Delicious and Deadly by CC MacKenzie Read Free Book Online Page A

all of her own. A woman who faithfully attended church every Sunday, who quoted carefully selected passages from the Good Book, who talked about tolerance, diversity and inclusion. But at the rotten heart of her was a racist determined to do everything in her power to ensure no man of colour would marry her daughter.
    Oscar didn't like the darkness in his heart, in his soul. He wasn't a man who lived in the past, or a man who let it affect him in the present. He'd moved on and made something of his life, of himself.
    Heart pumping now with more than adrenaline, he shoved Catherine Ludlow from his mind and turned to stare out over the empty vastness of the ocean. He let the lace of the foam cool his feet and soothe the hurt in his heart. He'd loved Emma Ludlow. Totally. And because he'd done the right thing, fulfilled an obligation, a duty, he'd lost her.
    Now he frowned as another thought slid into his brain.
    Why hadn’t Nico, or more importantly Alexander, told him Emma’s marriage was in trouble?
    Then he winced, remembering how he’d refused to discuss Emma when the subject had been brought up by his friends, how he’d refused to even hear her name, refused to deal with his feelings.
    Oscar thrust frustrated hands through his hair, used her hair tie to hold his hair back.
    How could he have been so bloody stupid?
    Fuck it.
    Deal with it, he ordered himself.
    He spun around to jog over the sugar white sand to his cottage.
    He hit the power shower, set it on cold, then forced himself to concentrate on his plans for what was left of the day.
    For the next two evenings he was on duty in the kitchens, working with an excellent staff. And preparing whatever Eden's pampered guests desired.
    He couldn't wait to begin.
    She tried to sleep.
    Even closed the blinds, placed a Do Not Disturb sign on the door.
    After all, she’d just had six hours of hot monkey sex, orgasmed four... or was it five times. She should have been exhausted. But her whole body burned... all of it... inside and out.
    Abruptly Emma sat up, switched on the light, took a sip of water.
    The bitter sweet memories of how she and Oscar had come together, how he'd kissed her, touched her, the need in his deep voice and how he'd made her feel , weakened her now. And she fought like a tiger to beat those feelings back, to recover that sense of serenity she’d found on Eden.
    She moved to sit on the edge of the bed, wrapping her arms around her waist as she rocked back and forth desperately trying to keep gnawing desire at bay. But those feelings just would not be contained.
    A whimper escaped from her throat.
    How could she forget how good he felt under her hands, as he slid inside her, filling her in a way that had hurt so good. He’d tasted, all of him, so good. And she admitted she wanted more, much more. God, the way she’d rubbed her slick body against his, without restraint, made her whimper again.
    Stop it! Her mind shouted loud and clear as the fire deep in her belly flared to life.
    Stop it !
    She simply would not, could not, let this happen to her again. For three years she’d outsmarted, ruthlessly ignored, any desire, any need, for a man.
    Not now... now that need was set ablaze inside her too quickly, wrenching, writhing, in such a way that she couldn’t get a grip on her emotions, her feelings.
    She couldn’t get it to stop.
     
    With a despairing moan, Emma rolled to lay under the comforter, curled into the foetal position and desperately tried to lose herself in sleep, to calm her frantic thoughts.
    After all she'd been through, she’d only just found herself again.
    The problem was that she didn’t trust her heart.
    And she certainly didn’t trust Oscar.
    He’d walked away from her once.
    And his leaving had been the catalyst for the disaster that followed.
    Why had she let herself have sex with him... again?
    Had she learned nothing?
    Memories, unrelenting memories, spun into her mind with a speed that had her squeeze her eyes tightly