Eden Burning Read Online Free PDF Page A

the primitive rhythms to their inevitable climax. He would have given even more to be inside Pele, deep inside, driving that hot, beautiful body of hers higher and higher until she screamed with pleasure.
    As the drumbeat thickened and increased yet again, Nicole and Sam danced toe to toe, their bodies moving so rapidly that individual motions were a blur. Taunting, provoking, challenging, dance and dancers were an eruption of sexuality that stunned Chase. There was no sound but the rapid, primitive thunder of the drums and the soft thud of bare feet meeting wood with each shift of the dance.
    The beat increased as relentlessly as Chase’s reckless hunger for the redheaded dancer. He didn’t try to fight his need, because he didn’t even know it was there to fight. He wasn’t aware of himself any longer. He knew only the vivid, pulsing sexuality of Pele.
    Sweat gave Nicole’s skin an iridescent quality, as though she was burning from within. Her partner was working even harder. Drops of sweat gleamed, gathered in golden rivulets, and ran from Sam’s body. His breath came in harsh gasps as he fought to keep pace with Nicole’s incandescent dance.
    But no mere man could match the goddess of fire.
    With a hoarse cry, Sam dropped down among the dancers who were sitting on the stage.
    Nicole’s dance never even paused. With a provocative snap of her hips in Sam’s direction, she turned and held out her hands to Bobby, inviting him to replace her exhausted partner.
    Bobby answered with another quickening of the pounding beat of the drums.
    The new rhythm swept through Nicole, exploding into passionate movements of her body that were both dance and something far older, as deeply rooted in the human soul as life itself. Fiery hair flying, body gleaming, smile flashing, Nicole gave herself wholly to the hot, sensual dance.
    Bobby’s hands became a dark blur over the drums, yet still he could not keep up with her. He held the violent rhythms at their peak for a long instant. Then, with a hoarse sound, he threw up his hands and surrendered to the woman who burned wildly in the center of the stage.
    With a throaty, triumphant cry, she danced on alone, accompanied by only the wild beating of her heart and the audience calling “Pele! Pele!” as they celebrated her victory.
    Without warning, the dance ended.
    Nicole stood alone within the blazing spotlights, her breasts rising and falling rapidly, her arms held out as though to an unseen lover, her skin shimmering with heat, her hair the color of Pele’s own burning lava fountains.
    The room plunged into darkness.
    The audience clapped and shouted for Pele, but no one answered. After a few minutes the lights came up. Men and women settled back around their tables and began talking again. Between the words and phrases, currents of excitement still echoed through the room where the fire goddess had danced.
    Chase felt like he was on fire himself. He was grateful that the light level in the room stayed low, for his own savage arousal was all too apparent. Silently, uselessly, he cursed his body for its betrayal. The only thing that answered him was the hot drumming of blood through his veins.
    He told himself that it would pass, he had been aroused before and life had gone on just fine. He could thank Lynette for that; she had taught him that sexual hunger was preferable to living in yoked misery with the wrong woman.
    Slowly he let out a breath, then another, then another, until the vise of sexual need began to loosen. With narrowed gray eyes, he searched the faces of the other men in the room, wondering how many of them were grappling with their own stark arousal. He saw a variety of expressions—pleasure, excitement, humor, appreciation—but nowhere did he see a reflection of his own violent response to Nicole’s sensual dance.
    His only consolation was that Dane, while he had obviously enjoyed the performance, hadn’t been aroused.
    “Is it time to say I told you so?”