sun-warmed woman the soft ocean breeze carried
his way. He breathed deeply, feeling the familiar prickles of
arousal start to stir before he clamped down on the unwelcome
sensation. What the hell was he doing? What sort of terrible things
did it say about him that he was ready to take advantage of an
innocent young woman while pretending to be someone else? What had
happened to honor and pride? Had he really sunk so low that he
would even contemplate lying—by word or by deed, they were both the
same—to someone he wanted to have a relationship with? Had it
really come to this?
Hero's hand brushed his as they walked down the palm
tree lined pathway toward a sweeping crescent of small cabanas
lining a lush green lawn. Pure desire rippled through him at the
contact.
“Yes, yes it has come to this,” he muttered as he
stepped aside for her to open the door to the furthest most
cabana.
“Did you say something?” she asked as she paused
before the door.
“Nothing worth repeating.”
The small puzzled frown was back between her eyes,
but she said nothing as she unlocked the door and entered the
cabana. Jesus marched in after her, his whiskers twitching as he
surveyed the room, locating the whereabouts of anything that might
be of possible interest to him.
“Don't get too comfortable, this isn't our room,”
Adam told him, unsnapping the leash before looking up at Hero. She
was examining the room as well.
“This is quite nice, much nicer than I expected. Oh,
I'm sorry, do please sit down. This won't take but a minute.” She
pulled a suitcase off a wicker chair and waved him toward it.
“I don't suppose you asked me here in order to cast
yourself into my manly arms and beg me to make you a woman
tonight?” he asked with a smile that he sincerely hoped was not
tinged with desperation.
Hero paused in the act of sitting down in the chair
opposite his. “What?”
He tried to make his smile friendly and reassuring,
and not in the least bit that of a sex-starved man who finds
himself in a room with the living personification of Aphrodite and
Venus all rolled into one tempting package. “That was a joke. A
very poor one, I realize, but since you seemed to be a bit peeved
with me earlier, and as my cat is probably even now sitting on your
toilet playing in the water, I figured it might be called for.”
“I see.”
“Clearly it wasn't.”
“Perhaps not,” she agreed, her lovely grey eyes
large with worry. She probably was concerned he'd pounce on her the
second she looked away. He heaved a mental sigh. Wasn't this day
turning out to be just jim dandy fine? First she caught him in the
blatantly illegal act of smuggling his cat through quarantine; then
said cat retrieved out a pair of underwear for him like he did that
every day of his life, and now that she had invited him into her
cozy little cabana for two, he was acting like a sex maniac. Oh,
yes, his life was turning out very well, indeed.
“I have a proposition to make you,” Hero interrupted
the contemplation of recent events.
Adam sat up a bit straighter in his
chair and casually crossed his legs so she wouldn't see just what
sort of affect her nearness and the word proposition was having on him. He had
to clear his throat before he could speak. “A proposition? What
sort of proposition?”
Dare he hope it involved their bared flesh and a
fresh mango or two?
“It's like this—I have a reason, which I don't care
to reveal just now, to wish to be present at least through the
third and fourth weeks of the show, and not eliminated at the end
of the second week. It is vitally important to me, you understand.
I assume if you've gone to the time and trouble, not to mention the
risk of possible imprisonment, of smuggling your cat into the
country, you must also wish to see the whole show through as
well.”
There was nothing he'd like more than to go
home…assuming she'd like to come with him, but he supposed he
shouldn't say that. He tried to look like
his way. He breathed deeply, feeling the familiar prickles of
arousal start to stir before he clamped down on the unwelcome
sensation. What the hell was he doing? What sort of terrible things
did it say about him that he was ready to take advantage of an
innocent young woman while pretending to be someone else? What had
happened to honor and pride? Had he really sunk so low that he
would even contemplate lying—by word or by deed, they were both the
same—to someone he wanted to have a relationship with? Had it
really come to this?
Hero's hand brushed his as they walked down the palm
tree lined pathway toward a sweeping crescent of small cabanas
lining a lush green lawn. Pure desire rippled through him at the
contact.
“Yes, yes it has come to this,” he muttered as he
stepped aside for her to open the door to the furthest most
cabana.
“Did you say something?” she asked as she paused
before the door.
“Nothing worth repeating.”
The small puzzled frown was back between her eyes,
but she said nothing as she unlocked the door and entered the
cabana. Jesus marched in after her, his whiskers twitching as he
surveyed the room, locating the whereabouts of anything that might
be of possible interest to him.
“Don't get too comfortable, this isn't our room,”
Adam told him, unsnapping the leash before looking up at Hero. She
was examining the room as well.
“This is quite nice, much nicer than I expected. Oh,
I'm sorry, do please sit down. This won't take but a minute.” She
pulled a suitcase off a wicker chair and waved him toward it.
“I don't suppose you asked me here in order to cast
yourself into my manly arms and beg me to make you a woman
tonight?” he asked with a smile that he sincerely hoped was not
tinged with desperation.
Hero paused in the act of sitting down in the chair
opposite his. “What?”
He tried to make his smile friendly and reassuring,
and not in the least bit that of a sex-starved man who finds
himself in a room with the living personification of Aphrodite and
Venus all rolled into one tempting package. “That was a joke. A
very poor one, I realize, but since you seemed to be a bit peeved
with me earlier, and as my cat is probably even now sitting on your
toilet playing in the water, I figured it might be called for.”
“I see.”
“Clearly it wasn't.”
“Perhaps not,” she agreed, her lovely grey eyes
large with worry. She probably was concerned he'd pounce on her the
second she looked away. He heaved a mental sigh. Wasn't this day
turning out to be just jim dandy fine? First she caught him in the
blatantly illegal act of smuggling his cat through quarantine; then
said cat retrieved out a pair of underwear for him like he did that
every day of his life, and now that she had invited him into her
cozy little cabana for two, he was acting like a sex maniac. Oh,
yes, his life was turning out very well, indeed.
“I have a proposition to make you,” Hero interrupted
the contemplation of recent events.
Adam sat up a bit straighter in his
chair and casually crossed his legs so she wouldn't see just what
sort of affect her nearness and the word proposition was having on him. He had
to clear his throat before he could speak. “A proposition? What
sort of proposition?”
Dare he hope it involved their bared flesh and a
fresh mango or two?
“It's like this—I have a reason, which I don't care
to reveal just now, to wish to be present at least through the
third and fourth weeks of the show, and not eliminated at the end
of the second week. It is vitally important to me, you understand.
I assume if you've gone to the time and trouble, not to mention the
risk of possible imprisonment, of smuggling your cat into the
country, you must also wish to see the whole show through as
well.”
There was nothing he'd like more than to go
home…assuming she'd like to come with him, but he supposed he
shouldn't say that. He tried to look like
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