DesertIslandDelight by Wynter Daniels Read Free Book Online Page B

understand.

Chapter Six
     
    Chase woke with Diana still curled up beside him. The moon
was nearly full but despite that, the sky shimmered with a curtain of stars
more dazzling than he’d ever seen. Or maybe it only appeared so because he’d
had the best sex of his life a few hours ago. He was definitely still hopped up
on endorphins.
    There’d be no leaving before sunrise like he used to after
one of the occasional one-night stands that had kept his libido satisfied since
his divorce. For the first time in ages he didn’t want to walk away. He
and Diana seemed to fit perfectly together. Everything about her drew him from
the scent of her skin to the taste of her lips to the feel of being inside her.
He hadn’t dated many women who could hold his interest in conversation as much
as they did in the sack. But Diana sure did. He knew how Diana’s mind worked
because his functioned exactly the same way.
    Normally, he’d kick himself for even entertaining such
radical thoughts but he was strangely at peace with the knowledge. But he
didn’t have time to dwell on it now. Much as he hated to let go of her, he had
to restart the fire so their SOS could be seen until sunrise. He shouldn’t have
let the flames dwindle but they’d been busy working on their own inferno.
    He reluctantly extricated himself from her then added
leaves, sticks and more of the logs they’d gathered from the forest to the
giant sign. When he relit the fire, he glanced over at Diana, hoping he hadn’t
woken her.
    Her lashes fluttered as the flames grew brighter. She patted
the vacant spot where he’d been and something inside him squeezed.
    She opened her eyes and searched for him a few seconds
before her gaze landed on him. A big, lazy smile lit up her face as she
stretched out, nude and lovely. “Everything okay?”
    Instead of answering, he returned to her side, pulled her to
him and kissed the top of her head. “Last night was…I don’t even have words.”
    “Yeah, for me too.”
    He shifted beside her so he could look into her eyes. “You
remember when we went out in New York? How come we didn’t take it further than
a kiss?”
    She crinkled her brow and started to say something but she
stopped herself.
    “What?”
    “There were so many reasons not to go on with that.”
    When she didn’t elaborate, he prodded her. “Come on, you can
tell me now.”
    The tension in her expression remained. “I’m no good at
dating, never have been. And we pitched against each other too often. I didn’t
think it would be wise.”
    He searched those brown eyes for answers. “We had incredible
chemistry. It was obvious in that one kiss. You must have noticed too.”
    She nodded but wouldn’t bring her eyes up to his. “I don’t
do relationships. My dad was abusive to my mother. My sisters and I witnessed
him hitting her. I don’t ever want to be a part of anything like that.”
    Well, at least it explained her hesitance. “I’m sorry,
Diana. That must have been awful.”
    She shrugged. “Pretty much. What about you? You never called
after that night. I assumed you weren’t interested.”
    Needles prickled his gut. “Yeah, sorry about that. I guess I
had my own issues.” He thought about Adrienne, all the bullshit games they’d played
after the divorce.
    “Like?”
    “I think I was still recovering from a bad marriage.” He
tried for a smile. “Would you think less of me if I admitted I was scared? I
must have picked up on something that told me you were way more than a casual
date.”
    She rubbed his arm.
    “My ex-wife didn’t get that the job usually took precedence
over everything else. She got mad when I worked nights and weekends.”
    She nodded. “That’s just the way the ad game works. I let my
job take over my life. My friends finally gave up on me and even my family
started to wonder what I looked like. Pathetic, but true.” She sighed. “I wish
now I’d have done things differently, but I wonder if I’ll really