“Actually, it is.” Tamara’s gaze skittered around the cabin, but she stood her ground.
“Tamara—”
Tamara held up her hand, cutting Taz off. “No, she needs to know before you get off this jet. I was so concerned with doing what had to be done that I didn’t think about anyone else. My niece Essie’s safety was the only thing I could concern myself with.” She paused long enough to let out a shaky breath. “Taz and I aren’t married. I filed the papers years ago, but I got in a jam with some very bad people, and extorting money so Essie and I could disappear seemed like the only solution. I figured the money would be in an offshore account long before he discovered the truth about our divorce.”
She gave Taz an apologetic smile before turning her attention back to Bianca. “I was desperate to save my niece—I still am—but I shouldn’t have done what I did. What you saw in the kitchenette wasn’t what it looked like. After I confessed everything to Taz, he said he’d help me get Essie to a place where her father could never find her and use her for his own gain. I meant to give him a thank-you peck on the cheek, he turned his head, you walked in…and once again I made everything worse. I’m sorry.”
Bianca swallowed and opened her mouth. Nothing came out. And here Bianca had thought she couldn’t be surprised any more after Tamara had waltzed into Taz’s loft that morning.
Divorced. Extortion. Hiding. Essie. The various parts of Tamara’s explanation bounced around inside Bianca’s head, never quite settling down to form a cohesive thought. Considering the absolute silence in the cabin at the moment, she wasn’t the only one having trouble processing the news.
A bing sounded, followed by static on the intercom.
“While I love a good dramatic moment as much as the next chick,” Vivi’s voice came out of the cabin’s speakers, “it’s time to take your seats and buckle up. We’re here.”
Chapter 9
Taz
Indulgence Resort
Bianca snuggled up, pressing her curves against him and walking her fingers up the inseam of his pants. Sure it was all a show for the concierge sitting across from them in the back of the limo, but his cock didn’t give a fuck. The rest of him was doing too much mental celebration about not being married to put up any sort of fight.
“So what made you choose Indulgence Resort for your honeymoon?” the concierge who’d met them at the small airport asked.
“One of my clients recommended it.” Taz’s voice was as hard as his dick. “Said it was very relaxing.”
“Don’t lie to the man, sugar.” Bianca pivoted in her seat, the move hiking up the hem of her already short skirt, and rubbed her palm against the hard length of him trying to tear through his slacks. “We came to start off our marriage with a big bang—literally.”
“I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time, no matter your ultimate goal,” the man said, his gaze glued to the sweet curve of Bianca’s legs as it narrowed on the upward track to the part of her covered only by a tiny bit of silk. “As you know, this is a lifestyler weekend, and as such, it is clothing optional. Being nude is not required, but most of our guests enjoy the freedom of it.”
“Sounds divine,” Bianca practically purred as she uncrossed and crossed her legs, playing the Southern sorority sex kitten part to the hilt for the concierge.
He was going to rip the other man’s eyes out. Not now, but once this mission was over, he and the dweeb in the Indulgence Resort golf shirt were going to have a little nonverbal chat.
To keep from acting on his impulses, Taz closed his eyes and spent the rest of the short ride to the resort’s main lodge imagining Bianca swimming naked in the pool or brushing off a few sand pebbles from her perfect tits as she reclined in a beach chair. The image was enough to make his balls ache. He wasn’t the only one, judging by the tent in the concierge’s khakis. Being around a naked Bianca by himself was one thing, but letting everyone else see every luscious inch of her? He fisted his hands. Not punching the concierge in the jaw took more restraint than Taz liked.
The limo stopped outside a large glass building that gave clear views of the bright blue ocean on the other side of the narrow island, allowing the guests to be voyeurs from the moment they arrived. It was decadent, luxurious, and deviant all at the same time—exactly what the Indulgence Resort promised.
>
Bianca
Getting lost in playing Bethany was a lot easier than processing Tamara’s mic drop moment on the jet. However, alone with Taz in their bungalow overlooking the Pacific, Bianca didn’t have that option. So she took the coward’s way out and dipped into the bathroom to strip out of her clothes. Not that it mattered. Taz and the rest of the guests were going to see her buck naked soon anyway.
She didn’t like it, but there wasn’t much about the past twenty-four hours that she did, so why should things change now?
Shaking out her fake blonde hair so the tips grazed her bare shoulders, she took a deep breath and then opened the bathroom door and walked out into the bungalow bedroom.
Taz stood in the middle of the large bedroom, the king-sized bed behind him. His shirt was off and his hand was frozen on the top button of his pants. “You can’t go out there like that.”
The low growl in his tone set off a wave of desire that rolled through her naked body, stiffening her nipples and making her breath catch. She kept to the opposite side of the room as she crossed the bamboo floor to the bay window that overlooked the ocean.
“Of course I can, and so should you.” She kept her face turned away from him, but her gaze was drawn to his reflection in the window anyway. Damn this man. He was worse than kryptonite. “Didn’t you notice everyone in the lobby who wasn’t staff was in the buff? If we aren’t, we might as well dress up in a neon sign that says undercover agents.”
He scowled and rubbed a palm across his now close-cropped hair. “I don’t like it.”
That made them even. She hadn’t missed the appraising looks the women in the lobby had given him as they checked in. Still, his objection was laughable considering their first night together.