Flavia didn't look particularly comforted by this. "I got the impression they really wanted the money for their business. If selling my story gets them more than you're paying, I don't think you'll stop them. By the time your lawyers get to them, the damage will already be done. Videos can go viral overnight and if anyone finds out that I –"
"Auctioned off your virginity to that wanker of a rock star?" Xan supplied.
Flavia's eyes widened and she backed away.
Xan sighed. "Nothing happens on this island that I don't know about. Running a celebrity resort isn't easy. The secrets I wish I didn't have to keep…but it's all part of the job, living here in paradise. We had to close the resort before I could book a film crew, and Jay bloody Felix fucked that up by inviting a guest."
"You talking about how good I am in bed?" Jay emerged from the jungle, water trickling off everything. He had a towel, but he just dabbed at his chest with it, letting it dangle down just low enough to cover the essentials, without hiding the fact that he was still stark naked. Bloody exhibitionist.
Xan opened her mouth to shout at him, but she caught sight of Flavia's enraptured expression. The girl drank him in like ambrosia. She was addicted, all right. Xan's last suspicions of rape and violence melted away. Maybe the rock star really had fainted in the heat. Overexertion from being oversexed. That she could believe.
"With the film crew here, there's a high risk of a media leak. I caught one of them trying to persuade Flavia here to do an interview that they could sell to the press. I don't need to tell you how dangerous that would be to the resort's reputation." Xan fixed her eyes on Jay.
He shrugged. "So what? She'll just say what a hundred girls have before. That I'm awesome in bed."
Flavia flushed and stared at her feet.
Xan's exasperated breath hissed out through her teeth. "Fine, I guess I do need to explain it. I'm not talking about your reputation, but the resort's. The hotel you bought and pay me to keep in business. How long do you think we'll keep attracting high-profile guests if they think their secrets might make tomorrow's news? There's no point in this entire advertising campaign if we're painted as the exclusive resort that sells its guests' secrets to the highest bidder!"
"All right, all right! Calm down. What the fuck do we do?" For the first time, Jay looked like he actually cared about what she was about to say.
Xan tried not to look smug. "We let them do their job, and you keep away from them. You both keep away from them." She sucked in a breath. "It might be best if you stayed in your villa as much as possible until they leave. I can't keep an eye on both of them every minute they're here, not with the GPS location link down. So no sex on the beach or any other public place where they might stumble across you. Can you at least keep the steamy stuff inside until Tuesday?"
Flavia turned an interesting shade of red.
Jay sported a predatory grin. "I'll try," he drawled, eyeing Flavia's discomfort. "But this girl is red-hot in the sack. If she wants me on the beach, I'm not one to refuse a lady." He slung his arm around Flavia's shoulders, where it left a damp trail. "C'mon, baby. Let's get you back to my place before you combust. I know a short cut through the jungle."
Xan watched the pair head down Jay's private path to Villa Penguin. She couldn't tail the camera crew all weekend, but she wouldn't have to. All she needed to ensure was that whatever photos and video they took never left the island. For that, she needed the cooperation of the IT boys, who had already volunteered to assist the film crew with their work for the weekend.
That meant starting work even earlier than usual. So much for a weekend off.
Twenty-Nine
Flavia told herself she needed to break out of Jay's embrace, that it wasn't okay to walk around the island with his arm around her like they had a relationship instead of a business arrangement. Especially with the film crew roaming around. It would be incredibly easy, too, she told herself. All she had to do was shrug and his arm would slide off her shoulders. But it felt so good there. So…natural. Damn it, couldn't she just pretend for a few more minutes that she was the darling of Jay Felix, sex god? Yes. Yes, she could. Especially when the man wore nothing but a towel slung low around his hips.
Jay chuckled. "You checking me out, baby?"
Luckily, he didn't seem to need an answer.
"Hey, it's all yours, for the rest of the weekend, if you're feeling up to it."
"But…" Flavia's voice didn't seem to want to work, so she cleared her throat and tried again. "But the contract. It said only once, and no contact afterwards. We did it once in the helicopter yesterday. That means…no more." She couldn't stop a small sigh of disappointment from escaping. How was she going to manage sharing a house with this man for the rest of the weekend without…more? But she couldn't have more. Once the weekend was over, she'd fly far away from this gorgeous man, never to see him again. She couldn't afford to lose her heart to him. That wasn't part of the contract.
"You mean the contract you tore up in the helicopter, before your first time? The one that's now null and void, seeing as you destroyed the document?"
Flavia stopped dead and Jay's arm slid off her, leaving her feeling oddly bereft. "But…" If the contract didn't exist, then all bets were off. All the rules could be broken and there was nothing she could do about it. Oh God, what if she gave in again and the next time was even more wonderful than lying in his arms in the helicopter? She wouldn't want to leave. Shit, she wouldn't want to even look at another man again.
"Don't look so scared, baby. With no contracts, we can make it up as we go. Breaking the rules will be so much fun, you'll see." With one wink, he made her wonder which rule he wanted to break first.
If she got a choice, she'd vote for breaking the no-kissing rule, because after his swim, she was certain his lips would be as salty as seawater. Would his tongue be cold, or as warm as when he'd slid it inside her yesterday? The rest of his skin was cool to the touch right now, drawing her attention every time he brushed against her as they continued walking.
They turned a corner and abruptly, the jungle ended on a paved path – the path that led to Jay's house. This time, Flavia was scared to enter. Not because she was nervous about what Jay might do to her body – with every passing moment, her body reminded her how good it felt when he touched her – but because when she left that house in a few short days, she'd be forced to give up the most addictive experience of her life. Quitting smoking would be easier than giving up Jay Felix.
But she could do this. She'd already given Jay Felix the rest of her body. But James had smashed her heart – and she couldn't face piecing together the jagged shards so it would be whole again for Jay. That made things simple: Jay Felix couldn't have her heart. With that thought firmly fixed in her mind, Flavia followed Jay up the steps into his villa.
Her bag stood sentinel just inside the door, reminding her that she didn't belong here. Grabbing the handle, she dragged it back to the guest room where she'd tossed and turned last night. Her room now. Maybe she should try to get some more sleep, now she knew the sex tape wouldn't be taking over the internet any time soon.
"I'm going to grab a shower. You're welcome to join me, if you want," Jay said.
Flavia shook her head, too tired to talk any more.
He shrugged, not looking put out at all. "I'd say watch whatever you like on TV, but all the channels are down with the satellite link out of action. If you're really bored, there are some books under the couch someone left here. I keep meaning to take them back to the resort library, but I never seem to get around to it. Take your pick."
A book might take her mind off things enough to help her drift off to sleep, Flavia mused, waiting for Jay to tramp off to the bathroom before she checked under the couch. When she did, she was surprised to see two neat stacks of paperbacks. She reached for the first stack and almost choked with laughter at the cover of the book on top. She'd expected thrillers, but the first one had a naked male torso on the front (not unlike
Jay's, come to think of it) and the back cover copy proclaimed that it was a rock star romance. One of Jay's previous partners had been a fan of rock star romance? It was just too funny.
Deciding that rock stars would only make temptation worse, she examined the other books. Every single one was a romance of one kind or another, with the majority of them rock star romances. Whoever the mystery girl was, she'd definitely liked her rockers. Why, then, wasn't she with Jay now, if she liked men like him so much?
Setting the rock stars aside, Flavia found she was left with a small stack of stories about mail-order brides. Now that was a weird thing to find under a rock star's couch. The rock star romances made sense, seeing as any girl who read those would jump at the chance to live the fantasy with a man like Jay, but mail-order brides and rock stars made no sense. That probably meant they'd belonged to two different girls. The mail-order marriage fangirl wouldn't have lasted long with Jay, a man more for one night stands than marriage. Mail-order brides were for lonely farmers and station owners who barely saw women outside of their infrequent trips into town and, of course, the annual Bachelor and Spinsters' Ball. There were talks of York hosting it next year, though she didn't think it likely. If the unlikely happened, she'd be there in a heartbeat, if only to say she'd been to a B&S.
But that was all immaterial at the moment. Now, her choices were between rock stars and mail-order brides. Thinking of Jay in the shower, Flavia reached for a rock star and settled on the couch with her book.
"Hey. Baby. Flaaaaavia. Are you hungry?"
What? Flavia levered her eyes open and found Jay's face so close she could barely focus on it. She shoved herself upright, her eyes darting around the room in an effort to orient herself. She sat on the couch in Jay's villa. He was perched on the coffee table, beside a basket she hadn't seen before.
"The book's that good, huh? I never understand why chicks read romance books. I mean, I'm right here. Isn't the real thing better?" Jay sighed. "Yet I find you cheating on me with a fictional character. Sleeping with a book about – " He twisted his head to read the cover. " – some rock star who falls for the nanny? Hang on, you're not a nanny, are you? Do you take care of kids for a living?"
Flavia swallowed, trying to moisten her dry throat. She needed a drink. Water would be nice, but she wouldn't say no to alcohol right now. "No. Not usually, anyway. I'm a travel agent. The most I deal with kids is when our office has to arrange a high school exchange trip."
Jay stretched out on the other sofa. "So, you spend all your spare time travelling? Is that what you need the money for?"
"I didn't need the money," Flavia snapped. "That's not what the auction was about at all."
Jay's eyes smouldered. "Enlighten me."
Flavia hesitated. Hell, she thought about not answering at all, but who could she tell? Not Violet. Not any of her other friends. Not her family. No one else would understand. Just…Jay. Before she'd even decided she wanted to, she found herself pouring out the whole story about James and the buck's night sex tape. Tears fell like rain when she described how worthless she felt at being told so many lies when she'd done everything for him, and he'd thrown it all away mere weeks before their wedding. And the media storm around the auction…at first, she'd felt a bit of pride at the price they'd attached to her, the Million Dollar Girl and all, but after a while, her satisfaction waned as people took to social media and then the reporters filled their articles with the most malicious comments they could find. She'd even started avoiding the auction site, because of all the rude questions people had left that she refused to answer. Most of them had suggested the reason she'd never had sex was because there was something wrong with her, and they wanted to know what. "They never thought I might be saving myself for someone, because I chose to do it. Not because I couldn't, or I didn't want to," she finished, reaching for a tissue to mop her eyes.
She realised she'd been talking without cease for a long time and Jay hadn't said a word for a while. Oh God, had she bored him into oblivion?
No, Jay's eyes were wide open and…curious?
"I don't get it. You say you don't need the money, that your life was just fine except for some cheating wanker, but you thought you'd sell yourself to feel like a million dollars?"
Oh God. Flavia's eyes brimmed with tears again. "It wasn't perfect. My life revolved around James and the wedding, and all of a sudden…"
Understanding lit Jay's eyes. "You felt worthless. Like everything you'd worked for, all your hopes and dreams, were crushed into nothingness because of a stupid decision someone else made." He gritted his teeth. "So you wanted the best revenge, where you can show them how stupid their choices are by making them regret what they've lost."
Now it was Flavia's turn to stare. How could Jay possibly understand her so perfectly? A rock god like him could hardly have known any failure in his life, let alone loss. His band had broken up at the pinnacle of their careers, with more money and fame than anyone their age had a right to. And yet…and yet…somehow this rock star could see straight into her heart. "Yes."
"You know what's better than that, though?" he went on. "It's when things stop being about revenge and more about your own happiness. Their lives are their own to fuck up, but you can do whatever you like with yours. Do what makes you happy, and losers who don't like it can fuck off." He winked. "How'd you like to find out what happiness feels like with me?"
Her mouth dropped open. "All that stuff about feelings and revenge and happiness was just so you could ask me to have sex with you?" She'd been such an idiot to believe that this shallow bastard understood what feelings were.
To her surprise, Jay burst out laughing. "Fuck, I don't need pick-up lines or psychology to get into a girl's pants. When I want a girl, I tell her I can give her the best night of her life, full of sex that will spoil her for anyone else. I don't get turned down very often."
Flavia tried to keep her face blank, so she could hide the rising warmth within her, reminding her of exactly what Jay meant by the best night of her life. She'd never forget that night in the helicopter. He'd definitely ruined her for anyone else…because how could she ever want anyone else, after one night with Jay Felix?
Jay bounced onto the sofa beside her. "So, what do you say, baby?"
No wasn't an option, but no sound seemed to want to come out of her mouth.
His voice dropped to a honeyed purr. "Are you hungry, baby?"
Her gaze dropped to his groin. Through the folds of his shorts, it was hard to tell if he was aroused or not. Not that it mattered. Jay wasn't the sort of man to ever experience a failure to launch.
"Because I have something special for you." Jay reached for the basket. Confused, Flavia watched him withdraw package after package, until everything was spread out like a picnic on the table. "I asked the chef for his romantic picnic for two pack. It's best eaten on a blanket on the beach, but seeing as you want to stay here, I figured I'd lay it all out on the table for you."
Flavia tried to shake the half-formed fantasies from her lust-filled brain. Lunch. He'd been talking about lunch. And now he was…yes, he was laughing at her. "I'm sorry. I'm still half asleep," she offered in excuse, but she knew Jay saw through her.
"We can play by the rules on your ripped-up pages, or we can play the way I do things best. Live and unplugged and improvised, fuelled by passion alone." Jay nodded at the table. "Lunch now, and I've made arrangements for dinner later. No, I didn't order for you. I didn't even order for me – I told the chef to make something good. If we don't like it, we can send it back and order something else. And go with whatever feels right, baby."
Somehow, she got stuck in his honey eyes. Though her stomach grumbled for her attention, all she could think about was the joy of sex with Jay.
"So what do you say, Flavia? Your way, with rules and contracts and no fun, or mine, where we do what we like? I have some ideas about what I'd like to do with you tonight, and I think you'll enjoy them even more than last night."
> A warm hand stopped her from pulling her shirt off.
"Not yet, baby. It's lunchtime. Time for food, not sex. I'll give you what you want, but not for a while. Not until you're so ready for it, you're begging for release."
Staring into his eyes, Flavia wanted to believe him with her whole being. Even her traitorous heart wanted a bit of this action. With her last smidgin of self-control, she swore that was the one part of her he couldn't have. Her whole body was his to play with as he pleased, she thought with a thrill, but her heart was her own. Nobody's plaything. At least, she hoped so.
Thirty
Jason breathed a sigh of relief as he reclined on the couch. Crisis averted. He still wasn't sure how he'd managed to fuck up last night, but this morning everything seemed rosy with Flavia again and he didn't want to jeopardise that. He'd go full-throttle romance until there wasn't a hint of doubt in her eyes, then he'd draw it out until after eight. THEN he'd have the rest of the night to make her abso-fucking-lutely certain there was no one better for her than him, and she wouldn't even be able to recall the name of that James arsehole. Maybe he'd even manage to get Phuong out of his head, too. He'd do his damn best to forget her, anyway, as he spent all night loving every inch of Flavia's untouched body. He had to give her multiple orgasms every time or he just wouldn't live up to the hype. All the heroes in the library's romance books did, and he wasn't going to fall short of some Fabio-like fucker. He figured he might've had an excuse in the helicopter last night, what with the limited time, cramped quarters and him fainting, then jumping out of the helicopter and all, but that definitely didn't excuse him now.
By the time he was done with Flavia, she wouldn't even remember her own fucking name, because she'd be too busy screaming his. Fuck yeah.
The Rock Star's Virginity (Romance Island Resort #3) Page 12