Jinx's Fantasy

by Pepper Winters

  It didn’t matter that I’d signed invoices as high as that when we’d enlisted contractors to begin building the resort on Rapture. And it didn’t matter that the lease alone for the islands in Tahiti commanded such a price tag—and they were just a rental instead of an asset—I would never become accustomed to that sort of money. My hands shook as I looked around the elegant, opulent lounge, pausing to truly take stock of how incredible my life had become.

  There was a blue piano glittering with sunshine, for heaven’s sake. A blue piano! And bottles of rare liquor and Faberge fabric were used willy-nilly as if they were cheap counterfeits.

  When my father came to visit Goddess Isles six months or so after Sully and I were married, I’d been wary of his judgment. Even though I was his daughter and he loved me, I worried he’d think, just for a second, that I’d married Sully for his money.

  I’d been stupid to worry, of course. My father had already gotten to know Sully on our regular video calls, and we’d escorted him around the island on our cell phones, so by the time my dad arrived in person, he plopped his bag in his villa, shook Sully’s hand, which turned into a hug between father and son-in-law, then promptly barrelled into the warm sea.

  His visits were always welcome and enjoyed.

  My mother’s, on the other hand.... The first and only had been strained, and she’d lasted two days before using work as an excuse to leave. She’d forgotten how to just be. How to sit on the beach and have no files to log for work, no to-do list to conjure for next week, and no need to chase stress.

  Perhaps, we could use Calypso and go visit her in London, where she was stationed with her firm. Maybe we could use this yacht to snap her back into awareness, seeing as it had done the same for me?

  “I would like to test drive Thimble. Is that due to arrive soon?” Sully asked as he skimmed the contract and read the fine print.

  “Thimble has been delivered to your other address in the South Pacific.” Elder Prest glanced at his fiancée before running a hand through glossy blue-black hair. “The craft is swift and one of the fastest we’ve designed, but she isn’t suitable for long journeys out to sea. If there were a storm between here and there, I fear she might not weather well.”

  Sully narrowed his eyes. “And this boat will?”

  “Calypso is fitted with automatic stabilisers, top-of-the-line ballasts, and onboard levellers to prevent seasickness. Her autopilots and numerous engines prevent capsizing better than any other vessel in high winds and waves.” Elder took Tasmin’s hand, subtly and smooth, keeping their linked hands hidden behind his back. The fact that he’d had to touch her, even while doing business, made me smile.

  I hadn’t been able to decipher Elder all that well. His stern face and unreadable black eyes gave nothing away about who he was, but he couldn’t hide the protective possessiveness he felt toward the quiet, quick-to-jump-but-fast-to-smile woman who’d captured his heart.

  “Pim and I endured a storm ourselves.” He cracked a rare smile. “A tropical typhoon caught us while we were out to sea. It was...an experience.”

  “Pim?” I asked.

  Elder’s jaw clenched. “Slip of the tongue. Tasmin.”

  “Pim is...” Tasmin spoke up in her husky voice. “I guess it’s a nickname. Pimlico—like the train station in England.” She braced herself, standing taller as if shoving away past memories.

  I narrowed my eyes at the history in her tone. Had something happened at that train station?

  Tasmin caught my stare, and her guarded fierceness that I’d seen a few times on the tour blazed in her green eyes. “The storm was ferocious.” She laughed lightly, dispelling whatever had brewed inside her. “I didn’t have enough respect for the ocean back then. I was new to the sea and decided the best place to ride out a storm with waves bigger than us was on the balcony.”

  “Oh, my God.” I gasped. “I’m surprised you didn’t fall overboard.”

  “She would have if I hadn’t strapped both of us to the railing.” Elder’s black gaze smoked with other things that’d happened that night, not just wild weather.

  I smiled and nodded politely. “I’m sure she was grateful you kept her safe.”

  “I’m grateful every day,” Tasmin murmured, her body curling closer to Elder’s.

  Elder cleared his throat and gave her a look before his face slipped back into indifference, and he resumed his attention on the contract Sully had just finished reading.

  “Everything in order, Sinclair?”

  Cal had been reading over Sully’s shoulder, and he answered on Sully’s behalf. “And the warranty is fifteen years?”

  “If something breaks in twenty years, I’d be suspicious you weren’t the cause.” Elder scowled. “My builders are meticulous, and our products are high end. The warranty is merely a formality. I give you my word that this yacht is built to the highest of standards and will last long after you are dead.”

  Cal pursed his lips as if to argue, but Sully nodded. Placing the contract back onto the bar, he said, “It all looks satisfactory. Apart from one minor detail.”

  “What detail?” Elder frowned.

  Sully looked up, catching my stare before his attention swept over the gorgeous sun-drenched lounge and out the windows to his islands beyond.

  Large ones, small ones, all of them cradling us with their palm trees and reef breaks, housing so many rescues and rehabilitation centres.

  He was ready to go home.

  Me too.

  Smiling gently in my direction, Sully muttered, “It’s not me who needs to sign.” Holding up the expensive-looking pen Elder had given him, he motioned me closer. “Eleanor.”

  I padded to his side, hiding the flutter in my belly as my skin kissed his when he passed me the pen. Electricity sparked in our fingers as it always did when we touched. “You sign. Rapture is your baby, and this yacht officially belongs to that company.”

  “But we’re both directors of that company.”

  “But you’re the managing shareholder.” He smiled, wrapping my hand around the pen and pressing the nib to the contract. “Rapture’s success is all down to your innovation and ideas. Calypso is yours.”

  I looked across the bar where Tasmin watched me carefully. Her eyes had widened at Sully’s abdication of authority to me, as if she wasn’t used to men being nice to women.

  Our gazes caught.

  They held.

  Then she smiled and nodded, her shoulders relaxed and her head tipped to lean on Elder’s shoulder. I didn’t know what’d happened to her, but everything seemed like a shock to her system, followed by swift acceptance. Almost as though she’d been denied basic kindness and now found the very hint of it absolutely shocking, followed by a reminder that simple sweetness shouldn’t be a rarity but common.

  Sully kissed my temple, whispering in my ear, “Sign, Jinx. I want to be back on our beach.”

  With his breath tickling my nape, I did what he requested and scribed my signature. I took ownership of Calypso and Thimble, and Jess clapped her hands as a waiter brought around six glasses of champagne.

  “A toast,” Jess said. “To new friends and new adventures.”

  We all raised our glasses and clinked.

  And my dirty mind went to what Sully had promised in the master bedroom of this floating palace.

  He said he’d code me an underwater fantasy. A hallucination I’d been wanting to try for a while now. A fantasy that’d been born thanks to Sully’s affinity with the sea and my lust for his body dripping with water.

  Soon, I wouldn’t just be a woman who bought yachts as if they were seashells.

  I would be some water nymph with a dangerous man begging at her feet.

  I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

  Chapter Five

  I HELD THE STEERING WHEEL of Singa Laut, ready to cast off from Calypso and return to my island. Cal and Jess already sat down the back, speaking between themselves, Radcliffe and Rory stood on either side of the h
ull, ready for war even in paradise, and my delicious wife stood beside me, grinning as two emerald flashes appeared just before Pika and Skittles fluttered from the sky and descended on us.

  Pika on my head. Skittles on Eleanor’s shoulder.

  “Decided you missed us, huh?” I shook my head, making Pika squeak.

  Tasmin sucked in a breath from where she stood by the railing. “Are they tame or do wild birds have a habit of landing on you out here?”

  I chuckled. “They’re tame. A part of our family, really.”

  “Skittles adopted me,” Jinx said, shading her gaze from the sun as she looked up at Tasmin. “However, thousands of birds live on Goddess Isles. Some native, some imported from our rescue efforts. All beautiful and unique in their own way.” Giving me a quick look, Eleanor padded barefoot to the side of the speedboat and leaped back onto the watery platform of Calypso. Moving toward Tasmin, she encouraged Skittles to hop to her finger before presenting her to the brown-haired girl beside Prest.

  “Here. She won’t bite.”

  A few years ago, I would’ve disagreed with her.

  Skittles’s trust issues had been numerous, and if she felt cornered, she had a wicked nip on her. But ever since Eleanor had come along, Skittles had been a doting, adorable companion who no longer vanished into the jungle for months on end but slept each night on Eleanor’s pillow while Pika slept on mine.

  “She’s beautiful,” Tasmin murmured, reaching out to stroke Skittles’s bright green wings. Skittles puffed up in warning but then smoothed her feathers as Eleanor cooed at her.

  I’d be jealous of the relationship between that caique and my wife if I didn’t love them both.

  Pika, not one to tolerate being ignored, shot from my hair and flapped around Prest’s head, squeaking and cawing, making a fucking spectacle of himself.

  I sighed. “Don’t mind him. He’s all bark.”

  Prest ducked as Pika dive-bombed and snatched a clawful of his blue-black hair. “Feisty bugger, isn’t he?”

  “Feisty. Opinionated. Asshole.” I shrugged. “He owns all the names for ‘nuisance’ that exist in a dictionary.”

  Prest gave me a tight smile.

  Pika decided to investigate the yacht, zipping into the lounge and leaving our ears ringing from his squawks.

  Once again, I scanned the horizon, expecting to see Prest’s personal yacht, Phantom. It’d been a few hours since we’d begun the tour and still no other vessel had arrived.

  For now, Prest and Tasmin were stuck here. On my newly purchased boat. Stranded in my seas with no way to leave.

  I should probably be civil and invite them to my shores.

  No.

  I’d had my fill of socialising, but it seemed Eleanor and I were always linked, for better or for worse, and she took my idea of their stranded situation and offered an invitation I’d contemplated and dismissed because I was selfish and wanted my wife all to myself.

  “Come.” She smiled at Tasmin as she continued to pet Skittles, then glanced at Prest who towered over them. “Your ride isn’t here yet. Let us return the hospitality and ply you with a cocktail as the sun goes down. The sunsets here are truly spectacular.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Prest said.

  I’d met many men in my time. I’d used my knack at knowing who someone was beneath their lies and trickery. I’d dealt with bastards and billionaires, and I had a pretty good bullshit meter, but I couldn’t get a clear reading on Prest.

  He held himself taut and poised as if he’d had martial art training. He moved like a lethal weapon, yet his hands moved elegantly, almost as if he was a musician in a past life. And when he looked at Tasmin, his face contradicted itself. Half furious as if pissed at the world and half besotted as if he worshipped the ground she walked upon.

  “It would be our pleasure to have you on land for a little while,” Eleanor offered again. “How long has it been since you’ve stood on something that doesn’t move beneath your feet?”

  Tasmin dropped her hand from Skittles’s feathers with a quick laugh. “We’ve been at sea so long that everything moves beneath my feet. My body believes everything is water, and I sway regardless of stability.”

  “In that case, you have to join us. Just to remind your brain that sand is in fact sturdy.” Eleanor grinned.

  I threw a look over my shoulder at Cal, who rolled his eyes. He didn’t want guests either, but decorum and niceties made me huff and be polite. “My wife is right, Prest. It would be a pleasure to share a drink. Come. We’ll drive you back to your yacht the moment it appears.”

  Tasmin beamed as Skittles chirped. The girl’s eagerness glinted in her green eyes, wanting to explore a tropical island.

  Not that I could blame her.

  From here, Batari glittered with jewelled flowers, glossy forest, and the whitest, most dazzling beach in the world. If I didn’t own it, I’d be fucking jealous of the bastard who did.

  Jealous enough to stage a coup and steal it—which is precisely what my brother, Drake, had tried to do and failed.

  “You’ll be okay?” Prest asked Tasmin quietly. “We can just wait here for Phantom.”

  Tasmin flicked a glance at Eleanor and Skittles then at Pika as he finished terrorising the yacht staff and returned to sit smugly on my shoulder. “Yes. It’ll be fun. One drink and then we’ll go.”

  “Okay.” Prest smiled. “Anything you want.”

  Tasmin popped onto her toes, kissing his cheek. “I can’t guarantee we won’t leave without a parrot or two, though.”

  I bit my tongue that none of my creatures would be going anywhere, but Prest beat me to it.

  “You have Spot.” He smiled. “That damn dog has taken over Phantom and our bed.”

  “You can’t fool me, El.” Tasmin moved toward my speedboat. “You love that mutt, same as me.”

  Prest grumbled something.

  After starting the engine, I waited until Eleanor returned to my side and prepared to drive guests and family back to our beach.

  Chapter Six

  “YOUR HOME IS INCREDIBLE,” TASMIN said, sighing in contentment as the sun slowly kissed the horizon in an indigo, tangerine, fire-glowing splash.

  Jess, me, and Tasmin lay on loungers directed at the horizon, firmly planted into the sand, with tables between us holding three cocktails each instead of one. Empty glasses merged with fresh, delivered by kind staff who’d blended fruits from our gardens on Lebah with intoxicating liquors.

  I didn’t know about the rest of the girls, but I felt a tingle in my blood, and would be heading toward tipsy if I kept drinking.

  Tipsy meant loose-tongued. Tipsy meant being bolder than I probably should be about topics that should remain unspoken.

  Cal, Sully, and Elder were off down the beach, standing in a cluster with beers in their hands and whatever topics men discussed keeping them occupied, leaving us to relax for the past couple of hours without their interference.

  “It’s definitely special.” I smiled at Tasmin, removing my sunglasses to enjoy the final colours of a tropical sky. “It never gets old, either. I’m as much in awe today as I was the first day I arrived.”

  Tasmin tucked her brown hair behind her ears, turning to face me on her lounger. “How long ago was that?”

  I threw Jess a glance. We’d both enjoyed entertaining a woman who wasn’t a past goddess, but it also came with secrets that we had to hide. To Tasmin, this beach was just a beach and this island was just an island.

  However...a part of me, during our polite conversations over the past two hours about climate, culture, and commerce, had picked up that Tasmin might not have been Sully’s captive like Jess and I had been but she’d been someone’s.

  She’d been owned by a bastard who’d hurt her. A bastard who’d left silver scars on her body and self-protection like a physical aura around her. I didn’t know how I knew, but the knowledge was there, shimmering in the unspoken sentences between us.

  She was too young to b
e as guarded as she was. Too jaded but also child-like in her appreciation of the outdoors, as if she’d been denied sun and air.

  Jess cleared her throat, answering for me. “Jinx has been here for over six years now.” Swinging her feet to the sand, she buried her toes in silver sugar. “I’ve been here eight or so.”

  “Wow, that’s a long time.” Tasmin smiled at each of us, her eyes warm but wary, picking up on the probing stare of Jess. “And Jinx is an interesting name.”

  “A bit like yours, I suppose. Pimlico, was it?”

  She nodded. “Pim, yes.”

  “Jinx was given to me by my husband when we first met. Did yours call you Pim?”

  Tasmin shook her head slowly. “No, I was given it by another master—I mean man.”

  “Master?”

  She pursed her lips. “Wrong word, that’s all.”

  Jess once again threw me a look, making my skin prickle.

  I didn’t know if the sixth sense between Jess and me came from being so close or from sharing experiences that not many had to endure. Either way, I knew she wanted to share a piece of our history with Tasmin in order to gain a bit of hers.

  I nodded slightly, giving her permission.

  “I had a master too, and my nickname was Jealousy,” Jess said quietly. “Given to me by Sullivan when I became his property.”

  Tasmin froze, her fingers turning white around her strawberry melon cocktail. “What did you say?”

  “She said that this island wasn’t always so perfect.” I ran my hands through my hair, looking down the beach toward our husbands and the stories that came with them.

  “Sullivan purchased me and saved me from a bad situation,” Jess murmured. “He purchased Eleanor a few years later. He fell in love and she toppled his entire belief system and empire. She freed all of us. She’s the reason the man who bought me is now my family and why his second in command is my husband.” She inhaled and added even more quietly, “Ordinarily, we would not share that with anyone. It doesn’t define us, and it’s no one else’s business, but...I’m telling you because I think you’ll understand and find similarities between us. If I’m wrong, forgive me. But if I’m right...well, we know what it’s like.”