“Open your mouth, tesoro.” He angled her face higher. “Open your mouth for me.”At his raw demand, her eyes flared wide. For a drunken moment, he drowned in glorious brown, rich, autumnal, sensual.”

“His head moved down, his mouth taking hers in a kiss that held the passion of a thousand years as his body molded against her trembling frame. His lips were hard and hungry as he fought against her resistance, and he pulled his head away for a moment, looking down into her desperate eyes with no pity at all. “Open your mouth, Rachel,” he said.And closing her eyes, she did, sliding her helpless arms around his body, pulling him closer against her yearning form. Just once, she told herself. Just this once. And she gave herself up to the searching demand of his kiss.”

“He took her face in his hands and claimed her mouth with his. It felt like he had been drowning, and she was his life raft. This was not a soft, sensual kiss. This was a kiss of desperation. A kiss of need, not want. And Cali needed it just as much as Matthew.”

“His jaw was slack and his mouth open, and he wondered if perhaps he would drown eventually; drowned by the falling rain.”

“OK, open your mouth. This won’t hurt.” Yorsabrim stretched his mouth open. He had been having some indigestion problems lately. The doctor inched forward and as she did, her eye slid from her socket and slipped down Yorsabrim’s throat. A minute later her eye reappeared. She excused herself as she cleaned her eye with the appropriate solutions. When she returned her eye was back in its socket. “Everything looks fine to me, Captain.”

“Her mouth drops open in disbelief. “Your dad tried to blackmail the mob? Has he never seen The Godfather?”