Feel the Heat: A Contemporary Romance Anthology (70 page)

"It's worse than sad." He spun around and caught my face in his hands, looking deep into my eyes. His were lit with excitement and something fierce. "If these were your last minutes on earth, what would you do?"

"You mean here? With you?"

His breath smelled pleasantly of hops and beer. His cologne was totally sexy. And the way he looked at me: intoxicating. He was back to being the hot guy in the bar, the one with so much promise. The one who would definitely call and maybe be my next boyfriend. The one who just might be
the
one.

That's why I was so mad at him for not calling. He'd blown all that promise. Shattered dreams that had only just begun.

He nodded.

"Hypothetically?"

"Naturally."

"Since I first saw this room, I fantasized about making love in it beneath the sea. It’s kind of on my bucket list. Since you're the only other person, and a guy, which is handy, and I'm dead in a few minutes anyway. Yes, I might go for it." My heart nearly broke out of my chest it was pounding so hard. I didn't tell him I'd been fantasizing about him since that night in the bar. I swallowed hard. "What would
you
do?"

"Making love underwater is on my bucket list, too." He clasped the back of my head and lowered his lips to mine.

I'd read about men possessing women with their lips, but never experienced it personally. Until then. He was an expert kisser. I opened my mouth to him and let his tongue in to dance with mine as I wrapped my arms around his neck and closed my eyes. I was ready to be whatever he wanted.

He pressed his hips against mine. I felt him hard and ready through the thin cotton of my dress. His hands slid beneath my dress to cup my butt, hot on my bare skin, branding me with his touch. One strap of my sundress slid off my shoulder.

I tipped my head back and let him kiss my neck. "I hope this doesn't mean you
really
think we're going to die?"

"I'm not ready to take any chances with my bucket list." His voice had gone deep and hoarse with desire.

"You're just horny. And maybe drunk, too." I sighed with pleasure. "But it's a good line."

"As long as it's effective." His lips travelled down my throat, past my racing pulse, to the hollow of my neck. "Horny, yes. Drunk, no." He slid the other strap off my shoulder.

I pulled his shirt up by the hem. "Take it off."

He grinned and pulled it off over his head, revealing ripped abs and strong, sexy arms. I leaned forward and licked his nipple, playful and teasing.

He slid my dress down and cupped my breasts. Hot weather clothes make undressing so much easier.

This seemed surreal. I wasn't the kind of girl who just slept with men she barely knew. And I'd never believed that danger could be an aphrodisiac. But I was turned on and I didn't care how.

I was tired. And tired of being scared. Tired of thinking. I just wanted to be. And not think. For the storm to blow over and the sex to be hot.

I stepped out of my dress and reached for the zipper of his shorts. As I slid his shorts down, there was that moment when I wondered if he was the kind of guy who wore sexy underwear. Or nothing at all. I couldn't imagine him in boring tighty whities.

Sexy underwear. Tight enough to show him straining to get out. Fun with a funky print. I recognized them from the Hott's line, Hott for the bedroom. I pushed aside the thought that I shouldn't be doing this. And he was the douche who was withholding the deal of my career. Right now, I just wanted him to be bar guy.

I slid his shorts off his hips. "There. Now we're even."

He hooked a finger through the waistband of my boy shorts and pulled them down. I kicked them off.

"Now we're not." His grin was delicious.

I pulled his briefs down and took him in hand, stroking him, hard. "Now we are."

He kicked his underwear away. I wrapped my arms around him again as he cupped my butt and lifted me up. I wrapped my legs around him and nibbled his neck, grazing it hard with my teeth. Was I angry with him?

All I knew was that I wanted to mark him. Suck him hard. Turn him on. Show him what he was missing.

He carried me to the bed and put me down on my back with enough force to rock the bed. I half expected him just to slide into me. I was that ready for him.

He kissed my neck, my breasts, as I stroked his hair and held his mouth to me.

I arched up to meet him. "Stop teasing and get to it."

He laughed. "Bossy woman." He pulled a condom from the nightstand.

"Not bossy. I just know what I want." I took the condom from him and put it on him, stroking him hard until he was straining not to come. I placed him at my opening.

He slid into me with enough force to make me gasp. There wasn't much seduction involved. But there didn't need to be.

I held him tightly around the waist with my legs, gasping with each thrust as the pleasure built. Maybe it
was
true that danger built desire. And adrenaline heightened the senses. Whatever it was, it took only a few thrusts before the waves of pleasure crashed over me. I cried out, riding the crest of a climax more powerful than anything I'd had before.

He followed me, thrusting again, shuddering with pleasure, finally collapsing against me, hot and pleasantly sweaty with the exertion of great sex.

He lay over me, with his head buried in my neck, breathing hard from the thrill. I gently ran my fingers through his hair until his breathing calmed and he rolled off me onto his back.

I opened my eyes, staring out at the dark water. "It's gone."

"What?" He got up on one elbow.

"The manatee." I sat up and brushed my messy hair out of my eyes. "The water's calm, too." I slid out of bed and went to the window, pressing my hands against the glass where the manatee had been. I shivered in the cool air. "It's completely calm."

I heard him rummaging in the closet. He came up behind me and slid a robe over my bare shoulders.

I turned over my shoulder to smile at him, ready to hug him. "The storm's over!"

His face was still and serious. He'd grabbed his phone from the pocket of his shorts. He'd been studying it. "It's the eye of the cyclone. The storm is gaining strength. The worst is yet to come."

I
stared at him
. "Definitely a hurricane, then? Not just a storm?"

He nodded and pulled me close. "Technically, a tropical cyclone. I'd been hoping it was only a tropical depression, which is much milder. Cyclones are rare this time of year."

"How big is a hurricane eye?" I snuggled into him, reassured by his presence and happier than ever he hadn't left me here alone to face the storm. I wouldn't have known to seal myself in the underwater level. How scared would I have been out here by myself?

"Is that an esoteric question, like how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" He kissed the top of my head.

"I'm serious."

"It depends," he said. "Twenty to forty miles? Storms vary. The winds are strongest on the edge of the eye."

"How long will it take to get here?" I suppressed a shudder. I didn't know if I could face what we just went through again so soon. Then again, we had no choice.

He shrugged.

"It depends," I said, answering for him.

He smiled softly.

"Should we check the house and see if it's still standing?" I said.

He shook his head. "We're better off waiting until the storm is over. The weather service is reporting the storm is fast-moving, but it could stall."

He left the words "we don't want to be caught up there and washed away" unsaid. Or so I imagined. He was trying not to scare me. I appreciated it, but he wasn't fooling me.

We had to do something to kill the time and had no place to go. It was either play a board game or make love again. Sex won, of course. Then we watched the end of the movie. Just as the credits rolled, the second edge of the storm hit. As he'd predicted, it was worse.
Much
worse. The wind hit the house above with a crack so hard it reverberated to the depths. The ocean outside our bubble had begun to settle. Now it swirled and seethed.

The scared little girl part of me wanted to bury my head beneath the covers and cower. Pretend the frightening outside world didn't exist.

Eli pulled me into his arms, a simple, reassuring thing that I would forever be grateful for. I wrapped mine back around him and put my head against his chest, listening to the strong, steady beat of his heart, telling myself over and over again in my head that
It will be all right. Everything will be all right.

The storm could have made me a liar at any moment.

We huddled together in each other's arms, tucked beneath the covers, for hours, jumping every time debris hit the glass around us. Or the house above us groaned in the wind and relentless waves.

Late in the night the storm finally subsided and the Dramamine, alcohol, great sex, and sheer relief took its toll. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I drifted off sleep to sleep in Eli's arms with a major case of hero worship going on.

D
ay Two

When I woke, the sun was shining through the water, lighting it the most brilliant blue imaginable. I was tangled up in Eli. It took me a second to remember where I was. And whom I was with. And then I was surprised, and stupidly pleased, he was still here. That he hadn't ridden out on his trusty boat before I'd awakened. Though that would have taken some tricky untangling on his part. I wasn't that sound a sleeper.

The morning after an unexpected sleepover is usually awkward, especially saying goodbye. I resolved that this one wouldn't be. We might have been washed away and died last night. All we'd done was ensure one more thing on our bucket list was checked off. No harm. Except maybe to my heart.

For all that he was a douche who'd ignored my calls, he was also a sweetly romantic hero. I loved a man who cuddled.

I untangled myself from Eli and sat up in bed, gasping softly with pleasure at the view outside the window. The underwater room sat at the edge of a coral reef. The water had calmed and the silt settled. The water was clear now, revealing a gigantic coral formation just outside the window, looking like a mermaid's garden. The coral was multicolored in shades of green and white beneath the sea and lit from above. A school of small bright orange and red fish flitted happily around it.

Eli stirred. "What?"

"The fish are back!"

He rubbed his eyes, sat up sleepily, and looked for himself. He had a bad case of bedhead, but he was completely hot and adorable as he broke into a beautiful smile. "The storm is officially over."

"Admit it." I bumped him playfully with my shoulder. "You were worried last night when there were no fish." I looked him in the eye. "That's a bad sign, right?"

He nodded. "Even in a mild storm, some of the varieties of little fish hide. They aren't strong enough to swim against the currents created as the storm churns the water. The stronger the storm, the deeper the water roils, the more varieties of fish hide.

"There should have been a few species of fish that were able to swim in a moderate storm. That we couldn't see any of even the strongest swimmers was a bad sign. The worst was that dead manatee. A storm strong enough to kill a manatee is more powerful than we'd like to deal with." He let out a breath, looking relieved to be able to talk about it now.

"I knew you were keeping something from me." I smiled at him, but became serious almost immediately. "Do you think we still have an upper house to come home to?"

"I hope so," he said. "I think so. It's a good sign that we still have power." He stared out the window. "I don't see any construction debris floating around. That's a good sign, too. I hope."

The underwater room was untouched and intact. We put off surveying the damage and showered and dressed, him in his clothes from the day before. I was surprised how comfortable we were with each other.

He took my hand. "Ready to face the worst?"

I smiled at him. "Bring it on."

He grinned. Together we climbed the stairs until we came to the sealed door. He pushed me behind him in the stairwell. While I appreciated the heroic gesture, it wasn't reassuring.

"Are you sure it's safe to open? If the upper floors are gone, couldn't we be flooded?"

He grinned over his shoulder at me. "We can't stay down here forever."

I arched an eyebrow. "Can't we? Eventually someone will come looking for us. We'll call out and ask for help."

He laughed. There was none of the usual morning-after awkwardness about us. Maybe it was dimmed by the excitement, thrill, and camaraderie of surviving the storm together.

"The house is built so that once the waves calm, the portal sits above the water level. There's a sensor that tells us it's safe to open the door. See." He pointed to a green LED on the door.

With the solemnity of archeologists opening a pharaoh's tomb, Eli broke the seal of the watertight door and opened it.

It may have been irrational, but I braced for a river of salt water to pour down on me. Fortunately, I remained completely dry.

Eli poked his head out. The tension left his shoulders. His posture relaxed. "Amazing! I can't believe it."

"What? What!" I tried to look around him.

"The house is completely intact.
Untouched
." He whooped and turned around, catching me in his arms and pulling me off my feet into a bear hug.

We laughed until we cried and had to wipe our eyes with the backs of our hands. He took me by the hand again. We walked out together.

The hurricane shutters had done their job. The house was sealed tight. Not a window had cracked. There a few fine lines in the plaster of the walls that I hadn't noticed before. But that was it. The air conditioning hummed along with the fridge. It was just another day in paradise as far as the house was concerned.

"I'll get the shutters." Eli flipped the switch.

A motor purred. The shutters rolled up. Sunshine streamed in. We stood there beaming in the middle of it.

"I'll check the second floor and the boathouse. Make sure the rest of the house is sound before I go," Eli said as he headed to the boathouse door. "Then I'll be on my way." He threw the door to the boathouse open and froze. His good mood evaporated. "
Shit
."

I came up behind him and peered around. The house may have been untouched, but
half
the boathouse was missing. Along with the boat.

We stared in stunned silence. Apparently I had cursed myself by saying I'd never get together with Eli even if he was the last billionaire on earth. Fate was laughing at me.

I brushed past him out the door onto the half a dock that remained. "No!" I glanced back at him. "Are we marooned?"

"Not if I can help it." His expression clouded over and became so dark I almost preferred the storm. "I'll call the harbor in Suva, report the damage, and ask someone to send a boat for me."

"Us," I said.

"You still have a couple of days of vacation left. There's no need for you to cut it short. I'll be back for you at the appointed time." He pulled his phone from his pocket and stepped back into the house and all the way through to the deck outside the living room.

I stared at the remaining half of the boathouse. God had left us a rowboat. An air cushion. And a funny looking two-person marine vehicle of some sort that looked kind of like a fish. Maybe a barracuda, if I was guessing. It looked like a one-off custom thing. I wondered why Eli didn't want to take the fish?

I sighed heavily, equally upset about the missing boat and how eager Eli was to leave. Resigned, I went inside to get breakfast. After all, we still needed to eat. There was a stack of gourmet breakfast burritos with warming instructions in the fridge. All I had to do was microwave as many as we wanted.

While I did the microwaving and set the table, I watched Eli pace the deck, gesticulating wildly.

Oh, no.
Return of the douchebag.

He finally slammed his phone into his pocket and came inside with a look like thunder on his face. "The storm hit Suva hard, too. Particularly the marina. Almost every boat was damaged to some extent. If not completely destroyed.

"They won't be able to send someone out until tomorrow at the earliest. Maybe longer." He looked a little sheepish and definitely frustrated. "I'll have to stay."

This was a bit of awkwardness neither of us had expected. So why was I so happy? Especially when he seemed eager to get away?

"Absolutely not. No staying. You'll just have to swim for it." I grinned. It was either that or smile outright and give my secret pleasure away. How was it possible to be peeved, insulted, and happy at the same time?

He looked sheepish. But maybe a bit happy, too? "I'll try to keep out of your way."

"Don't mind that. I've always wanted a houseboy. As long as you pull your weight around here and earn your keep." I shrugged, still grinning. "I might even share my food with you."

He grinned back, showing off those dimples. "Depends on what you mean by earning my keep." There was just enough innuendo in his voice to make my toes curl. And since I was barefoot, it was pretty obvious.

I put a burrito on a plate and handed it to him. "Do you want to eat inside or out?"

"Out. It's gorgeous out today. And the good news is, the second floor looks okay—as much as I could see from the deck, anyway. I'll go up and check it after we eat."

I followed him onto the deck. He righted a table and two chairs. We sat next to each other looking across the table to the private island beyond.

"How did the chairs and deck furniture manage not to blow or wash away? While our boat is gone with the wind. And it was supposedly protected in the boathouse."

He picked up on my sense of wonder. "The mysteries of cyclones."

"Yeah. The boat's probably in Oz by now."

He nodded, almost dreamily, as if he was longing for that boat. "Look."

At the sight of his wistful expression, my inkling of peevishness and insecurity resurfaced. He was so damn eager to leave. It was insulting. And yet…

He turned to me and must have caught my expression. "I'm really sorry. I need to get back to Suva. If there was a way to get out of here and leave you to your vacation, I would."

I pursed my lips. Clearly, he was missing the real reason I was upset in the slightest. And making it worse. If he wanted to leave so damn badly…

"Can't you take the fish?" I squinted in the sun, making a note to dig out my sunglasses as I offered him my terminal helpfulness.

"What?" He looked genuinely puzzled.

"The barracuda in the boathouse. It looks seaworthy."
Not
. It looked bay-worthy, maybe. Lake-worthy, possibly. But not open ocean material in the slightest.

"You mean the amphibious vehicle?" He shook his head. "That's just a shore toy. It doesn't have the range."

"There's always the rowboat. I'll pack you a lunch." I flashed him a wily smile.

"Surely you jest." He grinned with a twinkle in his eyes.

"I’m serious. And don’t call me Shirley." Old joke, but hey. "Just offering you the complete
Life of Pi
adventure package."

I paused and leaned dramatically toward him. "For the record, I think you can make it. But in case you don't, would you mind signing an ironclad statement offering Flash an exclusive Hott event in your last will and testament?" I smiled sweetly. "I'm sure one of your last wishes would be wanting to pay me back for the hospitality of lending you the row boat."

"That leads to my death? I think my last wish would be more along the lines of wanting to kill you."

"Vicious. And vengeful."

He laughed and rolled his eyes. "Nice try. You're stuck with me for another day. So. What were you planning to do on your vacation?"

"Read. Do my nails." I shrugged. "Sunbathe topless."

His eyes lit up. "I like topless sunbathing. Don't let me stop you. I'll just stay out of the way and watch."

I shook my head, but I couldn't help smiling. "This is awkward now, isn't it? We weren't supposed to live through the night," I joked. "No messy morning-after goodbyes. That was the beauty of last night. At the very least you were supposed to roar out of here on your mighty speedboat."

"Yeah," he said. "The best-laid impromptu plans. And I rescheduled my date for tonight. She's not going to be happy when I postpone again."