Birds in Paradise

Part 5

The deep red sun had just begun to peek over the high-rise hotels that lined the beach by the time I reached Mamma Jo's. Pete, dressed in a pair of khaki pants and a white button-up shirt was waiting for me outside my door. His arms were crossed, and he looked as if he'd been chewing on nails.

"Hi Pete," I said, dredging up a cheery tone, one I didn't feel. My heart was still sore from yesterday morning's encounter with him. "Do you have another wad of cash for me?"

His gaze narrowed as he took in my ripped shirt and bruised eye. He treated me to one of his stony silences. I shrugged and unlocked my door. "I'm bushed," I told him. "Good ni—"

He moved with fluid grace as he herded me inside my room and kicked the door closed behind him. He backed me up until I was pressed against the far wall...and his body was pressed against mine. Our lips were nearly touching and I had a giddy desire to gasp or sigh or laugh.

I'd missed a night of sleep and was hurt and confused, which tended to make my brain not work quite right. Not to mention that it appeared that the man whom I'd long harbored an elephant-sized crush was about to kiss me.

I think I closed my eyes and parted my lips, while dreams of princes and white knights tripped though my fuzzy head.

"What the hell kind of trouble are you in, Kyra?" he demanded without kissing me. Instead he was inspecting my blackened eye.

"Trouble?" I couldn't understand why he wasn't kissing me. I twined my fingers behind his neck and tried to pull him closer.

"If you insist on selling your body—I'm buying." He grabbed my chin. "And I'm the only one buying."

I felt his willingness to fulfill that promise pressing against me. Obviously I'd caught the attention of his buddies walking the beat again tonight—most likely Blakely—and it had gotten back to Pete. I sighed. If only his offer hadn't been based on a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding I couldn't honestly explain away without risking jail time. Yet, at the same time, I couldn't let him think he needed to pay me for...

"I-I—" I stammered. He slammed his lips against mine with an urgent hunger that stunned and quite honestly made me forget everything else.

Aloha Pete tasted every bit as good as I'd imagined he would. I tugged up his shirt and ran my hands over his bare chest. His muscles rippled beneath my touch.

With a growl he lifted me into his arms and tossed me onto the bed. I know I should have said something to stop what was going to happen. But who was I kidding? This was exactly what I'd wanted to happen ever since we first met. He climbed in the bed with me and, with a predatory gleam brightening his eyes, parted my legs. There was no way in this side of hell I was going to tell him to stop.

Several hours later I found myself drifting in and out of sleep while Pete snored softly beside me. I felt drowsy and sated and confused. My head was spinning, and I didn't want to think about why Pete had pushed his way into my bed last night. This was something I wanted to savor while it lasted. I propped myself up on one elbow and started tracing little circles around his flat nipple.

He jerked awake and, after giving me a disgusted look, dragged himself out of the bed.

"Pack your things," he said with a deadly chill to his voice as he moved in quick bursts, pulling on his shorts and then his shirt.

"What? Why?"

"If I'm paying for this, I'll want you close at hand. Where I can keep an eye on you." He tossed open the door. "I'll tell Mamma Jo you'll be moving out. Be ready to leave by the time I get back."

I started to protest. But he slammed the door and was gone.