Immortals After Dark 09 - Pleasure of a Dark Prince

“Aye, Lousha, you’re about to be.”
    The rain turned to a pounding deluge, lightning flashing all around them.
    There was no choice but to go into a dark, sultry cabin with the most sexually attractive male she’d ever imagined, who’d immediately peel off his clothes and expect her to do the same.

TWENTY-NINE

    “That shoal jumped out o’ nowhere, eh, Travis?” MacRieve called up to the pilothouse. To Lucia, he muttered, “Is he
trying
to hit things?”
    Travis was hung up on a sandbar again—the third time in as many days.
    Lucia sighed. She and MacRieve had been enjoying a rare cloudless, and uneventful, morning together. She’d been sunning on a weathered lounge chair on the back deck while he’d unsuccessfully fished from the platform, spurred on by Izabel’s promise of seafood feasts.
    Travis yelled down from the wheelhouse,
“You think you could drive better, Scot?”
    “Aye, even as drunk as you are,
Tex
!”
    “MacRieve…” Lucia warned.
    “Well, it’s true. He needs to lay off the spirits, or we’ll never get to our destination.”
    She wished Charlie was at the helm, but he was on a sleep shift. The young man drove so much better than Travis, not that Charlie would ever admit that. Izabel’s twin seemed to hero worship the irascible Texan as much as she did.
    Each foul-up like this set them back even further,and she was running out of time. The nightmares were getting worse.
    “Looks like I’ll have to go shove the old girl free,” MacRieve said. “Again.” He stripped off his shirt, leaving him in his worn and faded jeans and his cuff. Shoes were a thing of the past aboard the
Contessa
.
    That cuff stood out against his tanned skin, a constant reminder of what he’d done for her. Whenever he embraced her, she always felt the metal against her skin, cool at first on the outside, before it warmed.
    Just like last night… “MacRieve, do you
have
to go in?” Though the river had been a source of delight—she’d seen pink dolphins, more otters, and tapirs grazing along the shores—it’d also been one of dismay. Caimans constantly prowled and piranhas broke the surface in feeding frenzies.
    Just yesterday morning, they’d seen a baby heron fall out of its nest into the water. As the mother bird had squawked in dismay, a swarm of piranhas had annihilated the chick in seconds, picking it clean with their razor-sharp teeth, right down to the bones.
    “Seems you’re finally believing me about the dangers?” MacRieve said. “Relax, I’m just going in up to my waist.”
    “And what about the piranhas?”
    “I doubt the fishies’ll snack on anything critical.” He leaned in to murmur at her ear, “They only go for
small
prey.”
    “Werewolf!” she cried, still a shade surprised every time he teased her. More and more, he’d been softening toward her, his rancor over her past deeds fading. She’dsee hints of the man he’d once been, the one she imagined each time she looked at his laugh lines. And when he wasn’t simmering with anger at her, she’d found he liked to play. “I’m serious.”
    “As am I. Will it make you feel better if I keep my jeans on?” When she gave him a grudging nod, he said, “Doona worry. They truly will no’ feed on large prey—no’ unless it’s dead.”
    When they saw Damiãno coming to the stern to help free the boat, she whispered, “Don’t look too strong in front of the others. And
do not
bow up to him again.”
    “He did it first,” Garreth pointed out in a surly tone. Only three days had passed, and already the ship was too small for the two towering males.
    “Good morning,
querida
.” Damiãno said to her as he drew off his own shirt, revealing a muscled, brawny body.
    “Bom dia,”
she replied with an absent grin.
    As Damiãno strolled to the back platform, he returned her smile, white teeth against bronzed skin, then he dropped into the water. The man was sex on a stick—
    MacRieve stepped in front of her, clasping her nape, jealousy ablaze in his expression. “Eyes on the prize, woman. It’s a werewolf you’ll have, or none at all.”
    “Is that right?”
    “Unless you like your men dead, because Damiãno’s already at the top of my list.” He tugged her to him for a brief but scalding kiss “You’re
mine
, Lousha. Doona ever forget that.”
    With that, he leapt in as well, leaving herbreathless—and convinced she had a thing for jealous alpha males, like this one who kissed as if each kiss were his