Page 39 of Sinful Negotiations

As she adjusted the straps, Aidan descended the steps whistling and grinning. “That’s hot.”

“You can thank your partner for this contraption.”

Aidan chuckled and slid one finger under the scrap of material barely covering her ass. Tessa smacked his hand away, so he lifted both hands in the air as his gaze slid over every inch of her body. She jerked the cover over her head but laughed because the see-through material only made it worse. “You have a pair of speedos in the bag,” she stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

“What?” he asked, rummaging through the bag.

Tessa laughed when he withdrew a pair of black trunks. “You should’ve seen your face.”

“Not funny,” Aidan barked. “You’ll pay for that later when I bend you over my knee and spank your ass.”

She couldn’t stop the smile as she backed toward the stairs with her hands covering her bottom. “Don’t take too long. It’shotin here.”

Five minutes later, poised on the platform attached to the back of the boat, she stared into the surprisingly clear, but light-green water. Tessa fidgeted with her lifejacket but laughed when Aidan dove headfirst sending droplets into the air. He surfaced ten feet from the boat with a bright smile, shaking the water from his hair. “I thought you werehot?”

Holding her nose, Tessa jumped and surfaced beside him.

He glanced at the cliffs. “We used to jump from there. How brave and adventurous do you feel today?”

She followed his line of sight and laughed. “Mermaid brave. I’ll race you.”

Chapter 34

After a day of sunshine and swimming, cliff jumping, dinner on the boat, followed by a hot shower, Tessa crashed on the bed. When she snored lightly, Aidan paused. Her shoulders and the cheek he could see were burnt, but the rest of her had turned a golden brown. One bare leg tempted his fingers, but he had a phone call to make, and she needed rest.

Quietly he moved into the tiny living room and sat in the office chair before the screens. Everything was quiet since their arrival, but tomorrow they’d return to Lexington. It was a puzzle trying to understand why Tessa had been targeted. She wasn’t involved in her uncle’s mess in any way.

When his phone vibrated, he grabbed it without removing his eyes from the screens.

“This is Aidan.”

“There’s a problem,” his handler stated. “We need to meet before Monday. It’s bad. Chandler James is up to his neck to the dealer. We think he stole fromDentzi.”

“Tomorrow at one?”

“That will work. I’ll see you in my office.”

Aidan dropped the phone on the desk with a sense of foreboding. His gaze returned to Tessa, and his lips firmed. Until he knew all the facts, he wouldn’t say anything else.

He always kept his personal life and business separate, but his relationship with Tessa blurred the lines. Tonight, was about her, and tomorrow, he’d deal with the rest.

*****

She knew Aidan, or whatever his real name was, after collaborating with him for months, and she recognized that tone. Whatever was said on the phone call upset him. “Everything okay,” she asked when he slid into bed.

“You’re supposed to be asleep. I don’t know, but I don’t want you to worry about it because I’m not.”

ThatI don’t want to talk about it tonewas something she’d memorized as well, so she let it go. He wouldn’t tell her anything anyway. When he began rubbing her back, she closed her eyes with a sigh. “You have no idea how good that feels.”

“Aidan laughed behind her, his breath warming her shoulder. “I could get used to this.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I didn’t mean that. Sorry.”

“Why? I’d love to have you here all the time.”

“Walk before we run, Aidan,” she quickly added.