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I make a face. It just so happens that I donned a red lace bra and matching panties that are a little more peek-a-boo than I’m comfortable with.
“My friend runs the Queen Boutique downstairs.” I suck in a quick breath as the water hits my waist. “And, well, she’s hoping things will advance with my boyfriend—physically, that is. We’re sort of stuck in neutral at the moment.”
“Are we?” a deep voice strums from behind and I turn to see Ransom in his yesteryear finery before he strips himself of his denim duds. And now I have the answer to boxers or briefs—briefs, tight black hip-hugging shorts that I can’t seem to take my eyes off of.
He takes his time peeling off his shirt, his eyes latched to mine—and oh my word, has he ever got a body that just won’t quit.
He winks my way while broadening his chest, and if I didn’t know better, I’d think it was a threat—of the most delicious variety.
Of course, I’ve seen most of his body before on our many snorkeling adventures, but never has he flaunted it at me in such a seductive manner. And judging by the way Jane is casually glancing right past him, I’m guessing Ransom is displaying his sculpted abs—and the rest of his sculpted frame—for my eyes only this evening.
I glide into a seat across from Jane as the glowing blue water sizzles with a fine mist between us and bubbles brew around us as if we were in a cauldron.
Ransom slides in next to me, our knees touch, and it feels electric, erotic even, especially knowing Jane has no clue about his presence. It would figure that a man of Ransom’s caliber has harnessed what amounts to a cloak of invisibility.
“Ask her why she did it,” he says, running his hand over my knee in one smooth move. “We have better things to tend to.”
I bite down on my lip hard. “Jane?” I clear my throat. “What do you think happened?”
She averts her eyes just as one of those glow-in-the-dark bracelets falls from the dance party on the deck up above us. It glows an electric pink and forces the water to succumb to a sultry shade of lavender.
“Gracious,” she huffs as she sinks her lips to the waterline. “What didn’t happen?” She extends a foot and it finds a place to rest right in Ransom’s lap.
He winks my way with an air of amusement.
“So you probably heard about my stint in prison.” She sighs.
“Prison?” I ask, unsure I heard her currently over the steady hum of the jets and the boisterous blowout percolating above us.
She nods. “There was a girl missing—well, hardly a girl, a woman in her thirties. She took off for some L.A. canyon on a hike with a glorious tan bull mastiff. I’m a big dog lover. The bigger the dog, the more I love it. Anyway, after a few days, the story died down and so did the search party, so I phoned the police department and told them I spotted the woman and the dog at a convenience store in the area.”
Ransom shakes his head. “Not a good move.”
“What happened then?” I ask.
She blows out a breath and the bubbles part in response. “The search resumed as I hoped it would. That poor dog was out there in the heat of the day, the cool of the night, going who knows how long without food or water. Something had to be done. Anyway, the police found out I wasn’t even in the country at the time I made the call. I was booked for lying to the authorities. Not only that, but they billed me for the search party. A judge sentenced me to three weeks at some glorified detention camp. Do you know what it’s like to sit on a steel toilet in a common area? It’s a nightmare I’d rather soon forget.”
“I’m sorry to hear it. Did they find the woman?”
“The who?” She looks genuinely baffled. “Oh, her, the woman with the dog. Yes, she turned up in another town. She forgot to tell a relative she was taking off. It was a none story after all. The important thing is she had her puppers with her. I’m a sucker for a happy ending.”
Ransom leans my way, the heat from his skin warms my shoulder, and I marvel at this.
“She turned your question around and made it about herself,” he whispers. “See if you can steer the ship back to port.”
My lips curl in his direction, letting him know I’m a fan of the seaside references.
“I’m glad the dog was safe as well,” I tell her. “Too bad about Julia, though.”
The woman winces at the mention of her friend, and it makes me wonder.
“Yeah, Julia.” She shakes her head. “She’s gone, and it’s just so hard to believe. I mean, we were in deep with Lemonade Lipstick. Our launch is coming up in a couple of months. Our stockpile of merchandise is huge. We were really counting on her social media following. I mean, Nadine and I have more than a few followers as well, but Julia was a rockstar in the literal sense. If any one of us could have had a comeback, it would have been her. And now we’re just stuck with all of this lipstick. I don’t know how I’m going to get my money back, let alone make a profit.”
Ransom nudges me with his knee. “Ask what her initial investment was.”
That seems so private.
My mother raised me never to talk about money. You never asked how much someone made for a living or how much they had in their bank accounts. I’m pretty sure asking about investments fits in there somewhere. But then, my mother isn’t on the ship, and thankfully so.
