Lightning Game (GhostWalkers #17) -Christine Feehan Page 0,33

hers. Sparks flew, lighting up her skin. His. Arcing between them just as he’d predicted. His energy found and fed the little forks of jagged energy building in her body. He slid his tongue along the seam of her lips, coaxing. Teasing. She didn’t comply at first, so he used his teeth to nip at her lower lip.

She gasped and he swept in, feeling the building flames, pure fire burning between them. It was just the way he knew it would be. Her body leaned into his and a blaze rushed through his veins. Vaguely, behind his eyelids, he saw a flash of light and heard a sizzle of electricity, but the thunder in his ears drowned out everything but the wealth of flames rising in her like the tide. Her body, against his, was red hot. Fiery hot.

Electricity sparked over his skin. Over hers. A maelstrom of charging electrons poured down his throat. Down hers. Ice and fire bumping together, going apart, raging, the friction producing that flash-fire so intense the world faded away.

Something crept stealthily behind them, setting off a prickling of awareness. Rubin gently kissed Jonquille’s velvet-soft lips one last time. He half turned, his hand sliding into his shirt. As Diego’s hand inched toward the bowl sitting on the table beside the chair, Rubin’s hand flicked out and a knife embedded deep into the tabletop between Diego’s thumb and finger.

“I wouldn’t touch that bowl if I were you. The next one won’t miss,” Rubin advised.

“What is the matter with you?” Diego demanded, removing his hand from harm’s way. “When you’re kissing a girl, you’re supposed to be completely engaged, not looking with eyes in the back of your head at what anyone else in the room is doing. I was in stealth mode.”

Jonquille pressed her forehead against Rubin’s sternum, muffling her laughter with her hand. “Stealth mode?”

“That’s what triggered my radar, his supposed stealth mode.” Rubin caught up the bowl of cobbler, giving his brother a glaring reprimand. “She kissed me. She deserves the cobbler.”

“Is that what you call a kiss? The two of you set the cabin on fire. You could have set the entire forest on fire if you’d been outside.”

“Then you should have known the cobbler belonged to her, you thief,” Rubin reprimanded sternly.

Diego put his hand over his heart. “I’m sorry, Jonquille. You do deserve the cobbler after subjecting yourself to kissing the dragon, but I couldn’t resist how good the cobbler was. I don’t suppose you made a second one?”

There was a mournful, hopeful note in his voice that made Rubin roll his eyes. “He practices sounding like that, Jonquille. He thinks the women will find him irresistible.”

“Does it work?” Jonquille took the offered cobbler and sat in the rocker across from Rubin’s chair.

“You tell me,” Diego challenged.

She contemplated it over a spoonful of berries, then nodded her head. “I’d have to say yes. He’s very charming, Rubin. He hits all the right notes with his voice. He has that face, perfectly gorgeous. Those eyes. Very mysterious. Yeah, he’s probably a huge hit with women.”

Diego flashed Rubin a grin. “There you have it, big brother. I told you. Your problem is you never listen to me. You don’t bother talking. You actually have to talk.”

“He does all right,” Jonquille said. “And he can kiss. Talking versus kissing. I’ll take kissing over talking any day.”

“I’ve never had complaints in that department,” Diego said.

Jonquille licked at the spoon, eyeing him over the top of it. “We only have your word to go on.”

“That’s all you’re ever going to have, Jonquille,” Rubin interrupted. “If you want more kisses, you can look this way. He’s trying to get you to share the cobbler. I’m warning you, Diego, you try kissing my woman, I’m shooting you.”

“You can’t shoot me, I’m your brother.”

“I can shoot you, I just can’t kill you. I’m a doctor. And I have certain extraordinary gifts when it comes to healing. So does Jonquille. Between the two of us we could keep you alive.” Rubin steepled his fingers and regarded Diego. “Jonquille probably needs the practice.”

“She can’t practice on me. You never did answer, woman—did you make more than one cobbler?”

“No, but I can make another one. They’re easy enough to make.”

“I’ll take first watch tonight,” Rubin said casually. “I’m not very tired. Jonquille, you may as well keep the loft and Diego can sleep down here. He can have the second shift. I’ll wake him in four hours and then he’ll wake