Outmatched

Parker snuggled in closer to me, and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You think if we say Beetlejuice three times, he’d show up and eat Fairchild?” I whispered in her ear.

She nudged me in reply, her lips pressed together in a tight line to keep from smiling.

Fairchild began to reach into the case.

“Are you sure you should do that?” Camille said.

He laughed. “The ladies are always nervous around snakes.” Yeah, no shit, dude, they saw your act coming a mile away. “Don’t you worry, honey, Shani and I are great friends.”

I rolled my eyes and kept a good hold on Parker. It wasn’t that the snake scared me—much—but I had a healthy appreciation for predators, and venom or not, a rattler wasn’t something I’d fuck around with.

Shani the snake had been napping in the sand, but Fairchild had woken him up. His diamond-shaped head lifted, and he tracked the movement of Fairchild’s hand with small, unblinking black eyes.

“Shani loves rats,” Fairchild explained. “Especially big ones—ah!”

His scream made us all jump. Shani had moved so quickly, there wasn’t time to react. His fangs sank into the fat of Fairchild’s hand, once, twice. Fairchild screamed again and whipped his hand back.

Cursing, I shot forward and slammed the lid onto the case before the snake could get out. All hell broke loose as Fairchild howled about his hand and staff came running.

As Fairchild moaned and slumped to the ground, clutching his wounded hand, I caught Parker’s eyes. God, it wasn’t funny a man getting bitten by a snake.

It wasn’t.

It couldn’t be.

My lips twitched.

Her eyes lit up, her nostrils flaring on a sharply drawn breath.

All around us, people shouted and hustled to help Fairchild. Shani coiled himself back in the sand. In the sand.

Parker’s gaze held mine. I could see the words in her head: bitten by a sand snake.

Laughter bubbled up my throat, pressed hard against my closed lips, wanting out. A gurgle escaped Parker, and I knew she was about to lose it. It took me two steps to get to her, wrap my arms around her.

“She’s afraid of snakes,” I told the room. I didn’t think anyone heard.

Practically running, we escaped the room. Our laughter held on by a thread until we got outside, and then it burst free. Parker doubled over, tears running down her face as she snorted and laughed. I was right with her, leaning against the house as I choked on my laughter.

“Oh god.” She wiped at her eyes. “I’m going to hell! But his face. Did you see his face when the snake struck?”

“The sand snake?”

Her eyes were two triangles of glee. “A sand snake!”

“Shani loves rats,” I intoned, laughing harder.

Parker’s gaze collided with mine, mirth gleaming in her eyes.

“Especially big ones,” we said in unison, and lost it all over again.

Weakly, I pulled her into my arms and held her as we wore ourselves out. Parker finally sighed, a happy, drained sound. Her brown eyes were glossy with tears of humor and her hair had gotten mussed. She was gorgeous. My hand cupped her smooth cheek as I leaned down and kissed her.

She melted into me. Perfect. A fucking gift in the middle of chaos. I kissed her and the world slipped away. Kissed her until our lips were swollen and my body grew tight with need. Parker made a greedy little noise in the back of her throat and wrapped her arms around my neck.

“I want you again,” I said inside of a kiss.

“Then have me again,” she said with a lusty little sigh.

I was so completely gone on this woman it was scary.

Cupping her ass, I hauled her up, and she wrapped her legs around me. When I began to walk her back to the room, she grinned wide. “You think this means dinner for tonight is off?”

“Doesn’t matter.” I gave her lower lip a quick nip. “I slipped Andrew a hundred bucks to make sure we get room service.”

Her brown eyes widened. “And he agreed?”

I loved that it clearly made her happy. “Guess so, since dinner arrives at seven.”

Parker kissed me hard and fast before leaning in to nibble on my ear. “I love the way you think, Rhys Morgan.”

“Yeah? Because I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do to you when we get back to the room. Want to hear?”

She did. And I told her. In detail.

Happiness wasn’t something I was used to. I felt it then, so strong it almost seemed like a dream. Maybe it was. Nothing about this place or being with Parker here seemed real. I pushed away the fear that it would change when we got back to the real world. Nothing would change. It couldn’t.

After all we’d been through, Parker and I deserved our happiness.

And yet even when I finally slid into her again and she made that sound of utter satisfaction, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that being with Parker was something that could shatter with one wrong move.