Temptation Read Free Page B

her chest and cheeks. Well, his prick was pushing against his linen trousers and turning them into a tent.
    “You do that to me.” He tried to sound casual and failed dismally. “Turn me on with a look. I could, all so easily, drop anchor, drop trousers, and drop you onto the deck.” Her eyes widened. “But I won’t. You want me, you tell me.” He checked the compass and altered direction slightly. “It’s over to you now. I know damned well I could persuade you to make love, but I’m not going to. When we make love again, it’s going to be because you instigate it. Your chance to show me what you want and how you want it. And I’m going to lie back and let you.”
    “Hell, you’re awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you? What if I say never?” Meryl spoke so casually, how on earth could he think she had feelings for him?
    Because I need to. I need to have faith and hope. He laughed, though he felt like crying. “Then I’ll be single, sad, and alone.”

Meryl shifted on the bench. Marloth’s words were so how she felt at times, it would have been easy to give in, and say ‘get on with it, please make love to me’. But something held her back. They’d been down that route. After the most perfect month of her life, he’d left. Okay, she’d told him to go, and Meryl still thought she’d done the right thing. He’d been worried and she knew he had to go back to wherever to sort things out. To help him, she acted indifferent. As she watched him lope across the field behind her house, she had stuffed her hand into her mouth to stop herself from calling him back. It would solve nothing, and she’d still be alone in the end.
    With a sigh, Meryl twisted round to look at the white crested waves the wake of the boat left. She was alone anyway, so what was the difference? Self respect, yes, she had that, but it was a cold comfort when she rolled over in the middle of the night, stretched out her arm, and felt—nothing.
    Now, here he was again within arm’s reach, and still, she wasn’t going to stretch out that arm. Nothing had changed or why hadn’t he contacted her? Meryl turned and looked at the back of Marloth’s head. He stood at the helm and adjusted some button or another on a board in front of him. The sheer beauty of him took her breath away. Talk about sex on legs, sexy cats, and all other things sex. Her mouth was dry, and she opened the bottle of water and took a hefty swallow. If nothing else, she was going to have to be able to stand up and get off the boat without falling into a heap of drool at his feet.
    Thank goodness for my eReader. She pushed her sunglasses firmly onto her nose. The eReader would come in handy as armor later. For now, she’d hide behind her dark glasses. Sometimes life sucked. What had she learned? Not a lot except strong emotions hurt, and mating with a shifter was fraught with difficulty. She touched her shoulder and it throbbed under her finger. The damned mark she’d noticed on the plane seemed to have deepened, almost as if it were permanent. Not only that, she realized it almost matched the one high on her thigh that served as a reminder of her earlier time with Marloth.
    Oh, so not good. I need to erase him from my life, not keep him in it. Surely, she didn’t hear a voice mutter ‘you and me both’ and then as if an afterthought, ‘that’s not going to happen, though, is it?’ As much as she wished she didn’t, she agreed with the sentiment.
    “Did you speak?” Meryl asked Marloth, suspicion in her voice. He glanced up from whatever he’d been studying and shook his head.
    “Nah. Why?” He switched something on—or off—and pointed ahead. “That’s where we’re off to. Tranquillita—Tranquility. Once there, you can do your own thing. I won’t interfere unless you ask me to.” His tone showed he thought there was as much likelihood of that as Elvis appearing and serenading them.
    The tiny dot on the horizon he’d pointed to was growing bigger