Spotlight On – Fever by Joan Swan – On Sale for $3.99

She set the pictures down and looked around the living room.  Nothing more to do now but wait.  She’d talk to Teague again in the morning.  Try a different approach to get him to see her point of view.  Right now, she needed the same thing Teague needed.  A few hours of rest.

She paused at her room, her gaze on the next door.  She wanted to peek in, check on him.  See him.  Her body stirred at the thought.  Another place, another time…  How many times did she need to be rejected to get the message?

Instead of following her desire, she turned into her room and pulled a man’s tee shirt from the dresser.  In the bathroom, she changed and brushed her teeth.  When she looked at herself in the mirror, her reflection surprised her.  Instead of the emaciated, exhausted shell she expected, Alyssa found color in her cheeks and light in her eyes.  Thanks to Teague’s healing touches, the marks on her face and neck had completely vanished. 

Getting back to normal, she supposed.  Only, what was normal?  Surely not what had been her norm a few days ago.  And while that didn’t make her feel particularly comfortable, it didn’t feel wrong.  For the first time in her life, not knowing what would come next felt right.

She opened the medicine cabinet to replace the toothbrush.  Her gaze landed on a clear Ziplock bag, the one Teague had pulled from his package of clothing in the GTO.  Sample sized toiletries filled the plastic—toothpaste, soap, mouthwash…condoms?  Her brows lifted.  She picked up the bag and turned it, checked the packaging.  Yep, condoms.

For the longest time she just stared at them.  Her mind veered toward Teague.  Snapshots of his body filled her head.  The sight of him undressing to get into the shower.  That night in the motel when he’d dropped his towel and she’d seen him in all his naked glory.  The feel of his hard bare body stretched out next to her, keeping her warm the night before.  Then their kiss earlier that day invaded her thoughts.  And, finally, his words.  God, I wish I’d met you years ago.

She pulled a handful of condoms from the bag and pushed them around in her palm.  Turned them all so the packaging was face up and in the same direction the way bank tellers arranged dollar bills.  Stacked them between her fingers.  Counted.

Eight.  She snorted.  She’d never used more than one in a night and couldn’t say any of those interludes had been particularly memorable.  But even the thought of using one with Teague tightened her body with anticipation.

With the condoms sandwiched between her fingers, Alyssa wandered out of the bathroom.  She walked past her own bedroom, paused at Teague’s door and watched him sleep.  If he was asleep.  She didn’t truly know if the man ever slept.  In the light spilling out of the bathroom, she could see him lying on his back, a blanket covering his legs.  His chest was bare, his arms clasped behind his head.  Eyes closed.

Indecision zinged around her chest like a firefly trapped in a jar.  She pulled in a slow breath then blew it out.

“Wrong room, Lys.”  His voice came out low and languid and lusty, giving her firefly a shot of adrenaline.  But his eyes stayed closed, his body still.

“I…don’t think so.” 

She garnered another ounce of confidence and walked toward the bed. Each step closer intensified her nerves and her excitement. 

“I don’t want to talk anymore, Alyssa.” 

He didn’t move even a millimeter, but his lids cracked, and he tracked her with his eyes.  The heat there, the longing, gave her the final flash of confidence she needed to make her move.

“Neither do I.”  She dropped the condoms on his chest.  Watched as they scattered over muscle.  “I had something else in mind.”

Teague’s gaze darted to the little packages and held.  Slowly, his gaze lifted to meet hers again.  His hands slid out from behind his head.  She anticipated him reaching for her, pulling her down on top of him.  But instead, he wrapped his fingers around the vertical slats in the headboard. 

“I’m not the guy for you, Lys.”

“I am sick of you telling me no.”  She lifted a knee to the bed beside him.  His gaze dropped and lingered on her bare legs extending beneath the hem of the oversized tee-shirt.  “A woman can only hold her patience for so long and you’ve been testing mine from the moment I set eyes on you.”

His chest moved with quick breaths.  His fingers wrung the wood on the headboard, making the muscles of his arms flex and roll.  His eyes sparkled from beneath partially closed lids.

Alyssa pulled one arm through the sleeve of her shirt, grabbed the hem with the other hand and tugged the shirt over her head.  Slowly.  When she dropped it on the floor and looked at him again, his eyes were fully open and on fire.

“Fuck.  Alyssa…”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”  She grinned, hooked her thumbs in the edges of her panties and scooted them over her hips, letting them dropped to the floor.  “You’re finally getting with it?  I’m all for slow, but maybe not at first, if you know what I mean.”