“Harder, baby. Please.” Preparing to go back to real life was unbearable, so Tessa did her best to convince Rafik to stay in the tender shelter between her legs until the last possible moment.Every charm imparted on her by Fate was like a custom-made concoction designed especially for him, and no matter how many substances he had immunity to, this was the one that slipped through unnoticed. He was powerless to its effects.They spent the last two days tangled up in messy, sweat-drenched, white Egyptian cotton sheets as they tasted and touched every part of each other. No inch of her went unexplored or unloved, but it wasn’t enough for the young lovers. “Yes. Oh, baby. That’s it. Just like that.”Slapping his sweaty hips against her round, slick ass while she cried out into her down-filled pillow, he grunted against the back of her head. As the bed smacked the wall in perfect rhythm to the pleasured noises they both made, the

“I can’t wait to feel the sun on my skin again, baby. It seems like the rain hasn’t let up in ages here.” Fingering Rafik’s curls, Tessa kissed his forehead as he snuggled closer to her breast. They spent every night pressed together skin to skin, and he felt like part of her body now.She had a fire inside her always, and it was like sleeping by a cozy fireplace on a cold winter day all the time, and he found that he could no longer sleep without touching her. “And I especially can’t wait to take a gander at you in nothing but a little pair of swim shorts on the beach.”Smiling with his eyes closed, he thought back to his childhood when he played outside in his bare feet with nothing but his pants on because it was always warm and sunny where he grew up. “Yes, I think it has rained every day since I came here all those years ago. The beach sounds like a welcome change. I haven’t been in the water for a very l

“What the fuck!” Her toes tapped on the floor as Tessa’s narrowed eyes glanced up to Rafik, and he could see the air around her start to wave with the heat of her temper. “I know I put that diary of mine in this drawer.”As he slipped on his flannel pants, he shrugged his bare shoulders. “You didn’t move it somewhere else and forgot, did you?”Rolling her eyes and sighing at the implication, she shook her head and gave him a sarcastic British sounding, “No!”Shoving the drawer shut with an irritated slam, she stood and crossed her arms as she faced him. “I never forget anything. Ever! Someone was snooping around our room, Rafik. What the hell would anyone want with my childhood diary? I didn’t even become interesting until about five years ago or so when I discovered oral sex.”Trying to calm her quick temper, he came to her and put his hands on her cheeks. “Who would not

When the final clap of thunder reached her ears, Tessa opened her eyes and remembered she was far from the warm bed she shared with Rafik in England. She slid her hand across the cool sheets beside her and realized he hadn’t been there for some time.As the crisp, thin mountain air hit her, she took a deep breath of it, then pushed herself from the bed and stretched her arms over her head as a gentle moan fell from her mouth.She pulled on a new black dress with silver buttons down the front as an aching sadness started to well up in her throat. A master of denial, she could lie her way out of any situation and had hustled thousands of dollars from manipulating people with her deception.Standing in front of the full-length mirror, she shook out her hands and blew out through pursed lips. She locked away the truth deep inside the backroom in her mind and pretended not to recognize the reality of her life as she put on her toothiest smile. “Everything

Whimpering at the hot sunlight that moved across her face, Tessa imagined herself at her home in Greece and breathed deep through her nose as she stretched her arms above her head. The warm, dry air wrapped around her like a warm blanket, bringing a smile to her face. “Oh, thank you. But I thought we were going to Moscow.”The healer was right when he said she needed a few good days of sleep; she was like a new woman awash in soft cotton sheets and fluffy down pillows.Reluctantly opening her eyes, Tessa gradually became aware that she was in unfamiliar surroundings and her smile faded as panic set in when she remembered the last face she saw. “Oh, fuck! They got me.”The bars on the small windows and door made it very clear to her that she was no guest and that, wherever she was, Rafik wasn’t with her. “Where am I? Think, Tess.”“The Alamo.” Closing her eyes, she thought of Norway and tried her best t