“Auto-sailor working?” I placed my coffee in a cup holder.
“Affirmative.” He gazed at me with those crystalline blue eyes, a dead match for the sparkling sea behind him.
“You let me sleep in.”
“I wanted to get an early start—get a feel for the way she handles.”
There was a kind of wonderful, awkward tension moving between us. We were sailing in new territory, literally and figuratively. It was just Chris and I alone on the open sea with thousands of nautical miles ahead of us.
“Where are we?” Far in the distance, the flat desert terrain of the gulf coastline gave way to rocky cliffs on each side of a wide channel.
“We’re coming up on the Strait of Hormuz. No patrol boats. No fighters overhead. We’re on our way, Lizzy.” His voice grew more gravelly as he fixed on the deep vee in the shirt I’d borrowed.
“I couldn’t find my backpack. Sorry if—” He ran a finger down the opening, and undid the button.
The shirt fluttered open in the breeze.
The combination of sea air, the sun on my face, and the way his gaze surfed the curves of my body left me breathless, with a slightly elevated pulse.
His eyes rolled toward the stereo speakers. “You’re forgiven.”
“Oh‚ you mean the song.” I half-listened to the lyrics. Something about a man coming to realize his true feelings, feelings that were the best ones he’d ever known. “Could be worse—”
Chris swept an arm around me and began to sway side to side. “Relax and move with me.” He drew me forward, then backward, taking small steps, until I figured out what he was up to. “Slow, slow, side together—you know the foxtrot?”
The cockpit of the Zephyr was no dance floor, and yet he still managed to rock the turns. He twirled me under the arc of his arm and his powerful frame brushed against my nakedness—thighs, groin, every impressive inch of his hardness. “Mom’s orders, under penalty of no Xbox.”
I nodded. No one learned the foxtrot unless forced to. “I had to learn it for my best friend’s wedding.” Something about his Xbox remark got me to thinking. “How old are you, anyway?”
“Twenty-eight.” He twirled me away and pulled me back. “You?”
“Twenty-eight.”
He stared at me. “When’s your birthday?”
“January twenty-third.”
“August tenth.” His smile had always been breathtaking, mostly because it was rare and beautiful. “Cougar.”
I threw my head back and laughed. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt this happy and unguarded. The familiar scratch of his beard scruff on my cheek sent a pleasant shiver through my body. I’m not much of a mind reader, but in that moment, I was pretty sure we were both remembering last night’s ferocious lovemaking.
His hand slipped lower and cupped my ass cheek, reminding me that I was dancing, pretty much naked, in the arms of a gorgeous, complicated, and incredibly heroic man. A man I barely knew, and yet trusted completely.
Wow. All of a sudden this whole scenario seemed way too romantic.
For days now, I’d begun to think the unthinkable: Humanity was approaching its extinction threshold. And despite my fears, I’d taken a leap faith with this extraordinary man. I’d chosen life over death, hope over despair.
Which brings us to this sunny, sparkly sea morning.
By some trick of fate, Chris and I had escaped the zombie hordes. We were like the zombie apocalypse version of Adam and Eve, fleeing the Garden of Eden on a fearless quest for a happy ending.
I exhaled a sigh. A more likely fate for us would be something much more blood-spattered and grisly. After all, this was not some cheesy Hollywood horror movie. This was the shit-gets-real version of Zombies of Mass Destruction.
Chris slowed the pace and nuzzled my ear. “How is it possible to get caught up in a shitstorm like this one, and still come out feeling like I’m a lucky man?”
“Maybe because I feel like a lucky woman?”
Okay—let’s say this was a Hollywood movie. The aerial camera would sweep up and away, leaving the hero and heroine dancing on the deck of a majestic sailing ship, plying the waves of a vast blue sea. The sweet, syncopated rhythm of Leave a Tender Moment Alone playing over the credits…
Get a grip, Lizzy.
Dear Readers,
Thank you for reading EAT, SLAY, LUZT. If you enjoyed Lizzy and Chris’s story I would appreciate your help in getting the word out so that other readers can find this book. Here are some things you can do:
Recommend the book to friends, readers’ groups and discussion boards.
Review EAT, SLAY, LUZT. Tell other readers why you liked this book by reviewing it on Amazon.
If you do write a review, please send a copy to: [email protected]. I’d like to gift you with my next ebook as a way of saying thanks. I will also add you to my Readers Review Club.
Take care,
Jillian Stone
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Phaeton Black, Paranormal Investigator Series
The Seduction of Phaeton Black
The Moonstone and Miss Jones
The Miss Education of Dr. Exeter
Thriller/Suspense
California Roll (2017)
Historical Romantic Suspense
The Gentlemen of Scotland Yard Series
An Affair with Mr. Kennedy
A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis
A Lesson in Chemistry with Inspector Bruce
A Private Duel with Agent Gunn
EAT, SLAY, LUZT: A sexy wild ride through the dark heart of the zombie apocalypse. Page 20
