When he came back into the main room, Avery was no longer reading. Her heels were off, her bare feet were propped up on the coffee table, she was nursing a beer, and the look on her face said she’d read enough.
He sat in the chair adjacent to her. “Well?”
“Sexual activities are allowed in public areas during the day, but guests are encouraged to be discreet. After all, anyone in a boat offshore can see what you’re doing, and the resort takes its guests’ privacy very seriously.”
He smiled. “Is that what it says in the packet?”
She took a long swallow from her beer. “Word for word. They do offer discreet activities during the day, however, if you don’t want to laze by the pool and/or flirt with the next couple over. Naked scuba diving, couples yoga—I can only imagine what happens there—clothing-optional water volleyball. Apparently the activities pool is set far enough back from the beach so as not to be seen by prying eyes.”
“The kinky rich and famous. They’ve thought of everything.”
She shot him a look, then took another long drink. “Don’t lump me in with this group. After hours, the clubs open, and according to this, there’s a little something for everyone. A dance club, a strip club, a bondage club, a fantasy club… It’s all laid out like it’s no big deal.”
“It is no big deal, Avery. This is a swingers resort, or did you forget?”
“I didn’t forget.” She pushed to her feet with a huff and moved across the room.
She was clearly agitated. Whether it was sexual frustration or something else, though, Cade didn’t know. God knew he was sexually frustrated just listening to those words come out of her sweet little mouth. Fantasy club? He could think of a few fantasies he’d like to play out with her.
He shifted in his seat, more to relieve the pressure in his groin than to face her. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” She stopped pacing and threw her hands out. “What’s wrong is that in the hour or so we’ve been here, you haven’t asked anyone a single question about Melody. How do we even know where to look for clues? When Mario said the resort discreetly takes care of couples that break up while here, didn’t that sound odd to you at all?”
Cade pushed out of his chair, crossed the floor, and placed both hands on her shoulders. “Take a breath.”
“Don’t tell me to relax. This is my friend we’re talking about.”
“I know. And we’re going to figure out what happened to her, but if we go asking too many questions right off the bat, all we’re going to do is draw attention. Employees working in a place like this are instructed to be on the lookout for people who ask too many questions. I know what I’m doing, Avery. Trust me.”
She eyed him for several seconds, then finally said, “Trusting you is not something I ever planned to do again.”
It was a slap—one he deserved—but it still stung. He forced back the hurt, not because he didn’t want to feel it, but because before this weekend was over, he planned to make up to her a little of what he’d done. “And being in a place like this with you is something I never imagined would ever happen, but I’m making the best of it. If you want to find your friend, that’s what you’re going to have to do too. Unless all of this is too much for you. In that case, I can call Aegis, and they can send a different couple down here to dig around, and you and I can go home.”
“No.”
The word was fast, crisp, and to the point. And every muscle in Cade’s body relaxed. The last thing he wanted was to go home now, when he was alone with the woman he hadn’t stopped thinking about since he was a kid.
He nodded, because it was safer than kissing her or throwing her on that giant bed like he wanted to do. “In that case, I want you to go back over there, think about what Melody said to you during your one phone call while she was here, then pick one.”
“You want us to sign up for the same activities she took?”
“Yep. I’m hoping we’ll get the same instructors. If so, we might be able to retrace at least some of her footsteps while she was here.”
Avery’s expression said she wasn’t sure that would work, but she eased out of his grip and moved back to the couch. After rifling through her purse, she pulled out a palm-sized notepad, then looked through the brochures. Several seconds passed in silence before she muttered, “Shit.”
From the bar where he was pouring himself a soda, Cade looked up. “What?”
A nervous expression crept over Avery’s face. “She took a massage class while she was here. She mentioned it on the phone.”
“Massage class. That’s easy enough.” A grin spread across his face. “My shoulders could use a rubdown.”
Instead of the irritated look he expected in response to his smart-¬ass remark, nervousness crossed Avery’s girl-next-door features, and she looked back down at her papers.
“What’s wrong with a massage class?” he asked
“There’s only one listed.”
Curious, Cade crossed the room with drink in hand, glanced down at the picture in the brochure she was pointing toward, and felt every muscle in his body surge to attention.
Listed amongst the activities the resort offered were the words: Erotic Instructional Couples Massage.
CHAPTER FOUR
Erotic Instructional Massage.
Holy hell. Cade’s cock jerked at the thought.
Darkness had fallen over the resort, and lights along the path illuminated the walkways and cast shadows over palm trunks. A warm breeze blew in from the water, dragging the sounds of reggae music from the pool area along the Caribbean air.
Avery was back in their room getting ready for dinner, and since sitting around fantasizing about her naked in that tub wasn’t getting him anywhere, he’d decided to take a walk and check out the resort while he waited. But he couldn’t get those words out of his head. And knowing they were taking that class tomorrow…
Blood surged to his groin, and he took a deep breath to settle himself. As much as he was looking forward to that little activity, he needed to remember the real reason they were here.
He steered clear of the pool and restaurants and instead headed for the employee quarters at the back of the resort. During his years working undercover, he’d discovered you could learn a lot just by staying in the shadows and watching.
The music faded into the distance as he ducked into the protective darkness of the trees and scanned the area outside a row of shabby-looking rooms. The building was a drab white color with tiny front stoops, a flat roof, and windows that were the size of his laptop. Nothing like the palatial guest suites visible to Indulgence’s high-class clientele.
A woman singing, a shower running, the muffled sounds of a TV. He stayed in the shrubs and moved down, stopping when he heard voices coming from a small patio.
Two men. Both Jamaican with thick accents. One was smoking and pacing. The other was sitting on the step, nursing a beer.
“Ay, mon,” the first said, then took a drag from the cigarette and resumed pacing. “I saw, but they don’t fit the type. Too flashy.”
“She looks like that actress,” the one on the stoop said. “What’s her name? Scott. Avery Scott. That’s it.”
“A Hollywood starlet like dat would never come to a place like this, mon. Use your brain.”
Cade strained to see the men. Both were very dark skinned, and with little light, he couldn’t make out more than their silhouettes against the building.
“I am using it.” The guy on the stoop lifted his beer and took a long pull. “She’s tempting, you gotta admit.”
The first stopped directly in front him. “I said no. End of discussion. They haven’t been checked out, and besides, her husband gives me a bad vibe.”
Laughter echoed over the trees, followed by the flash of very white teeth. “Your mama’s been feeding you too much a dat voodoo shit. Ain’t no bad vibes around those two. And that guy she’s with ain’t her husband. No married people look at each other like d
at. But trust me, he gonna drop her like a hot potato when she hooks up with someone here. Just wait and see. Be easy then. Besides, I could take the guy if he caused trouble. I like the look of her, actress or not.”
Cade’s jaw clenched, but he stayed quiet and still in the cover of the trees.
“You’ll not be taking nobody,” the first said in a hard voice. “Things are getting too hot as it is. The shipment’s going out Monday. The bossman just wants us to get through the weekend without any incidents. We’re moving to the Dominican Republic after this.”
The first man moved around the guy on the stoop, opened the screen door, and stepped inside. It slammed closed with a snap.
The remaining guy sighed and muttered, “Dumbfuck.” Then he finished his beer, tossed the empty bottle into the foliage, and pushed to his feet. Though Cade couldn’t see his face, he could tell the guy was big. At least six-two and two-hundred-forty pounds. Standing still as stone, Cade waited until the guy turned and went into the room before backing out of the shrubbery around him.
Thoughts swirled in his head as he headed back toward the beach. A shipment could be anything. Antiquities, cigars, weapons… The question was, if they were running some kind of black market goods in and out of Jamaica, why do it through a swingers resort?
He stopped when Mario’s admission that the resort took care of fighting couples discreetly ran back through his mind.
A jealous lover, a couple that had just broken up because one or the other had experimented and things went a little too far… A resort like this could do serious damage to a relationship. And cheating—even if done with permission—was the kind of thing that some men—and women—couldn’t forgive. A backdrop like that, where drama was happening all the time, where the cops might be called out to break up domestic disturbances and other emotionally charged situations, was the perfect place to run any kind of black market items because no one would ever think to look for them.
Maybe Avery was right. Maybe he needed to have a chat with the bellhop after all, but he didn’t plan to involve her. For the time being, there was no sense getting Avery worked up. He didn’t need her knowing what they’d possibly stumbled into.
“Okay, I’m ready. But I wish I had a shawl or something. This is way too low cut.”
Drawing a deep breath of courage, Avery stepped into the suite and drew up short.
Empty.
“Cade?”
She looked toward the bar, then moved out to the patio, her heels clicking on the slate. The warm breeze blew her hair back from her face as she glanced around. The water sparkled like a thousand diamonds beneath the half moon, and shadows lay heavy across the sand, but there was no sign of Cade.
Frowning, she moved back into the suite, stepped up to the bar, and noticed the note.
CHECKING OUT A FEW THINGS. BE BACK SOON.
WAIT FOR ME.
Disappointment trickled through her. Even though the sapphire dress he and her makeover specialist had picked out for her was too short, too tight, and dipped way too low to show off more of her breasts than she liked, a tiny part of her had been looking forward to Cade’s reaction when he saw her.
“Dammit, Avery,” she muttered. “You shouldn’t even care about his reaction.”
Disgusted with herself, she marched to the bar, pulled open the small fridge, and reached for a beer. After popping the top, she took a long swallow that did shit for her nerves and breathed out a heavy sigh.
“Melody,” she said aloud, hoping it would kill the stupid butterflies in her stomach. “You’re doing this to find Melody.”
“A dress that hot demands champagne, not beer.”
Startled, Avery looked up to find Cade standing in the patio doorway, wearing loose linen pants and a pale yellow, short-sleeved button-down that showcased the muscles in his chest, the width of his shoulders, and that intriguing tattoo on his forearm. His hair was mussed, his eyes as dark as she’d ever seen them, and that thin layer of scruff covering the edge of his scar made those butterflies take flight all over again. “I… Where have you been?”
He crossed the floor, gently took the beer from her hand, and set it on the marble counter. His scent—clean, musky, with a hint of leather and spice—surrounded her and made her legs weak. Without a word, he opened the small fridge, pulled out a bottle of Cristal, and unscrewed the metal cage from around the cork.
“Cade?”
He was watching her with those intensely dark eyes, just like he’d done earlier when she’d seen him in the lobby of Aegis. Only this time they weren’t cold and assessing; they were filled with a heat she felt everywhere, and her insides warmed with every passing second. He’d changed a lot over the years. Had become rugged. More rough around the edges. A hell of a lot more dangerous. But he still made her pulse quicken and every single cell in her body jerk to life in a way it hadn’t done for years.
The cork gave with a pop, and he reached for a flute from under the bar, poured the bubbly liquid into a glass, and handed it to her. “Drink.”
“Aren’t you having one?” She took the glass, tried not to jump when his fingers brushed hers and electricity arced all along her skin.
“I think you need this more than I do. I want you semi-relaxed when we head out there.” That sexy half smile quirked one side of his lips, the one that always did crazy things to her heartbeat. “So you don’t give us away.”
Apprehension and arousal tangled in her stomach. The way he was watching her made her think he had something else planned, but she believed him when he said he was here only to help her find Melody. She had to; otherwise, she might go mad.
Slowly, she brought the flute to her lips and took a sip. The bubbly liquid was crisp, full-flavored, and went down smooth. And God, she did need it. But not because of what she’d see out there. She’d already resigned herself to the fact she was going to see things she’d never seen before. She needed it because just being near Cade made her question every one of her resolutions where he was concerned.
She drank half the glass before she realized he was leaning against the bar, still watching her with that amused expression. She lowered the flute. “Are you not drinking because you’re technically on duty?”
His smile widened, brightening his eyes. “No.”
One answer. No hint as to what it meant. Mr. Dark and Mysterious was alive and kicking tonight.
“Don’t you drink?”
He shook his head.
“Why not?”
“It deadens the senses.”
There was more to that, but the way he was studying her was so penetrating, so wickedly intimate, she was afraid to ask more. Taking a sip of her champagne, she wove into the sitting area of the suite and looked out at the sparkling water. “Where’d you get that tattoo on your arm?”
It looked like a scroll and rose, and she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. The artwork was amazing.
“A tat shop outside Vegas called Wicked Ink. The owner and I go way back.”
Surprised, Avery glanced over her shoulder. “You know Rush Merrick? How?”
Cade chuckled and pushed away from the bar. “Heard of him, huh? Jackass used to be a nobody, and now look at him.”
Rush Merrick was one of the best tattoo artists in the country. His work had been featured in more than one national magazine, and several of Avery’s friends were currently on a waiting list to see him. “He does work for a number of celebrities.”
He approached like a cat on the prowl, and Avery’s pulse picked up all over again. “When I was in Afghanistan with the military, we were on patrol one day and came across this bombed-out village. We had a few informants in that town, and the US had helped rebuild a school the Taliban had destroyed. The Taliban obviously didn’t like that.”
“That’s awful.”
“It was.” He looked out the window, and for a moment, his eyes darkened, as if remembering back. “I’m still not sure how it happened, but one of the guys in my unit tripped
a mine. Shrapnel went flying. We were lucky no one was killed, but several of us got hit. Piece of metal burned my forearm to hell. It healed but always looked like crap.”
He turned back to face her, and when he did, the shadows were gone, making her wonder just what he’d seen and experienced overseas and how it had changed him. “So about a year later, I was home on leave in Vegas with a few buddies. One thing led to another, like it does in Vegas, and we ended up at this little tattoo shop. Merrick was the artist. He was a nobody then—just a kid—but even wasted on tequila, I could tell he had talent. We took him out with us after, got him totally shitfaced.” He smiled, looking more like the boy she remembered and not the man he’d become. “Pretty sure he doesn’t drink anymore after that night either. Whenever I want work done now, though, he’s my go-to guy.”
He was inches from her, standing at the windows with her, and she could feel the heat rolling off him in waves. Wondered if he could feel the same heat suddenly pouring from her.
He lifted his arm so she could see the lines and colors on his forearm. “Go on, take a look.”
Slowly, she did, and her breath caught. Lines rolled and flowed as if on canvas. Color blended in swirls to add depth and intrigue. “It’s really beautiful.”
She reached out to touch it, then realized what she’d been about to do and pulled back.
“That one’s for show.” With his other arm, he pulled up his sleeve. “This one’s personal.”
Avery’s gaze slid from tanned skin to sculpted muscle. A cross encased in a heart was surrounded by angel wings. This tattoo was bigger, starting at his shoulder and running down his bicep, and beneath the heart, three small letters were etched into his skin.
“My mom’s initials,” he said. “This is on her tombstone.”
Avery’s gaze jerked to his. His mother had died of cancer when he was eight. But she didn’t remember any tombstone.
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