Excerpt of Bayou Blood Brothers by Metsy Hingle, Joanna Wayne, Rebecca York

When the bathroom door opened again, Caroline cut a glance
to the doorway. There was just enough moonlight for her to
get a tempting glimpse of his bare chest and the way the
low-fitting jeans hugged his hips. Her throat suddenly
dry, she swallowed hard as he approached her, unable to
look away.

"You go ahead and take the bed. I'll sleep on the floor,"
Nick offered, his voice gruff. He reached for the blanket
and pillow in her hands and looked away–but not before she
recognized the hungry gleam in his eyes.

Caroline held onto the blanket and pillow and he lifted
his gaze to hers. For a long moment she simply stood
there. When his eyes moved over her face, down her throat
to her breasts, her heart beat faster. Desire fisted in
her belly. She thought about all that she and Nick had
been through during the past few days–Paul's death and
funeral, the attempt on her life, the truck driver trying
to run them off the road. What if the killer found them
tomorrow morning? What if this was her last night alive?
She knew that if it was, she didn't want to spend it in
bed alone. "I don't want you to sleep on the floor," she
told him. "I want you to sleep in the bed–with me."

Nick tensed. In the faint light filtering through the
window, she could see the sharp angles of his face, the
flare of his nostrils, the narrowing of his eyes. "If I
get in that bed with you, it won't be to sleep."

"I know," she whispered. After toeing off her shoes, she
pulled off her T-shirt and jeans, tossed them to the
floor. He didn't move a muscle. But his eyes, those
piercing blue eyes tracked her every movement. Still, he
said nothing. He simply stood there, watching her,
waiting. With trembling fingers, she reached for the snap
on his jeans.

Nick caught her hand. "Be sure this is what you want,
Caroline. I want you more than I want my next breath. But
tomorrow when we leave here and when this mess is behind
us, nothing will have changed. I still can't offer you any
future."

She tipped up her chin, met his gaze. "I'm not asking you
for anything beyond tonight. No commitments, no promises.
Just tonight. Tonight I need to feel alive. I need to
remember what it feels like to be wanted. Make love to me,
Nick."