Read Atlanta Heat for Free Online
Authors: Lora Leigh
you crazy?” she screamed, watching the chair carefully. “Where’s the gun? Tell me and I’ll get it.” She was terrified he wasn’t going to get off the floor in time.
“Drack.” He laughed; he was laughing, for pity’s sake.
Emerson stared back at him, fighting the panic, the fear.
“What the hell is Drack? Macey, please get on the bed.”
He laughed harder.
“What’s so funny?” she cried, still keeping an eye on the chair. “Would you please get in the bed until we can find a gun.”
He straightened, bent over laughing again, then restraightened.
“You just terrified my anaconda, Em. And de-manned me all in the same whack. Hell, I bet you’re related to Morganna.” He laughed again, drawing her shocked gaze as his words began to register.
“You live with a snake?” she wheezed.
“Well, she lives here.” He snickered, moved to the far wall, and pressed a lever.
And there it was, the biggest aquarium she had ever seen, ripples of water, foliage and flat stones displayed behind glass as Macey opened the door.
“Come on, Drack, time to go home.”
Drack. The snake. The huge snake. The twelvefoot-long, at the very least, reptile slithered from beneath the chair with lazy ease and slid into the aquarium.
Once it was inside, Macey closed and locked the glass door before turning back to her with a grin.
“She watches the place while I’m gone.”
Emerson sat down slowly, staring at the well-lit aquarium, certain her heart had stopped and she had died.
“She lives here?”
“Right in there.” Macey nodded, chuckling as he pointed over his shoulder at the glass-enclosed cage.
“You should have left me with the terrorists,” she said. “It would have saved them the trouble of recapturing me after I leave here. Because no way, no how, not in a million years am I staying here with a snake.”
F IVE
EMERSON’S SLEEP WAS RESTLESS that morning, filled with visions of a naked Macey and an anaconda twined around his body rather than her. Flickering tongue and slitted eyes dared her to touch his gleaming, muscular body.
She shouldn’t have been bothered by it. She didn’t consider herself innocent; sometimes she considered herself too jaded, too cynical. She had learned years ago that defending her heart wasn’t easy. She wasn’t like her family. The Navy, preserving honor and tradition, had meant more to them than trying to understand the clumsy, too-emotional child they had found themselves stuck with.
Her parents had been overprotective, and each time she tried to protest the restrictions, her parents had pulled the guilt card. They were trying to protect her. They couldn’t work if she was constantly crying for their attention or arguing over their precautions.So Emerson had kept her mouth shut and endured. Until her graduation from high school, until she left on her own for college and began carving out her own life.
But she had learned that those lessons she had missed as a child held her back now. She succeeded in her career, enjoyed it and the company she worked with. But interaction, allowing herself to be vulnerable, defenseless enough to allow herself to belong anywhere or with anyone, had become impossible.
Now, lying on Macey’s big bed, that monster snake curled in the glass tank across the room, she admitted that she had never felt that loss more keenly than she did now.
She could have been curled against him, reveling in a fantasy come to life. Macey had starred in her most erotic dreams for nearly two years. But as she lay there, she realized he had somehow managed to situate himself into her heart.
If he were any other man that she desired, then she could have at least taken the physical pleasure he could give. If she hadn’t hungered for more than just his touch, if she didn’t crave more than just his kiss or the heated possession of his body.
Shaking her head, she forced herself from the bed, glancing at the bedside table and the clock set there. It said
“Drack.” He laughed; he was laughing, for pity’s sake.
Emerson stared back at him, fighting the panic, the fear.
“What the hell is Drack? Macey, please get on the bed.”
He laughed harder.
“What’s so funny?” she cried, still keeping an eye on the chair. “Would you please get in the bed until we can find a gun.”
He straightened, bent over laughing again, then restraightened.
“You just terrified my anaconda, Em. And de-manned me all in the same whack. Hell, I bet you’re related to Morganna.” He laughed again, drawing her shocked gaze as his words began to register.
“You live with a snake?” she wheezed.
“Well, she lives here.” He snickered, moved to the far wall, and pressed a lever.
And there it was, the biggest aquarium she had ever seen, ripples of water, foliage and flat stones displayed behind glass as Macey opened the door.
“Come on, Drack, time to go home.”
Drack. The snake. The huge snake. The twelvefoot-long, at the very least, reptile slithered from beneath the chair with lazy ease and slid into the aquarium.
Once it was inside, Macey closed and locked the glass door before turning back to her with a grin.
“She watches the place while I’m gone.”
Emerson sat down slowly, staring at the well-lit aquarium, certain her heart had stopped and she had died.
“She lives here?”
“Right in there.” Macey nodded, chuckling as he pointed over his shoulder at the glass-enclosed cage.
“You should have left me with the terrorists,” she said. “It would have saved them the trouble of recapturing me after I leave here. Because no way, no how, not in a million years am I staying here with a snake.”
F IVE
EMERSON’S SLEEP WAS RESTLESS that morning, filled with visions of a naked Macey and an anaconda twined around his body rather than her. Flickering tongue and slitted eyes dared her to touch his gleaming, muscular body.
She shouldn’t have been bothered by it. She didn’t consider herself innocent; sometimes she considered herself too jaded, too cynical. She had learned years ago that defending her heart wasn’t easy. She wasn’t like her family. The Navy, preserving honor and tradition, had meant more to them than trying to understand the clumsy, too-emotional child they had found themselves stuck with.
Her parents had been overprotective, and each time she tried to protest the restrictions, her parents had pulled the guilt card. They were trying to protect her. They couldn’t work if she was constantly crying for their attention or arguing over their precautions.So Emerson had kept her mouth shut and endured. Until her graduation from high school, until she left on her own for college and began carving out her own life.
But she had learned that those lessons she had missed as a child held her back now. She succeeded in her career, enjoyed it and the company she worked with. But interaction, allowing herself to be vulnerable, defenseless enough to allow herself to belong anywhere or with anyone, had become impossible.
Now, lying on Macey’s big bed, that monster snake curled in the glass tank across the room, she admitted that she had never felt that loss more keenly than she did now.
She could have been curled against him, reveling in a fantasy come to life. Macey had starred in her most erotic dreams for nearly two years. But as she lay there, she realized he had somehow managed to situate himself into her heart.
If he were any other man that she desired, then she could have at least taken the physical pleasure he could give. If she hadn’t hungered for more than just his touch, if she didn’t crave more than just his kiss or the heated possession of his body.
Shaking her head, she forced herself from the bed, glancing at the bedside table and the clock set there. It said