Page 23 of Kidnapped in Dark Waters
Her heartbeat thundered as Pierre stared in their direction. Could he see them? The moon was fairly bright overhead. Fear kept her half breathless and utterly motionless as she waited to see what was going to happen.
A rush of intense relief shuddered through her when his gaze tracked past where they were hidden. He gazed around for another long minute and then continued on his way.
She felt the sigh of relief from Luke on the back of her neck. Thank God Pierre hadn’t decided to come and investigate the source of the loud sound.
They continued to follow Pierre. He wound up at the same area. He uncovered the boat, got into it and then disappeared in the darkness.
Luke remained hidden with her and thankfully didn’t speak as they didn’t know the exact location of the gator-hunter. She was still shaken up by the close call they had had.
If Pierre found them spying on him, what would he do? Would he just scream and yell at them? Or would he try to kill them? There was no way of knowing and in any case, she didn’t want to find out.
This time, Pierre was only gone about an hour. He returned to the shore, unloaded the boat and hid it, and then began thetrek back to his shanty. Apparently, the fish and gators hadn’t cooperated with him tonight because he’d come back empty-handed.
Once he was back in his shanty, she and Luke returned to her place. When they got inside, she collapsed on the sofa and drew several long, deep breaths.
Luke sank down next to her. “God, I’m so sorry,” he said.
She immediately knew what he was apologizing for. “There’s no need for you to apologize. It could just have easily been me who stepped on the branch and snapped it.”
“Damn, it was so loud and I was sure Pierre was going to find us.”
“All’s well that ends well, right?” She drew another deep breath and felt herself finally relaxing. “Do you want to eat something?”
“No, thanks. I always eat—”
“I know, you always eat around six o’clock each night.” She looked at him curiously. “What would happen if you ate at seven or midnight? Would you suddenly go mad and bay at the moon?”
He laughed. “No, nothing like that.” He sobered thoughtfully. “I’m the first one to admit that I’m tied to my schedules and routines. Rationally, I know it’s baggage from my childhood. But I’m working on it. After all, I did dance in the rain with you.”
She smiled at him. “Yes, you did.” Her head filled with the memory of being held in his strong arms and dancing as the rain came down to caress them. Then he’d kissed her and she wanted him to kiss her again right in this moment.
She leaned toward him as their gazes remained locked. He angled his body to her and a hot anticipation simmered inside her. Closer and closer he came toward her and then he suddenly snapped back and straightened up.
“I’ll just get out of here and head home,” he said as he rose from the sofa.
Disappointed, she got up as well. She’d been so sure he was going to kiss her again, but it hadn’t happened. She walked with him to the front door.
“Good night, Dominique,” he said as he opened her door. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
“Good night, Luke.” As he walked out into the night, she closed and locked her door behind him.
She could have sworn he’d wanted to kiss her. She had seen a flame of desire in the depths of his green eyes. What had stopped him? Had she misread the desire? With a deep sigh, she turned off all the lanterns in the shanty except one, and that one she carried into her bedroom.
She’d thought she was hungry, but she decided just to go to bed instead. It was late and she was on duty at the café for breakfast the next morning.
It wasn’t long before she was in bed and asleep, and having dreams once again of dancing with and kissing Luke. Her alarm blared its wake-up call early the next morning and she got out of bed, dressed and got ready to go.
As she drove into work, she couldn’t help but think about that moment when she’d thought Luke was going to kiss her again. There was no question that she was physically drawn to him and she believed he was to her, too. She saw it in his eyes when he gazed at her and felt it in his very touch.
Was she mistaken? She didn’t believe so. She truly believed his desire for her matched her desire for him. Would it be so awful if they acted on it and slept together?
She smiled to herself and wondered where on his schedule making love fit in? The man couldn’t even adjust the time he ate, for crying out loud. And that reminded her of why he would never have a place in her future.
If they did fall in bed together, it wouldn’t be making love. Rather, it would just be an act of physical desire. Passion could come without love, right?
As she pulled up and parked behind the café, she shoved all thoughts of Luke and passion out of her head. It was time to go in and serve the good people of Dark Waters.
“Hey, girl, long time no talk,” Sunny said as Dominique walked into the break room.
