At Last by Ella Stone Page A

jungle. To her surprise, he didn’t laugh. She was sure that would’ve been right up his alley. But he just walked, holding her hand, guiding her silently through the dense jungle. Susan was too preoccupied with trying not to trip or fall to say anything more, but after they found the trail and she could see the beach through the lush palm trees, she grabbed Kevin’s arm and made him stop.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing.” He didn’t really look at her, more over her head than anything else. She nudged him in the stomach with her fist, and he still wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Really, I’m fine.”
    “Why don’t I believe you?”
    When Kevin finally looked down at her, his expression was exasperated. His irritation seemed to melt, revealing more affection than she’d ever seen in anyone’s eyes.
    The thought that slipped in and out of her mind was a dangerous one. It was the kind of thought that ended lives, or at least messed up good sex lives. And no matter how Kevin might be feeling, or how she might, might feel, she had only just discovered this part of Kevin. And it was new and exciting, and heart-stoppingly beautiful--and she was feeling selfish and wasn’t about to muck it up with all that mushy love stuff.
    For the third time that day, Susan had to shake that word out of her head. Why was it popping into her head like that? What Kevin and she had had was great sex. Amazing, life altering, reality-bending sex. And that was what she needed! That’s what she wanted. Anything else was just too much to deal with right then.
    Right?
    But how she felt with him inside her, how she felt as she held fast to him...what was all that?
    “Shut up,” she muttered under her breath.
    Susan shook off her own thoughts, and the look Kevin was giving her, and started back up the beach the way she’d come, pulling Kevin behind her. She had to smile at the sudden reversal in roles. Just yesterday he’d dragged her down the beach, kicking and screaming, toward the sky and glorious freedom. And she had been powerless to stop him.
    He really was all hers, wasn’t he? If only temporarily. But what did temporarily really mean?
    That she’d go on to someone else...
    Naturally.
    That he’d go on to someone else.
    Susan didn’t have a comeback for that one. She just kept marching down the beach, her mind trying to wrap itself around the possibility of Kevin being with someone else. It made her chest hurt, and made her head go all fuzzy, not to mention the cold chill that ran down her spine.
    Kevin , find someone else?
    Naturally.
    When they got back to the hotel, Susan steered them through the throngs of vacationers, past the bikini bunnies frolicking by the pool-- put some clothes on! --through the lobby, and straight to their room. The instant the door closed behind Kevin, she kissed him, pinning him hard against the door, her hands already pulling at his t-shirt, tugging it over his head, and diving back into him, kissing him so hard, so ardently, that she lost her breath.
    Kevin didn’t say anything. For a few moments she didn’t think he was all there. It seemed he was lost in thought, and even though his body was responding, and she could feel how hard he was getting, he just wasn’t connecting with her.
    So she bit his lip, hard.
    Snapping out of his stupor, Kevin groaned and pushed her away by the shoulders, staring at her with a mix of anger and heat.
     
    ~*~
     
    Kevin could taste blood. What the fuck? She’d bit him. And now she was looking at him with those big green eyes, filled to the brim with longing. Which was a hell of a lot better than having them filled with tears. And though he’d seen them filled with laughter and joy, seeing them charged with lust, for however short a time they had, was best by far.
    He could watch her looking at him like that for the rest of his life.
    He took it all in, memorizing every minute detail: the way her eyes sparkled, how her full, pink lips pouted, how her curly blond