CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Sloane
Looking in the mirror, I smiled at my reflection. My little emotional meltdown worked like a charm, and it was a little embarrassing to be such a good liar. It was kind of hard to make myself appear that weak and pathetic, but one must do what one must do when on a mission. Even if it was acting like a little girl who’d lost her puppy.
One thing for certain was that I hadn’t faked the way he made me feel with that kiss. He had me tearing myself apart. The sexual side of me thought I should just blow off the snorkeling trip. The agent part of me was thinking I had a job to do and blowing off any outing with the couple could terminate a social connection.
If we got in good with the couple, they might invite us to all sorts of things, and then I’d be a lot more likely to find out where this money was stashed.
Then it would be over.
Which meant Zane and I would be over.
I wasn’t quite ready for that.
Pulling a sundress on over my bikini, I was ready to go just as I saw Zane pass by my window. “Ready?”
I twirled, the skirt of my sundress flying out a bit. “Is this okay?”
I hadn’t brought many clothes that would make me stand out. The bikini was plain black, no frills, but the sundress was pale yellow and see-through. Nothing nearly as sexy as most of the females around the island wore, but Zane looked at me like I was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen.
His eyes seemed to darken as he came up to me, sliding his arms around my waist. “So okay that I might not be able to keep my hands off you.”
“Who says you have to?” I ran one finger over his broad shoulder.
I wanted him to show me affection — for business reasons, of course. It would make us seem more real to Charles and Grace. Things were falling into place quite well for me.
Running my hand down his arm to link my fingers with his, I pulled him with me so we could get to the dock before the snorkeling expedition took off. The heat between us was off the charts. I thought it had been up there yesterday, now it was ten times hotter.
Charles and Grace were sitting on one of the four benches, Grace’s head resting on the older man’s shoulder. They waved at us as we came up and Grace grinned. “I was beginning to wonder if you guys had changed your mind about coming with us.”
“No.” Zane wrapped his arms around me from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder. It sent chills through me as he pressed his body against my back.
“I had a hard time letting her get dressed, that’s all.” He kissed my cheek.
I blushed and looked down as heat filled me right along with embarrassment. Grace laughed. “You two are adorable. How long have you been together?”
I was quick to take on that question, so Zane didn’t mess it up by telling some outlandish lie. That was one thing I knew for sure, people who didn’t lie for a living didn’t know how to do it properly. “He and I met a while back in Pennsylvania. We kept in touch, and he told me he was taking a vacation out here. I thought it’d be fun to come out and surprise him, interrupting his chasing of the other female inhabitants of this island.”
Zane kissed my cheek again. “I was glad she came to surprise me. The truth is, I’ve been crazy about her for years, but she plays a real tough game of hard to get. I’m not about to let her get away from me again. I’m taking this time to make her see that she’s as crazy for me as I am for her.”
He was pretty good at lying after all. I didn’t know if I should be impressed or afraid.
“Don’t let her get away, Zane.” Charles pulled his shades down to look at me. “She has stars in her eyes for you, my new friend.”
Did I?
Damn.
I guessed it was evident that the gorgeous man affected me. Not that it would matter after this week. Or would it?
A fleeting thought went through my head. Maybe I could ask Agent Matthews to do a background check on Zane. If it came back clear, I could come clean with him after this mission was over. I’d see where that would leave us.
But I wasn’t making any call like that just yet. Although our chemistry was off the charts, I didn’t know the man. He seemed harmless but I’d feel on more steady ground after a background check was run.
The captain and his young girlfriend finally showed up, and we were able to get the trip underway. Climbing to the front of the boat, Zane pulled me down until I was sitting between his legs.
Charles did the same with Grace, so I thought it wasn’t going too far. I wasn’t used to so much public display of affection, but I loved it. I loved the way he held onto me. The way his hands moved lightly over my shoulders, neck, arms. The tops of my thighs. It wasn’t just sexy but felt sweet too.
Looking over the side, I watched as the crystal-clear water changed to a deeper blue, then the captain slowed the boat to a stop and shut the engine off. The water lapped at the sides of the boat as his girlfriend lowered a ladder and offered the snorkeling gear. I put on my rig and flippers while Zane snapped a flotation device around my waist.
“Still think I’m sexy, baby?”
He waggled his eyebrows. “Even that gear can’t take all that hotness away.”
I laughed, but when he put all his rig on, I thought he was still sexy too. He tried to kiss me again, but our masks kept getting in our way, making us laugh. So many emotions. As unfamiliar as all this sexual tension was, the pure joy of being with him felt unfamiliar too. When my cheeks hurt, I realized it had been a long time since I smiled so much.
The water was deliciously warm and clear, and Zane and I waited for Grace and Charles to join us before setting off.
Grace swam over to me immediately and gushed, “Isn’t this sublime?”
Her enthusiasm was contagious and I used her relaxed mood to carefully dig for more information. “Incredible. Don’t see many things like this back in Pennsylvania. Where are you from?”
“Manhattan. So’s Charles.” She pointed at some fish that were swimming below us. “Look, they’re already coming in to see us. Aren’t they pretty?”
We both stuck our faces in the water to check out the brilliantly colored fish, then I felt arms around my waist. It was Zane, and it seemed he’d be holding me throughout our little fish watching expedition.
The water was nice, the fish were pretty, but none of that compared to how it felt to be with Zane. Holding hands, we swam around with our faces in the clear water, pointing out things to the other. It was more than fun, it was special too.
I could just see us in the future, talking about the fish we saw when we were in Maldives. A sharp pain stabbed my heart as I thought that might not happen at all. But I quickly put that out of my mind and went on, enjoying the day with him.
Hours later, it was time to go, and I climbed back onto the boat exhausted but happy. I was glad to have Zane to lie back on as I rested all the way back to the dock. The breeze and rocking of the boat made me sleepy, my eyelids refusing to stay up.
“Wake up, sleepyhead. We’re back.”
I grinned and stretched, rubbing my eyes. “I can’t believe I fell asleep.”
Charles and Grace looked wide awake, both smiling as Charles asked, “You guys want to do lunch?”
Before I could accept the invitation, Zane pulled me into his arms. “Nah, me and the little lady are going to take lunch in my bungalow and chill for the rest of the afternoon. Maybe we’ll catch you guys for dinner and dancing this evening?”
“Sounds good.”
Once the couple was out of sight, I whirled on Zane. “Why did you do that? You know that I need to be around them as much as possible.”
He shrugged. “You’re tired.”
“Tired?” I looked at him incredulously. “I’m always tired, but that’s no excuse for not doing my job.” I stomped off after the couple but was hauled back against a hard chest. “Let me go. I need to join them.”
“No.”
That pissed me off. Did he think he could shut me down with one simple word?
I dipped and whirled out of his restraining arm before poking him in the chest with my finger. “No? Are you serious?”
He smiled, a warning gesture painted on his face. “You’re gaining people’s attention.”
I didn’t even look around me. I knew he was right. With a deep inhalation, I forced myself to relax. “You’re right. Let’s just—”
Before I could finish, his lips were on mine and I was being arched backward like a bow. I struggled for a second, opening my mouth to tell him off. It was a mistake… of the best kind.
His tongue stroked mine as he deepened the kiss, his fingers digging into my skin. Then my fingers were digging into him. I was a maniac, hungry for more, my moans begging him to take me.
There was clapping, and the kiss softened, then stopped.
Zane lifted his head, a little smile playing on his lips. “Our first fight,” he told the voyeurs, who hooted and clapped some more. He looked down at me. “Maybe we should take this inside.”
I nodded, my cells still sizzling from the heat of his kiss. I felt dizzy, like I used to feeling when I rode one of those twirling, whirling amusement park rides.
I grinned at the winks from the women in the group. Laughed when Zane gave some random dude a high five. Then we were in his bungalow.
“Zane—”
His mouth was on mine again, and my back was pressed against the wood of the door. I both loved the kiss and hated how it could stop me on a dime. When he released my lips, I opened my eyes to find him smiling. “Your job is over, baby. I got everything you’ll ever need on the man.”
“Huh?” My head was still spinning with the after-effects of that kiss.
Damn, the Zane had me right where he wanted me. It was infuriating. Only I didn’t have the power to feel mad because my body was pulsing with desire.
He pulled his cell out of the pocket of his swimming trunks. “While you were sleeping, those two made out like crazy. I got ten pictures of them in various states of making out. I’ll send these pictures to you then you can send them to your old friend, and your job is over. And we can get working on us. Me and you.”
He pulled the sundress over my head, leaving me in the bikini. “Zane—”
“Now it’s time to go back to what we were doing before. You do recall your promise to continue what we started, right?”
“But—”
He kissed me again, taking my mind off what I was going to say.
The truth was, I had no idea what to say. Maybe letting him fuck my brains out would loosen things up in my head enough that I could think once the coital bliss was over. At the same time, I knew I should do something to let him know it wasn’t okay to make decisions about a job that was mine to do.
He eased the kiss and took my hand. “I have condoms in the bedroom. That’s why I brought you to my place.”
“But—” That’s all I got out before he pressed his finger to my lips.
“But nothing, Sloane. I want you. You want me. No more waiting. No more talking. After we make love, you can talk all you want. Right now, I want you in my bed, naked. I want to kiss every last inch of you, then I want to make you scream my name.”
My brain said to tell him off, but my vagina had a differing opinion.
Brain vs Vagina.
As Zane’s lips found mine again, I knew it wasn’t even a contest.