Wanton Heat (A Feel the Heat Novel) (Entangled Brazen) by Nicola Marsh Page B

articulate exactly what sex between them would entail.
    She glared at him through narrowed eyes. “Still game-playing, I see, which means you need to shut up.”
    He laughed, his first genuine belly laugh in years. “Okay, I’ll be quiet ’til we get to the island. But cara ?” He trailed a fingertip down her thigh, savoring the shiver of awareness that made her wrap her arms around her middle. “When we arrive on Ancora? All bets are off.”
    …
    Zoe didn’t know what terrified her more.
    The murky darkness of the storm clouds chasing them or the increasing compulsion to jump Dominic.
    Damn the man. He was too sexy for his own good. And hers.
    Why the hell couldn’t he have been the gardener or the boat captain or the stable boy, so she could’ve had wild sex without the consequences?
    Because there would be consequences for sleeping with the prince, she had no doubt.
    Not that he’d follow through. She knew what he was doing, trying to undermine her before she could finish her presentation. Well, let him keep trying. He was dealing with the wrong woman if he thought his charm would rattle her. She could flirt like a pro. Besides, even if they both lost their minds and ended up having sex, he didn’t have his professional reputation on the line, or plans for a very different future.
    She had to convince him to agree to Kaluna’s tourism-boosting plans. Having hot island sex would undermine her pitch. And her. Because even though she didn’t want to admit the truth, Dominic Ricci appealed to her on a deeper level than just physical. And it scared the hell out of her.
    She’d vowed to change her lifestyle. Losing the company’s most valuable clients, losing her shit when she bawled after her last one-night stand, ensured she had to do things differently. So how did craving casual sex with a prince she’d just met fit in with her new plans? It didn’t. But it didn’t stop her from wanting to do just that.
    She hadn’t liked him grumpy and aloof. She liked his new humorous, flirty side even less. It disarmed her. And really made her want to tear her clothes off, straddle him, and not clamber off for a week.
    “What do you think?”
    She jumped at the sound of his voice. What did she think? Sex with him was a monumentally bad idea, but she wanted it regardless.
    She opened her eyes and focused on the most beautiful stretch of beach she’d ever seen. A secluded alcove, sheltered on all sides by towering cliff faces, with a lone jetty jutting out in the most sheltered part.
    “It’s beautiful,” she said, her pulse picking up tempo now they’d arrived.
    “Thank you.”
    The emotion in his voice, the genuine gratitude, surprised her, and she turned to face him. What she saw then surprised her even more. The glimmer of tears in his eyes.
    Fuck.
    “This place is special to me,” he said, cutting the engine. He stood and busied himself with mooring, effectively buying some time to recompose himself.
    Good, because she could do with a few moments herself. She’d never seen a guy cry. Discounting the football-crazed moron she’d dated her first year in college who’d actually sniveled when his team missed out on the Super Bowl by a touchdown.
    But to see a guy show genuine emotion? It choked her up. And if this storm was as bad as Catarina predicted, she’d be stranded here with him for at least two days.
    Man, she was in so much trouble.
    She grabbed her bag from the hold, wishing she’d never agreed to this crazy-ass scheme. If she were back on Osturo, she could’ve regrouped in her room, planning her next line of attack to convince Dominic her proposal was exactly what the prince ordered. But here? With those scary-looking clouds increasingly ominous and the gusty wind picking up, she’d have no option but to wait it out with him in the cottage Catarina had mentioned.
    And that’s the moment she realized she’d forgotten to ask the all-important question.
    How many bedrooms did the cottage