The Bare Facts Read online

  She closed her eyes and drank in the sensation. She reveled in the bare facts. Dylan was hers.

  Forever.

  THE ALARM WENT OFF at two-thirty in the morning and Dylan groaned as he rolled over and shut it off.

  “Are you sure you want to do this, Haley?” he mumbled sleepily as he closed his eyes against the glare of the light.

  “Oh, come on, you lazybones. You’re the morning person. It’s supposed to be spectacular. The sunrise at Haleakala is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.”

  “You’re making that up,” he grumbled.

  “Okay. I’m making it up, but do it for your sweet, lovely fiancée. After all, you once told me you would follow me to the moon. Whatever happened to my rocket man?”

  “He spent most of the night making passionate love to said fiancée. My fuel is low.”

  “You wouldn’t want there to be rumors that you couldn’t keep up with me,” she teased as she provocatively ran her hand down his warm body and quickly slipped out of bed with a sultry laugh as he made a grab for her.

  “Who would know?” he queried as he turned over onto his stomach and watched her lithe body move across the room.

  “I’d start the rumors,” she said sweetly, flashing him a grin full of mischievousness before ducking into the bathroom to dodge the white pillow he’d thrown at her.

  “You’re going to torment me for the rest of my life,” he said as he slipped out of bed.

  She came out of the bathroom and stopped at the tempting sight of Dylan stretching his big muscular body. She sighed in satisfaction.

  “I’ll do my utmost,” she replied as she forced herself to her suitcase to grab the warm clothes she’d need for the cold of the volcano. “Besides, you will be promising for better or worse?” she said, pulling on a pair of jeans and a heavy sweater.

  “That’s right, I will,” he sighed in mock suffering.

  “So you’re stuck.”

  “Yes,” he whispered as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing tightly. “I’m hopelessly stuck and loving every minute of it.”

  She turned around and shoved him playfully. “Get dressed or we’ll miss the sunrise and we will have gotten up for nothing.”

  He saluted her and went to get dressed.

  HOURS LATER, she sat leaning against the comfortable warmth of his body, wrapped in his love, feeling that delicious tingle, remembering his seductive possession of her body. She looked to the east where just a glimmer of light could be seen and thought how their love had endured misunderstanding just as the vastness of this volcano had been born out of the fiery breath of nature. She was confident that their love, like this volcano, would be solid and steadfast for a long time to come.

  In the midst of the flaming rising of the sun, she heard Dylan’s husky whisper.

  “I love you, Haley.”

  She turned her face to his to receive his kiss, remembering the sudden wrenching pain of losing him, and she whispered against his mouth, “I love you, too.”

  She turned her eyes back to the glorious sunrise. She had called Margo, apologizing profusely for ever doubting her friendship. Margo had cried over the phone, making Haley promise to come over the minute she got home.

  She was content and happy that their friendship had been restored. Her heart was light and full of happiness. She’d confine the memories to the past where they belonged and where now they would stay.

  “Now that we’re baring our souls, let me ask you a question. What happened the night of our graduation party? Did we…did you…?” Haley looked at him helplessly.

  “Did we make love?” Dylan asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “I haven’t a clue. I do know that I held you all night long and I want to hold you for the rest of my life.” Dylan snuggled her closer and rubbed her arm.

  “Is holding all you’re interested in?” She turned in his arms, kissed his neck then grinned up at him.

  Holding her gaze, he stared down at her, amusement glimmering in his eyes, and then he smiled that slow, sensual, intimate smile that made her go weak inside. “No. When two people are married there are certain obligations that have to be met.”

  “I guess that means there will be sex involved.”

  “I’m afraid that comes with the territory.”

  She released a long-suffering sigh, “Ho-hum, what a hardship. I guess I can handle it.”

  “I hope so. Can you reassure me that our sex life isn’t going to be fodder for the masses?”

  “I was thinking of giving you a byline. After all…” He grabbed her ribs and she let out a gust of laughter that scared some birds into flight. “Hey, no tickling,” she pleaded. “I was kidding.”

  “You better be,” he said dryly. “My hands are lethal tickling weapons and I can tickle you at will.”

  She crossed her heart and swiveled to look at him, holding her hand in the air. “Cross my heart and hope to die. What we do in our bedroom will be our business.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  “Speaking of what we do in our bedroom and since the leather role-playing fantasy proves that you like that kind of thing, would you like to see my French maid’s costume?” She laughed wickedly in the pre-dawn chill.

  Dylan groaned. “Haley, you’re going to kill me.”

  She grinned evilly as the sun burst like a golden crystal globe of molten glory, seeming to gently kiss the crater as it hovered above the flinty shadows safe in the crater’s embrace.

  It’s exactly how she felt, safe, molten and content. Haley let him pull her close enough for their lips to almost meet. Brushing his lips, she responded softly, “Yeah, but what a way to go.” And then words were meaningless as they sealed their love with a kiss.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-8011-7

  THE BARE FACTS

  Copyright © 2002 by Karen Alarie.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

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