Page 27 of Spirit Island

“Yes. My motherused to sign all correspondence to my father with XO, so it wasonly natural for them to choose that for my name. They took everypenny I made and invested it so that there was no hint of moneywandering off.”

It was a veryintimate discussion, so she smiled and said, “My mother told myfather that she was only getting pregnant once, so he had bettermake it good.”

He laughed andresumed kissing at her neck. She sighed and said, “You are reallydetermined to do this?”

“Definitely.You are gorgeous and towering and terrifying. Everything I want ina mate, plus I can make Godzilla jokes.”

She gasped.“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I would. I caneven thicken my accent to make it socially unacceptable.” Hegrinned and dragged his teeth along her neck.

She laughed atthe mental image and sighed. “So, you used the food to relaxme?”

“I used thefood to feed you. Cuddling you on my lap with my pheromones,convincing you that I am the only one for you, just as you are forme, was the relaxing part.”

She turned herhead, his kiss caught her mouth, and she drowned in what he hadbrought to life in her. When he raised his head, she murmured,“This is different.”

He nodded. “Imay be a little rough during my next rut, but I think we will bemore familiar with each other by then. What do you think?”

Belle tried tothink of how she was going to avoid telling him that she had had aposter of him on her bedroom wall when she was a tween. Honesty wasthe best policy before they got into things.

“Uh, Xo, Ithink there is something I need to tell you.”

He leaned backand cocked his head. “What do you need to say?”

“Well, one ofmy prized possessions that I had to sell was a Dart poster. I don’tsuppose you can help me replace it?”

He smiled andnodded. “I think that I might be able to manage to find something.You were a fan?”

“Well, I nevermade it to a concert, but I thought you were all fun to watch.”

He grinned.

“I just thoughtI should mention it before my brother figured it out. Frankly,there is no way I would have overlapped you with Dart.”

“I did grow abit.”

“A bit?”

He laughed.“Fourteen inches up and out. It was mindless rounds of eating andworking out.”

“And pain? Iremember Deno was in agony when he grew.”

He stroked hercheek. “It was definitely painful. May I kiss you now that yourhorrible secret that you had a crush on adolescent me in fancymakeup and shiny clothes has been exposed?”

She wrinkledher nose. “Like a barracuda.”

He grinned. “Iwill get you something shiny, so I know where to attack.”

The kissstarted in laughter and softened to exploration. This was a muchbetter start.

Chapter Five

Jane settled at thehotel and stroked Terro’s back. The night he had been conceived hadbeen a riot of broken images, but it had been exhausting anddelightful.

The moment thatshe woke up with the strange man next to her, she had wished to besomewhere else and was across the city in her own hotel room.

Andreux Tenecwas the name she had been missing. When she saw his face again, therest of the memories had snapped into place. All the gentle touchesand soft moments had been lost in the frenzy of her memories.

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