Burn

Those little breasts made his mouth water, and his hands twitched with the need to touch them. Her nipples would be – He jerked his thoughts away from the path they were racing down. His willpower was already stretched thin from sleeping with her. He’d woken the past couple of mornings to find her wound around him like a vine; his morning erections made the situation particularly dicey. If he were smart, he’d ditch the handcuffs, except then he wouldn’t wake with her almost on top of him. Tradeoffs were a bitch.

Her flip-flops and hat were sitting on the sand with her cover-up neatly folded and laid on top of the hat to keep it from blowing away; her snorkeling equipment dangled from her hand. She stared at the water before her, lost in its beauty – or maybe wondering if he was going to drown her once they got into the deeper water. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t given him cause.

"Don’t worry," he said as he walked toward her. "If you disappear while we’re together, it’ll raise too many suspicions. You’re safe here."

She rolled her eyes. "Thanks so much. You’re such a gentleman."

There was more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice. By now she knew that he wasn’t going to hurt her, and he knew that she wasn’t going to cause him the trouble she continued to promise. Not in public – and not until this job was over, at least. Afterward … afterward, he and Jenner Redwine would settle the accounts between them.

That promised to be one hell of a battle. He looked forward to it more than anything else he could remember in his life, even his sixteenth birthday when he’d gotten his first car. He pulled on his mask and walked into the water, looking back to make sure that Jenner was following. She was, and like him she pulled on her mask as she moved into deeper water.

His eyes followed the lines of her body, because he couldn’t not look. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen her in form-fitting clothes before. Some of her gowns hugged her curves, and there had been the other bathing suit for sitting by the pool. But a bikini was the same as underwear, at least to a man, and the amount of skin visible was nothing short of torment.

Soon. This would be over soon. Then he and Jenner would have themselves a long talk.

JENNER TRIED TO DISMISS all her worries and enjoy the snorkeling, but it was difficult when Cael was always so close. What did he think she was going to do, swim to safety? She gave herself a stern talking to. No, he wasn’t hovering over her, not today, he was staying nearby for safety. She should be accustomed to him being constantly close at hand, so his closeness shouldn’t affect her at all. But it did, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Like it or not, the condom she’d hidden in her underwear drawer was on her mind. How could it not be? It made the possibility of what might happen, what could happen, very, very real.

She floated on the water as colorful fish darted past, under her body, right before her eyes. She loved the feel of the ocean against her skin as she pushed through the water, propelled forward by her arms and the gentle kick of her feet. It was like swimming in a huge tank of tropical fish, like being a part of the ocean instead of an observer. Eventually she almost forgot that Cael was with her. She couldn’t entirely dismiss him, but she almost forgot that she’d been sleeping handcuffed, held prisoner, made to play a role as Syd’s life was threatened, too. The water flowing over her skin, the abundant fish all around, was too soothing. If only she could stay here …

She lifted her head, and glanced behind her to see that she’d drifted farther from shore than she’d imagined. Still, when she straightened, her feet touched the sandy bay floor. Cael was close by – naturally – and when she stood, so did he. She pulled off her mask, deeply inhaling the fresh air.

They were far away from everything, truly alone in the world, and she was tired of guessing, tired of playing games. Her life was not a game; neither was Syd’s. They needed some truth between them.

"I’m not stupid," she said.

Cael removed his mask and shook his head, sending droplets of water flying. He was a head taller than she, wet, and in better physical shape than any man she’d ever seen in the flesh. She loved the way he looked right now, more bare than not and soaking wet. He wiped away the water that dripped down his face. "I’ve pretty much figured that out for myself."

"You can trust me," she said. "Stop treating me like I’m a prisoner."

"But that’s what you are, like it or not."

"Don’t be a bonehead," she muttered, exasperated. She was trying to make a gesture, call a truce. "You’re the good guys, all right? I can see that. I can put a puzzle together. Larkin’s slime, and he’s involved in something dirty. You’re trying to get the goods on him. I get it."

His expression was so controlled she couldn’t read a thing from it. "I appreciate that, but it doesn’t change anything."

She thought she might explode from frustration. He had to make everything so damn difficult. "Why don’t you go swim over there?" she said between gritted teeth, flinging her arm out and waving.

"I like it here."

"I can make things easier for you, or I can make things difficult."

"Ditto."

He was maddening. She shouted "Numb-nuts," then put her mask back on, turned her back on Cael, and gently reentered the water. Even with the water around her ears, she heard him laugh right before the muted splash that told her he was joining her.

She floated on top of the water, not working, not paddling, just there. She wanted to trust Cael; she wanted to be trusted. Was that too much to ask? Floating in the water, reaching toward a brightly colored fish that darted away from her, she let herself let go and just drifted. She did her best to stop worrying, to stop thinking. The problem was, when she let her guard down, old memories always shot to the surface and she got lost in another time, another breach of trust.