Page 49 of Two Tickets to Paradise

Then I'd be a fucking lucky man.

"Everything's fine." He held up the package. "Your lotion, miss."

"Oh, good!" Her shoulder sagged in relief, and she stepped into view. "I was afraid I was going to turn into a pile of embers if that didn't get here soon."

Cora moved closer and took the bag from his hands and opened up the top, pulling the tape off of it. Reaching in with a smile so pure it looked like a child getting a long-awaited piece of candy, she pulled out a clear bottle with bright green goo in it.

"That's the lotion?"

She read the label carefully and he saw her grin. "That's what it says. Kawehi said she could bring over actual aloe from her yard, but she said it smells a little and it would turn my skin a certain shade of yellow. And this," she turned the bottle around so he could see the label, "is going to be a lot faster and easier."

Popping off the top she tried to find a place to set the brown paper bag, looking around her with a frown.

"Here, I'll take that."

Vince took the package and walked into the kitchen to drop it into the trash can.

He heard a soft squish and turned around to see her smoothing one hand along her arm.

A shiny trail of liquid followed her hand, and she sighed. "Oh my god, this feels great!"

Watching her look so happy,thatwas great.

"Oh, this feels amazing!" She turned her arm, and he saw the difference between the top of her arm and the underside. "Oh," she groaned, "maybe I should have spent more time on my belly."

He looked down his own arm and turned it in one direction and the other. "Or maybe we both could have gotten a higher SPF. Like one made for the surface of the sun."

She looked up at him, startled.

Then her eyes moved down his arm and she grimaced, her teeth closed, and lips parted.

"Yikes. I thought it was just me that burned almost to a crisp."

He felt the stretch and burn across his skin, but he shrugged to blow off the suggestion that he was hurting.

And had to hold back a grunt of pain.

"Here." Cora moved closer and squeezed more of the lotion in her palm.

She held out the bottle to him and he took it in his hand.

"Thanks." He was about to squeeze some into his hand when she reached out and slicked the lotion over his bicep on both sides.

Wow.

The lotion was cold to the touch, chilly enough to make him start, but he didn't pull away.

It would take a lot more to make him do that.

The look on Cora's face mesmerized him.

She looked serious.

Studious.

As if she was examining his skin to see where he needed the lotion most.

And there, under it all, he wanted to say... he was fairly sure, he could see real concern.

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