Page 71 of Seduction Under the Southern Stars
“Are you okay going up without Zoe?” he asks. She’s still away, up in the Northland with Joel, hunting down her artifact for the exhibition.
“Yes, I’m fine. I have a routine. Check all the rooms, lock the door fifteen times… don’t worry, I’ve got it into an art form.” He frowns, and I nudge him. “I’m teasing you. I’m fine, honestly. Zoe often goes away to visit her folks. I’m used to being alone, and Fraser is close by.”
“Call me if you need me, okay?”
I think about my fantasy this morning. No, Elora, he didn’t mean that kind of need.
“You’re blushing again,” he says. “What are you thinking about this time?”
Oh God. “Nothing at all.”
He laughs and takes my face in his hands. They’re warm, which doesn’t help my heated cheeks.
“Beautiful girl,” he says. Then he lowers his lips to mine.
Mmm… kissing him is divine. My heaven would consist of kissing Linc twenty-four-seven. Actually, if hell involved kissing Linc twenty-four-seven, I’d probably go. The kissing would be worth the torture.
His lips move gently across mine, as he tilts his head to change the angle, then teases my bottom lip with the tip of his tongue. I open my mouth obediently, and he slides his tongue inside, where it brushes mine in an intimate, sensual embrace.
By the time he lifts his head, I’ve turned to caramel, warm, soft, and squidgy.
“Goodnight,” he says, and kisses my forehead.
“Goodnight.” I watch him walk away. I have to fight not to call after him and ask him up to my room. I know he’d say no, though, and I don’t want the rejection, so I turn away and head indoors.
Once I’m in my apartment—and I’ve done the obligatory checks—I take out my phone and text Fraser.
Me: Would it be okay if I took the next few days off? Linc’s asked me to go with him to Queenstown to meet his real father, and after that I’m going on to Arrowtown with him to hopefully track down the Bell Ring.
Fraser: Seriously?
Me: Er, yeah. Too short notice?
Fraser: That’s not what I’m concerned about.
Me: Don’t start.
My phone rings. Rolling my eyes, I answer it. “Overprotective Brothers Association, who’s calling please?”
“Haha. Don’t mock the afflicted.”
I soften. He’s a darling really. “You have no need to be worried, sweetie. Linc is a perfect gentleman.”
“He’s not the one I’m worried about.”
“What do you mean?!” I protest, amused.
He hesitates, and I can imagine him running his tongue across his top teeth the way he does when he’s frustrated. “He’s only here for a week, Elora.”
“Jesus. I know that. He’s a friend. And he’s made it perfectly clear that nothing’s going to happen between us.” I try not to think about the fact that two minutes ago my lips were glued to his for the third time today.
“I don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all.”
“I won’t! It’s just… I don’t get out much. I don’t have many male friends. And he’s fun to be with. I trust him, and I can’t say that about many people.”
“Don’t trust him,” Fraser says. “You don’t know him at all.”
Irritation makes me stiffen. “You grew up with him too. I know he’s changed—of course he has—but he’s still the same guy we knew back then. I wish you’d stop thinking of him the way Dad painted him. He’s not like that. He never was.”
