Masquerade

Twenty five

Blake’s private plane drops me off on the mainland. I take a boat out to the island and get the man to drop me off in the sea, swimming distance from the beach.

‘You sure?’ the boatman says.

‘I’m sure,’ I tell him and jump into the water.

‘Must be island love,’ he says, grinning and starting his motor.

I kick off my shoes, pants and top and then I begin to swim. I spot him immediately. He must have heard the engine of the boat.

He is standing alone, a mountain of a man, his hands jammed deep into his trouser pockets, staring out into the sea. He looks so abandoned and so despondent that my heart bleeds for him. This is my man. For better or worse I’m sticking to him.

When my feet touch sand I begin to walk toward him. It is that first morning we arrived. Me coming out of the sea. Him watching and waiting on the beach. I come out of the water and walk up to him, my feet sinking in the soft sand noiselessly. About five feet away I stop walking and we gaze at each other.

Oh God, the sight of him.

In two days he has already picked up the kind of golden tan that I would kill for and there are blond streaks in his hair that I have fantasies about. Something quivers inside me. Damn it, he is just so mind-numbingly handsome it is unfair. Objectively, the guy is more fuckable now than I have ever seen him before. An image of him naked flashes into my mind.

He takes his hands out of his pockets and lets them hang loosely by his sides. I love his hands. Big, manly… Useful. For putting into crab tunnels. For the first time since I have known him he seems tongue-tied.

‘Hey,’ I greet softly.

‘I didn’t run away,’ he mutters.

I barely catch it over the sound of the waves. He sighs. ‘I was working on a plan. You had to know that I chose you over the stones.’

‘I know that.’

‘And I wasn’t part of the team that tried to rob Lana’s jewels either.’

‘Oh! I know that.’

‘I was going to steal the pink diamond pendant that Lana wore to the art exhibition, but that was before I knew she was your friend.’

‘It’s OK, baby. I know you were not trying to hurt me.’

‘I love you. You know that, right?’

Tears start slipping quietly down my face. ‘That’s good because I’m crazy about you.’

He takes two steps toward me. ‘I want to marry you.’

I grin through the tears. ‘That’s real handy. I always wanted to be married on a beach.’

‘I’ll have to go straight. We might have to pay taxes and stuff.’

‘That’s OK. I’m quite rich in my own right.’

He looks at me quizzically. ‘You returned the jewels, right?’

‘Some,’ I agree non-commitally.

For a few seconds he looks at me with a mixture of shock and disbelief, and then he grabs me as if he owns me and pushes me to the soft sand and falls sprawled and laughing on top of me.

‘Tell me,’ he growls.

‘I gave Blake a few token pieces to return to their rightful owners in exchange for you.’

He looks at me curiously. ‘Blake bought that? He’s too sharp.’

‘Of course he didn’t, but I told you there are benefits to being his wife’s best friend.’

‘Where are the gems now?’

‘In left luggage, Victoria Station.’

‘You left hundreds of millions worth of jewels in Victoria station?’

‘Relax. It’s the safest place for them.’

He laughs and runs his fingers along my cheekbone. ‘Oh, Billie. You are a girl after my own heart,’ he says, and there is such a look of love and tenderness that I feel my insides melt. I look into his eyes, molten gold in the bright sunlight and the reflections of the sand. My face feels hot and there is already a wet throbbing in the soft flesh between my thighs.

‘Do you feel like fucking?’ I ask, arching my eyebrows.

‘Always.’

‘Because I’m ready to explode in a very unladylike way.’

He looks at me the way I would look at a very beautiful gerbil. ‘I love you, Billie. I’ve never felt for anyone or anything the way I feel for you.’

He takes my bra off and starts kissing my breasts. ‘You know,’ he murmurs, ‘I think I fell in love with you in that club on the very first night we met.’

‘And that’s why you didn’t call me, huh?’

His gaze is warm. ‘I always knew I was going to call you. There is no one in the world like you, Billie Black. But I had problems. I didn’t know you were friends with Blake and Lana. And then Ebony became angry and contacted the Mafia and my cover was blown forever. The best way to get caught is to lose control and team up with impulsive psychopaths. I didn’t want to do it so she went behind my back.’

‘She’s in love with you, you know.’

‘No she isn’t,’ he retorts instantly.

‘You’re such a man. So clueless.’

He frowns.

‘She came to see me.’

‘A fat lot of good that must have done her.’

‘Oi! Whose side are you on?’

‘Yours, yours and yours.’

‘Keep going.’

‘I’ve actually got to show you something.’

My eyes flick meaningfully to his crotch. ‘Take off your trousers then?

Patience, Black. Patience. He sits up and twists away from me, and I see that his entire back is filled with a massive spider tattoo. It is still raw and fresh.

‘Oh my god,’ I cry.

‘Do you like it?’

‘I love it,’ I scream. ‘But why?’

He shrugs. ‘I never could before. I was always trying to blend into the background of the titled, the moneyed and the famous. I’m finished with all that now.’

‘It’s totally boss.’

‘Good. Because I did it for you.’

‘Does this mean you get to be on top until that spider heals?’

He cocks an eyebrow. ‘Let’s get one thing straight, Miss Black. You’re always going to be underneath me. Got that?’

‘Loud and clear.’

His grin flashes. ‘Now get fucking naked.’

‘Make me,’ I say.

And he does.

The End