The Island Of Alphas: A BBW Paranormal Romance Read Online Free Page B

splitting with her fiancé last year....' something, something."
     
    Sighing, I gave my head a little shake. “Sometimes I think that publication is more of a gossip rag than a newspaper."
     
    I expected Eric to return my small smile, but instead, his expression remained completely serious.
     
    He spoke, looking deeply into my eyes. "I'm sorry that paper printed your personal details...and yes, I actually was, and am, surprised that you're single. You're an incredibly beautiful woman, Liz, and obviously very kindhearted and intelligent as well. The fact that your former fiancé somehow let you slip away, boggles my mind, to be honest."
     
    I wondered what he'd think if he knew that Jason had not only "let" me "slip away," he'd left me without so much as the hint of an explanation.
     
    With a little heat rising to my face because of what Eric had said, I thanked him and quickly changed the subject. If he kept talking how he was, and if he kept looking at me intently, with those heavy-lidded coal gray eyes of his, as he was doing, I foresaw some very difficult, tension-filled times ahead for myself on the island.
     
    As it was, I was already having a difficult time remaining focused on the conversation at hand and not the chiseled contours of Eric's chest, the outlines of which were noticeable even through the fabric of his dress shirt.
     
    While we finished dinner, I polished off an additional two glasses of wine, making the total amount I'd had that evening three glasses. During dessert, while Eric and I talked further and shared a few laughs, I sipped my way through another half-glass. Three-and-a-half glasses was much more than I usually had with dinner, and I knew that amount was just about my limit unless I wanted to wake up with a hangover the next day.
     
    I knew it was also just about my limit unless I wanted to do or say something stupid around Eric, probably something along the lines of blurting out how attractive he was and expressing surprise that he was single, which I definitely didn't want to do.
     
    So, once I realized how much I'd had, I discreetly pushed my wineglass away, not wanting to be tempted into another sip, or three.
     
    After a little more conversation while we finished slices of cake, a feeling of profound exhaustion joined my tipsiness.
     
    I stifled a sudden yawn, covering my mouth with my hand. "Sorry."
     
    Eric said not to be sorry at all, and that I could rest in one of several cream-colored overstuffed recliners in the cabin if I wanted. I thanked him and said that sounded wonderful. He said he had a mind to do the same, but first, he was going to check in with the pilot to make sure we were still on time and on course.
     
    He turned down the lights in the cabin, then left to go up to the cockpit, and while the waiter cleared away our dessert dishes, I settled into one of the overstuffed recliners. I began dozing almost right away, even before Eric returned to the cabin.
     
    But I knew that he did, and fairly quickly, because within a few minutes of me dozing off, I was pulled out of slumber just briefly when I felt someone cover me with a very soft, thick blanket. I didn't open my eyes, but somehow, I just knew it wasn't the waiter who'd done it.
     
    Once warm and cozy beneath the blanket, I fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. So deep, in fact, that when I awoke, however many hours later, I found myself in a bed, without having any memory of how I'd gotten there.
     
    I opened my eyes and slowly sat up, smelling salt air and faintly hearing the crash of ocean waves somewhere nearby. Recalling the whirlwind of events of the previous day, I just sat briefly, feeling as if I should be able to remember the events that had led me to the bedroom I was in as well, but I just couldn't. I didn’t recall the plane landing, exiting it, getting in a car or some other vehicle to come to the house I was in, nothing. My last memory was of Eric covering me with the blanket on the