Chapter 7

Once we reached the villa, I helped Boyd unload our beach stuff while Elaine clutched the half-full bottle of rum to her chest and continued her slow whirling dance on the pool deck. By the time I stepped out, the bottle was almost empty, and she was splayed out across a lounge chair. Her eyes were closed as her little cones rose and fell. As he chuckled, Boyd walked past me to retrieve the bottle. After pouring the remainder into two glasses, he handed one to me and settled onto a lounger under an umbrella.

So, all was right with the world? No. No, it wasn’t. Okay, so right then and there, Boyd understood something weird was happening. Something beyond his control, bar letting me go. But here’s the thing. If word got around that one of my clients had developed a relationship with me, and perhaps left her husband for me, what would that mean? I’ll tell you what that’d mean. Business job in a business building with business people. End of my career. And rightly so. Nobody, including me, likes a home wrecker.

With a growl under my breath, I waded down the steps and pushed off to the far wall of the pool. With my shoulders above the surface, I leaned against the side and gazed out at the endless ocean. As the salty air mixed with the intoxicating fragrance of sweet rum and jungle flowers, my brain continued to whirl.

This was just plain wrong. No way about it. I’d meant what I said. I would not take her from Boyd. Which is all good and well, if she were his property. But that gleam ... That gleam in her eyes—as alluring as it was, it terrified me.

At the sound of the lounge chair shifting, I looked up. Boyd sent me a quick wave before heading inside. With a sigh, I returned to the horizon; the sun was much lower and orange clouds were scudding through the darkening sky.

Sometime later, there was a gentle splash as Elaine walked into the water before paddling towards me. Air hissed from my teeth when she glided onto my back; her hard nipples dragged up my shoulder blades until her chin rested atop my shoulders.

“Penny for your thoughts?” she asked, before settling her soft lips against the side of my neck.

“Honestly ... I need to leave.” Searing hot breath rushed from her, slicing across my skin. Nonetheless, heart hammering, I added in a rising tone. “To get out of here. Right now. And never look back.”

“I do have feelings for you, you know,” she whispered, even as her fingertips skimmed along my shoulders.

“Yeh, me too.” As I twirled the last of my rum in the dying sunlight, my fingers shuddered against the glass. “And that’s the problem, Elaine. You’re a client. A client’s wife.”

“I know it wasn’t supposed to be this way.” After a sigh sent another heated puff of syrupy rum-laden air over my shoulder, she gulped.

“No, it wasn’t.” I tossed back my rum and lowered the trembling glass onto the concrete.

“But you saved us, Tommy. You really did.” After planting another soft kiss against my skin, she added. “Boyd, well, you know...” As her arms tightened, her lithe frame pressed into me. “He’s the best husband ever.” Her nails clenched my shoulders; a ball of emotions fought within me as I gritted my teeth. “He found you.”

That wasn’t technically true. Elaine had found me, though he’d met me first. Only after Boyd was satisfied with me had he agreed we should all meet to discuss—things.

“And I still love him. We’ve a life together. And now I have you in it ... It’s—perfect. I need you, Tommy. Without you, our life would’ve crumbled away. We would’ve lost everything.”

When she said that, a massive weight lifted from me. With a long exhale, my heart slowed even though hers hammered against my spine. If she wasn’t planning on leaving him...? Her velvet lips dragged along my shoulder while her silken pelvis pushed into my butt.

“And I don’t want to lose this life, Tommy. I want this. I want to be with you, but I don’t want to throw Boyd away or...”

After wrapping her arms around my chest, she paused to grip me tight; her cones smashed flat against me, driving their searing sharp points into my skin and sending tremors racing through me. Blood rushed to my ears. And my shaft lurched upwards.

“I can’t stop you from leaving, Tommy. Heck, I can’t stop you from doing anything.” After a quick nip on my neck, she giggled. It was the cutest little sound, coming from her, right then. And right then, I needed that giggle more than anything in the whole damned universe. “But, you should know. Of all the things we’ve ever done together, do you know what I remember the most?”

“No.”

“That first hug. When you first wrapped your arms around me. I’d never felt so safe and secure in my entire life.” Another gentle kiss was followed by her front teeth nipping at me. Between that and the twin spikes digging into my back, my rod pulsed. “And that’s still true, Tommy. I do things with you I’d never dream of doing. And I know you push me.”

She took a slightly larger bite, sending shivers down my spine to ripple out along my shaft. “And that’s a big part of why I...” She gulped before adding in a lower voice, tense. “Why I’ve such strong feelings for you. You push both Boyd and I to experience more every time we meet. Hell, every damned time we step from this villa. Okay, so you’re not only doing it for the money. Boyd knows it. I know it. And...”

As her heartbeat thumped my spine, Elaine lay atop me for a long while before continuing. “Right now, if you walk inside and give him the hug you gave me, you’ll see.” Her fingernails raked along my abdomen, sending tremors through my frame. “He wants you to stay as much as I do. He glances at his calendar more and more as we get closer to each meeting.”

“So, who are you hurting by staying?” she added before, with a moan, she sucked the skin of my throat into her gentle mouth; a groan tore from me as my rod strained against my trunks. “All of us have feelings and we pay you. And you push us. But you’re also discrete, and caring, and...” She took another nibble and pulled her teeth away before adding, with one more of those cute giggles. “So damned tasty, Tommy.”

After her lips pressed against the tensing chords of my neck, her teeth nipped once more; my straining knob twitched. After a slow lick along my jaw, she added. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

Though Karen’s well-fucked, exhausted eyes flashed before me, I shook my head. You know, because Karen was somebody else’s girlfriend. Not mine. For the first time, I ripped my gaze from the clouding horizon to look at her.

“That’s a real shame.” As she glanced into the kitchen where her husband was clattering pans, her eyes took on that new gleam. “Could I be your girlfriend—just for a couple of days?”

While I stroked the hair from her flushed cheek and gazed at her, my heart stammered. Every other time Elaine stayed longer than her husband, alone with me, it was as my “toy.” This was the first time she’d mentioned “girlfriend.” What the hell? Alarm bells clanged.

No matter what she’d said previously, the way she’d just spoken. That hungry murmur in the ways she’d said “girlfriend.” Yeh, huge, strident fucking bells clanged. Alone with her was simply too risky. With Boyd around at least, she had some brakes. But, alone? Huh? Perhaps that was the key point? Elaine was lonely, nothing more. Bullshit, she was insatiable and lonely. No, even more bullshit—she now had admitted to having feelings. Strong feelings that ... Oh, we’d all but named it out loud. And those same feelings—I also had for her.