“They were practically biting and scratching across our dining room table.”
She came up on one elbow. “Well, I’ve known us to bite and scratch some! And over the dining room table, too.”
Cage looked stunned, then burst out laughing. “You’ve got me there. Helluva private party, too, as I remember it.” Wrapping his arms around her, he lowered her back to the pillows and followed her down with a lengthy, mouth to mouth, tongue to tongue kiss. When he finally raised his head, her eyes were lambent, but she hadn’t dropped their argument.
“I think there’s friction between Kerry and Linc because they’re fighting a strong attraction.”
“What does Kerry say?”
“Nothing, and that’s curious, don’t you think? She avoids speaking his name aloud if at all possible. After what they’ve been through, you would think that she’d be dropping his name left and right. She tries too hard not to look at him, but I’ve caught her at it a thousand times today. Did Linc say anything about it when the two of you went to the garage?”
“Sorry, darling,” he said, nuzzling her neck, “I couldn’t break a confidence between gentlemen.”
“Then he did say something about Kerry!”
“No, he didn’t. But he’s...restless. That’s the word I’m looking for, I think. His skin is too small for him. He’s angry.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I recognize the symptoms. I know what it feels like to want a woman you can’t have. You’re mad at yourself for being hard all the time, and you can’t keep yourself from getting hard every time you think about her. It’s like if you don’t give it to that particular woman, it’s gonna fall off.” He flicked his tongue over her large, rosy nipple. “And on that note...”
“We can’t, Cage. The doctor said it’s too late.”
“I know, but—” He sighed when she placed her hand where he ached to feel it. “Ahh, Jenny.” He closed his mouth around her nipple and sucked it gently.
Speaking on short gusts of air, Jenny said, “So, if you didn’t talk about Kerry, what did you talk about?”
His hot mouth moved to her other breast. “You. I told Linc you were my only vice.”
“Hmm, Cage.” She gasped when his tongue played upon her sensitized breast. “He’ll think I’m terrible.”
“He’ll think you’re wonderful. What every man wants in a wife. A lady in the parlor—”
“And a harlot in the bedroom.”
“Right,” he snarled affectionately, sliding his hand between her thighs.
“We can’t have—”
“There are other ways.”
“But we have guests in the house.” Her voice slipped another notch with every feather-light caress of his fingertips.
“That’s your problem,” he whispered seductively. “You’re the moaner.”
It was too quiet.
Kerry stood at the window of the guest bedroom, gazing out over the barren landscape, wondering what was keeping her awake when her entire body was crying out for sleep. She had finally come to the conclusion that, after almost a year of living in Monterico, she was missing the nighttime jungle sounds.
She felt exposed because, save for the mesa forming a silhouette against the sky, there was nothing to break the sameness of the landscape. No encroaching trees, no hanging vines, no dense brush. And no sound.
But then she heard a barely audible sound. A squeak. She glanced down and saw a dark shadow slipping through the gate onto the terrace that surrounded the Hendrens’ lovely swimming pool.
Linc.
Her heart began its unnatural hammering, as it always seemed to do whenever he was around. This time, however, her rapid heartbeat was partially due to anger. How dare Linc blare out her indiscretion to the Hendrens! She had come to expect nothing but churlish behavior from him, but he had sunk to an all-time low that night at dinner.
His participation in the rescue must have come as a surprise to them. They might have assumed that she would need assistance at some point, but they were no doubt shocked that it had come in the form of a renowned photojournalist.