Quest (Shifter Island Book 4) by Carol Davis Read Free Book Online Page B

doing—whether she was in class, or washing the dishes, or running to join Julie at the gym—she’d thought of him almost nonstop. In her imagination, she’d put together a very detailed future that involved him: her handsome husband, the man who thought she’d hung the moon.
    But her practical side had won out. The side that was determined to follow her mother’s footsteps into a successful career, the side that wanted more than a home, a husband, a cluster of kids.
    More than a life of farming.
    That part of her thought she should ask him to leave now, before either one of them felt any more heartbreak.
    But the part that had felt a surge of joy at the sight of him wanted very much for him to stay.
    No… needed him to stay.
    “Let’s order something to eat,” she said in a coaxing tone, hoping he’d forget about the future in favor of enjoying what they had right now. That much, she could do: stay with him for a little while. Enjoy right now. This moment.
    He hesitated.
    “That pizza place we liked is still there,” she told him. “Think you can still polish off a large all by yourself? With the works?”
    “You’re hungry.”
    “I’m starved. And after we eat, we can—”
    “Yes,” Luca said abruptly. “I agree. I think we should do that.”
     

Seven
     
    She woke to find Luca contentedly asleep beside her, as loose-limbed and placid as a child, his breath whispering against the pillow.
    The room was almost fully dark—she’d drawn the heavy drapes to avoid providing a free show for the guests in the hotel’s other wing—which drew her attention almost completely to him. How very warm he was, in spite of that still overzealous air conditioner.
    She wanted to curl up close to him, to soak some of that heat into her own body, but she didn’t want to disturb him. His being here, as relaxed as if they’d been a couple for every minute of the last four years, seemed so right, so perfect—too perfect to interrupt.
    Right now, the regrets they’d both been feeling didn’t seem to matter.
    Everything outside the room seemed quiet; she couldn’t hear anyone out in the hall, or water running, or the sound of a TV. That nudged her toward feeling that she and Luca were alone in the world, that they’d somehow escaped to some other place that was as close to paradise as she’d ever been.
    Slowly, she slipped back into sleep.
     
    The smell of flowers and the brush of a warm breeze roused her. For a minute she resisted opening her eyes.
    Then she heard his voice.  “Allison.”
    She sat up shaking her head, trying to blink the last traces of sleep out of her eyes—but being able to see made her more confused, not less.
    Somehow, she and Luca were outdoors, sitting on a grassy hillside overlooking the ocean. The sun was high in the sky, its light making the water glint and sparkle. There was nothing out there: no boats, no sign of life. Just a vast expanse of water.
    “This is my favorite place,” Luca said softly.
    She turned to him, too baffled to try to figure out how in the world they’d gotten here.
    He was naked. They both were.
    Smiling, he moved to sit close beside her, then picked up her hand and laced his fingers with hers. He seemed completely unconcerned that they were naked, that someone might see them—that they might actually be breaking the law by being out here like this.
    The sunlight made his brown eyes look very golden as he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.
    “Luca—” she murmured.
    “I knew,” he said. “All along, I knew. Now I’m sure. If we’ve found the dream world together, it has to be true.”
    “You’re… sure of what?”
    He was aroused, she noticed. Ready to take her. Gently, he lowered her back onto the grass, moved her legs apart and smoothly slipped inside her. That felt so right that she circled her legs around him and grasped his shoulders to urge him in farther, deeper.
    So warm…
    “I knew, Allison,” he whispered. “I knew all