The Agent's Proposition

by Stone, Lyn

  “And it’s just the done thing, right?” she asked with a little laugh.

  “Showmanship’s the name of the game.”

  When the little powerboat arrived, Cameron noted that Tess had worked herself up to the role. She played it a little too haughty but, all in all, gave the impression he had asked her to.

  He directed the water-taxi operator to the southern end of Pampelonne, motioning him to avoid L’Aqua Club, a gay hangout, and bring them in at Le Club 55. They disembarked, tipped the water-taxi operator and made their way to the club’s restaurant. “We’ll check here first. You hungry?”

  “Coffee would be good.” She tossed her hair and scanned the rows of people lunching and sunning themselves on mats. He knew she was looking for any guy the right size and complexion to be their man.

  The Moorish-style restaurant surrounded a pleasant courtyard. It was relatively small and business was slow. They hurried through their cappuccino, checked out the customers and left, strolling along hand in hand, scanning faces for an Egyptian playboy.

  It was a long walk, but the sand was beautifully groomed, and the human scenery something to behold. Eventually they ran out of well-swept beach and had to watch their step.

  “Warning,” he said in a low voice as they neared the middle section of Pampelonne Beach. “Nudity abounds. Keep your cool.”

  “I’m not a child, Cochran!” she exclaimed, stopping to whisk off the gauzy shirt and drape it over one arm. “I’ve already seen enough skin today to immunize me against shock.”

  “I doubt we’ll find him here. Mostly Northern Europeans out to strut their stuff. Look anyway.”

  “Thank God for sunglasses,” she muttered, adjusting them as she spoke. “How long is this beach, anyway?”

  “About three miles total, but we don’t have to walk back. We’ll taxi back to the Jezebel after we’ve covered Tahiti Beach.”

  “This is hopeless,” she said with a sigh. “We’ve checked out nearly a dozen restaurants, and my eyes are crossing. All the faces are looking the same. All the bodies, too, for that matter.”

  “I know what you mean, but we’ll soon be through Moorea and onto Tahiti Beach. I think the bodies are getting better,” he said, laughing and giving her an affectionate one-armed hug. He let his hand slide to her waist.

  She stiffened a little, but then relaxed as he brought his hand up to the back of her neck and massaged it gently. He admired her effort to adapt. She was becoming a little more at ease with him, he thought, or maybe she was covering her uneasiness better than before. At any rate, she was trying really hard, and he appreciated it.

  He couldn’t quite figure whether she was unused to being touched by a man or if it was just his touch that made her nervous. The former, he hoped.

  Tahiti Beach was busier than the others, but not exactly teeming this time of year. The weather was perfect, but fewer people took vacations in the fall, preferring the heat of the summer sun.

  “There!” she exclaimed, catching his arm and nodding toward a group of four arguing in French. “Is that him?”

  Cameron guided her over for a closer look, noted the features of the only guy who could be Selim. “Close but no cigar.”

  The search ate up hours as the sun sank low.

  “We’ll never find him this way. And I’m exhausted,” she said. “My calves are screaming from walking in the sand. Aren’t yours?”

  “It has been a long day,” he agreed. “Let’s head back to the boat, grab a bite to eat and rest a little before we go out tonight.” He glanced at his watch and decided they could take a few hours to regroup. Nothing really cranked up until after ten, anyway.

  “I’ve read that reservations are required almost everywhere. Maybe Jack will know by now if he’s on any of the clubs’ lists.”

  “Unfortunately, you really don’t have to be to get in if the door guys in charge like your looks. And Selim is pretty. You said so yourself.”

  “You just know everything, don’t you? Why am I even here?”

  “Eye candy, of course.” He laughed when she punched him in the side. “Hey! It’s a compliment.”

  She snorted. “After all the naked women you’ve ogled today, you’re complimenting the number one prude?”

  He took her shirt from her and held it out so she could put it on. “A little left to the imagination’s not a bad thing. You notice I didn’t bare it all, either.”

  Her smile was slow, almost reticent, as mysterious and seductive as the Mona Lisa’s, that very one he had encouraged earlier.

  Better be careful and not delve into that mystery, he warned himself as they hopped on the taxi and sped out to the yacht.

  Where they would be entirely alone for a couple of hours. Maybe he should have thought of that a little bit sooner.

  Cameron didn’t want to take advantage of their situation. Nor did he want to make Tess uncomfortable. To that end, he firmly decided to keep his distance, keep his hands off of her and his mind on the business at hand.

  But what if she wanted him to take advantage? That devil on his shoulder could be a real pain in the ass, but it stirred up doubts all the same. What if she was too shy to make a move?

  Tess studied the photograph of Selim again after she had dressed for the evening. She needed the distraction as she waited for Cameron to pay for their berth in the marina, send for their car and return to the yacht. It took every ounce of her will not to think about him instead of the mission.

  Those perfect abs, thighs like tree trunks, the way that Speedo had fit. She shook her head to clear the total image of Cameron the Boy Toy.

  She smoothed the skirt of the silky halter dress and missed feeling a panty line. Thongs were the pits, only marginally better than going totally bare. The push-up bra felt like a vise, but her girls were on display like they’d never been before. She took a fortifying breath and ignored their vicarious rise along the plunging neckline.

  Her naked back tingled. Probably with anticipation, she figured. How would his palm feel against her skin tonight? There had been several tentative brushes of it when she’d had her shirt off on the beach. Man, she had to get over this in a hurry.

  “Hey, Tess, you ready?” he called from the saloon.

  “Out in a minute,” she called back. She tottered into the bathroom on her four-inch heels and checked her lipstick one last time, tugged an errant curl back into place and adjusted the draped fabric barely covering the lower half of her breasts. Okay. She’d do.

  She hurried to the door of her cabin, then stopped, took another deep breath, forced herself to go slowly and become what he expected.

  The look on his face was worth it. Tess raised her chin, expanded her chest and looked down her nose at him. “Close your mouth. You look like a guppy,” she said in her haughtiest tone.

  He laughed uproariously. Not the response she was after. When he got over it, he shook his head. “You’ll need a bodyguard, for real!”

  “Thanks,” she said with a genuine smile. “What do you think, really?”

  “You might not even need the special smile,” he replied with a wry grin. “Let’s go find Selim and see what he thinks. Got your cell phone?”

  She nodded, held up the small clutch purse, and they were off. Tess resisted any comment on Cameron’s attire. It was perfectly unobtrusive in and of itself. His suit was gray, the shirt a silvery, lighter shade, and he wore no tie.

  He had slicked back his hair and confined it in a short ponytail. That style exposed his rather square face and emphasized the strong features. He looked the part of a bodyguard and had already assumed the attitude.

  No, the clothes weren’t what one noted first. The first impression was that he exuded danger like a loaded pistol. Her bodyguard.

  “Are you armed?” she asked as they walked down the quayside to the waiting Mercedes.

  “To the teeth,” he admitted. “I won’t ask if you are, since there’s no place on that getup to hide a weapon.”

  She sh
ot him the half smile and lowered her voice an octave. “Darling, I am the weapon.”

  Yeah, that got her a speechless double take. She was in character. How empowering! The way he looked at her was so totally different from before, as if he had brand-new regard for her, a surprised regard. Tess almost laughed out loud.

  Her body felt different than it ever had, her movements more liquid, and every cell was alive and tingling with anticipation for what came next. Sexy, she realized. This was the very first time she had ever allowed herself to feel sexy. Now that she had a perfectly good reason, it was okay. Necessary.

  Maybe she wouldn’t go back to her old self at all now that she’d shed that self-imposed reserve. She didn’t have to be promiscuous, of course, but it felt damn good to have a man see her as desirable. Pretty. She felt pretty and powerful in a way she never had before.

  Cameron had been right. Altering her appearance had changed her.

  She felt as if her very cells had changed, that her body had a sensuousness she had never paid attention to or hadn’t even known was there.

  Her breasts felt fuller. And they certainly looked it. The silk of the most expensive dress she had ever worn caressed her skin every time she moved. Actually encouraged her to move more than usual.

  This was crazy. Amazing, but crazy. And she had to get a hold on this nonsense.

  There was a certain intoxication to these new feelings, which she had to be aware of and avoid. She was on a mission, in disguise, and had a job to perform. Later, she would dissect this persona and decide whether any of it was worth keeping.

  Once on their way in the Mercedes, Tess allowed herself to feel rich, beautiful and privileged. It was the role she had to assume, and she would play it for all it was worth.

  The ride was luxurious on soft, supple leather, with muted music drifting from who knew how many hidden speakers and that wonderful new car smell, which made her want a luxury vehicle. She refused to think about her six-year-old Mazda.

  “I could so become a material girl,” she muttered, making him laugh again.

  “Okay, where to first?” she asked as he maneuvered the car along the winding streets of the ancient fishing village turned glitzy tourist mecca.

  “La Bodega de Papagayo, if it’s still open this late in the year,” he replied. “Caters to the twenty something crowd. Might not be sophisticated enough for our boy, but it’s worth a shot.”

  It was operating, full steam ahead, with people waiting to get in, some looking disgruntled as they were turned away.

  “Smile at the bouncer,” Cameron advised. “If he doesn’t like us, we don’t get in.”

  Tess made a show of getting out of the Mercedes as Cameron held the door for her. She bent over, displaying her pushed-up cleavage, as well as showing a bit of leg, hoping that would help. Then she realized that such displays in a town where nudity was commonplace were pretty tame and no real treat for the locals. Maybe the expensive car would make a good impression.

  She smiled sweetly at the doorman, who grinned back, showing her his gold tooth and practiced leer. When he motioned them past the line waiting for approval, Cameron slipped him a bill and they were in. That seemed more like a token of thanks than a bribe, since it had been given after the fact.

  La Bodega wasn’t a large place, only two rooms, but it was packed with people and the dancing was wild. The music and the excitement were insidious. Tess found herself wishing there was no mission, no search, that she was simply there to enjoy.

  She and Cameron stayed together as they searched.

  Tess had gotten used to Cameron handling her, with a hand on her waist, a one-armed embrace, even that palm on her back, which she had anticipated earlier. His touch had begun to feel natural now. And exciting, she admitted.

  She should keep firmly in mind why they were here and what she had to do. But why not enjoy it a little, too?

  Something inside her really had shifted, and she had unleashed a part of herself she had spent most of her life denying or suppressing. She kept telling herself it was only that this pretense had given her permission to accept that aspect.

  It should be temporary, only for the duration of this operation. When it was over, she would go back to the way she was before and forget this high-maintenance look and attitude. This freedom to feel a bit wild.

  But was that because she thought she should change back or because she wanted to? Did she really want to?

  Maybe she couldn’t convince herself, simply because she liked doing this and being this way.

  And what about Cameron? Could he be the reason she liked it? The old Tess was careful, reserved and a self-confessed loner.

  She looked at the breath-stealing man beside her and felt the definite punch of desire. The new Tess wasn’t any of those things.

  Chapter 7

  Tess forced herself to concentrate on the search. Patrons of La Bodega were so diverse, yet so much alike, way past tipsy, living the good life to the hilt. Most of them weren’t chronologically younger than she was, and yet they seemed so.

  Cameron should have appeared out of place, but somehow he didn’t. If she were seeing him for the first time, he would stand out in this crowd, but only because his looks were striking even in a sea of beautiful people. He seemed to fit everywhere without really blending in.

  “Well, he’s not here,” Cameron said once they had made the rounds twice. “Let’s go.”

  They returned to the front, retrieved the car and were off again. They hit two more clubs, were admitted without any problems and found no one resembling the man they were after. “Where to next?” she asked, tamping down her excitement so she wouldn’t appear awed by it all. Cameron seemed so unaffected, as if he’d been born to this lifestyle. No wonder experience counted so much in this business. Well, she was gaining it, wasn’t she?

  Professional experience was one thing, personal experience another. She hadn’t much in that last category, either, and didn’t quite know what to think of the mixed signals she was getting from Cameron.

  She would glance across the crowd and catch him watching her with a look of such intense heat she thought she might melt on the spot, yet when they came together to compare notes, he acted the cool professional agent.

  He would touch her hand, her arm, her bare back and it seemed more like caresses than not. Her skin tingled. Her heart thundered with the pounding beat of the music, an urgent sexual rhythm. She ached to touch him back, to feel those hands all over her. But then the cursory glances that went with his touches were unreadable as he continued searching for Selim.

  This had been going on all night and tension had mounted so powerfully by this time that Tess felt wired for anything. Hot-wired. Absolutely ready. Did he know what he was doing to her? How distracting it was?

  She did her best to shake off the feelings of arousal and concentrate on what she had to accomplish here. He’s doing the same, a wicked little voice chimed in her brain. She didn’t trust it for a hot second.

  And then he looked down at her, not a mere glance this time, and he smiled.

  “That was the last stop,” he said. “We can’t possibly make them all in one evening, anyway. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to call it a night.”

  “And you’re not even wearing high heels.” Tess slipped her arm through his, and they went out to wait for the valet to bring the car around.

  He placed his hand over hers and gave it a meaningful squeeze. “You’re doing great,” he whispered.

  The trip back to the marina was short. When they got there, he parked and turned to her. “Think you can do all this again tomorrow?”

  “Do we have a choice?” she asked with a sigh, leaning back against the headrest.

  He had turned, his elbow propped on the steering wheel. “C’mon, admit it. You love it here. Imagine how lovely it would be if we weren’t working.”

  “But we are,” she said, rolling her head to face him. “It would have been nice to have a glass of
wine, dance a little. The music was fantastic, wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah. So are you, Tess.” He leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips. “Absolutely fantastic,” he whispered.

  She kissed him back, not so gently, inhaling his scent, reveling in the taste of him and the feel of his mouth on hers. The heady rush of lust made her dizzy. When he finally drew away, they were both breathing heavily. He brushed her cheek with his hand and smiled.

  Wordlessly, they got out of the car, walked hand in hand to the dock, and he helped her onto the boat. She knew what he expected to happen next. She knew what she wanted to happen next. Would he turn it off again and go all businesslike on her?

  As soon as they reached the saloon, he took her in his arms and kissed her again. “I want you,” he whispered.

  Not I love you. She would not have been fooled by those words, but these echoed her need precisely; she found she didn’t care about waiting for love. How would she know if a man loved her, anyway, when they almost always lied to get sex? At least he was honest. He wanted her.

  “I want you, too,” she said and meant every word of it. She was about to take a little walk on the wild side for a change. Surely she had it coming to her after being straitlaced for so long. Cameron made her feel safe. He wouldn’t hurt her. He wouldn’t lie.

  She was well aware that the woman he really wanted was the prettied-up version he had created with fancy hair, a fake tan and the push-up bra, which was cutting into her flesh like dull knives.

  “Let’s undress,” she said. “I’m miserable.”

  She felt more than heard his laughter. “You always surprise the hell out of me,” he said. He scooped her up as if she weighed nothing and took her to the master cabin, following her down to the berth so that he lay half on top of her.

  When he moved in to kiss her, she pushed at his chest. “I have to wear this again tomorrow night, so don’t rip it off, okay?”