gillian still hadn't made up her mind what to do by the time Lex unlocked their room. They'd had the foresight to hang a do not disturb sign on the door before they'd left, and Lex replaced it on the outside before closing the door. The twin mattress was where they'd left it leaning against the built-in bed frame on the far side of the room.
The blinds were closed, but the sound of foot traffic outside on the deck filtered through the window. Gillian was very aware of Lex watching her as she stepped around the mattress so she could reach the small built-in desk next to the dresser. On top lay the leather-bound book that contained all the important facts about the ship.
She flipped it open and adjusted her glasses against the bridge of her nose. Eventually she found the section on ship-to-shore calls. The phones were located in a lounge on D Deck across from the purser's office, and right in the flow of heavy passenger traffic. Going in there unnoticed would be almost impossible.
Earlier she'd convinced herself that she had the guts to make the call, but Lex had scared her enough that she wasn't quite so eager to be a hero. His logic made sense, or at least she wanted it to make sense. If the Mob had wanted her dead, wouldn't she be dead by now? Hit men didn't mess around.
But playing along would let Neil off the hook, the very thing Neil's stepfather probably wanted. Gillian didn't want that. She and Phil Adamo had a difference of opinion, but it wasn't likely to be settled in a civilized fashion.
She glanced up at Lex, who was leaning casually against the door. She didn't think his position was casual in the least. He was blocking her exit.
She faced him. "Lex, I have to do this thing. I picture Neil jetting off somewhere, covering his tracks with the help of his connections. I've already let the information sit too long."
"I can't believe twenty-four hours will make that much difference. We dock in Vista Verde tomorrow morning. Once you're safely off the ship and on your way, I can make the call. Or Dante can."
She shook her head. 'Twenty-four hours will make a lot of difference. The investigators will have a tough time, especially if there's no corpse. They need to get started now."
"That's a matter of opinion." He crossed his arms over his chest and braced his legs a little farther apart.
"How can you say that?" She wondered if he knew how much his body language revealed. He was widening his stance to appear more formidable, but it also made him more sexual. She thought he intended to use everything at his command to keep her there.
"I'm the professional, remember? And it's my professional opinion that this call can wait twenty-four hours."
She stepped around the mattress and walked toward him. "Is that your unbiased professional opinion?"
"Absolutely."
"Bullshit." She got right in his face. It was a very attractive face, with the most gorgeous blue eyes, but at the moment the man and his attractive face were obstructing what was right. "You're letting your feelings for me cloud your professional judgment, and you know it."
"No, I don't know that." He met her gaze with maddening calmness. "My professional judgment is clear as a bell. It tells me that you'll put yourself in greater jeopardy by attempting to make this call."
"But it's the only way to catch Neil!"
"That could well be, but I've considered the cost/benefit ratio very carefully, and—"
"The what? She clenched her hands, torn between the urge to grab him and pull him away from the door, and the urge to grab him and tear his clothes off. He was being impossibly male, and she was frustrated on many levels, including sexually.
He continued to lean against the door, but he uncrossed his arms and took off his glasses. "The cost/benefit ratio indicates that the cost is way too high for the potential benefit, a benefit I didn't hire on to guarantee, by the way. It's not my job to help the cops catch Neil. It's my job to keep you safe."
"Move your body, Lex." She could feel the heat coming from him, heat that collided with her own. "I'm going down to that phone room. If you want to come, that's fine."
He didn't move, but his breathing had changed, becoming heavier. The plaid material of his nerdy shirt quivered with each expansion of his chest. "I advise you to reconsider that plan of action."
"No. I'm going."
Determination turned his eyes to steel. "I don't think so." She grabbed handfuls of his plaid shirt. "Let me go, damn it!"
He shook his head.
"You have to!" Then she gave in to the urge that had been taunting her and ripped the shirt, tearing it away to reveal his chest glistening with sweat. The material drifted from her hands as she reached up and smoothed her palms over his hot, damp skin. Slowly she raised her head and looked into his eyes.
With a groan he crushed her to him. Taking off her glasses, he tossed them over her head. They landed with a clatter somewhere behind her. Then his mouth was everywhere, scorching her face, her neck, the shoulder he laid bare when he ripped her thin T-shirt aside. She felt his teeth against her skin as she fumbled with his belt and zipper.
Pulling at each other's clothes, they staggered toward her bed. He pushed her down to the mattress as he wrenched away any obstacle to his questing mouth. Buttons popped and seams gave way, until at last he lifted her hips and buried his face between her quivering thighs.
It was a take-no-prisoners assault, an invasion that allowed her no place to hide. He took complete possession of that very private terrain and made it his playground. She lay helplessly gasping for air, awash in the pleasures of his demanding mouth and relentless tongue. She came twice before he slowed the pace.
Scooting her higher up on the bed, he kissed his way to her mouth. He tasted of sex. "I'm going for the other condom."
She closed her eyes. "Yes." It was the only word she knew. He could have anything he wanted, anything at all.
"Oh, and by the way, I love your natural hair color."
It took her a full three seconds before the meaning of that became clear. When it did, her eyes flew open. She'd never dyed her hair before, so she'd never had to think of the possibility that she wouldn't match.
Squeezing her eyes shut again, she gave thanks that she'd found a man who cherished every part of her, the dyed hair and the not-dyed hair. He'd even given her hope that he wouldn't mind so much if she got rid of the blond. Then she remembered that none of that mattered, because in the time they'd be together, her hair wouldn't have a chance to grow out.
That was the kind of depressing 'thought she could live without, and she vowed to put it out of her mind. If she didn't experience these moments fully she'd never forgive herself. Lex was searching out the second condom. Nothing mattered but that.
Soon she felt his weight on fee bed, the warmth of his body drawing near, the brash of his thighs against hers, his mouth feathering her chin, her cheeks, her closed eyelids.
Then came the firm thrust and the glorious sensation of his cock buried deep inside her.
Eyes still closed so that she could concentrate on her sense of touch, she cupped his tight butt and wiggled closer, wanting to take in every last inch. "I love doing this," she murmured.
His voice was tight with strain as he began to move. "Funny thing, so do I."
Slowly she opened her eyes, wanting to see the ecstasy she felt reflected on his face. She wasn't disappointed. "You look happy."
He pumped slowly, deliberately. "Even my toes are smiling."
"Mine, too." She moved in rhythm with him, feeling lazy, sexy, not climactic yet, but the promise was there. And underneath, the gentle vibration of the mattress echoed the steady thrumming of the ship's engines. "Can you feel that?"
"I can feel everything. Your thighs rubbing mine, your vaginal muscles massaging my cock, your nipples tickling my chest if I lean down like this."
"I meant the ship's engines. The vibration in the mattress."
"A little. Through my knees and my elbows."
"I like it. Sort of kinky. I guess I can feel it more, because I'm on my back."
"I'm well aware that you're on your back." His strokes came a little fester, sow. He lifted his body and gazed down at her breasts. "One of my favorite views. I love watching them take the impact"
Feeling wanton, she arched upward and cupped her breasts, bringing them within reach of his mouth. "Do take a bite."
With a soft groan, he leaned down and nipped gently at each nipple. "This is going to make me come," he murmured, right before he started sucking. The effect on her was sudden. She went from a medium setting to high heat in about two seconds. The clenching sensation of an impending climax made her gasp. "That's... that's good."
He sucked her breast deeper into his hot mouth as he pumped faster. She'd had two orgasms already, but she could already tell that this one... this one was the Mother Lode. As the pressure built, she began to pant. Her fingers dug into his butt and then... oh... my... God. Breathless cries spilled out as the spasms gripped her so hard she thought her body might fly apart
Dimly she realized that he was coming, too, his body shuddering and pushing against hers, and at the very end he released her breast and groaned with, such obvious satisfaction that she began to giggle in pure delight
She hugged him tight cradling Ms sweaty body against her slick skin. "Isn't this just the best sex ever?"
"Yeah." His breath was warm against her ear. "The best ever."
As she lay there getting her bearings, she once again became aware of the passenger foot traffic outside their window. "We, umm, might have let a few others in on the secret"
He nuzzled her neck. "Do you care?"
She thought about that. "Not much. When I consider the cost/benefit ratio, I'm willing to give up a little privacy for the chance to have some amazing sex."
He chuckled. "Good girl."
"Lex?"
"Hmm?"
"Don't think the issue of that phone call is dead."
He lay there quietly for a moment. "Don't think I won't try to seduce you every time you get the urge to call."
A little of the shine came off her bubble of happiness. "Is that all you were doing? Keeping me from calling?"
Immediately he levered himself up and gazed down at her. His blue eyes flashed with intensity. "Don't you dare think that. Not for a minute. If you'd absolutely insisted on going down there, I would have gone with you. But I— I was getting mixed messages, and I thought maybe you might want something else... something like this."
"Obviously, I did."
"So did I. More than you can guess. If it kept you from calling right this minute, that was a side benefit. But this time together was for me." He smiled at her. "I wanted to give you something good to remember, because I'm probably going to embarrass myself doing the limbo."
She cradled his face in both hands. "I don't care. It was sort of romantic that you decided to do it."
"Really? I thought it was sort of dumb. I should have let Dante have the honors."
"Why didn't you?" She was enjoying this conversation.
"Because I'm jealous of him. There. Happy, now?"
"Yes." She pinched his cheeks. "You have no reason to be jealous of Dante, but I don't mind if you are. It strokes my ego."
"I'd rather stroke other parts of you." He ran his hand along her hip. "I crave you, Gillian. So much sometimes that it scares me."
She felt a sharp pain in the vicinity of her heart. "Don't get too attached, okay? This is one of those ships-passing-in-the-night deals."
"We've done a hell of a lot more than pass. We've come alongside, boarded each, other and climbed the rigging."
"Lex! That was almost poetic." She wondered if discovering a romantic streak in Lex was such a good idea. If she could relegate him to the category of hot, sweaty sex, while keeping her heart free for somebody more romantic, maybe even someone who would woo her in Spanish, Life would be much less complicated.
"Not bad for an Aries, huh?"
Uh-oh. Now she had a lump in her throat. Lumps weren't good when you planned to make a clean getaway in twenty-four hours. She swallowed that lump and hoped he hadn't picked up on the emotion in her voice. "Not bad. Not bad at all."
Twenty-one
THE LIMBO CONTEST WAS TURNING OUT TO BE ABOUT as bad as Lex had anticipated. Steel band music blared from the ship's sound system as nerdy passengers stood around and clapped—rhythmically or not so rhythmically—to urge on the coordinated and flexible ones. That wouldn't be Lex.
If he hadn't been shored up by that incredible hour in the room with Gillian, his lack of limbo ability would have bugged the hell out of him. Gillian didn't seem to mind that they were booted by the third round. But he wanted to be her champion, and he was outgunned.
Even Hector, their Mafia suspect, had lasted into the fourth round with his partner, a blonde named Dorothy. Nancy Roth had managed to get Jared Stevenson the Third through the fourth round, but they'd lost out in the fifth. Nancy looked poked by that.
But the crushing blow was that by the sixth round, Cora and Little Ben were still in the running. Or the dancing, to be more accurate. I can't believe I've been beat out by the geriatric set." Lex watched Cora and Little Ben lean back and shimmy right under the pole like a couple of teenagers.
"It's easier for Little Ben," Gillian said. "He's short."
"Yeah, but he's old. And Cora! Look at that woman go!"
"She's so cute." Gillian beamed. "I love seeing her have such a good time. She's looked forward to this cruise for months."
"You could do better with a different partner." Lex never liked to compete in an area where he wasn't the best, so the limbo contest was torture. Worse yet, he was holding back a teammate, in this case, Gillian.
"Honestly, I don't care."
"You should have paired up with Dante." Amazingly, Dante and BJ were still up there. "I've always thought he was uncoordinated, but look at him. He must be double-jointed." Lex watched Dante practically doing a back bend as he shimmied under the pole with BJ.
"Lex, I thought it was wonderful that you tried. Don't be upset that you fell on your—"
"Ass. I fell on my ass. I'm not too proud to say it."
Gillian reached back and quietly pinched his butt. "It's a very fine ass, too."
That soothed him. "Thank you."
"Some people have... other talents. Less public talents."
"Now I'm feeling much better."
"Good." She rubbed her thigh against his. "Because I wouldn't trade what happened in our room for all the limbo prizes in the world. By the way, we still have to schedule our couples massage."
"You still want to do that?" He could think of a more private place where they could massage each other, undisturbed.
"We'll see. But it could be fun. Let's see how long this takes to finish up."
"Okay." Lex couldn't help noticing how she was wiggling her hips to the music. She wanted to be back out there, strutting her stuff. "Listen, I'm sure it's not too late for you to try again. See if they'll let you go under with Dante as a separate team from him and BJ."
Nancy Roth sashayed up beside them. "I have an even better idea. Once the teams are finished, how about a solo competition for anybody who wants to compete on his or her own? I mentioned it to Jared, and he said that sounded fine to him. I guess he thought I should get another chance at a prize."
"So should Gillian." Lex wasn't crazy about Nancy, but in this particular case she was proposing something that would make him feel less guilty about holding Gillian back. Maybe Gillian wouldn't win, but at least she wouldn't be dealing with a handicap.
"I don't really need a singles contest," Gillian said.
"Hey, go for it." Lex decided to be a cheerleader for the idea. "I want to see what you can do. While we were going under together, I was too busy trying to stay upright to appreciate your technique."
"There you go, girlfriend." Nancy winked at Gillian. "Give yourself a chance to turn the guy on. Personally, I think Jared wants to watch me do it for the same reason. It'll get him hot. Lex, talk her int
o it. I'll go round up some more contestants."
Once Nancy was gone, Lex put an arm around Gillian and leaned down to murmur in her ear. "Do it. Nancy's right. I want to see you go under that pole because it's a turn-on. Limbo for me and get me hot."
She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You need a limbo to get you hot?"
"Maybe not, but there's nothing wrong with stoking the fire a little, is there?"
"If you say so." She nudged his hip with hers. "Unless you consider the supply of condoms."
"You enter the singles limbo contest, and I'll take care of the supply of condoms." He was getting hard just thinking of that The gift shop had to be stocked to the rafters, considering this was supposed to be a matchmaking cruise. He'd probably discover they had colored ones.
"Okay," Gillian said. "I'll do the singles contest." She turned, glanced up at him, and smiled. "Try to control yourself."
She had no idea how difficult he was finding that task. But during a public limbo contest, he should be able to manage. Once they were alone again in the room, he'd make no promises.
He'd debated when to broach the idea of going with her to South America. His instincts told him to hold off. She might have some idea that he couldn't leave his home and job to go running off into the unknown with her. But the more time they spent together, especially in bed, the better chance he had of convincing her that was the only course of action that made sense.
The couples limbo contest came to a rousing conclusion, and contrary to Lex's opinion of Dante's coordination, his partner and BJ walked off with the prize of a bottle of champagne and assorted cheeses. He wished Dante hadn't done a spastic end-zone dance after accepting his prize, but that was Dante.
Cora and Little Ben lost out, but Lex enjoyed watching Irwin and Emily, the couple from the lifeboat, take second place. They looked thrilled as they accepted their prize picnic basket. Lex realized it made sense. Anybody with the agility to climb into a lifeboat and have sex in there without crippling themselves should be able to manage a decent limbo.
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