Throwing up her hands in exasperation, she muttered, “I give up. There’s no way to win. I think the games are rigged.”
“Is that so?” he asked, laughing. “Well, let’s see about that.”
She watched in amazement as he picked up the rifle she had just used, sighted down the barrel, and hit the target every time. Twenty minutes later, she had an armful of stuffed animals and Kaiden had been asked, none too politely, to go try his luck somewhere else.
“What am I supposed to do with all these?” Sky asked, juggling an armful of colorful teddy bears, alligators, bunnies, and penguins. “If they all move in with me, I’ll have to move out.”
“An easy fix,” Thorne said, and while she was pondering what he meant, he handed a pink bunny to a little girl in pigtails, a yellow alligator to a little boy missing his two front teeth, a purple teddy bear to a preteen sporting a Minnie Mouse T-shirt. “See?”
“Wait,” she protested when he reached for a small blue dragon. “I want to keep that one.”
Minutes later, the dragon was the only animal left. Sky tucked it inside her tote bag.
“I’m hungry,” Thorne remarked as they neared the food area. “How about you?”
“I’d love a corn dog and a Coke,” Sky said. “And a churro. And a snow cone.”
“I love a junk food junkie,” Thorne said, taking her by the hand. “Come on.”
A short time later, their arms filled with boxes of food, they found a bench and sat down. Sky watched in amazement as Thorne put away four corn dogs, two churros, a snow cone, and a large Coke.
“I don’t know why you’re not as fat as that prize-winning hog we saw,” Sky muttered. She had forced down a second hot dog and felt as stuffed as one of the teddy bears Kaiden had given away.
“High metabolism?” he suggested with a shrug.
“I guess. Here.” She thrust the last corn dog at him. “I can’t eat another one.” He had bought her three, even though she had assured him that one was more than enough.
“Best not to let it go to waste.” Four bites, and there was nothing left but the stick. He held it up, turning it this way and that, thinking it looked very much like a miniature stake.
Sky glanced from Kaiden to the stick and back again. “You seem fascinated by that little piece of wood,” she said. “Am I missing something?”
“Not really. I was just thinking ... never mind.”
“Tell me!”
“Does it remind you of anything?”
“I don’t think so. Should it?”
“Not really.”
“Honestly, you can be the most infuriating man!”
“Sorry, Sky Blue.”
“Come on, tell me what it reminds you of.”
“I was thinking it looked like a wooden stake for miniature vampires.”
She blinked at him. “A stake? For miniature vampires?” She shook her head. “I think it was a mistake to go on that Tilt-a-Whirl so many times. It’s scrambled your brains.”
He laughed softly. “I think you’re right.” Gathering their trash, he tossed it into a nearby receptacle, then reached for her hand. “You ready to go?”
“If you are.”
Once they were in the car, he turned to face her. “How about a walk on the beach?”
“Are you kidding? It’s after eleven and it’s miles to the beach.”
“Have you got something better to do?”
She pretended to think about it a minute before saying, “Not really.”
“Let’s go then.”
With Kaiden behind the wheel, it took hardly any time at all to reach their destination. Before leaving the car, they both removed their shoes and socks, then ran barefooted across the sand toward the ocean.
Moonlight sparkled on the water. A million stars twinkled in the heavens. The quiet shushing of the waves serenaded them as they walked hand in hand along the shore.
“This was a wonderful idea,” Skylynn remarked, glancing out at the ocean. “I haven’t been down here for a long time.”
“It’s one of my favorite places,” Thorne said.
“Mine, too. Granda used to bring me and Sam here when we were younger. He liked to fish off of the rocks over there ...” She turned away, her voice trailing off as tears stung her eyes and clogged her throat. It suddenly seemed wrong to be here, enjoying Kaiden’s company, enjoying life, when her grandfather was dead and her brother was missing somewhere in Iraq.
“You don’t have to hide your tears from me,” Thorne said, drawing her into his arms. “Go ahead and cry.”
She buried her face in the hollow of his shoulder and let her tears flow. “You probably shouldn’t be with me,” she said, hiccoughing.
“Why is that?”
“Everyone I love dies.”
“I promise not to die,” Thorne said solemnly.
“You can’t keep a promise like that,” she said, sniffling.
He brushed his lips across the top of her head. “No?”
She looked up at him, her eyes shining with tears, her lips slightly parted. Before she could ask him a question he wasn’t ready to answer, he lowered his head and kissed her. He had intended only to distract her, but one touch and he was the one who was distracted. She tasted of salty air and salty tears, of mustard and hot dogs and snow cone syrup. But mostly, she tasted of woman. A beautiful, desirable, woman.
With his mouth still on hers, he sank onto the sand, carrying her with him, then stretched out beside her, aligning her body with his.
For a time, he was oblivious to everything but the sweetness of her kisses, the warmth of her breasts pressed against his chest, the silkiness of her hair beneath his hand, the softness of her skin. He had thought of her, dreamed of her, yearned for her, ever since she became an adult, but timing and circumstances had always been against them. First she had been too young. Then she had gone away to college, and even though he had kept an eye on her, the difference in their ages had still been too great. And then she had married that idiot Nick.
But she was here now, wrapped in his arms, the soft curves of her body pressed intimately against the hardness of his.
She moaned softly, a small, needy whimper that fanned his desire and his need.
And brought his hellacious hunger roaring to life, reminding him that his unholy thirst for Sky’s blood and his lust for her flesh were putting her life in grave danger.
He kissed her again, long and hard, and then, fighting the urge to take what he so desperately wanted, he sat up. “We should go.”