She rubbed a towel over her skin until it hurt, covering up in the soft robe and closing the tie around her waist. When she went back in to the bedroom, the shadow of a man stood guard at the sliding door leading to the veranda. Another one stood at the entrance door in the hallway. She sighed, Josh no longer trusted her. She became a loose cannon and had to be protected so she didn’t screw up anything else.
Sara fell across the bed, staring at the ceiling. She behaved like a fool. A hungry fool. “I’m certain you can hear me,” she spoke out loud. “I’m hungry and going to call room service. Does that meet your approval.”
The shadow turned to her and gave her a thumbs up. Sara sighed. It seemed almost funny if she hadn’t been wiping a tear from her face.
Twenty minutes later, a knock on the door had Sara making her way to the entrance door to let in the server. She dished some bills out of her wallet and stuffed them in his hand. “Your order, Mrs. Eden.”
“Don’t call me that, the name’s Sara,” she said sadly.
He rolled two carts in and lifted up each lid for approval. “Yes, Mrs. eh, Sara. Your order, a bowl of French Onion Soup, fries with cheddar cheese, a cheeseburger loaded with mayo, relish, onion, tomato and blue cheese, a dozen steamed shrimp with cocktail sauce on the side, a spinach salad sprinkled with goats cheese, an order of roasted Chilean sea bass, a slice of pizza pie topped with banana peppers, onions and mushrooms and last a piece of chocolate cake drizzled with raspberry sauce. Will there be anything else?”
“Did you bring pizza for next door?”
“Yes, someone delivered them a few minutes ago.”
“Good, thanks.” She slammed the door closed, crossed her legs on the bed, nibbling on each plate, tasting the sea bass and dipping her cheesy fries in the onion soup. Indulging like this usually made her feel a bit better. Taking another bite of the chocolate cake, she burst in to tears. She pushed it all away in one swift movement. Sara laid her head against the fluffy pillow, blonde hair billowed around her.
She wrapped her arms around herself and let the tears flow because Josh was at the casino wrapped in someone else’s arms.
Chapter 9
Josh listened to the sound of her wispy breaths. The moon light lingered in the suite, filling the corner of the room with a path of light directly over Sara. He leaned back, propping tired feet on the small round coffee table. She never heard him come in through the glass doors from the adjoining suite or send away the others guarding the doors.
Josh sighed. Covered in a white plush robe and probably nothing else, it slid open at the top, revealing part of an exposed breast. Tied at the waist, she slept on her side, one leg crossed over the other dangling slightly over the edge of the bed. When he came in to check on her and saw her lying there, he dismissed the other agents.
Dried tears mingled with black smudges streaked down her face. He wanted to wipe them away but didn’t have the heart to disturb her. She needed to sleep off the champagne high.
Josh ran a hand through disheveled hair, ashamed. The hurt in those blue eyes earlier haunted him. The other woman clung on his arm while Sara stood there, horrified. These were the parts of the job he hated, the games played, the people hurt to play a role. She was devastated, the plea in her voice unable to distinguish reality from the world of lies. She should’ve been by his side, but he cared about her so much, he had to keep her safe. It would be hard enough to do his job without the risk of her getting hurt. If anything happened to her he’d die inside, that’s how much he was starting to care.
He never thought he’d feel this way about a woman.
He switched on the bose radio, leaned back and closed weary eyes as Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata played in the background. His mind drifted away with the music, soothing another day and a wrecked soul.
He jumped when she called out his name.
“Josh.” He sat forward, expecting to find her awake. But still in sleep mode, closed eyelids moved violently back and forth. “Please, please, yes.”
Her hand went to the exposed breast and she touched the silky flesh with long fingertips, moving inside the robe until she found a nipple. Her voice caught in her throat and she whispered again. “Josh, please, don’t stop.”
He clutched the wood edges of the chair. A gentleman would wake her and yet he needed to hear her voice call out his name.
She removed her hand and let it slide slowly down in between closed legs. Sara positioned herself as her fingers brushed over the area he hungered for. He stood up, and hovered over her bed, as closed lids rolled back and forth, knowing it would be wrong to take a woman in the depth of a dream so vividly alive.
That didn’t mean he could stop himself.
He untied the knot at her waist and pushed the material aside. She took her other hand and covered his, moving it towards the prize below. Josh let her hand guide the movement, sucking in a deep breath as his fingertips flexed over warm, soft flesh until his hand was buried beneath hers between soft thighs. Her hips began to move upwards, so slow and steady and she screamed his name, so loud it woke her up.
Her eyes flew open. Josh stilled, afraid to breathe, unsure yet filled with desire so strong he ached. But she lifted her arms to him and beckoned him. Josh covered her nakedness with his body in one movement, planting small kisses across the flesh of her neck.
She was perfect, for him. Everything was right about her from the way she opened her mouth to let him in to the way her hands slid down his back, pulling at his shirt. Josh sat up, straddled her and ripped the buttons from his shirt in one sweeping motion. The plastic circles popped and clattered to the floor. Her fingers ran across his chest and he shivered.
He lifted her fingers to his mouth, taking each one and planting a soft, sensuous kiss there until she became impatient and moved her hands to his chest, lowering to his stomach and reaching for his belt.
Josh stood, ripping his pants off and threw them across the room. “Come back to me,” she whispered, desperation in her voice.
He did, devouring her mouth as if there would never be another moment like this again. She moaned and pushed her hips against his as his hand slid over her flesh, enticing her, teasing as she called out his name again and again.
When he slid in to her, he thought he would burst open at the seams, his need for her so urgent. Instead, he got carried away in her dream, their bodies writhing together under the moonlit night until they both shattered together in to little pieces of bliss.
<><>
She woke up in his arms. Their legs entwined together, she looked down between them to find flesh smashed against flesh. Her antique emerald gleamed in between their skin, reminding Sara of the role she played in this secret agent scheme. Right now, she didn’t care. His held her from a cruel world outside.
“Don’t move, not yet.”
She snuggled even closer, if it were possible. “Not ever.”
“I love you.”
Sara blinked, staring at the thick chest muscles, completely taken by surprise.
“Did you hear me?” he asked, his low voice barely above a whisper.
“I did.”
“When you were lying on this bed last night, so vulnerable, tears dried on your face, crying because of me, I was ashamed. I never wanted you to be hurt through all of this and I tried to protect you but it seemed to backfire.”
“Don’t be-”
He placed a finger on her mouth. “No, let me finish. We’ve used other civilians before in our stings and we always kept them safe and removed them from the line of danger. The truth is I can keep you safe, I didn’t want you to know this side of me. The part that can be as cruel and cunning as the criminal I’m going after. I realized watching you sleep last night how I screwed up because I tried too hard to keep you out of this mess. I know what you’ve been through with your ex and so help me, I tried to keep you from any more devastation. I’m sorry baby.”
“I love you too.”
He lifted her face to his, dropping tiny kisses on her eyelids. “You alone have helped to bring this operation closer to the end by what you did yesterday. I never thanked you.”
She giggled. “Well, if what you did to me last night is any indication, I’d say I got thanked real hard.”
He grinned. “You have no idea what your body lying there in the moonlight caused. I sent the other men away because I didn’t want them to see you. I tried to keep my hands off of you, but it didn’t work either.”
She placed a hand across his cheek. “Are you saying last night was all a plan from a secret agent man.”
“Yes.”
She grabbed his neck and pulled his face to hers. “Well, sir, I think I need to be shaken up a bit more.”
<><>
Sara pulled out the itinerary and crossed off boinking the sexiest man in Key West. Covered in her plush robe, she sat cross-legged on the bed, thinking perhaps it’s time to give up the list. But realizing how much fun they had on each excursion, she carefully folded it back up and tucked it away.
Josh came out of the shower, hair wet and a towel around his neck. A pair of casual jeans hung low on narrow hips. “Tonight, this should all be over, Sara.”
“What do you mean?”
“Darian invited me to their suite. They’re having a private party, along with a few other guests. He also wants you to attend.”
She shivered. “Do you want me to go?” She wouldn’t go if it would mess up plans.
“I need you there. He told me to get over my anger and bring you along. He’s obsessed with you Sara. Said he likes your cunning little gold digging mind.”
“I’m afraid I’m about out of steam for anything that man has to offer. After tonight, I never want to be close to him again.”
Josh leaned down and placed both hands on either side of the bed, hovering over her. He kissed her gently. “Everything will go down tonight. We’ll go to the party and I want you to excuse yourself when I give you the signal. There will be an agent waiting for you. I don’t want you in the line of fire. Wear your emerald earrings with the bug and tell them the moment you close the door and are safe.”
“Now it seems your shooing me away again.”
He dropped tiny kisses down her face and nibbled an exposed ear. “Sara, we’re going to get married. As soon as this is over.”
She sat back. “Josh, you can’t order me to marry you.”
“I can’t?”
“It’s on my itinerary. I want to be asked in a certain place at a certain time and I can’t settle for anything else.”
He furrowed his brows. “That’s not on your itinerary. Sara? You had no plans to marry anyone when you made the list.”
She giggled and reached in to the night stand drawer. Then she took her pen and scribbled something down and tucked it back in the drawer. “Now, I do.” She shot off the bed and headed for the shower.
“I’m going to read that, you know!” he called out.
She stopped and turned then smiled coyly. “Yes, I know.”
<><>
Josh went to the suite next door to map out the plans with the other agents. Basically, Sara was free for the afternoon, so she decided to get pampered. She reserved time at the Spa and got there a little early, so she slipped in the outside whirlpool.
“Ah, you have the same idea. Are you getting the Turkish bath treatment?”
Darian Lane had to do the spa thing at the exact moment Sara did. How does this happen, she wondered. She forced herself to look angry for what he pulled last night. “I don’t have any interest in talking right now.”
The splash of water told her when he stepped in to the whirlpool. “Perhaps you should slow down on your drinking, you looked like a lush.”
She laughed. “No one’s used that word since my grandmother’s day.”
He leaned back against the ceramic back, the water whirling and frothing around the tub. He seemed relaxed and at ease and even friendly, but a man like with Darian’s personality changed at any moment. She lived with the same type of man before, loving, caring and wham! They turn on you in an instant, causing the world around to cave in. She wasn’t fooled a bit because that’s exactly how her ex behaved.
“Perhaps there may be a chance to work out something after all,” he offered. She wanted to cringe because she knew what he meant. To him she was a toy, a plaything. He took his hand and ran it down her arm.
“I don’t think so Darian, you betrayed me. I told you about Josh’s wealth because I needed someone to help get rid of the art and jewels, thinking you’d help me and we’d both make a fortune. But, you wanted it all!” She feigned anger, but disgust came more to mind.
He grabbed her arm and hissed, his face way too close for comfort. “Don’t ever say I betrayed you. I am not a man to toy with.”
“Let me go!” she demanded, but his grip tightened so she stopped trying to pull away. Fear began to build up. Her other hand reached up to her ear, but the emeralds were missing. A moment of panic seized a hold as she realized no one listened in.
“When I’m done here, I’ll let go. Eden’s in my hands now, Sara. If you want to enjoy any of the wealth, dump him and come with me, tonight.”
“Tonight? The ship only reaches Fort Lauderdale in the morning.”
He looked as if he said too much, but covered it with a secretive smile. “I’ve got my ways.” He leaned in, his face a whisper away. She tried to be strong. “Thank you for bringing me Joshua Eden. He’s told me much more about his wealth than I ever imagined. I plan to have it all, within the next twenty four hours. Men work now to remove those items from his properties tomorrow night. You, my dear, can come with me tonight, or stay with a broken man, who will have nothing left once we’re through.”
Sara shuddered. “What makes you think I won’t tell?”
He threw his head back and roared with laughter. His grip tightened even harder. “Because a woman like you will follow the money.” He shoved her away as if she were a sack of potatoes and leaned back, evil radiating from Darian Lane.
“Mrs. Eden, your table is ready,” the assistant called out. Sara pulled herself together and got out of the whirlpool, taking one shaky step at a time, willing her feet to move. She felt his eyes on her and she cringed.