Page 19 of The Hang Up
“About two hundred feet up,” he said.“This is the largest part of the lava tube. Right now we’re standing directly under the highway.”
“No kidding?” She kept staring upward, though she still couldn’t make out the roof of the cave.
“If you look over there, you’ll see some really cool mineral deposits.”
She followed the direction of his finger, letting her gaze drop to the iridescent white patterns on the wall. “It’s beautiful.”
“It’s the same stuff that makes up opals. That’s what gives it the iridescent quality.”
Her hands felt hot now, so she peeled off her gloves and shoved them into the pocket of her coat. She traced a finger over the pattern on the cave wall, noticing the way the formations twisted together like delicate lace.
“Ready for the coolest part?”
“Cooler than this?”
“Cooler than this,” he repeated.
Something in his voice made her tear her gaze off the cave wall to look him in the eye. Jason stared back, unblinking, his eyes molten in the beam of her headlamp. Her pulse kicked up, thrumming in her ears as those bright blue eyes studied her with an intensity that made her dizzy. He smiled then and pulled something from his pocket.
Miriam looked down at his hand, her eyes registeringcondomas her libido telegraphedlet’s go!
It took a few beats for her brain to catch up with the parade and point out she was getting hot and bothered over a Life Saver.
She watched him unwrap the breath mint and slip it into his mouth. As his lips parted, her pulse sped up again. He smiled and reached for her hand.
“You ready for this?”
Miriam nodded numbly, though she had no idea what she was agreeing to.
Okay, maybe she hadsomeidea what she was agreeing to. His lips looked soft and inviting and she could have sworn they were closer now to hers than they’d been mere seconds ago. Holy hell, was he going to kiss her?
“I’m ready,” she breathed, savoring the sturdy grip of his warm fingers entwined with hers. She was fixated on his mouth, drawn to him by the scent of wintergreen and the desire pooling in her belly.
Jason’s hand tightened around hers, and she tipped her head back a tiny bit, braced for the kiss.
“Get ready to see sparks,” he murmured. “Okay.”
Then he reached out and switched off her headlamp.
CHAPTER4
Jason felt Miriam sway a little as he plunged them into darkness with the flip of a switch. He dropped his hand from his own headlamp, his other hand still holding hers. He gripped it tighter, letting her know he had her, that he wouldn’t let her fall.
“Ready?” he asked, his voice echoing off the cave walls. “Uh-huh.”
The breathiness of her reply reminded him that he hadn’t told her what to be readyfor,and the fact that she’d said yes without hesitation gave him the titillating sense that he’d severely underestimated Miriam Ashley.
He knew what she was thinking. Hell, he was thinking it, too. He’d been thinking it ever since she’d come sashaying out to his car in those ridiculous shoes with her dark curls bouncing and her eyes bright and her lips so plump and kissable he’d nearly driven off the road a dozen times just thinking about claiming that delectable mouth for himself.
Picturing those lips now in the darkness, he ached to pull her closer, to find out if they were really as soft as they looked.
But that wasn’t what he planned to do. Not yet, anyway. “So this is total darkness,” he said, giving her hand another squeeze. “Where we are right now, this deep into the cave, there’s not even a trace of light that can reach us. Let’s give our eyes just a few seconds to adjust.”
The slight hesitation that followed told him he’d surprised her, and his brain strayed back to the thought of kissing her. But he felt her shift a little, and he wondered if she was nodding in the darkness.
“Okay,” she said. “Total darkness. Got it.”
“Now watch.”
