by Karen Raines
Deep brown, almost black eyes appraise me and if I was a lesser man, I would squirm under his scrutiny. Lucky for me, I have the art of standing my ground well in hand. Mostly.
“Here, let me repay you. It’s the least I can do for having you save my life,” I quip as I bring out my wallet and open it up, making sure it shows a glimpse of my fake driving license.
He glances down casually and waves his hand. “Nonsense. It was my pleasure.”
He steps back out onto the pier and I follow carefully, trying to get a measure of the man. “Are you a local? Or a tourist like me?”
I fall into step beside him and note that we’re heading back towards the private boats. “A little of both. I tend to favor this island when I want to relax but work always seems to find me.”
I laugh and gesture towards the boat we’ve stopped beside. “She’s a beauty. Is she yours?”
“Yeah, she’s my pride and joy. The only woman I want beneath me for the long haul.”
I chuckle at the joke and hide the sarcastic retort that’s begging to slap him in the face. Briella is going to hate this guy.
“Ah well, I can see the appeal but I’m a happily married man so if anyone asks, I completely disagreed with you.”
He slaps me on the back and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me flinch. Dude is fucking strong for an old guy.
“Your secret is safe with me.”
Making a show of checking my watch, I sigh and jerk a thumb back. “I’d better get back. She sent me out to try and book a tour of the island, but I think a little lie about them being full won’t hurt. Don’t think I could cope with another guilt trip from the duo.”
“It doesn’t have to be a complete waste. If you want a tour of the island, you could always come on my boat.”
I hold my hands up. “Oh no, you’ve already come to my rescue once today.”
“It’s no bother, we’ve planned a trip for 2pm this afternoon. Join us?”
I pretend to mull it over for a moment, then hold my hand out to him. “What can I say? Thanks very much, we’d love to.”
He shakes my hand firmly and heads up the gangplank.
“Oh hey, I forgot. The name’s Charlie Masters.”
He turns and gives me a salute. “Colm O’Leary, at your service.”
***
“This is gonna take fucking ages, do you have any idea how many O’Leary’s there are in Ireland?”
“Jesus man is it your time of the month again?”
Marcus sighs down the line. “I can’t help it if I have a heavy flow and a wide-set vagina.”
“The fact that you’ve seen Mean Girls enough times to quote it is disturbing.”
“Yeah? What about the fact that you can name the film I quoted from? What does that say about your vagina?”
“I hate you,” I grumble.
The twat laughs.
“Look, I know it will take a while but anything you can get to me before we spend a grand afternoon at sea with the guy would be appreciated.”
“Is that so you don’t end up,” he drops his voice, “swimming with the fishes.”
“Fuck man, you so need to get laid!”
He grumbles something about his cock needing a break and as much I should be a good friend and ask… yeah, I wasn’t going there. I open the door to our hut and stop dead when I see a half-naked Briella sat up against the headboard, a horrified look on her face and her hands covering her ears.
That’s when I notice the audio is on from the live feeds with the unmistakable sounds of grunting filling the room.
“What the fuck? You better not be ringing me while you’re balls deep dude.”
“Paybacks a bitch,” I mumble and head over to the sound system to turn the damn volume down. Not that it’s loud, just disturbing. What the hell are they doing over there?
“Okay, this is weird. I’m gonna go… unless you fancy taking a quick snap of Bri’s…”
I hit the end call button and throw the phone down on the bed beside Bri. She tears her eyes away from the monitor and pleads with me. “It’s like Car Crash TV. You just can’t stop looking. You know it’s gonna be terrifying, but you just can’t help yourself.”
I turn in the direction of the toe curling (not in a good way) sounds and nearly gag. “Jesus fucking Christ!”
“Don’t look!” Bri screams and lunges for my face. Her hands cover my eyes, but it’s too late.
“How the hell does an asshole stretch that fucking wide? Is he using a fucking watermelon as a butt plug?”
“You can’t ever know. It will haunt you.” Her crazy eyes lock onto mine. “I’ve seen things, Colby.”
I laugh and jump from the bed, hitting the voice motion detectors and switching the screen to sleep.
“Why didn’t I think of that before she used the cactus?”
My eyes widen a fraction, my poor brain desperately trying to not give it much thought. That’s when I catch the twinkle in my girl’s eye. “You’re a dick.”
She laughs, and I don’t miss the way her eyes run all over me. She isn’t checking me out though. She’s making sure I’m okay and damn if it doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know she cares.
“I made contact.”
That gets her attention and we spend the next thirty minutes going over every single detail of my meeting with Colm O’Leary. She jumps into action, first getting Skylar to check in with Marcus. Two heads are better than one, although I think in their case that’s debatable.
I call Cross and tell him to check the timestamp on the microphone in my watch. He is a whizz with filtering out interference and promises to have a clean transcript of our meeting within a few hours.
That just leaves Bri and I with a few hours to kill and a game plan to hatch. We’re essentially going in blind. We have no way of knowing who else is going to be on that boat with Colm. Or for that matter how long or far this trip of ours is going to be. It’s too good a chance to pass up though.
I just wish I could shake this feeling that there’s more to this guy than meets the eye.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Briella
“Are you fucking kidding me Maitland?” I’m seething. One job, I gave him one freaking job.
“I have one thing to say to you, nut huggers.” A mischievous smile lights his face that sends me over the edge. I stomp my way towards him, grab his ear and pull him to the entrance and throw his ass out of our hut. After I flip the lock in place I still don’t feel any calmer.
“It’s not my fault your dick hulked its way through those dress pants!” I yell walking back to the source of all my anger. The garments I placed on the vanity counter… if you can even call them that.
“Fuck.” I pace from the bed to the shower twisting my neck left and right trying to psych myself up. Finally, after cracking my knuckles and staring at the scraps for several minutes, I remove my clothes and slide into them.
“Jesus Christ! I’m removing your balls and keeping them in a jar next to my bed. I’ll call them teeny and tiny.” I’m looking at myself in the mirror when the hut door swings open. “Um… I locked the door asshole.” I look over my shoulder and see Colby’s eyes… his very intense eyes intently gazing at my ass.
He holds up a little tool in his hand and comes for me. I jump back determined to give him a piece of my mind, angry at myself that my resolve is already slipping.
“Colby…” But he cuts me off.
“You look like a fucking wet dream.” He boxes me in and slides his fingers to cup the bare cheeks of my ass.
A half hour ago Colby went off in search of swimsuits. Apparently, we were in work mode when we were packing and didn’t bring any essentials for a beach vacation. Obviously, going undercover wasn’t something that crossed our minds. First the evening wear, now we weren’t prepared for a boat excursion. I knew I should have gone myself, but I was on the phone with Sky and Syd about beating Marcus’s ass on figuring out who this O’Leary g
uy is. I should have known he was silently plotting my payback.
“A modest bathing suit is all I asked for. I would have settled on a one piece. I can’t wear this fucking ass floss to work!”
His fingers dig into my backside making me moan. Damn traitorous body.
“You look sexy as fuck and it’s perfect. You can distract all the men while I get a look around the boat. They’ll be so enamored by your…” He gazes down at my chest. “Assets, it’ll be the perfect opportunity for me to take a look around. You know, just in case I feel a bout of sea sickness suddenly come on.” He winks then walks towards the other side of the room after smacking my right ass cheek.
“Jesus Colby, it’s not like I can hide a hand print.” I groan and twirl in front of the mirror for the next five minutes praying more fabric would mysteriously appear.
“You’re a professional, you can do this.” It’s not that I’m uncomfortable with my body, the opposite actually. But just because you have curves in all the right places, or so I’ve been told, doesn’t mean you always have to expose it. This is something I’d never entertain the idea of wearing. It’s a bright multicolored cheetah bikini. The triangles that are supposed to cover my tits are so small I have side boob for days and the bottoms do nothing but barely cover my vajay-jay. I’m one squat away from full-on camel toe and nobody needs to see that.
I storm out towards the bureau in the far corner and start ripping through my clothes. I must have something that’ll cover me up. I’m appraising a tank top when something hits me in the face.
“For fucks sake Maitland.” I whip my head towards him and glare.
“You’re welcome.” And that’s when I notice he’s completely naked. Well… damn.
When I look at the floor I see black fabric and when I pick it up I praise the heavens because it’s a beach cover-up. I’m so excited I run over and jump into Colby’s arms. Then feel his very evident erection slide up between my butt cheeks.
“Ohhhhhh. In hind sight, this probably wasn’t my best idea seeing as we need to leave in five minutes.” I release a nervous chuckle and try to get down with no avail.
“Really, I think this is the best idea you’ve had all day.” He dips his head down and moves the triangle of my top with his teeth before sucking my nipple into his mouth.
“We don’t have time.”
“I’ll be quick.” His fingers move my bottoms to the side as his fingers slip between my lips. “Perfect, always fucking wet for me.” He growls before his dick replaces his fingers.
I arch my back and slam myself on his thighs, making him thrust and enter me to the max. He has a firm hold on my hips before commanding “ride me.”
With my hands on his shoulders I ride his cock like a prized jockey. A breathy moan expels as my back is slammed against the wall. Colby gets me to the finish line with expert thrusts and angle placement. In no time at all I’m calling out his name as he growls into my neck through his own release.
“Holy shit…” I pant. “We need to go.” I try to get down but he still won’t let me budge.
“Guess I didn’t give it to you good enough if you’re still in your right mind.” He grinds his hips against me and I practically see stars again. “Later.” He promises and I nod my head unable to do anything else.
After he drops me to my feet we’re walking out the door 30 seconds later en route to the boat.
“I’d feel better if I could carry.” I mumble.
“I’m glad you said that.…” He runs back in the hut and comes out a minute later with a beach bag.
“What? Did you forget sunscreen?” I laugh.
“No smart ass, now you’ll feel better. I was gonna give it to you but you mauled me.”
After he winks at me, I grab the bag and check inside. There’s my very gorgeous glock. She’s been with me through a lot of tough times and she’s yet to let me down. “Aw, you do care Shnookums!” I lean up on my tippy toes and kiss all over his face.
He groans and when I look down I see a very obvious tent in his swim shorts. “It’s your outfit… and you touching me… and your tits.” He shrugs his shoulders like it’s that simple. I guess for a man it is.
“It’s your fault for getting me this dental floss. Suffer the consequences Maitland.” I walk a few steps ahead of him and lift my cover-up so he can see the full rear view.
“I’m spanking that ass later.” The grit in his tone makes me feel like playing.
I drop my cover-up and look over my shoulder. “Maybe you’ll be the one getting spanked later. A punishment is in order for this garbage.” I gesture to my bathing suit.
“We’ll see,” is all he says before we start our journey to the boat and god knows what else we’ll find.
***
We’re about halfway to our destination when Colby’s phone starts ringing.
“Tell me you have something good.” He presses a button and pulls us into the wilderness. By wilderness I mean down a path behind a couple of palm trees. “You’re on speaker so Bri can hear you too.”
“What’s going on B-Money?”
“Not much Marky-Mark. Just working unlike some other people I know.”
“You wound me.” I swear I can hear a female’s voice in the background and I look at Colby who must have heard it too. He mouths Sky? And that’s exactly why the voice sounded so familiar. No freaking way, they hate each other. And she’s on a self-imposed man timeout by telling everyone she’s a lesbian. I knew it wouldn’t last long.
“Alright, so the boat has a massive security system equipped with cameras in every room. Yours truly got into the system and we now have eyes everywhere. Colby if you open your phone and click the calculator app you’ll see it for yourself and it’ll give you a good idea of what you’re walking into.”
Colby mumbles about possibly needing his calculator.
“Shut the fuck up man. I’m sure 2+2 won’t need to be summed up on the boat.”
“Prick. Anything on O’Leary?”
“Minimal. We’ll keep searching. Nothing more than a couple speeding tickets and a grandma in Dublin.”
“We?” I question.
“Huh? What’s that Bri?”
“You said we’ll keep searching. Why Marcus, are you not alone?”
“Um… I am alone. I meant we as in you guys and me… yeah that’s what I meant. Hello?” We hear background noise. “Our connection seems to be spotty… he…lo…”
“Okay, we need to go so I can check out the boat. No need to panic asshole, I’ll talk to you later.” Colby says with a giant smile on his face.
“Bye Sky!” I sing.
“Bye guys… um… shit.” She squeaks out.
We’re laughing as Colby hangs up and pulls up the camera footage. This makes me feel way better about going into this.
“There’s the top deck. Looks like there’s a bunch of bimbo’s and a couple guys. Is it weird that I’m thrilled the women outnumber the men?”
“No, it’ll be good. They won’t pull any funny shit with all the eyes around. Oh, I almost forgot.” Colby reaches into his pocket and pulls out a jewelry box. When he holds it in front of me I stare at it like it’s the plague.
“What?”
“They think we’re married, I got you a ring.”
“How romantic.” But I still don’t grab it.
“What? Take the fucking thing. We need to be at the boat in ten minutes.”
“That’s not gonna work for me Maitland. You see, when I envisioned myself engaged I imagined the perfect proposal.” I bat my eyelashes at him and his brow furrows.
“Okayyyy…”
“Get down on one knee pretty boy!”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Deadly. You made me skip my wedding husband, I’m not forgetting how you proposed to me.”
Colby groans while dropping to his knee. “Briella… my little croissant, love cupcake… stop being a pain in the ass and put this ring on your finger.”
; “Only because you asked so nicely.” I gasp when he opens the little black box. This thing’s huge. “Please tell me its cubic zirconia.”
“Only the best for my wife.” He gets off his knees and places it on my finger before winking, grabbing my hand and pulling me back onto the path and towards our destination.
That all felt a little too real. I know Colby’s not the settling down type, but damn did seeing him on one knee do things to me. Pretending to be his wife will be no hardship, I just need to keep telling my heart it’s all a façade.
Once the boat comes into view, I take a deep breath and smile before hitching my purse on my shoulder. I know what needs to be done after talking strategy for the last few minutes of our walk. I place my oversized sunglasses on my face and plaster a smile on my lips.
Once I step on the boat I lead with an exaggerated hip sway and “Hello boys!”
All eyes turn to me.
Operation Malibu Barbie is about to go down.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Colby
Fake boobs everywhere. I can’t turn my head without getting an eyeful. It’s disturbing.
It’s even more disturbing to know that I find it disturbing… if you know what I mean.
I follow my wife’s swaying ass as she sashays onto the deck, noting how well she has the part down. I need to remember to bring this up later. Maybe she could dress up for me… focus!
“There you are!” Colm booms. He stands from the gaggle of silicone and steps over to us with open arms. “Glad you could make it.”
He loops an arm around Bri’s shoulders and for a split second I swear I see something territorial in the set of his stance. It’s fleeting but leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. He leers down at her, lingering way too long on her face for my liking before introducing himself. Bri plays her part brilliantly, giggling like a cheerleader on crack. When he holds his hand out to me, I try to remember this is all part of the show and not to go for his throat.
Let’s face it, that would be suicide. I’ve already spotted the two guys from the video feed earlier and they’ve been joined by three more. All are dressed as employees and deck hands, but I can’t imagine a situation where running a boat requires the use of a Glock 22. No, these guys are security detail. And they are huge motherfuckers. Not that I’m a small guy myself, but I am just one man.