Fire and Desire

Corinthians was so absorbed in her thoughts that the shrill ringing of the telephone startled her. She reached out and grabbed it before it could ring a second time. “Hello.”

“Corinth? What's going on, girl?”

Corinthians smiled. Her best friend, Brenna, was just the person she needed to talk to. The two of them had been friends since childhood and had no secrets.

“Brenna, when did you get back?” For years Brenna had been a Fashion Fair model, but had given it up a couple of years ago after complaining of being burned out and getting up in age. Photographers were looking for younger women these days, Brenna claimed, and not women who were hitting thirty. However, she had jumped at the opportunity when Ebony contacted her six months ago to coordinate the fashion shows for them. Although it meant constant travel, it had been an opportunity for her to remain a part of an industry she loved.

“I got back yesterday, but let's cut the small talk. Tell me, how's Trevor Grant?”

Corinthians laughed as she stretched out on the bed. “Trevor Grant is doing fine, I guess.”

“Did you see him today?”

“Yes, we attended the same dinner party tonight.”

“Umm. And you're alone now?”

Corinthians raised a brow. “Yes, why?”

“Then I bet the brother isn't doing fine. I bet he's taking a cold shower about now.”

Corinthians smiled at Brenna's assumption. She could actually hear the shower running in Trevor's room. But that didn't necessarily mean the shower he was taking was a cold one. “All right, Brenna, let up, girl. Pull back.”

“If you insist. But if I were you I wouldn't let him get away, Corinth. Good men are hard to find.”

Corinthians chuckled when she remembered something Trevor had said yesterday. “I bet I know where a few of them are.”

“Really? Where?” Brenna asked, more than mildly curious.

Corinthians scooted over in the bed to the side closest to the wall. Trevor's shower, she noted, was going full blast. “In the Marines.”

Nothing like a cold shower to cool a man off, Trevor thought as he dried off his wet body before placing a towel around his waist. There was only so much temptation that a sane man could take. And tonight he had nearly reached his limit. His lips twisted into a smile as he made his way out of the bathroom. Tonight Corinthians had been all grace, finesse and elegance. It hadn't been the flowing gown that covered, yet tantalized every curve of her body. Nor had it been the way she'd had her hair fixed atop her head in a bevy of curls that crowned her features with innocence. To his way of thinking, it had been the way she had carried herself, so vibrantly alive yet the carefully controlled, dignified and proper lady.

The envious looks he'd receive from numerous men had stunned him with the knowledge of just what he hadn't realized until tonight. There were two sides to Corinthians Avery. One was the wanton seductress, who had appeared half-naked in his hotel room that night, and the other was the prim-and-proper Ms. Avery. He couldn't help but wonder which Corinthians Avery he liked best. He then decided he liked them both. And deep down he knew he wanted them both.

Trevor bit back a groan when thoughts of having her sent blood rushing through his veins. When he had walked her to her room, it had taken all the control he could conjure from years of military training not to take her into his arms for a repeat of last night. He couldn't run the risk of tasting then devouring the sweetness of her mouth again, without being tempted to taste the rest of her.

He leaned back against the wall to get his bearings. This kind of sensual attraction was a first for him. Never had he been so captivated with a woman. And if that didn't beat all, this magnetic pull had lasted nearly two years. Even knowing that she was in love with another man—a man who happened to be his best friend—hadn't stopped him from desiring her, hungering after her. And that realization cut him to the core.

Reaching down, he picked up his overnight bag and began filling it with the things he needed for his overnight stay in Buzios. The only reason he had accepted Thetas's invitation was because the look Corinthians had given him had dared him to. He shrugged. He was a sucker for a dare, especially one from Corinthians.

Chapter 7

Someone was in her room.

That thought suddenly registered in Corinthians's groggy mind and she came awake instantly. She sat up in bed and frantically glanced around the room. It was dark and she couldn't see a thing. Fear knotted inside of her. She pushed aside the covers and was about to ease out of bed when someone pulled her up from behind. A large, rough hand covered her mouth, effectively silencing the scream she was about to make.

“Don't make a sound. We have to get out of here. Now.”

Trevor's deep voice cut through Corinthians's near hysteria. Her body became calm when she realized who the intruder was, and she automatically relaxed against his hard frame. She then became angry, almost livid. Had he lost his mind? The nerve of him entering her room in the middle of the night and frightening her. And how on earth did he get in? She squirmed against him, and when he twisted her around to face him, she glared up at him, barely making out his features in the darkness, but ready to give him a piece of her mind. She would have done so if his hand hadn't still been firmly clamped over her mouth. But in her furious state, she was not about to let that stop her. She tried talking against the palm of his hand and couldn't. She groaned her frustration, getting even madder.

Trevor pulled her over to an area where a small pool of light flowed in through the window blinds. “Shh. Listen to me, Corinthians. Listen like your very life depends on what I'm about to tell you because it just might. A group of terrorists have taken over this hotel.”

He saw her dark eyes widen and blink as she comprehended what he had said. He felt the chill that swept through her body and momentarily froze her in place. “I couldn't sleep and decided to go downstairs. I took the stairs instead of the elevators.” Trevor decided not to mention the reason he had taken the stairs was because he'd felt the need to work off some frustrated sexual energy. Being around her at the dinner party had made his desire for her stronger than ever.

“When I got to the bottom floor I saw them. They're holding some of the hotel personnel at gunpoint, as well as some of the people in our group who decided to stay late at the dinner party. I ducked back in the stairway before they saw me. It's my guess that eventually they'll make a clean sweep of this hotel and take anyone they can as hostages, especially Americans. I don't plan on being among that number, and I don't think you want that, either. So we're getting out of here. Understand?”

Corinthians nodded her head. She could tell from the look on Trevor's face and from the troubled sound of his voice that he was dead serious about the hotel being under terrorist attack. She took in a deep gulp of air when he removed his hand from her mouth.

“Come on, we have to move quickly before they reach our floor,” he whispered close to her ear. “I've jammed the elevator and blocked the stairway door but that will only buy us—”

“Why don't we just call the police?” Corinthians cut in. Following his lead, she kept her voice low.

“I tried, but the phones are dead. And because this hotel is located on an isolated stretch of beach the cell phones haven't worked since day one, and there's no place we can go to for help that's close by.”

He sighed deeply. “We're wasting time. You need to change out of what you have on and put on something else. Wear something dark, and put on a pair of comfortable shoes. And you're going to have to get the items out of your closet without turning on the lights.”

It suddenly hit Corinthians that she was dressed in her sleepwear. But at the moment, being modest was the last thing on her mind as she quickly moved to her closet. She couldn't worry about Trevor seeing her dressed in her short, silk nightshirt. There wasn't much light in the room for him to see too much and besides, he'd once seen her in a whole lot less.

No woman's body should be that perfectly shaped, Trevor thought as he watched Corinthians rush to the closet and begin pulling items off hangers. And no woman's body should feel that soft. He couldn't help but remember how she'd felt against him a few moments ago when he had pulled her out of bed. His hand hadn't been what he'd wanted to use to cover her mouth. The deep desire he always felt around her had tempted him to cover her mouth with his own, and again taste her passion and her fire. What he had wanted to do with his hand was to run it over her body, to feel her softness while he continued to kiss her, and elicit from her that sweet, deep, throaty moan he'd gotten out of her last night while kissing her.

He mentally chastised himself for letting his mind concentrate on seducing her and not on the important matter at hand, which was getting them to safety. “While you're getting dressed I'm going to throw a few things we might need in a bag,” he whispered, glancing around the room. He needed to look at anything in the room but at her right now, especially her legs and thighs that were exposed from underneath her short nightshirt.

“I packed that bag earlier tonight to take with me to Buzios,” Corinthians said, pointing to her overnight bag next to the bed. “Everything I might need is in it. We'll be able to return to the hotel in a couple of hours, won't we?”

Trevor wished he could answer yes to that question, but he wasn't sure. “I hope so,” he said leaning down and picking up her bag. He frowned. It was heavy, way too heavy.

“Where are we going?” Corinthians asked, tossing the items that she had taken out of the closet on the bed.

“In the jungle. We'll hang out there until the authorities get things back under control here.”

She nodded. “How did you get into my room?” she asked, after reaching down for her shoes and socks.

“I picked the lock,” he answered absently. He couldn't keep his gaze off her legs.

When Corinthians dashed off into the bathroom to change, Trevor sucked in a deep breath to regain control of his senses before quickly walking through the connecting door and into his room to get his own overnight bag. They would have to combine their stuff into one bag, preferably his since it appeared to be the sturdier of the two.

Going back into Corinthians's room, he opened her night bag and began going through it, only taking out the things he thought were necessary and packing them in his. His hand trembled when it came in contact with silky and lacy material. He took a deep breath when he pulled out a pair of lacy underwear and a matching bra. He put them back inside her bag.

Corinthians came out of the bathroom dressed in a pair of dark-colored jeans and a black top. She had on a pair of sneakers.

“We can only take one bag, so I'm putting our stuff together and using mine,” Trevor said, turning to her.

She nodded. “Did you get everything I need?” she asked as she watched him zip up the bag.

Trevor thought about her underthings he hadn't placed in his bag. “I took out everything I'm letting you take. Too much stuff will slow us down and we don't need that.”

He tossed her wallet to her. “Keep this on you at all times. You may need your passport.”