The Playboy

by Alice Ward

  I nodded then sipped the wine. Taking the platter of food, I went to him, placing it on the bed between us. Picking up the bottle of wine, I filled his glass. He sat up, facing me. Running his hands under the robe, he pushed it apart, making the belt come untied. He pulled the belt all the way out of the loops. “Uh, oh, did I accidently get dressed?”

  “It appears so.” But he left the robe where it was after strategically opening it enough to see a nipple. Yeah, he was sexy as all hell, but he was still a man.

  “Are you okay?” I asked him.

  He smiled and linked his fingers through mine. “Very. It just amazes me how beautiful you are. No makeup. Wet hair. You seem to just glow with perfection. It’s hard for me to remember a time I haven’t loved you. It’s as if you’ve always been there, lingering just beneath the surface.”

  We took turns feeding each other grapes then drinking the wine we’d forgotten about earlier. And it may as well have been the first time for me. With Zane, things felt different. I didn’t know exactly what to call our type of sex. Making love seemed too sweet, fucking seemed too harsh. Somehow, we managed to mix it all up and make it our own.

  It was only six in the evening, but the sun had been completely obliterated by the dark storm clouds, making it dark as night. Back before technology came along, one would think the apocalypse was upon us. We were lucky, we knew the storm would end. Only I didn’t want it to end.

  I wanted us to stay right where we were, safe from the world and all that was trying to destroy us. Like a kid who never wanted to grow up, I never wanted the fantasy I’d found with Zane to end.

  In our little room, we could play with each other, live out all kinds of sexual fantasies, and pretend we were the only two people in the world. In a twist of nature, it was the storm outside keeping us safe from harm.

  Zane grew quiet again, and I grew concerned. “What’s wrong?” I asked him, stroking his face with my finger.

  “I’ve just been trying to think about how to make all this work between us. I mean, you already have your career going and you love your job. I never cared for anything that much. But I like the whole idea of being an agent.” He glanced up at me, as if measuring my reaction. “Maybe working with you.”

  I smiled. “Really?”

  He looked surprised that I hadn’t laughed at him, so he went on. “How does one become an FBI agent?”

  I watched the wine swirl in my glass. “Well, it all starts with a college degree, at least a Bachelor’s, but it’s better if you have even higher degrees than that. I had a Bachelor’s in Criminology when I began the application process. While I was in school, I also did my internship at the local police station. I was just a dispatcher, but I learned a lot.”

  “You knew you wanted a career with the FBI for a long time, didn’t you?”

  I nodded, smiling at the memory. “My father’s hometown was Fort Worth, Texas. His father was the sheriff there. I have all sorts of pictures with them both when they were in the Mounted Posse. I didn’t get to know my granddad until I was twelve. That was the first time Dad took us back to the place he grew up. I never got to see my grandfather in action, he was retired by then. But he had lots of stories, and my father had some good ones too from when he was a deputy.”

  “Is your father still in law enforcement?”

  “No. My mother is from Queens, but she and her family were on vacation, traveling across the country to take in some of the big cities. Fort Worth was one of their stops. They fell in love the weekend she spent there. They did the long-distance thing for a while, writing letters before he finally moved to New York. She begged him not to be in law enforcement. She thought it was too dangerous.”

  He chuckled. “How’d she take you getting into the FBI then?”

  That wasn’t a memory I wanted to recall — ever.

  “Badly, of course, but I couldn’t let Mom’s fear detour my dream. I made the best grades I could in school and applied to the University of Texas, a college where many applicants of the FBI attend. That’s what my grandfather had told me to do. He’s the one who got me on the path I needed to be on.”

  He pushed my hair back from my face, looking at me with genuine admiration. “You’re amazing, Sloane Anderson. Being a woman, I bet you came up against a lot of asshole men who thought you should do something else with your life.”

  Another bad memory. “Once I got into the academy, it wasn’t just the men who tried to break me, the women did too. I was small compared to some of those amazons, so I worked harder, got in the best shape possible. And learned all I could so I wouldn’t get stuck at a desk once I finished the academy.”

  He ran his fingers over my abs. “Yeah, you have proof to just how hard you have worked.”

  I couldn’t help but be proud. I’d worked my ass off trying to be fit. “It’s been worth it. I’m still officially a rookie, so landing this assignment was a big deal.”

  A big deal I can’t screw up.

  He squeezed my fingers. “I know it takes a certain kind of person to make a good agent. I don’t want you to think I’m being a dick when I ask you this.”

  I was curious. “Ask me what?”

  Trailing a finger up the middle of my stomach, his hand came to rest on my breast. “I happen to have a Master’s Degree in Law. I didn’t go past that. I never even tried to pass the bar exam. I lost interest. Would that kind of degree be helpful in getting through the application process?”

  I didn’t mean to look so stunned, but I couldn’t get the stunned look to disappear from my face. Him? This playboy had a Master’s in law? “You think you’d like to become an agent?” He looked embarrassed and I forced myself to stop gaping at him. “Zane, look at me. Are you serious?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “I loved helping you. I know I fucked everything up, but I loved doing it up until that point. With some training, I think I might be good at it. I’ve never wanted anything before. The law degree was something my parents thought I should get since I had no interest in anything else. Believe it or not, I’m smart. I can usually do anything I set my mind to. I’ve just never set my mind on anything. Until you came along. Now it seems I’ve got my mind set on you.”

  They said to never judge a book by its cover, and no cliché could ever be more true than with the man in front of me. I traced his tattoo, thinking how truly special he was. “You do seem to be genuinely interested. I don’t see why you couldn’t apply. You’ll need a few years of work experience too.”

  “Would interning in a law office suffice?”

  I laughed. The surprises kept stacking up. “Have you got that under your belt too, Zane Boyd?”

  “I do. I spent three years interning as an assistant in a New York law firm. Even though I didn’t want to be a lawyer, I loved the puzzle and challenge of law. Seeking out the truth, stuff like that.”

  I leaned over and kissed him. “You are full of surprises, Mr. Playboy. Do you have more I should know?”

  “Nope. That’s everything. Well, maybe not. In my search to find myself, I’ve tinkered with all kinds of things.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, I’m a certified deep-sea diver, and I can weld underwater too.”

  I shook my head, mesmerized by him. “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. Sounded interesting at the time.”

  “Shit, Zane all those things are great. When you add in the fact you have a license to carry a concealed weapon, you just might pull this off. But what will your parents think about all this?”

  He tucked some hair behind my ear, his eyes growing soft as he looked at me. “They’re going to be so fucking over the moon that I have a woman I love and a career, they’ll probably have a party.”

  The thought of meeting Zane’s parents shook me to the core. The weather seemed to agree with me because the wind rattled the window.

  “Listen to that wind, Zane. It sounds insane.”

  He kissed my temple then my lips. “Yeah, it does.” He pu
shed me back onto the bed and stroked my nipple with his tongue. “But don’t worry, I’m happy to distract you.”

  And distract me, he did.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Zane

  The storm raged on throughout the night, but it didn’t bother us. All that sex had exhausted us. I woke feeling refreshed. The curtain had been left open, and even though it was still dark and rainy, the sun was up there, behind the dark clouds, lending us some light.

  I got up and went to the window, leaving Sloane in bed sleeping. It was still raining, but the winds had let up. It looked like we had survived the worst of it. There was some flooding from what I could tell from this distance, but things could have been much worse.

  Climbing back under the blanket, I wrapped my arms around Sloane, nuzzling the back of her head as she slept on her side. She stirred, and I pressed my lips to her neck, then shushed her back to sleep. No reason to wake her up yet.

  Holding her quickly calmed me down. It felt like nothing bad could possibly happen to us as long as we were together. I couldn’t see myself ever letting her go. I wouldn’t rush things, but I wouldn’t let things get stale between us either. For the first time in my life, I had something to work on. A relationship.

  I’d buy us a home in Washington, D.C. when we went back to America. Should I surprise her with one, or should she and I pick out a home together?

  She moved a little, stretching her arm out from under the blanket and yawned. “What time is it?”

  Picking up my cell, I checked the clock. “Nine. It’s still raining, but the wind is better. A little flooding but it’s not too bad.”

  She rolled out of the bed. Fists rubbed sleepy eyes as she padded over to the window. “That looks like more than a little flooding if you ask me.”

  “I’m sure the water will recede once the rain completely stops.” I stayed calm, cool, and collected for her as I joined her at the window.

  “How long will that take?” She ran her arms around me, hugging me as she continued to look outside. “How long will we be trapped like this?”

  Taking her by the chin, I ran the pad of my thumb over her cheek. “I could stay trapped with you like this forever. Haven’t I made the storm fun for you, baby?”

  Her eyes glistened with the memories of all we’d done. “You have, but don’t you find it incredibly frustrating that we have no news telling us what’s going on?” She snorted. “Looters my ass. They just don’t want everyone asking twenty questions.”

  “You’re cold. Let’s get back under the covers.” I ushered her back to bed, and we crawled into its warm embrace.

  I could see her mind needed to be taken elsewhere. With a brush of my lips over her cheek, I tried to move my body over hers to get down to something that just might help her. But she wasn’t having it. She was in full-on Sloane mode.

  I groaned. “Come on. Let’s take advantage of being cooped up. Besides, this will take your mind off things.”

  “Maybe our minds need to be on things. Maybe we need to be thinking of a plan to survive, Zane. Damn.” She wiggled out from underneath me and got off the bed, taking a candle into the bathroom. “I’m going to get cleaned up and dressed.”

  I propped my head up on my hand and grinned. She was so cute when she was getting frantic. “And then what will you do?”

  “I don’t know yet. But something. We have to do something. Having sex won’t save us from Smith and his cohorts, and now that the storm is almost over, they’ll be coming.” She closed the door, and I laid back down, knowing there wasn’t a damn thing we could do but wait.

  I heard the shower come on and couldn’t believe the woman was going to take a cold shower when she was already shivering. I got up and went into the bathroom, finding her teeth chattering as she stood under the water.

  “Are you crazy?” I stepped into the shower too, wrapping my arms around her.

  “I need…” She shuddered. “Dammit. I just need all this to be over.”

  Hurrying to grab the soap, I quickly washed her off from head to toe. Then I washed as she dried off. I hurried to get out of the cold water and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around me.

  She looked in the mirror. “God, I look terrible.”

  Moving in behind her, I stroked her long neck with my fingertips. “You look gorgeous. Come on, let’s change the sheets, get something to eat and drink. You’ll feel better in no time.”

  I pushed my hand through my hair, making it fall into place. She shook her head, apparently disgusted that it took me only two seconds to get ready.

  “I’m putting some clothes on. I feel vulnerable without them on.”

  Well, the honeymoon was over, apparently. “Okay.”

  “I don’t want to get shot while I’m naked.”

  What the hell?

  “You’re not going to get shot, Sloane. Stop thinking like this.”

  She pulled a dress and some underwear out of her suitcase, then she rummaged through the drawer my things were in and tossed me a pair of underwear, some shorts, and a shirt. “Put those on.”

  “I prefer to stay naked.” I tossed the clothes back at her.

  She caught them and her eyes narrowed. “No, put them on. I want to be ready to go if the hit man comes calling or if a boat arrives to deliver us somewhere that hasn’t become part of the Indian Ocean.”

  My girl was riled. Just to make her happy, I pulled the clothes on then pawed through the baskets of fruit and found a small bag of bagels. “How about bagels with cream cheese and fruit?”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  She changed the sheets while I made our meager breakfast, and the act of doing something, anything, must’ve calmed her because she started to hum as she went about finishing the simple chore.

  “Sorry for being so bitchy before. I’m not used to being with someone else so much, and I usually get to keep my displays of supreme anal panic in private.”

  “Act however you need to act. Everyone deals with stress differently and we’ll get used to each other, learn how to navigate times like these.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Am I ever going to be able to stay mad at you?”

  I grinned. “Nope.”

  She sighed. “I didn’t think so.” She looked out of the window again. “How long do you think it will take for the water to recede and the airport to open back up?”

  I lifted a shoulder. “A day? I’m not sure. Can you call your contact and find out?”

  She glanced the clock. “It’s late evening back home. If he had an update, Matthews would have called.”

  I took the last bite of my bagel. “So… how do you suggest we spend our day?”

  Sloane just grinned and pulled her shirt over her head. “I guess we just get naked.”

  I grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Sloane

  “Did you hear that?” I sat up in the bed, the blanket falling away from my naked breasts.

  He sat up too, listening intently. “You mean the birds?”

  Jumping out of bed, I hurried to the window and found the seabirds were back and the water had almost drained away.

  “It’s almost over, Zane. It’s finally almost over.”

  His arms closed around me. “You act as if spending time with me was dull or something.”

  “Not at all. I’m actually unbelievably grateful that I didn’t have to spend these past few days alone.”

  He kissed the top of my head. “You’ll never need to worry about being alone again. We just need to start thinking about where we’d like to not be alone?”

  I looked up at him. “Huh?”

  Zane grinned. “Places for us to live when we get off this island. I can buy us a home anywhere. Many anywheres, in fact. D.C. maybe? We can start shopping for one as soon as we get away from here.”

  “You want to buy us a home?” I could barely breathe. Things were beginning to get very real.

  “I do.” His lips grazed
mine. “I love you, Sloane. I don’t want to be without you.”

  I blinked up at him, then pressed my face to his chest so that my eyes wouldn’t give me away. There were still things he didn’t know. More specifically, he didn’t know about Matthews wanting to use me as bait.

  “I love you, Zane. And I think that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. But buying a home and moving to D.C. is an awfully big step. Are you sure you want to do that?”

  “I am. I’ve never been more certain of anything. We can stay in your apartment until we find a place we both love. What do you think about that?” He kissed me again, excited about our future.

  I wished I could be excited too.

  I couldn’t count on that, but I wanted to be with him just as much as he wanted to be with me. “I like that idea.”

  “To celebrate, let’s come back here in a year and spend a real vacation in paradise. Deal?”

  Searching his sea green eyes, I found more love in them than I’d seen before. “Deal.”

  His lips met mine again, and our kiss grew. His cock pulsed to life as my core moistened in anticipation. I had no idea a person could have so much sex and still hunger for more.

  But there was no time for more, and Zane didn’t push the issue. Neither did I.

  “You’re everything to me, Sloane. Absolutely everything. Promise me you’ll take every precaution with your safety when it comes time. I don’t know what I’ll do if anything happens to you. You’ve become this part of me, I don’t ever want to live without.”

  My heart ached. No man had ever confessed so much to me. No man had ever looked at me with such adoration as Zane did.

  Why did my life have to be in danger right when I found the man of my dreams?

  The alarm sounded outside, and I sighed. It was the signal for all clear. Zane smiled at me, then kissed the tip of my nose before walking to the window. “As happy as I am to see the island returning to normal, I wish we never had to leave this room. And I wish I never had to set eyes on that bastard again.”

  “I know.”

  I didn’t want to talk about Charles Smith yet. Or hit men. So I changed the subject.