Page 47 of Storm over the Caribbean
I gave him a beatific smile. “Perhaps I should crack one over your head. That might work better.”
“I very much doubt it. You lack the necessary arm strength.”
Calm, Lilly. Calm.
“Then pray tell, how would you,” I thrust one of the coconuts in his face, “open one of these?”
“Well…” Taking the coconut, Mr Ambrose turned it upside down, slid his finger over the surface and…where those three dark spots underneath his fingers? Instantly, his fingers halted, and he pressed down hard.
Crack!
“…like that.”
One of my eyebrows twitched. Grabbing the coconut, I peered into the hole through which I could hear liquid sloshing. “Those three spots…you couldn’t have mentioned them earlier?”
“I could have. But then again, I assumed that, smart, capable and independent woman that you are, you would quickly find them yourself.”
That son of a…
He was still trying to take my mind off Karim, wasn’t he?
And even if he bloody wasn’t, what was I supposed to say to something like that?No, Sir, I’m not smart and independent, because I’d prefer to be a pampered little housewife?
Yeah, right.
“Besides…” In a flash, he bent down towards me until his face was right in front of me. My breath caught in my throat as his hand came up and trailed over my cheek, then further down across my throat to catch a single drop of sweat on my collarbone, just above my heaving chest. “If I did, I would not have gotten to see you like this.”
“L-like what?” I demanded. I was not stuttering. Nope, absolutely not. “Sweaty?”
He gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. His deep, dark, icy eyes somehow stoking the fire inside me even more.
“No,” he corrected me, his lips brushing against mine. “Hot. Wet.”
“Th-that is not very sensible if we want to conserve water.”
“For some reason,” he murmured, his breath caressing my heated skin, “I find I do not care.”
Yep, he wasdefinitelytrying to distract me from depressing thoughts. And what’s more, it was working. The coconut slipped through my fingers and fell onto the ground. Milky liquid spread across the sand.
“Tut-tut, Mrs Ambrose.” Shaking his head remonstratingly, Mr Ambrose moved farther forward, until he was so close I could nearly hear his heart beat. “Look what you did. You shouldn’t be so wasteful.”
“I…”
“We can’t have that, can we?” he cut me off, his eyes glittering with an icy light, “I suppose I shall have to help you.”
Snatching up the coconut from the ground, he lifted it to his lips and took a deep swig.
“Hey!” I protested. “You greedy son of a bachelor! Why are you guzzling up everything for yourself? Are you just going to drink while your pregnant wife dies of thirst? I thought you said you’d help me!” I gave a snort. “Not that I need your help or anything. I can drink perfectly well by myself, thank you very much! I don’t care if you aren’t going to share with your wife!”
Swallowing, he licked his lips. In the brilliant sunlight, I could see them glisten with moisture. “Oh,” he said, “I am.”
Then he bent down and kissed me.
Flickering Flames
Sweet. So very, very sweet. I had kissed Mr Rikkard Ambrose so many times already. So many lip-locks. So many unforgettable memories. And yet…
None of them could compare to this.
