“What’s the take been like for this couple?”
“Through the bloody roof. We’ve made more in three days than we made for the whole of last week.”
People paid to watch her and Jack have sex? That was disgusting. Heat flooded her body followed closely by anger. Making love to Jack was private, dammit. Strictly because that’s what Emma was doing—laying out her heart for Jack. The idea of other people watching…
“They’re filming tonight and intend to release it as an amateur movie. It should win a prize for sure as well as make a ton of money.”
Emma felt her face turn scarlet. Her teeth gritted so hard they were in danger of breaking. A tic burst into life in her jaw.
They were not going to get away with this.
Chapter Six
Footsteps at the far end of the passage galvanized Emma to action. She whipped back inside the room, easing the door shut behind her. Oh boy. She had to get a grip. Warming up. That’s what she was meant to be doing.
Emma sprinted over to the closest poster on the wall, rapidly read the instructions and attempted to emulate them. The muscles at the back of her thigh groaned in protest, sending a wave of jagged pain the length of her leg. Emma winced and eased up. Cripes if she’d known sex with Jack was going to be so strenuous she would have gone into training first.
“Though why you’re worrying when Jack has as good as told you there’s not going to be any more sex once we’re off the island,” she muttered. Thinking of sex brought her back to the main problem.
Movies.
Of her and Jack.
Naked.
The door to the room flew open and a tall redhead stepped inside. “Oh good. You’re warming up already. Excellent.”
Oh, she was warming up all right. And busy thinking of payback.
“You look as though you’re warm enough. I’ll weigh you and take some muscle-to-fat ratios then I’d like to see what your existing level of fitness is. But first, I’ll get you to fill in this form about your medical history.”
Emma stopped torturing her legs and accepted the form and a pen from the woman.
Three quarters of an hour later, Emma teetered from the room on weak, rubbery legs. Jamie was a sadist.
Emma slowed as she passed the offices, but the men had gone so she had no idea what they looked like. Though she’d recognize their slimy voices if she heard them again. That was for sure!
The thought of putting them in their place reinvigorated Emma and she picked up the pace from a teeter to a stomp. At reception, she stopped to find out when the gym closed. A little recovery time wouldn’t go astray. She’d come back later to do her first training session and ask more questions. Right now she’d find Jack and let him know what was going on.
Jack found her first. As she strode along the beach heading for their room, a hand curled around her upper arm jerking her to a stop. Emma whirled ready to defend herself. “Jack.” She straightened, tossing her head as his dark glare hit her. At least she assumed he was glaring because the line of his mouth was straight and firm. Difficult to tell since he wore sunglasses.
“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
“I didn’t know you cared,” Emma said sweetly. No mistaking her tone for anything but snide and bitchy. Despite looking for him, he wasn’t forgiven for blowing hot and cold. Jeesh, that sort of behavior was meant to be on her agenda. Men were supposed to be black and white, not shades of marbled gray.
“I was worried,” he snapped. He took a closer look at her face then had the effrontery to stroke a finger across her flushed cheek. “What’s wrong?”
Emma jerked from his touch and stalked farther along the beach before dropping onto a clean patch of sand. With legs outstretched, she stared out to sea. She felt rather than saw Jack sit at her side. The man could have put a shirt on, dammit!
“I’ve been at the gym. I wanted to follow up on something I heard from the bartender and also in the spa yesterday. While I was there, I heard some men talking. Our room is bugged.” Emma turned to Jack, feeling the full thrust of anger and indignation and loss of privacy sweep through her body all over again. “We’ve been filmed having sex. They’re going to sell it on the internet.”
The concern faded from Jack’s face and he suddenly seemed more alert. Dangerous and in private investigator mode. Emma couldn’t tell what he was thinking because of the glasses shielding his eyes. Bother the man and his rigid control. Just for once she’d like to see him really lose his cool.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” she demanded. “Frankly, I’m pissed. What are we going to do about it?”
“We aren’t going to do anything.”
“What?” Emma’s screech of outrage scared a foraging seagull. It took off into the air with a startled cry. “You knew? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t think you’d be able to keep up the act if you knew we were being watched.”
Right. This just kept getting better and better. “You could have given me the benefit of the doubt.”
“I wasn’t sure if they were on to us or not. It seemed better to ignore them and watch developments.”
“And?” Emma didn’t bother to hide her testiness.
Jack rolled toward Emma and tugged at a short springy curl just behind her ear. Emma was ready to blast him but he spoke first. “Someone is watching us right now.”
Jack watched Emma carefully as he fingered another curl. He’d never seen her like this before—curt, irritable. Plain bitchy. He liked it.
“What are you doing?”
“We’re going to give another show for our audience. Let’s see how your acting skills shape up.” Her blue eyes narrowed, making him want to laugh. “I dare you,” he drawled.
She landed on top of him before he could blink, knocking the air from his lungs. Her leg slid between his, her thigh riding up high against his groin. Instantly his cock lengthened and he knew by the gleam in her eyes she recognized the effect she had on him.
“I was thinking of a kiss.” But his body had other ideas.
“Well, what’s stopping you? Don’t say the audience is putting you off,” she mocked.
Jack glanced up and down the beach. Empty, apart from the man over on the far balcony. And he wouldn’t see them either if they moved closer to the gnarled pohutukawa tree a few feet away. The sun streamed down from directly overhead, and Jack didn’t need to check his watch to confirm the time. Almost midday.
He cupped her face in his hands, savoring the buzz of the waking taniwha simmering beneath his skin. “Nothing stopping me at all.” He closed the distance between them so her breasts brushed his naked chest. Surprised she was even talking to him let alone letting him get this close after this morning, Jack wasn’t about to back away from her challenge. He covered her lips and kissed her, really kissed her, thrusting his tongue deep into her mouth.
“Get a room, why doncha,” a man called. He whistled shrilly.
A feminine giggle followed.
Where the hell had he come from? Jack slowly lifted his head, his gaze touching on her lips. They were pink. Moist. And he enjoyed caressing them more than he should. “Guess we’d better go to lunch. See if the big man has arrived back from the mainland. I heard the receptionist mention it. He was away overnight.”
“Have you found anything helpful?”
“Nothing. Just a gut feeling.” Jack stroked his finger across her silky cheek. His gut was working overtime, but he couldn’t be sure if it was edginess because of the blue moon or instinct about the case.
“All the male employees are big. Muscled.”
Difficult not to notice them and then there were the security guards who patrolled the perimeter of the resort. Keeping people in or out. Hard to say. “Did you notice the trophy cabinet when you were over at the gym?”
“Bulging with trophies.”
Jack rolled off Emma and climbed to his feet. He extended a hand to her and helped Emma up. “I’m go
ing to search the admin offices tonight.”
“What time? How are we going to get around the watcher problem?”
“I’m not taking you with me.” Jack didn’t want to have to worry about her, but one look at her face told him she was going to argue. “We’ll talk about it later.”
They walked down the beach together, heading toward the main resort area and the restaurants.
“What are you doing this afternoon? I’m going to do a hike around the far boundary of the resort. I want to check out a couple of boats I saw this morning.”
Emma nodded thoughtfully. “That would be a good way to get drugs either on or off the island. This is so frustrating. We haven’t learned anything new. We don’t know anything more than what we knew before we arrived.”
“A lot of investigations are like this,” Jack said. And she thought she was frustrated? Try being a taniwha with a blue moon on the horizon. His mind turned to sex. One-tracked bloody thing.
“I have a hair appointment. I thought I might be able to worm something out of the hairdresser or at least hear something interesting in the salon.”
Jack glanced at her curly brown hair then shrugged. She couldn’t get into much mischief at the hairdresser’s.
“Okay. I’ll meet you on the beach near the pohutukawa tree at six to discuss how we’re going to get around our voyeurs.”
“Perhaps we could stage a fight,” she said. The twist of her lips was mocking. “It wouldn’t be difficult shouting at you.”
Jack grinned then sobered abruptly. He seemed to do that a lot lately. Smile. And usually it was Emma related.
“Don’t laugh,” she snapped. “I still haven’t forgiven you for this morning. You should know that I’m big on revenge so watch your back. You never know when I might strike.”
Jack stilled at the idea of Emma plotting revenge. A fight. His mind immediately went to the part after the fight when two lovers made up… Alarm bells tolled loudly inside his head. Hell. Emma Montrose was wriggling into his head. And it was bloody uncomfortable with her in there. Made him think things—impossible things—involving a future.
They walked into the restaurant, and some of Emma’s poker partners waved at them to join them at their table.
Emma waved back and hurried over, giving Jack no option but to follow. She’d changed since they’d arrived. She seemed more confident. More everything. Heads turned when she walked past. Jack intercepted the gaze of another man watching her. Jack speared the guy with a dark scowl. The other man hastily looked away to make a selection from the buffet.
“Is everyone having a good time?” the hostess purred into her microphone at the front of the dining room.
The diners roared back a resounding yes, and she beamed.
As Jack dropped into the seat at Emma’s side, he noticed several of the resort hostesses trot onto the stage bearing boxes.
Without warning, his gut churned.
“We have several appropriate gifts of the his and her nature. In this barrel, I have discs bearing the name of each guest.” A roaring sound filled his head as she read off the first name. A couple at the table on the far side of the room sprang from their seats. Jack relaxed fractionally when a second name was read out.
“And finally,” the hostess said. “Jack Sullivan and Emma Montrose.”
Jack and Emma shared a telling glance, and it was obvious to Jack they were thinking the same thing. They were being set up, and it was going to make it difficult to leave the room to do a search of the resort if they were being watched.
Amidst much clapping and ribald shouts, he and Emma made their way up to the front to accept their prizes.
“What have you got?” one of Emma’s new friends asked.
He was almost afraid to look. Jack ripped away the pretty steel gray bow and tore the black wrapping paper from the box. He lifted the lid to an array of sex toys. Jack jammed the lid back on.
“Toys,” he said.
“Emma?” her friend said.
Emma glanced at Jack, her brows rising in a silent question. He shook his head. She tugged the tape from the pink parcel she’d received and peeked inside.
A soft gasp emerged, and Jack noticed she seemed a bit flushed.
“What is it?” Each of her friends leaned forward to peer inside.
“Ohhh,” said one. “That’s the newest model vibrator out. Wish I’d won that!”
“Why would she want a vibrator when she’s got Jack?” another said.
Emma sneaked a look at Jack and found him staring at her. A flush ran the length of her body. But in truth, the vibrator wasn’t such a bad prize to win. When they were finished this assignment, she might need it because finding someone to fill Jack’s place was going to be difficult.
Half an hour later, Emma finished her lunch and checked her watch.
“I’d better go,” she said. “My appointment is in ten minutes.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Jack said. He stood and picked up the box she’d been given as well as the one he’d won.
“Where are you two going? Are you off to try out your prizes?”
Emma smiled politely, but the same anger she’d felt earlier in the gym rose up her throat to choke her. They’d probably been set up so that they won—props—to enliven the movie that was being shot with them being the star performers. She wondered what other prizes she and Jack would win during the rest of their stay.
They left the restaurant with neither speaking until they were ensured of privacy.
“We’re being set up,” Jack said, gesturing at the boxes he carried with a jerk of his chin.
“That’s obvious,” Emma muttered. “Just what I wanted. My sex life plastered all over the internet.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll get them,” Jack said in a harsh voice.
“That’s a promise,” Emma snapped, still smarting each time she recalled the males she’d overheard in the gym. “And we’ll bust their asses for both drugs and illicit filming.”
Jack grinned suddenly. “That’s my girl,” he said, and he leaned forward to kiss her square on the lips.
Emma’s heart somersaulted. If he wasn’t interested in her, then why was he kissing her like this when they didn’t have an audience? Men! She sure as heck didn’t understand them. Her lips softened under his, and she pressed into him even though the two boxes he carried dug into her ribs. Every breath she took was full of his scent. A groan built deep in her chest. Her body heated. Her pussy heated, moistening her panties. A perennial situation when she was around Jack. All she needed to do was think of him and her body prepared for his possession.
Their lips slid together. Sipping, nibbling, tasting. Mating. Her stomach swirled.
Jack pulled away with a curse, and they stared at each other for a long moment.
“I’ll see you on the beach at six,” he said. “Don’t be late.”
* * * * *
Jack paced the sand beneath the old pohutukawa tree and checked the skyline again. The last rays of sun brightened the horizon, but still Emma didn’t come.
A couple paddled in the small waves that rushed to shore, slowly making their way toward the main part of the resort. It was a Middle Eastern night tonight so Jack presumed everyone was preparing for another night of frivolity—drinking, eating and dancing late into the night.
He paced away from the tree and shivered when his body reacted to the pull of the moon. Even though it wasn’t visible in the sky yet, edginess assailed him. He glanced down at his tented shorts with a wry twist of lips. Damn, he needed Emma.
The vibrations of approaching footsteps made him turn.
Emma.
Jack found himself smiling—an automatic reaction. He couldn’t seem to stop.
His gaze scanned her body from the top of her head, down her curvy body and long legs to her feet. Whoa! His gaze darted back to her hair.
“Hi,” she called. Her whole body screamed self-conscious, alerting Jack to the fact he could hurt her if he d
idn’t say the right words. An opportunity to blow this budding relationship apart. He didn’t take it.
“I was starting to worry,” he said.
Emma came to a stop right in front of him, so close they were almost touching. The back of his fingers drifted across her smooth cheek then he lifted his hand higher to tug lightly on a fragrant curl. It was the exact color of the sunset—a combination of red and golden brown and orange.
“You’ve got a sunset in your hair.”
Her head jerked up, her blue eyes wide and uncertain at his compliment. “Is that good?”
“You look beautiful. Worth the wait.” Jack hesitated awkwardly on hearing his words, but they came from the heart. And that gave him pause. What the hell was happening to him? This investigation was going nowhere. Frustration was his middle name, yet it wasn’t the lack of progress that irritated the heck out of his life plan. It wasn’t the impending blue moon. It was Emma.
A sensible man who happened to also be a shape-shifting taniwha would do the job and walk away…
Jack shrugged inwardly and pushed away his insidious fears. Emma wasn’t going to die because he was a taniwha. If he had his way, she would never find out.
“Find out anything helpful?” Emma sat on the sand and hugged her knees as she stared out to sea.
Jack dropped down by her side, casting a quick glance at Emma. “Nothing.”
“Are you still going out tonight?”
“Yeah.” Damn right. It was even more dangerous staying in.
“What do we do? Stuff the bed with pillows and make it look like we’re sleeping for a change?” She glanced over at him with an impish grin that made her resemble a mischievous pixie.
Jack stared. “It’s so simple, it might work.” He kept staring. Damn, she was pretty. He’d never noticed how creamy and touchable her skin appeared. His gaze drifted then lingered on her mouth, and he found himself leaning toward Emma. Their lips collided then clung together, lingering, nuzzling and sucking with the ease of familiarity. A hand—Emma’s hand—slid around his neck, urging him closer. They kissed until the need for air forced them to stop. Breathless, they drew apart.
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