What a Girl Wants (4 page)

She wondered if he had considered her boot camp idea at all. She looked at him and could tell he had. There was a slight flush on his handsome face and he’d averted his eyes.

The realization hit her that she was wearing nothing underneath her nightshirt and too many washings had left the white cotton fabric paper-thin. She slid her glance downward. Her nipples strained against the material, and Scooby’s faded tail wagged against her trimmed patch of femininity.

Still looking away, he said, “I won’t stay long, unless you want to talk?”

The last thing she wanted to do with Alex was to rehash her life with Bridezilla. Everyone had a past, and she refused to be defined by hers.

Perhaps she
should
rethink the whole Alex seduction plan. Maybe it
had
been her craziest idea yet. “I’m all talked out.” She yawned. “I’m going to turn in early.”

He squeezed her shoulders. “Sleep well.”

A tingle ran up her legs and landed under Scooby’s tail. “Right back at you. Thanks for saving me from the runaway cherry.” She paused. “And for not laughing.”

“That’s what friends are for. Put the safety lock on and call if you need anything.”

He left and disappointment engulfed her. Maybe she
should
have taken him up on his offer to talk, but that’s not what she wanted to do. This assignment was about adventure, fun and releasing her inhibitions, not serious issues.

Speaking of which, it made her wonder about Alex’s alertness in the hallway. It was so like him. His investigative travels often had him dodging sniper bullets and other dangers. She shivered.

Okay, enough serious shit jogging through my exhausted brain.

She grabbed her iPod, stepped out onto the balcony, settled back in a lounge chair, tuned in to Michael Buble’s jazzy crooning and fell asleep.

A noise below woke her up.

She rose, bent over and saw two shadows emerging from the bushes. A man and woman ran hand in hand down the path and disappeared behind the resort’s health club.

Leaning against the railing, she gazed toward the ocean at the blood-orange sunset, enjoying the last of the sun before it slid gracefully behind the waves. “Spectacular.”

She heard rustling, giggling and glass clinking from the balcony next to her. She remembered the young couple she and Alex had shared an elevator with when they’d arrived. They could barely keep their hands off each other on the way to their suite. Judging from the sounds coming from next door, they were still at it.

Breathing in the cool dusk air, she turned up the volume on her iPod and imagined what it would be like to experience that with Alex—on the beach, on the balcony…

She sighed. Even though her fantasies were better than any therapy session, she resolved she’d have to go back to seducing Alex to get him out of her system.

Hmmm. She’d have to come up with a new and improved plan.

Chapter Four

“It takes two to get one in trouble.”

—Mae West

The next afternoon Alex sat at the desk in his suite and researched the reclusive billionaire Maxwell Hollister on the Internet—Hollister’s employees and acquaintances were tight-lipped—while trying to ignore the fact there was a sun-drenched beach right outside the hotel.

Doing so was impossible.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he rose and wandered to the open patio doors. He watched six men and women playing volleyball on the sandy beach.

His mind drifted to yesterday. He massaged the space between his brows, remembering Maddie’s paleness after she had spoken to her mother. Felicia Saunders collected men the way a black suit collected lint. He couldn’t fathom how she could be George Saunders’s sister. George was a stand-up guy, the polar opposite of Felicia.

Knock. Knock.

He yanked himself back to the present and opened the door to find Tim Graham in the hall.

“What the hell are you doing inside?” Tim entered the room and nodded toward Alex’s laptop. “Haul your ass away from that damn thing. Let’s go. I was on a later flight, and I’ve been on the beach longer.”

Tim was the best photographer he’d ever worked with, a good friend and one of the few people who could help him lighten up.

“Did Maddie send you in here to nag me about working?”

“I saw her at the pool. She looks hot.” Tim slapped him on the back. “What’d she do to you this time?”

“Nothing. Why?”

Tim took an apple from the fruit bowl on the desk and tossed it in the air before taking an enthusiastic bite out of it. “Only one person can put that look on your ugly mug.”

“She hasn’t pulled any stunts since the bachelor auction.” He wouldn’t reveal her latest prank—the sexual boot camp thing—and he respected Maddie’s right to divulge the cherry episode if and when she wanted to.

Tim whistled. “All those hot babes
¾
”

“It was an auction at a retirement home. Four grandmothers chipped in and bought themselves a date with yours truly.” Alex shook his head at the memory.

“You have to admit, she’s creative. You two are like a modern day Tracy and Hepburn.”

Alex turned serious. “I want to talk to you about something
¾
”

“Fuck, I know that look.” Tim sighed and pointed to his white t-shirt with black lettering. It said, “Mind Closed Until Further Notice”. “This isn’t a terrorist camp. This place is a wet dream come alive. Will you give your spidey sense a rest for once?”

“We’re being followed,” Alex blurted out.

“For Godsakes.” Tim threw his hands in the air. “Why would anybody follow us? This island is harmless. And you haven’t been here long enough to piss anybody off.”

“You know better than anyone my instincts never fail me.”

“Well, Peter Parker, maybe your instincts are in overdrive and you see bad guys under every bed.” Tim took another bite of his apple and rolled his eyes. “Spill it, what else is there?”

Alex dug into his mind to remember what it was that had first set off his warning bells. “It’s Hollister. He’s been a recluse for over twenty-eight years and he has a reputation for shunning the media. Now he’s willing to give me an exclusive interview. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”

“Hey, what’s with the modesty? Humor the guy. You ask the questions, spin some magic on the computer and I’ll snap a few pics. We’ll have lots of time leftover to babe hunt.”

Alex kept going as though he hadn’t heard. “And another thing, Hollister personally asked for Maddie to write a travel article.”

“So? He read her work and liked it.”

“Don’t get me wrong, her column is excellent. It’s Maddie’s personality in print.” Alex ran his fingers through his hair. “But why the hell would an old man with more money than God read ‘How to travel on a budget’ articles?”

“Okay, that doesn’t make a shitload of sense. There’s probably a good reason, they just haven’t revealed it to us puny mortals. Will you please lose the cloak-and-dagger stuff for once?”

“You want cloak-and-dagger?” Alex expelled a noisy breath. What he was about to say sounded absurd even to him, but he couldn’t ignore it. “Yesterday I saw a man lurking around Maddie’s door. When he saw me, he took off down the stairwell.”

“What were
you
doing hanging around her room? Are you two getting it on?”

“Don’t be crazy.”

“What happened to the Donovan I know? He would have picked up a flight attendant and had a spare lined up for tonight.” Tim shook his head. “Lately, you wouldn’t notice if Jessica Alba stood naked in front of you.”

“I say we find out who this guy is and why he’s tailing Maddie.”

Tim walked over to the window and whistled. “Check out the half-naked babes.”

“Will you focus for a few minutes?”

“I am focused.” Tim swung around and tossed the half-eaten apple into the garbage bin. “Focused on living it up instead of photographing kids who won’t see the next day, never mind their next birthday. I’m focused on forgetting about the funerals of those kids, and the smell of death. That’s what I’m focused on.”

Alex nodded in understanding. Maybe he
was
overreacting. And he couldn’t blame Tim for not wanting to think this lightweight project had something more to it than met the eye. They both deserved a break from the last few years of vigorous work on tough assignments. He had put Tim through hell in Iraq, where one wrong move would have turned them into desert dust.

His friend was right about unwinding and not reading too much into things on the island. His Middle-East memories were still horribly graphic. No wonder his suspicions buzzed more furiously than a Blackhawk’s rotor blades.

After a couple of uncomfortable silent beats, Tim asked, “You do remember what to do with your dick, don’t you?”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Let’s take a few days to unwind. We’ll talk about this later.” He was still convinced something was wrong with this whole setup, but he’d give Tim a break for now.

His buddy headed for the door. “I’m going to escape the bad guys and go for a dip.” He gave Alex a mock salute and left the room.

Alex headed to the kitchenette for a drink. As he popped the tab off a can of cold Keoki Gold beer, his Blackberry beeped. He took a quick swig, answered the call and heard his agent, Duncan Jones, greet him.

“Donovan, glad I caught you. How’s the weather?”

Alex grinned. “Steamin’.”

“Lucky bastard. So damn cold up here, dogs are frozen on hydrants. Look, I met with George today. You’re a top candidate for the new London bureau. You still interested?”

For crissakes, he was more than interested. He’d angled for the position since it had been proposed, which seemed like forever.

“Absolutely,” Alex answered with certainty. “I’m ready for a change.”

“I told George you were the man to ensure success in Europe.” Duncan’s raspy voice echoed with pride. “I have to tell you, though, Ned Hansen is also a strong contender.”

“Hansen’s married.” Alex had met Hansen’s wife and she’d been vocal about not relocating.

“His wife’s filed for divorce,” Duncan said.

“That’s rough. Didn’t they just have a baby?”

“Another casualty of the business,” Duncan said, with the smugness of an old bachelor. “You have a good shot at this job, despite the competition. I’ll be in touch as soon as I have more info. The suits still want the project to remain confidential.”

Alex said goodbye.
Yes!
It looked like this might actually happen.

He exhaled a long sigh of contentment and pushed his earlier tension aside. Too thrilled to sit at his laptop and get back to work, he changed into swimming trunks, grabbed a towel, a magazine and left his suite to join Tim by the pool.

Tall palm trees around the hotel’s ceramic-tiled pool swayed in the warm breeze. Their prongs shone a bright green against the clear powder blue sky. Potted orchids in sprays of yellow and white decorated the patio.

Alex headed to the tiki bar at the other end to try out a Mai Tai.

His eyes adjusted to the brilliant afternoon sun and he scanned the sunbathers around the pool. He took in a pair of long legs stretched out on a lounge chair. They belonged to a faceless woman under an orange beach umbrella. She swung her legs to the side of the chair and stood.

Nice.

He stopped.

The killer legs belonged to Maddie. She sauntered seductively around the pool, wearing a skimpy purple bikini. The sun reflected off her auburn hair, swinging about her creamy shoulders.

He’d known Maddie all these years, but he’d never seen her wear anything other than khakis and jeans.

She had an enticing navel, some fine curvy hips and delicate ankles.

Since when did ankles do it for him?

She was one of the prettiest babes at the resort.

Man.

Oh.

Man.

He had to curb the urge to wrap his towel around her when he noticed a few guys eyeing her. Eyeing? More like salivating. He shouldn’t judge, since he wanted to run over and tackle her himself. His admiration of her was now more than visual, so he strategically placed his magazine, letting it dangle against his lower abs.

For the first time since he’d known her, he admitted to himself she wasn’t only attractive
¾
Holy Mother of God
¾
she was hot.

Hmmm,
Maddie thought.

The butterflies in her stomach multiplied at the sight of Alex—who had finally joined the kick-back-on-the-beach set—striding toward her. God, he looked awesome in his electric-blue shorts. They were slung low on his trim waist and came to just above his knees, showcasing his sturdy legs. He was shirtless and she admired his ripped chest with its sprinkling of dark hair. A thin line of darkness trailed down toward his pleasure region.
Yowza.

Lordy, his abs could cut glass. Rock-hard, six-pack heaven.

And then there was his olive skin
¾
inherited from his Italian mother’s side of the family
¾
which glowed bronze under the sun’s rays. His twinkling eyes and strong, stubbled chin were a potent combination of rugged charm and sex appeal that could make even a nun renounce her vows.

He looked relaxed and ready to party. If she had her way, it would be a party for two. Sex with him, she thought, would be nothing short of incredible.

He came up to her, holding a magazine somewhat awkwardly across his body. His shoulders relaxed when she flashed him a smile.

 “Maddie.”

 “Hey, stud. I see your chick-magnet muscles are in great shape.” She squeezed his arm and tilted her head toward the pool, where numerous thong-clad women ogled him with interest. “Were you working all day?”

His lazy grin displayed straight white teeth. “Guilty.”

She clutched his wrist and shook it. “Loosen up.”

He pointed to their handsome, sandy brown-haired friend, lounging in a chair a few feet away. “Like Moon Doggie?”

She tossed her towel at Tim and hit him in the head. Tim tossed it back to her, keeping his eyes on the women in the pool. “He’s been busy making time with the silicone buffet.”

“Okay, I’m ready to
loosen up
. What’s on the agenda?”

“Let’s warm up the stools at the karaoke bar tonight.”

“On one condition.” He tapped the tip of her nose with his finger. “No sneaky attempts to pull me onto the stage to sing.”

It must have been sheer animal instinct that made her turn her head and graze the palm of his hand with her lips.

Her bones melted like an ice cube on hot cement, and she swayed.

The teasing glint in his eyes morphed to a smoldering intensity, trapping the breath in her lungs.

The sounds of laughter around the patio and the piped-in ukulele music faded away like clouds on the horizon.

She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. She wanted to strip off her bikini and his trunks, press their bodies together and feel him buried deep inside of her.

He leaned toward her a fraction.

A thrill of anxious anticipation dusted her spine.

She trembled.
Lordy, Lordy, I’m an eyelash away from his lips.
I can almost taste…

Tim appeared behind Alex and slapped his back. “You springing for a steak dinner for us?”

Alex recovered his composure first and stepped back.

She wanted to smack Tim upside the head.

A cool breeze wafted in from the ocean, sending a shiver from the tips of her pink-painted toes to the top of her head.

Alex wrapped his towel around her shoulders. “You’re cold.”

Still weak with desire, she managed a tremulous smile. “Too much sun for the first day.” She scooped up her beach bag. “I’ll meet you two at the bar around nine. You guys go ahead and have your steak.”

“Where are you going for dinner?” His voice was unsteady.

“Makana’s media-relations officer invited me out.”

Tim waved. “See ya later, Mads.”

Alex, seemingly himself again, bid her goodbye. “Enjoy dinner.”

“Yeah,” she muttered to herself, darting to her room, “soon as I un-harden my nipples.”