Page 21 of Wild and Wicked

Holy. Shit.

Like her, he was wearing lounge pants, but his were a solid navy blue and hung low enough to give her a wee peek of those V-shaped abdominals she’d always figured were reserved for bodybuilders or male models. Her view of the muscles was unhindered because Elio was shirtless, his bare chest chiseled from stone, the very definition of six-pack abs.

It took a second before she realized she was staring. And another second more before it occurred to her, he was staring back. Amused.

“I forgot to grab a shirt,” he said, pointing to his duffel, which was still near the front door. “Should I go get one, or do you need more time?”

She laughed because what else could she do. He’d busted her. Big-time.

Gianna rolled over, putting her back to him—though it hurt her to do so. “I don’t care what you do. I’m going to sleep.”

“Well,” he drawled. “Since you don’t care…” He walked to the other side of the bed. She felt the mattress dip as he climbed in.

She should have told him to put the damn shirt on.

Because now she was sleeping with a half-naked Elio, and she was suddenly struggling to recall the reasons on that list. Something about Liza…and a one-night stand.

“Gianna?”

“Yeah?”

“You can relax. You’re safe with me.”

Until he said the words, she didn’t realize how tightly she’d been holding herself. Or how close she was to the edge of the bed. Or the fact that she was barely breathing.

“I…know,” she whispered, aware that she did know that, and she felt her body loosen.

“Good night, Freckles.”

She grinned, loving the nickname—her first one, unless she counted Gee, which was just boring, so she wasn’t. “Good night, El.”

Chapter Five

Elio blinked a few times, trying to see in a room that was way too dark. He’d spent most of his adult life waking up in strange hotel rooms while on the road with the team, so he wasn’t alarmed.

Instead, he was confused.

Because something had woken him up from a very sound sleep.

Then he felt it again. A slight tremble next to him.

He shook himself awake, recalling he was at the cabin. Given the blackness surrounding him, it was still very late. The utter darkness also meant he’d let the fire burn out.

Which was why Gianna was shivering.

He moved slowly, standing up. He winced when his bare feet hit the ice-cold hardwood floor.

“Fuck,” he muttered to himself, gingerly picking his way across the room, taking care to avoid walking into any of the furniture. The fire wasn’t completely out, but the last few embers were about to give up due to the lack of fuel. He tossed a bit of kindling on the fire, trying to stoke the flames back to life. Once the kindling caught, he added two large logs, waiting until he was certain they were going to burn.

He tiptoed back to the bed, grabbing an extra blanket on the way, before slipping beneath the covers once again.

Gianna’s sleepy whisper broke the silence when he gently lay the blanket on top of her. “Thanks. You weren’t kidding about it getting cold without the fire.”

“I always forget how dark and quiet it is out here. It means I tend to sleep the sleep of the dead. I didn’t mean to let the fire go out.”

“It’s unbelievably dark and quiet,” she agreed. “I’m a city girl through and through, so this feels weird. I was sleeping so soundly there for a while, I didn’t even dream. That never happens. Then it got cold.”

“It’s not usually quite this quiet. The snow is muffling a lot of the normal sounds. Ordinarily, you’d hear insects chirping or leaves rustling.”

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