several shattering orgasms, Joanna was anything but quiet.
    And the dog didn’t even wake up.

Chapter Two
    She was so beautiful, lying there asleep on the floor in front of the hearth, her supple body spent by their lovemaking, her features gilded in flickering firelight. The glow caught in her chin-length blond hair, all atangle now, and gleamed on the long sweep of her eyelashes. Joanna