Page 94 of Brushed By Moonlight

I imagined the view from up there. The olive groves. The dry, undulating hills. The terra-cotta roofs, the distant cliffs…

More than ever, I felt tiny. Insignificant. Incapable.

I dragged a foot across the gravel path, then stepped inside. Marius was a dragon. I was nothing special. Whatever sparks flew around us were sure to fade out soon — for him, if not for me.

Fifteen minutes later, I was in my knee-length sleep shirt and on the couch, trying to convince myself to sleep.

Still trying an hour later, when heavy thumps shook the ground. The bushes rustled from the sudden burst of wind, and the crickets went still. Gravel crunched —largeareas of gravel trampled by huge, clawed feet. The sound approached my door, growing fainter as Marius transformed and strode along on twohuman feet, slowly retracting his mighty wings. At least, that was the picture my ears painted.

The door creaked open, and moonlight sliced into the room.

Click. Darkness fell as the door closed, and I heard his soft breaths.

A shiver went through my body. The good kind.

Er — bad kind. Very, very bad.

He stood by the door for a while. Letting his eyes adjust? Locating his clothes? Looking at me?

Look at me,my body begged.

Soft steps sounded, and my skin prickled. I followed the sound as he detoured around the couch to reach the bedroom. Then he stopped.

I held my breath.

“Mina,” he whispered.

I kept perfectly still.

He backtracked, coming closer.

“Mina,” he said, barely a step away.

My heart raced, though I did my best to fake a bored, sleepy tone. “Mmm?”

“Want to trade? For the bed, I mean.”

If he wasn’t in it? No, thanks.

I rolled away, pulling the blanket over my head. “I’m fine. Good night.”

The moment the words slipped out, I berated myself. Was I nuts?

Throughout the day, I’d rationalized it all. We’d slept together, and it had been great. But we had a dangerous mission to focus on, with a potentially priceless artwork on the line. It was no time to mess around. We both had to rest so we could operate at peak level tomorrow.

But my libido seemed to have nixed that plan. Out with sleep. In with another kind of peak performance.

Now! Right now!my hormones raged.

“Last chance,” Marius murmured in a low, raspy voice.

So, yeah. I wasn’t the only one whose body had torn up the script. But if I exercised supreme discipline, Marius would too, and we could both get to sleep.

I kept up my bluff. “Good night.”

He waited, unconvinced, then sighed and moved toward the bedroom. I cursed myself with each of his soft steps.

Sleep. Rest. Regenerate. Prepare for secret mission,I told myself, trying to get into a James Bond frame of mind.