Page 1 of Morning's Light

CHAPTER 1

The man in bed next to her rolled over and grunted. A typical satiated-man sound. He ran his fingers through the cloud of reddish-gold chest hair, scratching. Kept scratching instead of looking at her. “Was it as good for you as it was for me?”

Another typical man-thing. The question. Spoken like he really wanted to know the truth. Maybe take notes on how to improve for the future. No, that was her sarcasm talking.

Aisanna Cavaldi regarded him with a quirked eyebrow and a sigh boiling in her throat. He’d already asked her once before, earlier in the evening. A joke he had playing like a gag reel in his head. She supposed he found it funny. She, however, did not.

“Do you have to ask me every single time? It’s sex. It’s good. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t,” she said. “Does that satisfy your curiosity?”

Israel James shot her a wolfish grin before dragging her back to him, her face perilously close to his armpit. “Yeah, I know you like it. You know you like it when I give you a boning.” He ran a hand along her hairline in a gesture scarily similar to a noogie.

She didn’t appreciate the contact. And liked the use of the word boning even less. “God, you can be so childish sometimes.”

“So?”

“So…it’s annoying.”

Israel sighed. “Then why do you keep coming back?”

Actually, Aisanna didn’t know why. The sex was good enough—adequate enough—to get her through until she felt the desire for a repeat. It wasn’t like his personality was an eleven.

She felt nothing for Israel beyond friendship and the normal urge for physical affection. She didn’t dislike him; in fact, she found he fell more into the shady category of tolerable. He had an energetic nature and beautiful green eyes. There was something about him—some crazy charisma—that made her look twice, despite his juvenile behavior.

Men.

“It’s late,” she told Israel instead. “I really need to get home. I’ve already stayed too long. I’ve got an early day and a lot of inventory to do in the morning.”

Sitting up, she dragged the sheet with her to hide her nakedness. The night had worn on before she’d realized the time, the sun turning copper and lowering to touch the tips of the trees, making way for the moon and stars. The deep navy-blue of the evening.

“You can stay, you know. You don’t always have to run off like the hounds of hell are at your back.” He took hold of her ankle, rubbing his fingers along the smooth expanse of skin.

She slapped at them for effect. “Some of us have work.”

“I work,” he insisted. “I work on being my devastatingly handsome self.”

Chill floor tiles had Aisanna rethinking escape and drawing her legs back under the covers. “I’m serious, Israel. I have a full day planned tomorrow. Valentine’s Day is coming up soon and orders are piling up faster than I can fill them.” Not to mention the little matter of a heralded eclipse ready to unleash literal magical hell on their world.

No big deal.

Israel shifted to his side and sent her what he considered a come-hither look. “Babe, stay awhile. There’s no rush. Your work will still be there in the morning.”

She turned to him, the room smelling of the slightly musty aroma of a few too many days’ worth of rain and little initiative to do laundry. Driven was not a word she’d use to describe Israel.

Her hands moved toward the broadness of his shoulders, lingering there before slinking higher to circle his neck. Tracing the paths of his freckles. His naturally hot skin was soft under her fingertips. Her personal heater, she called him. Perfect for those cold winter days. He didn’t mind when she offered her cold feet to him, which she found herself doing more often than not.

“I don’t know if I should,” she hedged.

“Come on, babe. You’re a witch. You shouldn’t be working in a flower shop, anyway. You could do whatever you want.”

“It’s not just a flower shop. It’s my business. I’m a small-business owner.”

“You’re an earth elemental, and a sexy one.” He flipped over and shot her a small, half-formed smile. “Stay.”

The idea did have appeal. How nice would it be to give up the reins for the evening? To let herself go on a tide of skin and feeling? Yes, she’d done it before. And how lovely it would be to do it again.

“I’m not going to ask you again. Stay or don’t, it’s your choice.”

There was Israel, oddly sensual with the hint of red in his sunny hair and a perpetual smile on his boyish face. The glow from several candle pillars lit the room and bathed them both in an aura of gold.

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