AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m a person!” she shot back, glaring at him, nose to nose. The air seemed to crackle between them, and she could see the streaks of gray in his blue eyes. “Whether you’re my husband or not, I’m an adult. Able to make my own decisions.” Oh, Lord, she’d had this conversation before. A long time ago. With…with someone else…. Her father! They’d been arguing—about trust and responsibility—and her father’s face had been flushed, his lips tight with anger at his wayward daughter.
“You can’t decide anything until you’re well!”
His words snapped her back to the present, and all the old anger mingled with her new fury. “And who decides that?” she demanded, thrusting her chin out mutinously. “You or God?”
His eyes sparked. “You are the most aggravating female I’ve ever met!”
“Great reason to get married, isn’t it?”
Like a panther springing, he grabbed her. He dragged her into his arms, clamped his lips over hers and kissed her with a hot desire so wild she couldn’t break free. Her blood was already pounding through her veins, and now his rough kiss caused her heart to thud and her mind to spin.
She yanked her head away from him. “Let go of me,” she ground out.
“Not until you start making sense!”
He kissed her again. Harder this time. She tried to fight him, for she knew that kissing him, relying on him, giving herself up to him, was an irretrievable mistake. But his tongue was playing magic upon her lips, prying them open, pressing inward, and he’d all but climbed over the table to force his body close to hers.
Heat swirled inside her. Liquid and white-hot, desire coiled in wanton knots that slowly unwound and slid through her bloodstream.
“God, you make me crazy,” he said when he finally lifted his head and stared into her eyes. His chest was rising and falling, his breathing torn from his lungs.
“You are crazy.”
“Only with you, darlin’.” He dropped his hands and gritted his teeth, desire still flaming in his hot blue eyes. By sheer force of will, he walked away from her. “Only with you.”
Nikki rubbed her swollen lips and bit back another sharp retort. This was no time for her temper to take command of her tongue. If he chose to be autocratic, so be it. She’d wait him out. It shouldn’t be all that hard. There was no way he’d spend an entire day tomorrow cooped up in the hotel, and when he left, she’d do exactly what she damned well pleased.
Flopping back on the bed, he picked up the phone and ordered room service for dinner. With one hand over the receiver, he asked, “What do you want?”
“Anything you order for me, O lord and master.”
“Knock it off.”
“I have no right to make decisions,” she said sweetly, though her eyes were shooting daggers. “Remember?”
Jaw tightening, he ordered for her in Spanish, hung up and said, “Hope you like liver and chick-peas in a hot pepper sauce.”
“My favorite,” she replied with a smile.
Growling about unappreciative women, he strode to the veranda, slammed the door behind him and stared at the dusky sky.
Liver and chick-peas! Still fuming, Nikki went into the bathroom, locked the door and soaked in a tub of warm water. She didn’t know if she could stand another moment of being alone with Trent.
Forty-five minutes later, refreshed and ready to do battle, she returned to the room and found him seated at the table, waiting. The dishes from room service had arrived and were still covered. A glass of white wine shimmered, waiting, next to her plate while a long-necked bottle of beer was sweating on the table in front of his chair. There were smaller dishes of bread, butter and dessert as well.
“Didn’t want to start without you,” he said, kicking out her chair as she rounded the table wearing a bathrobe over her pajamas.
“Noble of you.”
He snorted as she took a seat opposite him. She felt his eyes linger on her a little too long before he slid his gaze away. “May as well eat. Wouldn’t want that hot pepper sauce to cool down.” With a flourish he lifted the lid from his dish and steam rose from the platter of whitefish, sautéed vegetables and pasta covered with a cream-and-garlic sauce. “Specialty of the house.”
Nikki braced herself and uncovered her meal to discover that Trent had ordered the same for her.
“All out of the other stuff,” he explained as he twisted off the cap of his beer.
“Sure.”
“Maybe tomorrow.” He was teasing her, and his eyes glinted seductively.
