He nudged the sheet lower, trailing his fingers along the sides of her hips. She pressed her pelvis against the cot. She was going to make a fool of herself.
Jake’s hands, no longer massaging, skimmed across her bottom, his fingers tracing her cleft. He hovered. “Are you sure?”
She should say something, stop him. But she didn’t want him to stop. “Yes, please.”
Warm breath blew down her spine, and Jake’s lips landed on her tailbone. Georgette gasped and rolled over.
Her gaze met Jake’s, a dark, smoldering blue, as he knelt beside the cot.
“Do you want me to stop?”
“No.”
He leaned forward and kissed her mouth, whipping the sheet from her body. He pulled back, his eyes traveling down the length of her bare flesh, scorching her skin. Instead of covering herself like she usually would have, she fell back against the cot, letting his gaze devour her.
He whispered, “You’re so beautiful, like a Greek goddess.”
His tongue traced her ear, and he sucked her lobe between his teeth and nibbled. At that simple gesture, she raised her hips from the cot.
Oh please, just take me now.
His hand reached between her legs, his fingers skimming her flesh, hot and swollen. His fingertips stroked her wet folds over and over, and she held her breath, feeling that if she released it now, she’d shatter into a million pieces.
He removed his hand, kissing the sob from her lips. His mouth moved to the hollow of her throat, measuring her galloping pulse with his tongue. He cupped her breasts as he trailed kisses between them. His stubble scratched her belly, and she wound her fingers in his thick hair. If he put his mouth where his fingers had played before, she’d scream, she’d die, she’d...
His soft lips caressed the center of all her pleasure, her...pussy...and she dragged a breath of air between her teeth. His tongue explored her as his fingers had before, and her head thrashed from side to side as she ascended a cresting wave. But he wouldn’t let the wave rush into shore just yet.
He teased and tantalized her with his tongue, withdrawing its sweet caress just when she felt the tide mounting within her to unbearable heights. He circled his tongue around one nipple and then the other, and she cupped her own breasts, urging him to take her nipple between his lips. He didn’t take the bait, but buried his head between her legs, and with one flick of his tongue, he sent the wave crashing through her.
A spasm of intense pleasure gripped her, sending tingles throughout her entire body. She cried out as another spasm claimed her body. Again and again, hot, sweet passion took possession of her, until she was panting, wanting more, wanting Jake.
Blindly, she reached for him, her hands colliding with his washboard stomach. He peeled his shirt off as she tugged at his fly. His erection strained against the heavy material of his shorts, unrestricted by underwear, and her hands reached inside and drew him out.
Chest heaving, he knelt next to the low cot, looking very much like Lokin, the Palarosa god. He growled, “I can’t wait. I wanted you the minute I saw you.”
Georgette yanked down his shorts, and he stood up to kick them off. As they fell to the floor, something clunked on the polished wood.
Georgette shifted her eyes from Jake’s gorgeous body and eager erection to the shimmering bauble spilling out of his pocket. Her brows shot up. The blood pounded in her ears.
Jamie’s topaz and diamond necklace winked at her.
***
With Georgette’s sweetness staining his lips, Jake knelt before her again and tilted her chin up to take possession of her mouth, but her lips formed a tight line. He swept the tip of his tongue along the crease.
Her body stiffened in his arms. Oh God, she can’t pull back now. His need raged in his loins, and he nudged his cock against her belly to remind her how much he desired her.
She placed her palms against his chest, her nails digging into his flesh. “Stop.”
He groaned and cupped her face in his hands. Was she concerned about someone hearing her scream again? He intended to make her scream again and again. “Georgette, if you’re worried about...”
Her eyes darkened and shimmered, shooting sparks. Passion glowed from their depths, but not the passion of desire. His stomach dropped. She thought he’d taken advantage of her. “I-I’m sorry I misunderstood. We can continue this at my place...if you want or not at all.”
“What did you do to my sister?” She grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around her glistening body.
His mouth dropped open. Was she insane? Or was he? What looking glass did he just tumble through?
She pointed to the floor. “Where did you get that necklace?”
His stomach clenched as he spied the sparkling topaz and diamond necklace snaking from the pocket of his shorts onto the floor. Georgette had just confirmed his worst fear. “This is what I came to ask you about. Does that belong to your sister?”
Her jaw tightened and her eyes glittered. “You know it does. You gave it to her.”
He rocked back on his heels, his cock still hard and throbbing between his legs. “I didn’t give her that necklace, but I knew it came from one of the shops at the resort.”
She rolled off the low cot and snagged her robe from the hook on the wall. “What happened? Did you demand she give it back when she hooked up with Jean-Claude? Are you carrying it around with you in hopes of buying her back when she returns?”
He shook his head to clear it as his hot desire mingled with the strands of confusion wending their way through his brain. “I didn’t give her the necklace.”
She towered over him, wrapped in the white terry cloth robe, still looking like goddess but one bent on wrath. He was still on his knees, completely naked, completely aroused.
He grabbed his shorts, sweeping the necklace up in his fist. He pulled his shorts on and faced Georgette across the cot.
She shoved her hands in the deep pockets of the robe. “So, Jean-Claude bought her the necklace, and you...what? Snatched it from her during an argument? Or did she give you one for old times’ sake and carelessly leave it in your bed before running off with Jean-Claude?”
He ground his teeth together. Was Georgette’s interest in him some sort of kinky game she played with her twin sister? Bed the same men and compare and contrast? “I don’t know what kind of weird fantasy you’re spinning in your head, but I hate to disappoint you. I never slept with your sister.”
She choked out, “Liar.”
“Did she tell you I did?” He held up his hands, the necklace dangling from his fingers.
“Gunther told me.”
“Gunther told you I slept with Jamie?”
“Yes.” Her bottom lip trembled, and she hugged herself.
“He’s mistaken. Jamie slept with a lot of men here at the resort, but I wasn’t one of them. I’m not in the habit of bedding my guests.”
She folded the robe even more tightly around her willowy frame, tilting her chin. “Aren’t you?”
He chewed on the inside of his cheek. Damn. Hadn’t he just jumped her in the middle of a massage? No wonder she thought the worst of him.
“Georgette, I’m telling you the truth. I didn’t sleep with your sister. I didn’t buy her this necklace. I have no idea where she is.”
Georgette’s lips softened, and she blinked her eyes several times. “Then where did you get the necklace?”
He released the bauble from his fist and held it out in front of him. It danced and shimmered between them.
“I found it at the Palarosa ritual rock.”
Chapter Eight
Georgette swayed toward the jewels in Jake’s hand. The Palarosa ritual rock? Oh God, what did that mean?
“When did you find it?”
“When I saw you out there.” Jake stuffed the necklace back in his pocket. “I found it on the ground.”
Georgette gripped her hands in front of her to still their trembling. “Jake, do you think...?”
H
e swept his hands over his face and raked them through his hair. “Do I think she lost it during a ritual sacrifice?”
She covered her mouth. No. She couldn’t believe it. Wouldn’t believe it. Not Jamie.
Jake stepped over the cot and pulled her into his arms. She leaned against his hard, bare chest, soaking in his warmth. He hadn’t slept with Jamie. And he wanted her—Georgette Lawson, the plain twin, the serious twin...the living twin.
She twisted out of his grasp. “We have to find out what happened. We have to tell the constable.”
He pivoted away from her and paced a few steps. “We can’t do that, Georgette.”
“Why not?” She spread her arms wide. “The full moon is coming in several days. Are we going to sit here and wait for another woman to disappear?”
He stopped, folding his arms over his broad chest. “We don’t have any proof Jamie was sacrificed. She could’ve lost the necklace while having a look at the rock.”
Georgette clenched her teeth. Jake would do anything to squelch negative publicity about the island. Well, if Jamie was involved, Georgette wasn’t going to allow him to sweep this under the rug. “Then where is she?”
“With Jean-Claude.”
“Why didn’t she check out?”
“She plans to return.”
“Why isn’t she sending postcards anymore?”
He banged the wall with his fist. “I don’t know. She got writer’s cramp.”
Georgette shook her head. “How can you joke about this? She’s my sister.”
Jake covered the distance between them in two strides and took her hands. “I’m sorry. Because of the rumors, Clive already made inquiries when Jamie took off. But when it was discovered that Jean-Claude left as well, he figured your sister went with him.”
“Did he check airline passenger logs or anything like that?” She left her hands in his.
“He did and came up empty, but many people take boats and the ferries to the other islands. The ferry companies don’t keep records. Georgette, Jamie is an adult. There’s no evidence of foul play. She’s not a missing person.”
She studied his blue eyes, recalling their fire when he devoured her naked body with his gaze. If only Jamie would come back tomorrow, Georgette would be free to explore this man, body and soul. She grimaced. Even though Jake and Jamie hadn’t slept together, Jamie was still between them.
“I have to get to the bottom of this, Jake. I have to find out what happened to Jamie, and I have a plan.” The plan had been nibbling at the edges of her mind ever since she’d stood on that gray, soot-covered rock.
He squeezed her hands. “What’s your plan? I’ll help if it means you’re not running around the island asking questions about Palarosa.”
“I’m going to be the third sacrifice.” She crossed her arms and drummed her fingers on her biceps.
Jake dropped her hands as his eyebrows disappeared under a lock of his sun-bleached hair. “What?”
She nodded. “It’s perfect. I’ll draw out the people who are practicing the old ways. It’ll be easy. We already know the time and place where the crime will be committed. If someone had taken the disappearance of that first woman seriously, Jamie would be with us today.”
Jake smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand. “You’re crazy. How are you going to go about making sure you’re the third chosen woman?”
She smiled. “That’s easy. Lokin wants a fallen woman, right? I’ll give him what he wants.” She gestured to the door. “This evening should start the ball rolling. I think everyone in the spa heard us.”
“You. Everyone heard you.”
Lifting her shoulders, she said, “Whatever.”
He bent over and picked up his shirt. “It’ll never work. You’re not...”
“Flirtatious enough? Sexy enough? I can be. I watched the best in action.”
He shrugged into his shirt, leaving it unbuttoned, and grabbed her. “You’re sexy enough for me.”
His lips caressed hers, and that slow simmer in her belly threatened to bubble over and cascade through her body, taking her senses along for the ride.
She clasped her hands behind his neck, arching her body into his, grinding against his fast-building erection. She toyed with his tongue before dragging her lips down his throat and nibbling on a brown nipple.
Then she ran her fingers through the hair on his chest and pushed him back. “Sorry, big boy, there are lots of fish in the sea.”
***
Behind his dark sunglasses, Jake studied the leggy brunette with the lush, pouting lips as she tossed a bottle of sunscreen to one of the men lounging around the pool. She sank to the patio in front of the man and curled her long, golden legs beneath her.
The lucky guy squirted the lotion into his hands and rubbed her back. He untied the strings of her bikini top while she clutched the front, screaming and giggling.
Jake snapped the pencil in his hand. He’d found it hard to believe Jamie and Georgette were twins...until now. Georgette, with her halo of wild dark hair floating around her head, her tiny bikini, and big, dark glasses looked like a model. She had the pretty boys at the resort stumbling and panting in her wake.
Jake ground his teeth. It didn’t suit her. She had more class and elegance in her little finger than her sister had in her entire body.
Jamie had come on to him like a freight train, batting her fake eyelashes and thrusting her fake breasts in his face. He knew the type. Hell, he’d partied with the type...and liked it. Now his tastes veered toward the bookish, intelligent, natural type.
His gaze wandered to Georgette’s corner of the pool. She crouched down in the water, her hands crossed over her chest, her head thrown back in laughter. A pony-tailed man stood at the side of the pool, dangling her little bikini top above the water.
Jake jumped up from his paperwork and strode to the edge of the pool. He ripped the bikini top out of the man’s grasp and tossed it to Georgette. “You know the rules. No nudity in the pool.”
The people lounging on the deck booed and hissed. A man called out, “Since when do you enforce that rule, Jake?”
Since Georgette started acting like a tart. Jake spun on his heel back to his table. She’d been going at it for three days now, transforming herself into a sexy, sensual siren. A coterie of men, young and old, followed her around the resort as she drank, smoked, and frolicked. Jake pounded the keys of his laptop. Even though it was all an act, he couldn’t take much more of it.
Drops of water landed on his keyboard. “What the...?”
Georgette, her lithe body dusted gold by the sun, hovered over him. She plopped into his lap, soaking his shorts and shirt, and wound her arms around his neck. “How am I doing?”
He shifted in his seat, trapping her legs between his thighs and placing his hand on her almost-exposed bottom. She wanted to play with fire? “A little too good. I’m totally buying that you’re sleeping with those guys.”
She shook her head, beads of water shimmering in the strands of her hair. “Of course I’m not, but I’m doing a lot of kissing and telling, so each one thinks I’m sleeping with the others.”
His fingers trailed along the leg opening of her bikini bottom, and she squirmed in his lap. She whispered, “Don’t do that.”
He hooked a finger around the string tied at her hip, teasing the knot. “You want a reputation? You have to go for the gold, and at this resort, that’s me.”
She clawed the back of his neck with her fingernails. “You’re insufferably arrogant. Did Jamie go for the gold?”
“Yeah, she did, but she ran into a brick wall.” He ran his hand down her smooth back, resting it on her hip.
She brushed the hair from his brow. “You mean my gorgeous, sexy sister couldn’t tempt you? Something wrong with your equipment?”
Only one gorgeous, sexy Lawson sister could tempt him. His fingers crept to the front of her bikini bottoms where he tucked one fingertip beneath the edge. Georgette gasped and squeezed her
thighs together.
He chuckled. “You saw my...equipment. What do you think?”
She bit her lip and took a gulp of his iced tea. “Is my ploy working? The full moon is days away. Do you think we can catch these people?”
He lifted a shoulder. “You got what you wanted. Everyone at the resort thinks you’re easy. Whether or not that’s going to earn you a place on the Palarosa sacrifice rock is another story. We don’t even know if that’s what happened to your sister.”
Her chest rose and fell with her sigh, and Jake dragged his eyes away from the curve of her breast spilling out of her little bikini top.
She murmured, “If it did, I’m giving them plenty of reason to choose me next.”
He curved his arm around her waist. Might as well keep up appearances. “You know what puzzles me? Ever since you morphed into your sister, the threats against you stopped. It would seem the people warning you to get off the island aren’t concerned about you anymore.”
“You’re right. Maybe because they already have me pegged as the next sacrifice.”
Jake drew his brows together. He still didn’t believe this was all about Palarosa. Something else was happening on the island. Why would someone threaten Georgette when she came down here asking questions about her sister and then stop when Georgette seemed to settle into the abandoned life of a tourist?
Georgette kissed his forehead. “You’re supposed to look like you’re enjoying this.”
He wrapped his hands around her waist and shoved her off his lap and burgeoning cock. Then he slapped her ass. “I am. Too much.”
***
Georgette glided back to the pool and slid into the water, her bottom stinging from Jake’s palm. She could’ve lounged in Jake’s lap all afternoon, feeling his strong hands on her body. She’d never felt comfortable sitting on a man’s lap. She was too tall. But Jake topped her by a good five inches, and his large frame accommodated her easily.
She smoothed her palms over the ripples of water. Jake ignited every nerve ending in her body. That night at the spa was the first time a man had given her an orgasm. She was too embarrassed to tell Jake that, but he’d probably figured it out from her scream.
Last Ticket to Paradise Page 9