Page 6

ARIZONA

Why should you never rob a bank with a pig?

They always squeal.

* * *

His lips melded against mine, tasting of sand and exotic spices. He slid one hand beneath my head, using it to tilt my head and give him better access to explore my mouth.

Completely lost in our kiss, I wasn’t prepared for the heavy weight of his left hand as it pressed down on my chest. Hard.

I cried out, but he didn’t seem to notice and simply swallowed my cry. Sharp bits of debris dug into the skin of my back as the hand on my chest pushed me harder into the concrete. I tried to breathe, but I couldn’t get my lungs to expand with the weight of his palm bearing down on me.

Wrenching my mouth from his, I gave a weak scream. Grabbing onto his wrist with both my trembling hands, I tried to push him away, but he was about as movable as a brick wall.

Don’t fight me. I don’t want to injure you by mistake.

“You are”—I panted—“hurting me.”

It cannot be helped. To heal, you will have to endure pain.

I want to tell him I didn’t need inspirational sayings. I preferred to get my self-awareness advice from the same place as everyone else—social media memes. What I really needed was a hospital, surgery, and pain medication.

I do not understand your thoughts. Be still, and let me care for you.

My heart must have a pain kink, because it pounded harder at his words. Meanwhile, my mind was struggling to decide what our next step should be. The clear winner would be to run away and find help… the medical kind that could actually save my life. Obviously, I wasn’t in any shape to crawl, scoot, roll, walk or run. Which meant option number one was out.

My brain’s backup plan was to forget the part about me needing a hospital and beg him to kiss me like I was dying… which I probably was.

He made the decision for me, capturing my lips with a need that made me dizzy. Or was I dizzy from low oxygen and blood loss?

Focus on my kiss. I regret what comes next.

Dang. Normally you waited until after sex to say you regretted what happened. This guy must have serious performance issues if he was apologizing before we even jumped into bed together.

His hand grew warm, hotter than the eye of a stove. Agonizing pain sizzled through my body, scorching every last nerve ending. The scent of something burning filled the air. It was disgusting, and my throat tightened as my stomach rebelled.

At the same time, the stranger’s kiss shifted from passionate to something closer to CPR. He’d stopped stealing the breath from my lungs, and instead, he blew his own breath into them. His breath traveled down my throat, more comforting than a gulp of warm soup on a snowy day. It was nice, and more intimate than I could have dreamed.

Even through my pain and confusion, my body stirred with a craving like nothing I’d ever experienced. Pain and passion twisted together into a single unfathomable sensation that threatened to destroy the last of my sanity.

If I had the full use of my body, there was zero doubt in my mind that I would have jumped him on the spot and dealt with the consequences of my irrational actions later.

One-night stands had never been my thing. I had to catch feelings for a guy before I was willing to do the deed of darkness with him. I was blaming the ancient dirt. It being a powerful drug was the only explanation for this level of need.

There is much more to this than you know, but now is not the time for explanations. Be still, My Queen.

Naked Man had a lot to learn if he thought I would take orders from—

My body jerked, arching up off the concrete like a scene from an exorcism. Opening my eyes, the brilliant blue light encircled us, while the buttery yellow glow was back. But with a shock, I realized it was radiating from my chest.

A scream built in my throat, but my body was stuck in suspended animation. I could see, hear and smell, but my body refused to obey even the simplest of commands.

Almost finished—

My body relaxed back onto the concrete, and the man sat back on his heels. His eyes searched my face, looking for something. But what?

I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the sexy-as-french-fries naked man, and the dinosaur pacing a few feet away.