The Isle Of Sin And Shadows - Keri Lake Page 0,189
confession.” Another bite, and I arch into him on a gasp of breath. “I used your toothbrush.”
He stills against me and lets out an exasperated groan. “You didn’t.”
“I did. But I put it back in the spaceship, so all is right as rain.”
“I’ll have to go ashore and buy a new one.”
“You’ve kissed me. Kissed … there. My germs have taken up residence in every corner of your mouth by now. Like the gold rush. And I’ll just tell you, if they’re anything like me, they’re not going anywhere for a while.”
Brow kicked up, he stares down at me with a look of challenge in his eyes. “Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“Then, you should be advised that my germs aren’t going anywhere, either. They’re firmly rooted inside of you now, as well.”
“What are you saying? Are you …. Is this some really weird way of committing, or did I get lost in the germs somewhere?”
“Well, if whisking you away to an island in the middle of the ocean wasn’t enough of a clue, then I suppose this will have to do for now.”
I reach up to wrap my arms around his neck, wearing what I’m certain is one of the goofiest, most unattractive smiles I’ve ever worn. “You know, when I was younger, I used to dream that a guy would, like, let me wear his varsity jacket, or his class ring, or something oddly old-fashioned and out of style to profess his commitment. Never in a million years did I imagine he’d do it under the clever guise of dental bacteria.”
“What can I say? I’m not like most men.”
“You surely aren’t, Thierry James Bergeron.” A light tug pulls him into me, and he resumes his distracting neck kissing ritual. “Can I confess something else?”
“Might as well, though I don’t have another cleverly disguised proposition lined up.”
“I hid the keys to the boat.”
His groan vibrates against my skin. “Again? Where did you hide them this time?”
“In my bikini bottoms.”
He lifts away from me, and hooking his finger into my bikini string, he gives one hard yank that clanks the metal keys together so they scratch at my bare skin. The way he shakes his head tells me I’m in deep shit now. “You leave me no choice. I’m going to have to go after them, you know.”
“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”
“The positions you put me in, catin …”
“Aren’t nearly as bad as the ones you’ll probably put me in later.”
Eyes on mine, reaches down inside my bikini bottom, and the moment his finger traces over my sensitive cleft, I arch my back on a soft moan, and a wicked grin stretches his lips. “Found it.”
Lying sprawled across Thierry’s body, I let the ocean waves lull me into a half sleep, as I run my fingertips up and down his arm. To the scar of his bullet wound, just above his elbow, and back down to the wolf’s bite wound. At the bumpy protrusions there, I pause to examine the mark I’ve seen before. The line where teeth latched onto him is clear and defined, with puncture wounds where its incisors pierced the skin. “Did you ever go after the wolf?”
“My father shot at it with a gun. Whether he killed it, or not, I wouldn’t know.”
“That’s surprising. Russ always believed to kill a wolf was a bad omen, or something. He always told me to scare it off, rather than shoot it. Must’ve been terrified watching it come after you.”
“It was a bad omen, in some ways, I suppose. It marked a chain of events. He told me to go after some rabbit that’d been eating away my mom’s flowers. When I tracked it down, I was too scared to shoot. So I went into the woods, in search for my old man. Saw him at the edge of the river with the barrel of the gun in his mouth. I called out for him, and that’s when the wolf attacked me.”
“You were the reason he didn’t go through with it that day.”
“I only recently found out why he wanted to kill himself. I never knew about Brie’s mom.” Brows pinched together, he stares off. “I often wonder, what if I hadn’t gone out there that day? What if I left him to kill himself?”
At the mention of Brie’s mom, I glance down at a tattoo I recently had inked on my forearm, of a white magnolia overlaid with the same phrase that Brie wears: Si seulement. If