Free Out of the Fire (Perilous Connections) by Delka Beazer Page A

him watching me intently, perhaps wondering if it’s me who has gone crazy and not himself.
    My mind in turmoil I am seized with the urgency to escape, no matter what I have to do.
    I measure the distance between my storm eyed captor and my forehead, three perhaps four inches, if I lean forward half way I can head-butt him, smash that large, dominant roman nose back into its socket. I summon my strength and rear back.
    His eyes narrow in a heartbeat, he abruptly pulls back into safe territory.
    He shakes his head in stern disapproval. “I have sisters, don’t even think about it,” he barks.
    Deflated and ticked off, I hiss something garbled and nasty sounding.
    He chuckles, the sound deep and mellow , his eyes which had been mostly grey a second before now sparkle as the silver comes out, eerily illuminating and softening the hard planes of his face, making him heartstoppingly handsome.
    M y air waves stops and constricts before sputtering on. What on earth was happening to me? I have seen hundreds of handsome tourists in the months I’ve worked here, and even rebuffed the advances of a few.
    He leans closer until I can see that his light golden tan disappears flawlessly into the roots of his darker golden hair.
    My eyes narrow as I swiftly assess my rapidly deteriorating situation.
    He is confident that I have been subdued, that I am no longer a threat to his arrogant nose or square face for that matter. His eyes are cold in his strong, handsome face, devoid of even a sheen of moisture completely at odds against the pervasive sweating so common to many guests in our perpetually eight six degrees, humidity laden weather.
    He is watching me like a committed hunter . “You’re gonna help me get out of this damned place,” disgust curls his wide, thin lips, as his gaze leaves mine briefly and flicks across the room.
    For some reason m y eyes remain stuck to the arrogant line of that thin mouth. It looks soft, not wet like Jermaine’s, probably because he hadn’t licked his lips once, an unfortunate and disgusting habit which Jermaine had gotten into over the last several months.
    I blink m yself back to reality, process his request. He wants me to sneak him off of Sunset Cave?
    He nods, reading my thoughts. “What time does your shift end?”
    I jer k a finger towards his gorilla sized hand still clamped over my mouth.
    His eyes narrow threateningly, he gives a sharp shake of his head. “Use your fingers,” he orders.
    I bristle, I had become an adult in a hurry over these last nine months and no one but my lecherous supervisor had dared to talk to me like that. I lift my chin and wait a few seconds determined to show him that I am not afraid of him, that he cannot make me do whatever his crazy mind has cooked up.
    He raises a thick, silky looking brow in challenge, his fingers over my mouth imperceptibly tighten. Panic blood races through my veins. I am barely five six, a hundred and ten pounds. My eyes travel up his t-shirt covered chest, stop at the wide muscled hewed shoulders, then back down to the taut midsection, narrowing strongly into the creases of a perfectly fitted brown khaki, even beyond to his sneakered feet, large feet, not unlike the ham sized hand still clamped over my mouth.
    I need to give in, at least until I can think of a viable way to escape this beast of a man. I splay the five digits of my right hand before clutching it into ineffectual fists once more, my nails bite into my palms. Irresistibly another thought shoots across my mind, those beautiful grey eyes …
    His brows draw down into a ferocious scowl over said eyes, glistening frighteningly now, my heart hiccups and my gaze drops to the rigid muscles of his forearm tanned that same beautiful color and sprinkled with fine white hairs.
    He growls, then mysteriously heaves a long sigh bringing my gaze skittering back up to his as I am absorbing the feel of his soft, not unpleasant breath warming my cheeks, ruffling the tiny tendrils that