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Me: Got it.
He didn’t text back anymore after that, and he conveniently ignored my comment about money.
I unpacked my bag and took a bath in the bathroom that seemed more like a spa. The large soaking tub sat next to the large window and overlooked the ocean. It seemed absolutely perfect.
While I soaked, I tried to figure out my game plan. While I had avoided some of Adam’s questions, I needed to have my whole backstory in place. I had told Adam I was a fitness instructor, and I needed to stick to that. I tried to put more effort into my backstory, but my thoughts kept wandering back to Adam. When I ran into him in the airport, I was initially shocked by his appearance; he was just as massive as I had imagined he would be. His chest was broad, and I could see the outline of his pecs through his shirt. His shoulders were perfectly shaped under the fabric, and I could only imagine what his abs looked like. His social media profile pictures hadn’t done him justice, and I was sure the same was to be said about his abs. I was a sucker for those.
I wished I had taken more time to study his tattoos. I was curious to know what art he chose to wear forever. I didn’t want to be caught gawking at him, so I resisted the urge. I’d already spent too much time staring at his chest. I knew that he checked out my tattoos, and even my body. That was fine by me. My body was no longer what made me vulnerable; it was my strength. It was my armor to cover what I carried inside. I wasn’t above sleeping with the enemy or seducing them into a trap, like a siren. Many agents at the bureau had hard lines in the sand that they wouldn’t cross—but I wasn’t one of them. I would do whatever it took to get the job done.
In my last undercover operation, I lured the trafficking ring into kidnapping me. I did what I could to earn their trust and make myself useful. For my efforts, I was removed from their inventory and was reserved for the private use of leaders of the trafficking ring. Over time they began to let their guard down, and I snuck information to the bureau. Eventually, my colleagues raided the high rise they confined us to, and my operation was declared a success. I spent over six months undercover as the perverted elite’s plaything, but I came out on top. I was on my next assignment, in paradise, and they were going to spent the rest of their lives behind bars.
At least in this mission my ethics wouldn’t be as questioned by these bounty hunters as they would be by my colleagues. Some agents were so stuck up and looked down on me because of my willingness to get the job done, no matter the cost.Slutwas the least of the insults that had been hurled my way. I knew it came from jealousy; my arrest record was a mile longer than theirs. Somehow investigating credit card fraud wasn’t as rewarding.Go figure.
My thoughts drifted back to Adam’s face as he winked at me, and I felt a tightness in my lower belly. It had been a while since a guy had actually attracted me enough to take notice, and he definitely had my attention. I was almost positive that after all the awful men I had slept with, I was going to start taking an interest in women soon. Yet he reeled me right back in, and I wondered what it would feel like to run my hands down the front of his chest and into his waistband.
I let my head fall back against the back of the clawfoot tub and let my hand drift between my legs. The brief touch of my arm to his peck hadn’t been nearly enough.
I bet his cock is just as massive as he is.
I let my fingers touch all of the best spots that made me feel alive. When I was done, I drained the water from the tub and settled in for a long night of research on the bounty hunters and their suspect.
CHAPTERSIX
adam
“What the hell, Strong?” Jasmine said as soon as we were through the front doors.
The humid air hit my face, and I broke into a sweat. I didn’t want to be interrogated for asking a woman to be my date. I knew Jasmine was trying to protect our mission, but I was entitled to a chance to find my person too.
“Don’t ‘what the hell’me,” I said with a roll of my eyes. I wiped away the sweat that had instantly formed on my face and wished I had time to change into shorts before we exited the hotel. Jasmine had been in a hurry, and there was no arguing with her about exploring while the businesses were still open.
“You brought a random chick with you? What’s the matter with you?” she said and pinned me with a glare that I could feel, even in the darkness. I laughed when Jasmine turned her temper on Jones, but I wasn’t a fan when my ass was parked in the hot seat.
“Well, to be fair, Christine told me I could bring someone. There is an empty seat at our table,” I said in my defense.
“An empty spot would have been fine. The only people at our table are supposed to be our group. We could have discussed our mission,” she said.
“No, Christine’s rule is no mission talk on the night of the wedding. You know this,” I argued.
“That doesn’t mean we would have to follow it,” she countered. She arched her eyebrow as she crossed her arms in frustration. It reminded me of Abby’s overactive eyebrows.
“Yes, it does. Christine has been a great friend to you, and to me. We will follow her one rule. I mean, look what she did. She had her wedding here so that we’d waste no time in looking for these guys, and her parents are floating the bill. We will respect her wishes, Jasmine.” I pinned her with a glare of my own, which I knew was just as intimidating as hers, if not more so. While her gaze said, “I’ll cut you,” mine said, “I’ll bash your face in without even trying.” My size had a lot to do with that.
“Okay, fine. No mission talk at the wedding, but tonight’s not the wedding, so let’s talk. I think we need to spend some time checking out the sketchy areas.” It was a great redirect, and I was just thankful she stopped grilling me about Abby. “This island is pretty big, and it could take us a long time to canvas the whole place, but the sketchy areas will give us a good idea of what could be going on. Not to mention, who knows if this is all contained to this island or if it spills over into another? The locals in the bad part of the island would know.”
I gave her a nod and then gestured with my hand for her to lead the way.
We left the resorts and began visiting restaurants and small businesses in the not-so-pleasant areas. These were the places that the tourists avoided, and we stuck out like sore thumbs. From the way we talked to the way we dressed, we didn’t belong there. We approached anyone who would talk to us. On more than one occasion, I had to square up my shoulders to make myself even more intimidating. I wanted to make sure that anyone with bad intentions stayed away. The whole excursion was a miss that just left me feeling more exhausted and a little discouraged. No one shared much with us. Two storekeepers were ramblers and talked about the missing girls, but they didn’t have a whole lot of helpful information. The other storekeepers warned us to stay away and stop asking questions. Naturally that made us even more curious, but there was nothing we could do. They didn’t want to talk to us.
??
“Wait, you’re telling me you invited a woman you just met?” Garcia asked. He looked torn between a frown and a smirk. The expression was almost as amusing as his disbelief. Was it that I finally took interest in someone or that she was crazy enough to say yes?
We were gathered around a table eating breakfast. I was starving and in the middle of shoving food into my face like it was going out of style. The crepes at this resort were amazing, and the fruit was so fresh it was probably picked this morning. And don’t even get me started on the bacon. I knew the staff was watching me to make sure I didn’t go back for thirds. Jasmine had started to fill the others in on last night’s exploration of the island—I wished she would have left Abby out of her story.
I hadn’t heard from Abby since we parted ways last night. I was wondering if she had changed her mind about going as my date. After all, why would she want to go to a wedding with a complete and total stranger during her vacation? Maybe she wanted to sit on her ass and drink Mai Tais all day. If she did, I couldn’t blame her. I hoped that maybe she felt the same attraction that I felt—like we were two tattoos inked by the same artist. If she were smart, she would have told me no, and she would have been content to do the full tourist experience. However, she didn’t seem like the kind of girl who came here to tan on the beach. She seemed like the kind who wanted to go diving shipwrecks or snorkeling with the sharks. Both of which seemed like my idea of a good time and might be another reason I was attracted to her in the first place. Something about her just screamed,I’m a badass!
“Yeah, I did—but she’s hot and my type. Christine doesn’t care. She’s the one who told me multiple times she left a plus-one spot for me. Now, let’s drop that topic and get back to something important, like our mission,” I said. I looked at Christine and hoped for some backup. I didn’t want that attention on me. It was bad enough that when the wedding was over I’d have to ditch Abby to start work on our mission. I hoped she’d understand or that her vacation was only a short one in the first place.
