Do you have something more to say?
I got plenty.
Prepared for battle, he stepped forward.
You tell that slick-talking
rich boy to keep his hands to himself.
She tossed back her head and enjoyed the mad flutter of her heart when her eyes met his.
And if I don't?
Dutch growled like a wolf like a wolf, Coco thought, challenging his mate.
I'll
break his puny arms like matchsticks.
Oh, my, she thought. Oh, my goodness.
Will you, really?
Just you try me.
He gave her a jerk, and she let herself tumble into his arms.
This time she was ready for the kiss, and met it head-on. By the time they broke apart, they were both breathless and stunned.
Sometimes, Coco realized, it was up to the woman. She moistened her lips, swallowed hard.
My room's on the second floor.
I know where it is.
A ghost of a smile flitted around his mouth.
Mine's closer.
He swept her into his arms very much, Coco thought dreamily, like a pirate taking his hostage.
You're a fine, sturdy woman, Coco.
She pressed a hand on her thundering heart.
Oh, Niels.
Chapter 7
It wasn't like Megan to daydream. Years of discipline had taught her that dreams were for sleeping, not for rainy mornings when the fog was drifting around the house and the windows ran wet, as if with tears. But her computer hummed, unattended, and her chin was on her fist as her mind wandered back, as it had several times over the past few days, toward moonlight and wildflowers and the distant thunder of surf.
Now and again she caught herself and fell back on logic. It wouldn't pay to forget that the only romance in her life had been an illusion, a lie that betrayed her innocence, her emotions and her future. She'd thought herself immune, been content to be immune. Until Nathaniel.
What should she do, now that her life had taken this fast, unexpected swing? After all, she was no longer a child who believed in or needed promises and coaxing words. Now that her needs had been stirred, could she satisfy them without being hurt?
Oh, how she wished her heart wasn't involved. How she wished she could be smart and savvy and sophisticated and indulge in a purely physical affair, without emotion weighing in so heavily.
Why couldn't attraction, leavened with affection and respect, be enough? It should be such a simple equation. Two consenting adults, plus desire, times understanding and passion, equals mutual pleasure.
She just wished she could be sure there wasn't some hidden fraction that would throw off the simple solution.
Megan?
Hmm?
Dreamily she turned toward the sound of the voice. Her imaginings shattered when she saw Suzanna inside the office, smiling at her.
Oh, I didn't hear
you come in.
You were miles away.
Caught drifting, Megan fought back embarrassment and shuffled papers.
I suppose
I was. Something about the rain.
It's lovely always sets my mind wandering.
Suzanna thought she knew just where
Megan's mind had wandered.
Though I doubt the tourists or the children think so.
Kevin thought the fog was great until I told him he couldn't climb on the cliffs in it.
And Alec and Jenny's plans for an assault on Fort O'Riley have been postponed.
The kids are in Kevin's room, defending the planet against aliens. It's wonderful watching them together.
I know. They've blended together so well.
Like a mud bait,