Read Online Leaving at Noon by Jess Dee - Free Book Online Page B

silent agreement, they turned left,
heading toward the Noosa River. The beach wasn’t busy. School
holidays were still a month away, which meant high season hadn’t
quite begun.
    “ I phoned you,” Zoey said,
when the silence stretched out awkwardly.
    Theo looked at her.
    “ Earlier. Before you dived
in the pool.” She frowned at him. “Why didn’t you let me know you
were there? At the pool?”
    He shrugged. “Didn’t know what I’d say to
you.”
    “ You didn’t have a problem
telling me I’d get burnt.”
    “ You always burn in the
sun. Thought I’d save you the hassle.”
    “ I thought I was going
mad, imagining it was you when I knew it couldn’t have
been.”
    Another shrug.
    “ Thank you. For the
warning.”
    This time he gave her a nod of
acknowledgement.
    The sun beat down, and Zoey walked closer to
the water, letting the waves lap over her feet and ankles. They
didn’t cool her. Zoey’s increased body temperature had nothing to
do with the sun or the weather. She was overheating because her
estranged husband walked beside her.
    “ You phoned?” Theo
asked.
    “ Yeah. It, uh, went to
voice mail.”
    “ The reception’s useless
here.”
    “ Do you have a phone?”
Other than the shattered one on their bedroom floor.
    “ Bought a new
one.”
    “ An iPhone?”
    “ Yeah.”
    “ 6?”
    “ Yeah.”
    “ Black?”
    “ Yeah, Zo. I bought a
black iPhone 6. Are you going to tell me why you
phoned?”
    She nodded, then swiftly lost her words. How
could she tell Theo about work if she didn’t know how to talk to
him anymore?
    He came to a halt and turned to her.
    Zoey came to a stop too.
    He raised an eyebrow in question, and her
heart fluttered like crazy.
    Just open your mouth and talk to him. It’s
not that difficult. You seemed sure you could do it earlier, when
you phoned.
    “ Any time now,” he
said.
    She tugged off her sunglasses and looked
into his pleadingly. “Jeez, Theo. I’m trying.”
    “ Christ.” He rubbed his
scar while grimacing down at the sand. “I’m not going to want to
hear this, am I?”
    She shook her head, needing to set him
straight but still not finding the words.
    He looked at her with grim determination.
“Before you say anything, I want you to remember one thing.”
    “ What?”
    “ This.”
    To Zoey’s surprise—which quickly turned to
astonishment, Theo didn’t say a word. He simply took hold of her
upper arm, pulled her in close and kissed her. Right there, in the
middle of Noosa Beach, with people milling around and the waves
trickling over their feet, he pressed his lips to hers and kissed
her.
    As soon as his mouth touched hers, his lips
parted and his tongue demanded entry. So stunned was Zoey, she
opened up to him, letting him in. And boy, did he take advantage,
demanding complete control of her mouth and her mind, treating her
to a kiss so hot it scorched her all the way from her nose to her
toes. If not for the humidity, her hair might well have caught
fire.
    How long had it been since her husband had
kissed her like this? Deep and hot and wet, with lots of tongue? A
kiss so velvety and seductive, it messed with her ability to think
straight.
    How long had it been since her husband had
kissed her at all?
    She kissed him back, because when Theo
planted a Scorcher on her, it was impossible not to respond.
    On the Theo Hughes Scale of Hot Kisses, the
Scorcher rated one down from the Ultimate. Zoey had yet to
experience an Ultimate fully dressed. Theo saved them only for the
times when he and Zoey were naked or lost in each other’s bodies.
The Ultimate spoke volumes about the powerful level of intimacy
they shared while making love.
    The Scorcher, however, was designed to get
Zoey naked. Or at the very least, designed to make her melt in an
aroused puddle at his feet. And this particular Scorcher was no
different.
    The man could kiss. Zoey had spent the
better part of nine years enjoying the talents of his lips and
mouth. They still had the