“Don’t worry. We’ll get them.”
“That’s a promise,” Emma snapped, still smarting each time she recalled the males she’d overheard in the gym. “We’ll bust their asses for both drugs and illicit filming.”
Jack grinned. “That’s my girl.” He leaned forward to kiss her square on the lips.
Emma’s heart somersaulted. If he wasn’t interested, why was he kissing her? They didn’t have an audience. Men. She sure as heck didn’t understand them. Her lips softened under his, and she pressed into him even though the two boxes he carried dug into her ribs. Every breath she took was full of his scent. A groan built deep in her chest. Her pussy heated, moistening her panties. A perennial situation when she was around Jack. All she needed to do was think of him and her body prepared for his possession.
Their lips slid together. Sipping, nibbling, tasting. Mating. Her stomach swirled.
Jack pulled away with a curse, and they stared at each other for a long moment.
“I’ll see you on the beach at six,” he said. “Don’t be late.”
***
Jack paced the sand beneath the old pohutukawa tree and checked the skyline again. The last rays of sun brightened the horizon, but there was still no sign of Emma.
A couple paddled in the small waves that rushed to shore, slowly making their way toward the main part of the resort. It was a Middle Eastern night tonight so Jack presumed everyone was preparing for another night of frivolity—drinking, eating and dancing late into the night.
He paced away from the tree and shivered at his body’s reaction to the pull of the moon. Even though it wasn’t visible yet, edginess stalked him. He glanced down at his tented shorts with a wry twist of lips. Damn, he needed Emma.
The vibrations of approaching footsteps made him turn.
Emma.
Jack found himself smiling—an automatic reaction. He couldn’t seem to stop.
His gaze scanned her from the top of her head, down her curvy form and long legs to her feet. Whoa! His gaze darted back to her hair.
“Hi,” she called. Her body language screamed self-conscious, alerting him to the fact he could hurt her if he didn’t say the right words. An opportunity to blow this budding relationship apart.
He didn’t take it.
“I was starting to worry,” he said instead.
She came to a stop right in front of him, so close they were almost touching. The back of his fingers drifted across her smooth cheek then he lifted his hand higher to tug lightly on a fragrant curl. It was the exact color of the sunset—a combination of red and golden brown and orange.
“You’ve got a sunset in your hair.”
Her head jerked up, her blue eyes wide and uncertain at his compliment. “Is that good?”
“You look beautiful. Worth the wait.” Jack hesitated awkwardly on hearing his words, but they came from the heart. And that gave him pause. What the hell was happening to him? This investigation was going nowhere. Frustration was his middle name, yet it wasn’t the lack of progress that irritated the heck out of his life plan. It wasn’t the impending blue moon.
It was Emma.
A sensible man who happened to also be a shape-shifting taniwha, would do the job and walk away…
Jack shrugged and pushed away his insidious fears. Emma wasn’t going to die because he was a taniwha. If he had his way, she’d never learn the truth.
“Discover anything helpful?” Emma sat on the sand and hugged her knees as she stared out to sea.
Jack dropped down beside her and cast a quick glance in her direction. “Nothing useful.”
“Are you still going out tonight?”
“Yeah.” Damn right. It was even more dangerous staying in their room.
“What do we do? Stuff the bed with pillows and make it look as if we’re sleeping for a change?” She glanced over at him with an impish grin, one that made her resemble a mischievous pixie.
Jack stared. “It’s so simple, it might work.” He kept staring. Damn, she was pretty. He’d never noticed how creamy and touchable her skin appeared. His gaze drifted to linger on her mouth, and he found himself leaning toward her. Their lips collided and clung. A hand—Emma’s hand—slid around his neck, urging him closer. They kissed until the need for air forced them to stop. Breathless, they drew apart.
“I didn’t think we were doing that again.” Emma toyed with the hair at his nape. Each sharp tug and scrape of her fingernails sent a corresponding jolt to his groin.
“We shouldn’t be.” But he gave in to the temptation to lick the delicate whorls of her ear. His mouth drifted lower to nuzzle and taste the soft skin of her neck. “But I was never big on rules.”