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.Definitely not in.He was exotic and mysterious and oh, so dangerous.She was—well—just plain MaryAnn with her feet firmly on the ground.She didn’t indulge in wild fantasies.Or obsessions, and Manolito could certainly be characterized as an obsession.Manolito swept his arm around her.“You have only to talk to me about your fears, ainaak sivamet jutta, and I will find a way to reassure you.I will get you out of here.We need to do so quickly, as the sun will be rising.When our bodies are in the realm of the living and our souls are in the meadow of mists, it is difficult to protect ourselves out in the open in the rain forest.”“Then take us to your home.If we’re there, we won’t have to worry so much about something big attacking our bodies.”“We must go to ground.The richest soil is the terra preta.Better to stay where the soil has a chance to rejuvenate us.”Her heart slammed hard in her chest.“I’m not Carpathian.I don’t go to ground.I’d die if the earth covered me.My heart doesn’t stop like yours does.Please, believe me when I tell you, I’m not Carpathian.”Manolito rubbed the bridge of his nose and regarded her through long lashes.“I know you feel our connection.I can read your thoughts much of the time, not because I’m invading your privacy, but because you’re projecting them to me.” He sent her a small half smile.“You try to comfort me.I can feel your energy wrapping me up in warm arms and stroking me, reassuring me all will be well.”He was so close, all she had to do was lean in and kiss his sinfully sensual mouth.He was temptation sitting there, in the midst of danger and mystery.Wicked, shocking temptation.And she couldn’t resist.MaryAnn pressed into him, crossing the scant inches that separated them until her lips brushed his.Just once.A slow savoring.Because if she was going to die, or stay in hell, she might as well get a taste of heaven while she was at it.His arms slid around her, and the earth dropped away along with her stomach.His mouth simply took her over.She hadn’t known anyone could kiss like that.She tasted addiction and need.She tasted hunger and the biting edge of raw, carnal sex.For one terrible moment, either terrible or sheer ecstasy, she thought she might have an orgasm just from his kiss.“I can’t breathe.” She didn’t care if he knew how much she wanted him.Everything ached.Everywhere ached.There wasn’t a single cell in her body that wasn’t aware of him; aware of wanting—no—needing him.In that moment she knew no one else would ever satisfy her.She would crave this man’s taste, his touch, his face and body, even his wicked smile.She would dream of him and lie awake at night needing him.It was a terrifying realization that her life was no longer her own and that with him, she had very little control.“Easy, sivamet, you are in good hands.”His voice was mesmerizing, every bit as sexy as his mouth.Strangely, he wasn’t taking advantage; rather, he gathered her closer and held her protectively as if he knew her uninhibited and all-encompassing reaction to him scared her.“I’m out of my depth with you,” MaryAnn admitted.She tried to breathe, tried not to hyperventilate, but she couldn’t get her lungs to work.If it was possible, she thought she might actually be experiencing a panic attack over a kiss.Cool, unflappable MaryAnn was losing control over a man, and there wasn’t even a sister close by to talk to.She was so out of her world here.“No, you are not,” he said, the gentleness in his voice whispering over her skin.He kissed her again, breathing air into her lungs.“We are both in an unfamiliar situation.”She wanted to laugh at the understatement, but she was too close to tears.Not because of the danger, but because this man who needed to be with some glamorous movie star or model was looking as if he had eyes only for her.She didn’t dare talk about it anymore.Lifting her chin, she brushed his sensual mouth one last time and took a deep breath.“Let’s try for the house.I should be safe there.Riordan and Juliette have to go to ground like you, but Juliette told me that her sister and cousin use the house during the day when no one is there.With three of us there, we should be safe.Vampires can’t walk around during the day, can they?”“No, but they often have puppets who do their dirty work for them.The jaguar-men have been tainted by their evil.”“How do you know?” MaryAnn took a cautious look around, aware that all the while Manolito had been kissing her, holding and comforting her, driving her wild, he had been scanning for enemies.She wasn’t going to be able to resist his lovemaking if he ever got serious about it, but she really, really wanted the opportunity to try.“I met one of them, Luiz, not too far from here.He attacked me.When I reached for his mind to calm him, I knew the vampire had been influencing him.He actually was not a bad man at all.In other circumstances, perhaps we could have been friends.”“I felt his attack on you.I tried to stop it,” she admitted.“How bad did he get you?” She frowned.“He wanted to kill you.”“It was brave of you to try to intervene, although you must never place yourself in harm’s way.Trust me to take care of us.” He had felt her, for that one moment, standing between the leaping cat and him, and he had slammed his mind closed to prevent any injury to her, but he had felt proud of her and, most importantly, part of her.“A few scratches is all he managed.”He lifted his shirt to show his very muscular stomach.MaryAnn licked her lips.“I didn’t think men were really built like you,” she blurted out and then covered her face with one hand.He was holding the other one or she would have used that one, too.She was so shallow.That was it.Shallow.Because she was fixating on his six-pack, his ripped muscles, and how could she not notice the impressive bulge in the front of his jeans? He wasn’t even trying to hide it.She should be thinking wounds and oh no and are you all right? But no, she was thinking about stripping him naked and having her way with him.She hadn’t always been shallow, so maybe it was the strange shadow land they seemed to be in.But while she was at it, she might as well go all the way.She glanced down at her once beautiful boots.Maybe she needed some thigh-highs and a good long whip to be in control of herself—or of him.“I’m reading your mind again
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