We ran along a path that was more like a maze in an obstacle course, and finally after about ten minutes Brody slowed down to a walk.
"What did you see back there?"
"I saw someone in the trees down past Sasha’s car. I don’t think they saw us, though," he said trying to catch his breath, "but we’ve got to keep moving." I knew he was still way too weak to be running like this and carrying that heavy bag, but I trusted that he knew what he was doing by taking this path.
"What’s in the bag," I said in between my own gasps for air.
"The money," he said as he looked down at me. "We’re gonna need something to live off of until I get us set up. Two million dollars," he said with a smile.
"How much further do we have to go?" I asked, still worried about his injury and how pale he looked.
"A couple more miles," he said as he slowed down a little. "I’ve got a boat up ahead."
We were getting deeper into the mangrove forest and the path was becoming a lot less obvious. We climbed over giant roots that jutted out of the ground and waded through patches of murky, sandy soil for what felt like an hour before we came out into an opening in the trees that had hidden a sandy beach and a wooden dock. There was a small wooden boat tied up to the dock and Brody didn’t slow down until he got up to the boat and threw his duffel bag in. He jumped into the boat and turned around and helped me down, then untied it and pushed it away from the dock.
I looked around at the water that surrounded the rickety boat and it was so blue and so clear I could see schools of fish swimming around just below us.
"So this is the boat we’re sailing off into the sunset in?" I asked.
"Just keep your pants on there, little lady," Brody said as he pulled on the oars of the rowboat. "We’re just halfway to where we need to get to tonight."
As we left the small lagoon we floated under a mass of mangrove trees that hung out over the water and I could hear all kinds of exotic birds that made their homes in the dense forest. I couldn’t believe that I had lived in the Lower Keys all my life and this was the first time I had been out in the mangrove forests. The trees were so beautiful, the way they popped up out of the water and created little islands and walls of roots that hugged the shoreline.
Brody navigated the boat past small outcroppings of land and roots that jutted up out of the water as we made our way around a peninsula then into a much larger lagoon.
"Why don’t you let me row for a while? You look tired," I said as I watched Brody’s rhythmic movements.
"I’m fine, Jess," he said with a faint smile. "I don’t think I’ll be able to sit still until I get us safely docked for the night."
"So, there is a bigger boat?"
"Yeah, there’s a bigger boat," he said as a smile spread across his face. "It’s been docked in a marina near here for a couple of months now. I got it all set up a month before everything went down, and sometimes I think maybe I had it all planned out. That I was going to sail away after this job and never come back. This hasn’t been a very easy life. The money has been the only thing that made it all worth it. But once you have more than you can spend it starts to make less and less of a difference. I’ve just gotten so tired of being the one to take care of all of the dirty work."
"I can’t even imagine," I said, not really wanting to know all the things that Brody had done while he was doing jobs for the mob. If he wanted to tell me about it, I would listen but I was never going to ask him about it. As far as I was concerned the past was just that, and there was no point in looking backward.
As we passed a large mass of trees we crossed into a large lagoon that opened out on one side to the ocean. The sun was starting to set and the reds and oranges that filled the sky reflected off of the water and made me feel like we were moving through a painting. The shore up ahead was bordered by thousands of twinkling lights and as we got closer I realized that we were headed toward a large marina.
By the time Brody pulled the rowboat up to of one of the wooden docks the sky had gone completely dark. He threw the bags up on the walkway and helped me out and up a small wooden ladder, then climbed up himself. He looked pale and tired and all I wanted was for him to rest. I knew the last two days had taken a lot out of him and he really didn't have much energy to spare.
Just then I realized that we hadn’t eaten a thing for more than twenty-four hours. I had been so worked up about everything I hadn’t even thought to make us some food this morning and by the time everything had calmed down in the house we had to run.
"Are we almost there?" I asked.
"We’re so close I can almost taste it," he said as he swung the duffel bag over his shoulder and put his arm around the small of my back, pushing me ahead of him on the wooden walkway.
"Well, when we get there you’ll be tasting something, all right. We haven’t eaten since yesterday and you really need to get something in you to keep your strength up."
"Well, there’s plenty of food on board. I’ll get the engine going and I’ll let you whip something up in the galley," he said as he leaned over and kissed my head. I felt like this was a dream. I still couldn’t believe that we were really leaving together.
When we got to the end of the walkway Brody walked ahead of me and I followed him right down a smaller walkway that sat in between two huge fifty-foot yachts. I started laughing when Brody untied one of them and threw his duffel bag on board. He jumped from the walkway onto the yacht then lowered a short plank for me to cross, then held out his hand and I walked straight into his arms.
"So, this is my boat," he said with a grin as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him. "Do you think you could be happy on here for a while?"
"I could be happy on here with you for a long time," I said as I put my arms around his broad shoulders and kissed him.
"I’m going to head up to the bridge and get this thing started up," he said as he pulled the plank back onto the boat. "You go ahead and make yourself comfortable. I’m going to head out about a half hour to find a place to set anchor, then I’ll come below and we can finally eat something," he said as he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me against his body. "And then we can take a shower."
"I looked up at him and felt my face flush from the thought of finally being naked with Brody. I’d seen his whole body during that sponge bath, but having it there for me to touch and kiss and lick was beyond exciting. I was worried that I wouldn’t be enough for him, though; that I wasn’t as sophisticated as all of the women he had been with.
"It’s been so long since I’ve been with a man I’m afraid I’ve forgotten how to be sexy," I said as his lips brushed my neck and he buried his face in my hair.
"That’s not even possible, Jess. You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen in my life," he said as he pulled away from me and stared straight into my eyes. "And I can’t believe I almost pushed you away, for good. That would have been the biggest mistake of my life, and you saved me from that too. You’re my good luck charm from now on. Now, let me get this thing started up and we’ll have hot water for that shower in no time at all."
***
"Smells good down here," Brody said as he walked into the room.
"I heated up some soup. I thought that would be easy for you to digest," I said as I felt his warm hands wrap around my waist.
"When we get down to Havana we can stop off for the day and pick up some fresh produce and whatever else you want."
"Ooh! I’d love to stock the kitchen full of fresh vegetables and fruit. That sounds wonderful."
"Galley," he said, his lips curling up into a smile as he looked down at me. "The kitchen on a yacht is called a galley."
"Ok, captain. I’ll try to remember that,” I said as I my hands slid up the rock hard sides of his abdomen.“This place is gorgeous, Brody. I’ve never seen anything like it," I said as I looked around at the stainless steel appliances and ebony floors and counters.
"Just wait till you see the shower," he said
as his hands wandered down my ass and he pulled me into him.
After we ate we made our way to the bedroom, our clothes coming off in a trail the whole way there. The bedroom and bathroom on the yacht were bigger and more elegantly decorated than just about any room I’d ever been in and the shower was enormous. I carefully took Brody’s bandage off and he turned on the water in the shower and we both climbed in under the hot, steaming stream. He was still very sore, but it seemed that nothing was going to get in the way of Brody touching every inch of my body. We stood under the water, kissing and touching and holding each other and then he soaped up my entire body, squeezing my breasts and my ass as my soapy skin slipped through his fingers.
The warmth of the water and the incredible feeling of Brody’s hands caressing me gave me the sensation of floating on air. And when Brody was finally inside me, I came almost instantly. He pushed me forward up against the glass door of the shower and pulled my ass towards him so that my back was arched and my breasts were pressed up against the glass and he slowly pushed his incredible length inside of me.
It was almost too much to take at first but as he eased himself in and out, deeper and deeper, I was able to take all of him and I felt a fullness that I had never experienced before in my entire life. He grabbed ahold of my hips and squeezed my ass and plunged himself into me over and over until my orgasms melted together into one long excruciatingly beautiful feeling of ecstasy.
When I felt the final deep thrust and the quivering of his cock as he came inside me his arms engulfed me and he held me with the hot water pouring down over us.
***
Brody lay on the king sized bed and watched me bandage his wound back up like he was trying to evaluate my performance. He had his arms pulled back in that same position he was in when I gave him his sponge bath, only this time both of his hands were free and were resting behind his head. And he had that same smug little smile plastered all over his face. He looked so satisfied and confident as he gazed down at me and, to be honest, I could have stared at him like that all night.
"Am I meeting your approval?"
"Yeah, I'd say you're doing a satisfactory job. It's pretty nice having a private nurse to take care of me. I’m starting to wonder if I should have waited on the shower and had you give me another sponge bath instead," he said as his eyes twinkled with laughter.
"I just bet you would love that," I said as I smiled up at him after laying the last piece of tape in place. I sat there for a moment admiring his naked body as it was displayed out in front of me. That was something I had never done before. Probably because of my upbringing, I had always been too ashamed of my own nudity when I was with Marcus; to really sit back and admire him like that. But somehow with Brody, everything felt more free. I felt like my whole life was ahead of me and it was going to be filled with things I had never allowed myself before.
"And when you're done down there I think I’m going to need a little bit of attention up here, too.
As I crawled up the bed I kissed my way up his gorgeous, rippled stomach and perfectly sculpted chest. I let my breasts dangle over him and my hard nipples brushed along his skin as I kissed my way up his neck.
"Mmmm, that feels so nice, Jess."
I looked up at Brody and I saw that look in his eyes. That look that I had seen in the hospital that made me feel sure about him. That look that I trusted and was so confused about when he told me he didn’t want me to come with him. But now there it was again and I knew my gut feeling had been right all along. I knew that no matter what had happened in either one of our past lives, Brody and I were meant to be together.
Chapter 20
Epilogue
Brody
"Good morning," I said as I watched Jess’s eyelids open in that beautifully lazy way that I was now used to seeing every morning. She smiled up at me and looked at me with starry eyes like I was the most amazing thing she'd ever seen. It was the same look she gave me every morning when she opened her eyes and looked up at me, and it always took my breath away. I had never experienced that look before her.
I thought I’d been having awesome sex my whole life. That the women that I had slept with throughout my life were the hottest, most beautiful women in everyone’s eyes and because of that I was a lucky man. But when I would wake up in the morning I would usually get a lip bite and a porn face, like the girl I was with didn't have an original thought in her head.
That look would always lead to another orgasm for both of us, but I always wound up feeling hollow and empty inside. I had done things that way for so long that I thought that that’s all there was. But with Jess, everything was so different. Every day with her was amazing. I felt like we were giving so much to each other just by being with each other. Just like those looks she gave me every morning. It wasn’t much, but it made me feel like I’d found my place and that I mattered to someone. My life was so different now that I was with Jess and I couldn't imagine it any other way.
"So what's on the agenda for today?" she asked.
"Well, this is probably our last day traveling through the Panama Canal, and after that, I thought we would keep heading east for a while."
"What's east? Did you have a particular place in mind or are we just going to drift around?" she asked as she snuggled up against me, moving her hand up and down my stomach. Everything had healed up really well during the last two months we had been on the yacht. I still occasionally had an odd sensation where the bullet had entered me, but for the most part, I was completely back to normal.
"Well, I was gonna keep this as a surprise but since you asked … we’re heading to an island. It's a very special island."
"Oh yeah? What's it called?" she asked as her hand drifted down under the covers just below my belly button. The soft touch of her hand was so wonderful and calming. I felt like I could spend hours just having her run her fingers over my skin.
"I think I'm going to call it Jess’s Island," I said with a smile.
"What do you mean?" she said as she looked up at me and laughed.
"Or, how about Jesslandia?"
"Wait, Is that really the name of the island?"
"It is now."
"We could call it Jessland for short," I said, teasing her with my eyes.
"What are you talking about?" she said as she sat up and started to tickle me, her beautiful breasts swaying with every move she made.
"Hey, hey, calm down there, little filly. I'm trying to tell you. We have an island."
"What do you mean we have an island? Will you give me a straight answer for once," she said as she stared at me with big eyes.
"Well, I have this friend …"
"I thought you said you didn't have any friends. That you didn’t trust anyone."
"Yeah, that's true. You and this one person are really the only people on this planet that I trust. He’s just a guy I know. A guy that’s a lot like me, really. And maybe that’s why I trust him because I can understand him. He does the same kind of work that I used to do. We actually met each other on accident a few years ago. We were both hired to do the same job by two different organizations. When we figured out what was going on we finished the job together and went and had a drink and have been in touch in different ways since then. Sometimes he helps me out and sometimes I do things to help him.
After we left The Keys I got in contact with him and told him what had gone down, that I couldn't go back to my life, and that I was abandoning my career, but that I needed him to take care of some things for me."
"What kind of things?"
"Well, I had him liquidate all of my assets. My house, my cars, all of my accounts and investments. I told him that he could keep ten percent of everything if he found me a place to live. He had a lawyer set up a corporation for me and had all of the paperwork put through. None of it can be traced back to him, any of my old identities or my new one so there’s no way they can use the corporation to find us."
"Is he the one that got us our passpor
ts and new identities when we were in Cuba?"
"Yeah, that's him. He's a handy guy to have around," I said with a laugh. "So anyway he did what I asked. He found me an island that already has an estate on it. It's a private island with no other residents, just you and me. And there was actually quite a bit of money left over. I don’t know how much that ten percent worked out to be but I think he made out pretty good on the deal. So, it looks like we're gonna be ok for quite a while."
"So, where is it? Where’s our new home going to be?" she said looking excited. I loved how adventurous she was. She took to living on a boat and traveling indefinitely better than most people I knew would.
"It's a really small island that sits in a massive scattering of thousands of islands just north of Malaysia. We’ll have a helicopter to get to and from nearby cities that we can use to bring in supplies and whatever we need. Its even got its own cell phone tower."
"You can fly a helicopter?" she asked, her eyes getting bigger every time I opened my mouth. I would never admit it to anyone but it was really nice having someone so impressed by my abilities. Up until I met Jess I didn’t tell a single person what I did or what I was capable of. My life had been so solitary, and so lonely. But now I had Jess.
"Yes, I can fly a helicopter," I said with a smile at her reaction.
"Really? You're kidding? That sounds amazing!"
"Yeah, I guess the previous owner really set the place up."
"Well, the island doesn’t happen to have its own hospital, does it?" she asked, her voice softening as she nuzzled my ear.
"Why, are you planning on getting back into nursing?" I asked in total confusion.
"No, but I’m going to be needing to make a visit to a hospital in, oh I’d say, about seven months," she said as she looked up at me.
"Seven months? Wait, are you …"
"I’m pregnant, Brody!" Jess beamed.
I Need A Bad Boy: A Collection of Bad Boy Romances Page 11