airy villa and followed the sweet, spicy aromas coming from the deck.
Once again, my mouth fell open in shock. The table, resting under a giant umbrella, groaned with a plethora of dishes. Earthen pots holding rich curries, banana leaf plates presenting fluffy pastries, white china with fresh fruit, and dishes with lentils, vegetables, and barbecued halloumi, all waited to be chosen.
Saliva coated my tongue. I selected a huge piece of ripe watermelon, a handful of lychees, and a still-warm chocolate croissant before descending the two steps from the teak decking to the sugary sun-warmed sand.
I ate my beach picnic in record time, then lay back and…the rest was history.
I couldn’t move.
I didn’t want to move.
I’d made the mistake of lying down in paradise, and for the first time in my life, I didn’t let guilt push me into motion.
My body wanted to rest.
I will rest.
I had no one to please, no chores to complete, no parents to obey.
Just bird song and wave chorus lulling me into a state of utmost lazy leisure.
Unfortunately, while my body might be able to switch off all signals to move, to lie like a corpse and be grateful for its respite, my mind began to race.
Last night returned in crystal, clamouring detail.
The cave.
The man.
The mind-numbing, body-breaking, elixir-maddening sex.
My nipples pebbled just from my memories, from his voice, from the way he manhandled me but also cared for me. It hadn’t been like I feared. He hadn’t been abusive or cruel. He’d taken what he wanted, but he’d also ensured I enjoyed it too.
And I had enjoyed it.
As much as I wanted to lie, to curse and scream and make myself sound less like a harlot, I had to be honest and admit…last night had been the best night of my life…sexually speaking.
A blush crept over my cheeks. A blush full of chagrin for Scott. If I ever got free—when I get free—how would I look him in the eye and admit what I’d done? Would it matter that I hadn’t had a choice? That the man who’d bought me stole my senses, plugged me into some sort of illusion, and then left me to his guests’ mercy?
Would Scott forgive me?
There’s nothing to forgive!
My hands curled, grabbing fistfuls of hot sand. I didn’t willingly open my legs for that brutish caveman. Yes, while under elixir’s influence, I had, but…that was a weapon used against me. My own libido and lust had become enemies.
If I ever saw Scott again, he would understand. If he didn’t…well…he doesn’t deserve me.
Nodding with firmness, I tried to calm my heart rate that’d once again skipped into tattered. A small puff of air wafted my face just before a gentle rustle of feathers and a cute chirp sounded in my ear. “Lazy, lazy.”
My eyes snapped open. I turned my head to come nose to beak with Sully’s tiny parrot. He tilted his neck so his head was horizontal, comical and far too bendy. “Lazy!” He ruffled his feathers, shaking off invisible dirt.
I smiled, studying the gleaming green feathers, snowy white chest, and apricot cheeks. “You’re very pretty.”
He puffed up like a tennis ball, pride cheeky and bright in his gaze. “Pretty Pika!”
I nodded, rolling onto my stomach, trailing my long hair over my shoulders but leaving most of the length, strewn like seaweed in the sand. Resting my chin in my hands, I laughed quietly as the little parrot stomped his scaly legs around in a dictatorship-style dance. His wings fanned out like a cape, his beak held high, his body bristling with authority. He squeaked with each step, sounding like the world’s tiniest bullhorn.
“Sully, Sully, Sully!” he screamed, abandoning his weird march and nibbling my hair in the sand. He ran bath-clean locks through his beak, pruning and preening me as if offended that I hadn’t done what he ordered and stopped being lazy.
I tried to ignore the way my stomach flipped at the mention of Sully’s name or the knowledge that this little bird seemed to have something unique of his.
He was loved by a man who didn’t seem capable of such a thing.
Stroking the top of Pika’s head, I murmured, “What can you tell me about him, huh? Is he all bad, or is there something good inside him too?”
Pika immediately forgot about my hair, arching his neck for me to scratch between his feathers under his chin. His eyes closed in bliss, and snuggled closer, showing total affection and intelligence far beyond what most people believed a bird