Sun, swimming and camping is the picture perfect vacation for Katrina. She needs a break from what has become her everyday life. She meets Kalvyn, tall, dark, with captivating green eyes. The attraction is instant, highly sexual, skittering on the edge of dangerous. In her heart, she knows there is something about Kalvyn he isn’t saying. When strange sighting of wild cats in the campgrounds, her life falls to shambles, and she has nowhere to turn. Kalvyn tries to protect her, but what man can protect the woman he loves, from himself?
“I don’t get what he sees in you,” Bianca snapped.
I didn’t either, but I wasn’t about to be forthcoming with that information. Not with her. “To be fair, I don’t understand what he saw in your either.”
“Have you actually looked at me?” Her hands fluttered around her like broken butterflies. “Every male wants me.” She snickered. “Bet you can’t say the same.”
No, I couldn’t. “What do you want Bianca?”
She leapt to her feet. The fragrance of peach body spray choked me. Moderation much? “To make sure you know who Kalvyn Colbane belongs to, and it certainly is not and never will be you. Stop wasting both of our time. He will tire of you, and guess where he’s going go?”
“China to get away from you?” I mumbled as I sorted through the nonperishables, coming up with coffee. “And you are quite mistaken. You don’t own him. Or hasn’t he made that clear enough? He is a human being, his own man, and adult. No one is owned by anyone.”
She doubled over in laughter. “Oh, little, young, insignificant human, how little you know.”
“I don’t need to know, to understand a couple of things.”
“Like what?”
“Like, it seems the only person who might even like you, is whoever this Sadie is. That includes Kalvyn, who does everything he can to avoid you, and forget you exist. Or haven’t you noticed?”
“You don’t know anything.”
“Really? Carmen made it quite obvious she’d rather break your face than look at you. No one tried to settle her down. That tells me more than any words can. In fact, I think Syber and Quinn would pay for front row tickets to that main event. You don’t have many friends here, yet they seem to like me just fine. So take your pissing contest, and get the fuck off my campsite.”
In a blink, Bianca was in my face. She snarled. Her brown eyes glowed. Damn, were those fangs peeking out from her lips? No, couldn’t be. In her spiked heels—what woman in their right mind wore heels camping—she towered over me. I really needed caffeine. “Or what, little girl?”
Oh, hell no. Little girl? Bullshit. “Get your crammed-into-a-push-up-bra tits out of me face,” I snapped. “Even if I swung that way, yours would be the last I’d motorboat.”
Her mouth opened, closed. Good. However, she did not step back.
“You talk big, but you got anything to back it up, bitch?”
“Yeah, me.” Lola stepped out of the tent.
“I’d take you both down without breaking a sweat, or a nail.”
A fistfight with Ms. Barbie? Great. That’s what everyone needed to do first thing in the morning. I would, if she threw the first punch, or in her case, slap. But, Lola would get involved, and that I couldn’t allow. An idea popped into my head. A downright evil one at that. “I’d love to see you try, with me being under Kalvyn’s protection and all.”
The earth stopped rotating. I swear.
“What did you just say?” She choked.
“You heard me, Bianca,” I said. “And you know what that means.”
The fight drained out of her. “I do, but the question is, do you?”
The crazy possession in her eyes pissed me off. Her having the audacity to show up at the lake, then hang around here, like she had the right to. As if she thought she could push me around.
I saw red. And I liked it.
“Of course I do. You saw us this morning. I saw you. Out on the rocks. What do you think we did all night?”
I took a step, and she took one backward.
Lola whooped just as a beautiful Ford F-150 screeched to a stop across from us. Kalvyn all but leapt from the truck, a bag in one hand, and a tray of coffee—see, the man is a god—in his hand.
I barely registered his presence though my desire to tear Bianca a new one. “All alone, out of the lake. Wet, barely clothed. You really think Kalvyn wants you? If he did, why was he doing with me, with you just down the road from his tent? Grow a brain, get a clue. Leaves Hell’s Gate and think about that for a while. Stop throwing yourself at a guy who couldn’t give a shit about you. It’s pathetic.”
“Bianca, ten seconds to get the fuck out of here,” he growled. “If I see you near Katrina again, I will make you pay for it.”
She whirled. “You gave her your protection?”
“Yes, I did. Five seconds.”
“You never gave me a formal proclamation!”
“I gave you much more than what you deserved, and you know it.” He gritted his teeth, which were a whole lot sharper than they were a minute ago. “Three seconds.”
She didn’t twitch a muscle. Lola was enthused with her touchdown dance, and not paying attention.
Kalvyn’s entire demeanor changed. Suddenly he was all animal, completely capable of cold-blooded murder. I gaped at him as Bianca stomped from my campsite, toward the general direction of Sadie’s. He watched her go.
I didn’t either, but I wasn’t about to be forthcoming with that information. Not with her. “To be fair, I don’t understand what he saw in your either.”
“Have you actually looked at me?” Her hands fluttered around her like broken butterflies. “Every male wants me.” She snickered. “Bet you can’t say the same.”
No, I couldn’t. “What do you want Bianca?”
She leapt to her feet. The fragrance of peach body spray choked me. Moderation much? “To make sure you know who Kalvyn Colbane belongs to, and it certainly is not and never will be you. Stop wasting both of our time. He will tire of you, and guess where he’s going go?”
“China to get away from you?” I mumbled as I sorted through the nonperishables, coming up with coffee. “And you are quite mistaken. You don’t own him. Or hasn’t he made that clear enough? He is a human being, his own man, and adult. No one is owned by anyone.”
She doubled over in laughter. “Oh, little, young, insignificant human, how little you know.”
“I don’t need to know, to understand a couple of things.”
“Like what?”
“Like, it seems the only person who might even like you, is whoever this Sadie is. That includes Kalvyn, who does everything he can to avoid you, and forget you exist. Or haven’t you noticed?”
“You don’t know anything.”
“Really? Carmen made it quite obvious she’d rather break your face than look at you. No one tried to settle her down. That tells me more than any words can. In fact, I think Syber and Quinn would pay for front row tickets to that main event. You don’t have many friends here, yet they seem to like me just fine. So take your pissing contest, and get the fuck off my campsite.”
In a blink, Bianca was in my face. She snarled. Her brown eyes glowed. Damn, were those fangs peeking out from her lips? No, couldn’t be. In her spiked heels—what woman in their right mind wore heels camping—she towered over me. I really needed caffeine. “Or what, little girl?”
Oh, hell no. Little girl? Bullshit. “Get your crammed-into-a-push-up-bra tits out of me face,” I snapped. “Even if I swung that way, yours would be the last I’d motorboat.”
Her mouth opened, closed. Good. However, she did not step back.
“You talk big, but you got anything to back it up, bitch?”
“Yeah, me.” Lola stepped out of the tent.
“I’d take you both down without breaking a sweat, or a nail.”
A fistfight with Ms. Barbie? Great. That’s what everyone needed to do first thing in the morning. I would, if she threw the first punch, or in her case, slap. But, Lola would get involved, and that I couldn’t allow. An idea popped into my head. A downright evil one at that. “I’d love to see you try, with me being under Kalvyn’s protection and all.”
The earth stopped rotating. I swear.
“What did you just say?” She choked.
“You heard me, Bianca,” I said. “And you know what that means.”
The fight drained out of her. “I do, but the question is, do you?”
The crazy possession in her eyes pissed me off. Her having the audacity to show up at the lake, then hang around here, like she had the right to. As if she thought she could push me around.
I saw red. And I liked it.
“Of course I do. You saw us this morning. I saw you. Out on the rocks. What do you think we did all night?”
I took a step, and she took one backward.
Lola whooped just as a beautiful Ford F-150 screeched to a stop across from us. Kalvyn all but leapt from the truck, a bag in one hand, and a tray of coffee—see, the man is a god—in his hand.
I barely registered his presence though my desire to tear Bianca a new one. “All alone, out of the lake. Wet, barely clothed. You really think Kalvyn wants you? If he did, why was he doing with me, with you just down the road from his tent? Grow a brain, get a clue. Leaves Hell’s Gate and think about that for a while. Stop throwing yourself at a guy who couldn’t give a shit about you. It’s pathetic.”
“Bianca, ten seconds to get the fuck out of here,” he growled. “If I see you near Katrina again, I will make you pay for it.”
She whirled. “You gave her your protection?”
“Yes, I did. Five seconds.”
“You never gave me a formal proclamation!”
“I gave you much more than what you deserved, and you know it.” He gritted his teeth, which were a whole lot sharper than they were a minute ago. “Three seconds.”
She didn’t twitch a muscle. Lola was enthused with her touchdown dance, and not paying attention.
Kalvyn’s entire demeanor changed. Suddenly he was all animal, completely capable of cold-blooded murder. I gaped at him as Bianca stomped from my campsite, toward the general direction of Sadie’s. He watched her go.
She is an award winning Cover and Graphic Artist, and the co-owner of Otherworlds Publicity. In the past, she's completed cover art for a variety of publishers, although her freelance makes up most of her portfolio.
Win this Dragon Canvas Painting by Kayden McLeod!
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