Page 18 of Wrong Turn

“Perhaps this is enough for tonight,” he whispered.

Suddenly, Lei understood the violent response Lucky had had when denied. Lei wanted to bite Cruz—throw him down, work him over, to assault him and ride him until she found her release.

She wanted to rape him.

Lei settled deep in the well of his legs and looked him in the eyes again. “It’s in me too,” she whispered. “Rape. Violence.”

“It’s in all of us.”

“Oh, Cruz. I’m sorry.” Grief and shame swamped her, surging up from her toes in a wave of tears that broke over her and wrung a sob from her lips—and he kissed her on that sob, capturing the sound and tears in his mouth, transmuting them into something shared, an acknowledgement of their mere humanity.

He pulled her back into his lap and settled into kissing her. And it wasn’t like any kiss she’d ever had—it began as a thorough exploration, curious and tender, almost clinical, as their lips and tongues ignited sensations that went off in their joined bodies in cascades of feeling that they shared and observed . . . And then, it was an extension of their matched conversation, something rising and falling with the sound of the waves behind them, gradually building, soaring, and taking different forms.

Cruz’s arms swirled around her on his lap, and hers moved around his shoulders, back, and neck. Their mouths never parted.

Without warning, Lei felt something suddenly uncoiling within her, a spiraling delight. She froze in his arms, lifting her head in astonishment—stiffening, transfixed, suffused with the sensation of an exquisite pleasure.

The fierce feeling roared like a freight train up her spine and blew off the top of her head, shattering her in his arms.

Cruz held her tight. He captured her mouth and took her cries into his kiss and swallowed them, and she could feel them become fuel in the furnace of his passion. A second later she felt the full power of his detonation in her arms, and she held on for dear life, riding it out with him.

A long breathless moment passed. Spangles and darkness swirled behind her eyes.

Lei sagged, and so did he. Very slowly, they tipped over, still clasped in each other’s arms, into the cool sand.

Lei rested her head on his chest. His thundering heart calmed beneath her ear and so did hers. Their heaving breaths slowed.

“Wow. What was that?” she whispered.

“Thekundalini,” he whispered back. “It’s a coiled energy stored at the base of the spine. Only sometimes is it released in sex.”

“Oh.” Lei shut her eyes and floated on physical bliss.

Finally, Cruz sat up. “Let’s go for a swim.”

There was no embarrassment between them as they stripped out of their remaining clothing, never letting go of each other’s hands, and walked down into the ocean.

The green and blue glitter of bioluminescence foamed in the gentle surf. Lei smiled as the water, so warm it reminded her of her childhood in Hawaii, swirled and rose around her body in a new set of exquisite sensations. She dove under the dark surface, opening her eyes in spite of the stinging to see the sparkles, still holding Cruz’s hand. He followed, and they swam as long as they could underwater.

Out deeper, they let go, but continued their game of follow-and-lead as they swam, dove, and splashed in the glowing water. Cruz caught her hand and they moved in closer to shore, walking into waist-deep water. Their bodies touched, but there was none of the sexual fire of before—his presence felt friendly, companionable, like a trusted friend.

Gratitude rose up in Lei. “Cruz. Thank you.” She tugged his hand and he turned to her. She touched wet, salty lips to his in a brief kiss. “You did something. A magic spell. I can be with someone now. I can love someone now. I’m different because of this.”

“It was my honor,” Cruz said formally. “He will be a very lucky man.” He bowed to her in the same way he had when they finished theirtai chi.

Chapter Eleven

Lei woke gentlyto the sound of doves in the citrus tree outside her room, and the smell of orange blossoms. She stretched out on the hotel’s luxurious sheets, sliding her naked body along the silky fabric. All of her nerve endings felt pleasantly abuzz with sensation, and she sighed, remembering Cruz walking her to her door, the soft kiss goodbye on her lips, the finger he then held to them as he winked one of those remarkable eyes.

Good.She didn’t want to tell anyone about their encounter, either.

Getting up, Lei padded over to her laptop and turned it on. While that was booting up, she took a shower. She’d taken one last night too, just a brief rinse to get the salt off, but sleeping on her curly hair wet was never a good idea, and today was no exception.

A few minutes later, wearing one of the hotel’s pristine terry cloth robes, she sat down in front of the computer and typed in ‘kundalini.’ Webster’s defined the word as“the yogic life force that is held to lie coiled at the base of the spine until it is aroused and sent to the head to trigger enlightenment.”

Lei smiled. She’d been enlightened, all right. She had a sense that everything they’d done had been part of some spiritual discipline that Cruz was well-versed in.

Lei surfed through the local news, looking for anything about the bodies and the burned building. Eventually she found a small article and dragged the main paragraph into a translation program:“Three trespassers in the abandoned El Central Copper Mine were found burned in a kerosene accident involving alcohol. The public is reminded to stay away from private property.”

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