Read Online The Honeymoon Trap by Kelly Hunter - Free Book Online Page A

it occurred to him that she was doing the rounds of all the people they’d met so far, and that every time she met up with someone she had to touch them physically in some small way. A handshake, or for those she already knew a hand to their shoulder or their forearm. Tactile woman – he knew that from moment one, but this was something else, something more. As if by touching them, she was letting them know that she was there.
    ‘What do your parents do?’ he asked her, when she flitted round to him again.
    ‘My mother’s a kindergarten teacher and my father’s a builder. He does houses, sheds, a lot of prefab steel barns and sheds. Why?’
    ‘You touch people a lot. Maybe your mother was a masseuse. Maybe you grew up in a family full of acrobats.’
    ‘Nope. It’s really no one’s doing but mine. Does it bother you that I’m big on touch?’
    ‘I’d probably just ask you why.’
    She looked down at her sleeve and plucked at the cuff of her shirt as if measuring what to say. ‘They say that touch is the second last sense to go,’ she offered quietly. ‘After that goes, you just talk to them.’ She still didn’t meet his gaze, and that was unusual for her. ‘I touch people out of habit, Eli. Because I want them to know that I’m around and that they’re not alone. I touch because I want the reassurance that I’m not alone.’
    He didn’t understand.
    ‘Just go with it, healer. It’s not a sexual thing. Except with you.’ Now her gaze met his. ‘Where you’re concerned I touch out of habit and realize about a second later that touching you does very sexual things for me. That’s new. I’m still hoping I’ll get over it.’
    He reached up and tucked a stray tendril of hair around her ear, making sure that his fingers were gentle as they traced a curve around her ear. ‘I’m not sure I want you to.’
    ‘That’s just cruel,’ she whispered, but her eyes were dark and her hand had come up to capture his and press his palm to the curve of her cheek. She closed her eyes, and those too long lashes swept down over pale cheeks. ‘Having said that, just do me a favor and don’t move for a moment. Let me pretend.’
    He could do better than that.
    Her eyes were still closed when he bent and carefully brushed her lips with his own. ‘I’m here,’ he whispered. ‘And I like it when you touch me. It gets me hot and hard and makes me want things I haven’t wanted in a long time. You’re not alone.’
    ‘Your girl. The dead girl—’
    ‘Simone.’
    ‘Simone, yes. Last night you pulled back because of her.’
    ‘I know.’
    ‘You planning on doing that again?’
    ‘Probably.’ So soft and giving, her lips. A promise met. An irresistible lure. ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘Do you know who you’re kissing?’
    ‘I’m kissing you.’
    ‘Not Sherlock?’
    ‘He’s there too.’
    ‘Fuzzy?’
    ‘She’s there. She’s my lady warrior wife, with violet ribbons in her hair.’ Their heads were still so close together as they shared whispered words of fantasy laced with pain.
    ‘I think it’s okay, Eli, if memories of all your other loves are in this kiss too. If they weren’t, it wouldn’t be you.’
    Her lips touched his again, gently, no pressure, and yet she savored him, even so. He responded in kind, sliding in slow and taking his time, his hand still on her cheek, his skin rough but the hand itself not so. Gentle, this kiss full of echoes and desire. And when it came to the crux of things there were only two people in it.
    He let her go reluctantly, loath to break the connection but they had to. They were in a conference hall surrounded by people. This wasn’t the place.
    It was starting to feel like the time.
    ‘Phew,’ she said breathlessly. ‘How would you feel about ditching the con in favor of seeing whether that beach is open yet? Or even a pool? I think I’m in need of a cool down.’
    ‘We could do that.’
    Zoey’s eyes lightened. ‘Shall we go find our