Read Love Everlasting (Isle of Hope series Book 2) for Free Online Page B

Impala to let him in.
    “Whoa! How short are you anyway?” he asked, fumbling for the lever to adjust the seat. “My knees are in my nostrils.” He jerked it back hard and immediately groaned, plying his fingers to the sudden pain in his head. “Man, shouldn’t have done that.”
    “You should be in bed,” she said with a sigh.
    “I know,” he said, heating her cheeks with a wayward smile that caused her to inch further away. Pressing his bare foot on the accelerator, he kept it there while he turned the key, head cocked to listen to the starter. “Come on, baby,” he whispered in a husky tone, alarming Shannon when the sound purled heat in her tummy, “I know you can do it.” With a rhythmic grind that seemed to go on forever, the engine finally roared to life, drowning out her loud sigh of relief.
    Sagging back in the seat, Sam slid her a sideways smile. “The trick is to keep your foot on the accelerator with no pumping, young lady, then keep grinding and pray like the devil.”
    Her mouth crooked. “The devil preys, but not that kind.” She huffed out more air, lips pursed in a tight smile as she shooed him toward the door. “Okay, then, it’s off to bed with you, Doc, but thank you, truly, for starting my car.”
    He didn’t move, smile gentle as his gaze roamed her face, her hair, hitching her pulse when it drifted down her body and back. “You’re not the one who should be thanking me, Shan,” he said quietly, “I should be thanking you.”
    She smiled, going for casual as she shuffled back a tad. “For adding to your headache with opinions you didn’t want to hear?”
    His face faded to serious. “Yeah, for that. Because I have to admit, though you ticked me off pretty good a couple of times” —those chocolate eyes held her captive, probing as if she were a mystery to solve— “for some strange reason, I feel a whole lot better than I did before, and I’m not exactly sure why.”
    Her smile was warm. “Because the truth is the cure for heartache?”
    He stared, eyes in a squint. “Maybe. Or maybe you’re just that good as a friend.”
    Her eyes softened, his words so sweet, she had to fight the urge to give him a hug. “I hope so.”
    “Me, too,” he said, reaching to skim a finger down the curve of her jaw.
    Before she could react, he leaned in and brushed a kiss to her cheek. It startled her so much, she jerked, which inadvertently aligned her mouth with his, barely inches apart. Heat coiled in her stomach as she froze, his shallow breathing mingling with her own. And then her oxygen ceased altogether when he slowly bent in, closing the distance as his eyes sheathed closed.
    No! But her limbs and voice refused to work, the caress of his lips paralyzing all protest. Against her will, a low moan slipped from her throat, his kiss so achingly tender, her body felt drugged as it melted into his arms. Oh, Lord, help me—it’s been so long …
    “Shan,” he whispered, his breath warm in her ear, easing her down on the seat so gently, she was barely aware. “Stay with me …” With a playful tug of her lip, his mouth took hers, disarming her with a dangerous warmth that swirled heat in her belly.
    Stay with him.
    Spend the night with him.
    So he can take another piece of my soul.
    Her mind seized, and then her heart. “No! ” she screamed, shoving him away with such force, he bumped his head on the dash. “Out, get out, you … you … slimy letch!” She flogged him with her fists, not feeling a bit bad over the nasty knot he would have.
    “Shannon, wait—” He raised his arms to protect himself, but she only whacked him all the harder, furious she’d been dumb enough to be played by a player. Especially after Jack’s warning.
    “He can charm the spots off a kid with measles, which makes him all the more dangerous. So I need someone mature and levelheaded, with an immunity to players …”
    Yeah, right. Apparently an “immunity to players” doesn’t inoculate one