Chapter 15
Luke
“Wow,” I gasp when Emily walks out of the bathroom.
“Is it too much?”
“No. It’s…perfect.”
“I figured what I usually wear to work isn’t exactly something that would help us blend in here, so I ran to the store last night and grabbed something a little different.”
A little different? Damn…
She’s wearing a gorgeous, navy blue wrap dress that is somehow both casual and dressy. The top hugs her curves, showing off the cleavage that until now was only ever hinted. The dress fans out below her hips, ending several inches above her knees. Her legs seem to go on forever! Plus, the blue in the dress seems to make her eyes sparkle even brighter. I doubt she has any idea just how incredibly stunning she looks right now.
“I just need to slip on my sandals and I’ll be ready to go.”
I nearly groan out loud when she bends over to grab her shoes from in front of the dresser, giving me a perfect view of her ass. By the blush on her face I either didn’t hide the groan or she caught me staring. I quickly look away, but I’m sure it’s far too late.
“Ready?” I clear my throat and ask.
“Yup.” She grabs a small purse off her bed.
The moment we leave the room, she grabs my hand, holding it tightly. I have to remind myself that she’s only doing it for show, that this is all part of our cover. But the moment she looks up at me, I forget all of that. I have to force myself to look away, because if I don’t I’m bound to give into what I think she’s asking me for.
“Where to?” she glances away, a small sign that makes me wonder if perhaps I’m not the only who’s having trouble remembering that we’re working.
“I figure we’ll walk around, see what’s here and then maybe grab some lunch?”
“Sounds good.”
The resort is quiet, despite the large number of guests registered here this week. There’s definitely a split between couples and families staying here, and as much as I hate to admit it, the more we walk around, the more I realize that Alec was right. Emily and I definitely blend in more than I would have by myself.
For the next few hours, we walk around the resort, stopping to eat and grab some drinks every so often. The resort is fairly large, so it’s nearly impossible to cover all the areas. We stop by several swimming pools and playgrounds along the way. We finally head back to our room when the sun starts to set, having no luck in finding Jack or the kids.
“We should head to the beach tomorrow. Most kids love the water right?”
“I guess.” I shrug. “We’ll head there in the morning, though they weren’t at any of the pools we checked out today.”
“They could have been on an excursion or something today. I think we should check out the beach and maybe the pools again tomorrow.”
The next two days we do just that, we spend time alternating between the various pools and beaches at the resort. Unfortunately, there are several, which means we can’t be certain that they’re not at one of them while we’re at a different one. In the morning and at night, before we go to bed, we continue trying to find the connection between the Thompson’s and the consulting firm. It’s beginning to feel like a lost cause, like this trip was for nothing.
“I think I’m going to check out the band on the beach tonight.”
“You think they might be there?”
“Not the kids, but maybe Jack. He could have someone watching them in the room, or maybe he leaves them alone once they fall asleep. I don’t know. We’ve checked everywhere else,” I shrug.
“True.”
“Did you want to go or are you still trying to find something?”
“I should probably stay here and work on this, but two sets of eyes might be better, especially since it’ll be dark. I’ll work on this when we get back.”
“It might be late.”
“It’s okay.”
I noticed she doesn’t sleep much. I thought I had a rough time sleeping, but she sleeps even less than I do. The last few mornings, no matter what time I wake up, she’s already up and working. I’ve tried to tell her that she doesn’t need to start so early, but she always makes an excuse as to why she can’t sleep.
“Let me go change and we can go,” she says.
A few minutes later, she comes out of the bathroom wearing another outfit that I swear is designed to drive me crazy. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to see her every day in the pant suits she wears to the office, now that I know the curves she’s hiding underneath them. Tonight’s dress, though… fuck it’s either the best or the worst ones she’s ever worn. The red dress isn’t as tight as the others, but it’s the plunging neckline that has my dick twitching.
“You’re killing me,” I whisper when we step out of the room.
“What?”
“The dress. You’re killing me. Do you have any idea how sexy you look in it?” I know I shouldn’t say things like this to her, but here it’s so easy to forget that she’s technically working for me. Over the last couple of days, I’ve been slowly giving into the urge to touch her. I find myself reaching for her whenever she’s near, almost as if I need to touch her.
“Oh… I…”
“As your boss, well, one of them, it’s entirely inappropriate for me to say that, but…you need to know, you look sexy as hell right now.”
“Um…thanks?”
With my hand on her back, I lead her down to the beach where the band has already started playing. It’s pretty busy, despite the show just starting. As she assumed, the beach is fairly dark making it nearly impossible to get a good view of everyone here tonight. I lead Emily over to the bar, where we both order a drink. We stay there for some time, both of us searching the crowd, trying to see if Jack’s here.
“You okay with going out there a little more?” I ask, remembering her telling me during the interview how much she hates crowds.
“Yeah.” She takes my hand in hers, squeezing it tightly before stepping towards me.
Without letting go of her hand, I wrap my arm around her back and slowly lead her into the crowd. I know this has to be uncomfortable for her, but I can’t see shit from the bar. If she said she’d rather not go into the crowd, I would have suggested she stay there and wait for me. I would have ignored the strong pull to stay with her, to make sure no one bothers her that I can’t seem to escape.
“Turn around,” I ask quietly when I finally find a small spot in the crowd.
She quickly turns around, leaving only a very small space between us. I take her hands, guiding them up to my neck before I wrap my arms around her waist.
“Let me know if you see him.” My lips are close to her ear though I doubt anyone could hear us over the loud noise anyway. “Pretend that we’re dancing to this shitty music.”
“It’s pretty bad.” She steps closer to me before laughing.
With her pressed up against me like this, it makes it very difficult to concentrate on anything else. I’ve gone undercover plenty of times since we started Dark Water Security, even with a similar cover to get close to someone, but I’ve never wanted to cross that line with an employee…until now. The thought has never entered my mind when on an assignment before. But being here with Emily…fuck, I can’t think about anything else.
“I don’t see anyone that looks like him.” I swear her warm breath against my skin goes straight to my dick. I force my attention back to the crowd, reminding myself of the kids we’re here to bring home. The kids who need to be kept safe from the man who beat their mother.
“Me either.” I admit in disappointment.
“Let’s try moving somewhere else,” she suggests.
“Yeah.”
She pulls back slightly, but I don’t let go of her… not yet. Our eyes meet and I swear her breath hitches; I tell myself to walk away, to focus on the mission, to think about something else. But the moment her tongue darts out to lick her lips, I lose the battle. She surprises me again by slowly leaning into me, until her lips are hovering over mine. I close the final distance between us, groaning when our lips finally meet.
The kiss is anything but soft and sweet like I would expect from Emily; instead it’s full of heat and desire. She boldly slips her tongue into my mouth and I swear I nearly lose the ability to think straight. Wrapping my arms tighter around her, I tug her against me, momentarily forgetting where we are and the reason we’re even here in the first place. She’s moving against me, whether still dancing to the crappy music or for another reason, I don’t know. All I do know is that I love the way she feels against me. I fight the urge to take her back to the room, strip her naked and feast on the beautiful body that’s been driving me mad these last two days.
“Fuck.” Someone bumps into her, nearly causing her to fall, and effectively ending our kiss. Thankfully, because I’m holding onto her, she doesn’t end up on her ass in the sand.
When she pulls back, I can’t place the look in her eyes. I don’t know if it’s regret or embarrassment or something entirely different, but she’s not looking at me like she was right before we kissed. She slowly lowers her arms from around my neck and steps back; I have to fight the urge not to pull her back to where she was only moments ago. Instead, I follow her lead, not needing to make her feel any more uncomfortable than she already does just from being out here tonight.
“You wanted to head somewhere else?” I remind her.
“Yeah, maybe toward that corner?”
We spend the next couple hours moving around the dance floor but keeping a small distance between us. By the time the band plays their last song, we’ve pretty much done all we can do so we head back to the hotel room. We are scheduled to check out tomorrow and fly back to Virginia. I know it was a long shot, but I’m disappointed that we didn’t find them here.