She flicked the air beside his head. “No. And I want to get out of here before the police arrive and arrest us for indecent exposure. Just in case that yachtsman isn’t into live sex on the beach.”
“You mean there are people who aren’t?” Rocky picked up his jacket and gloves and followed Flipp up the beach to where his bike was parked, turning to give a brief but enthusiastic wave in the yacht’s direction before saddling her up for the ride home.
Except he didn’t take her home. He took her along the coast to a pub with a garden teetering on the cliff’s edge and bought her a lager top and a packet of salt and vinegar.
&nb
sp; “You’re an old-fashioned gent after all.” She grinned and necked down half of the pint in one thirsty gulp. He smiled back and cleaned the frothy moustache from her upper lip with one gentle fingertip.
“You might not think so,” he muttered, looking away from her, out to sea. “If you get to know me better.”
Flipp’s heart snagged, not sure whether to drum enthusiastically at the thought of getting to know him better or sag at the despondency of his tone.
“Well,” she said, putting a hand on his, “I know you well enough to like you. That’s a start, isn’t it?”
He picked up her hand, stroking the inside of her wrist. The simplicity and tenderness of it made her want to cry and kiss him and rip off his clothes and smooth his rumpled brow all at once.
“I like you too, Flipp. I like you a lot. But I probably shouldn’t. And you shouldn’t like me.”
“Why not?”
“Just…easier. Safer.”
Yeah, yeah, classic bad boy. I should have known, really.
“I get it. You’ve got a girlfriend? A wife?”
“No.” His thumb pressed slightly painfully into the soft flesh. “Well. Not technically. That’s not what I mean. I mean, Cordwainer wouldn’t like it.”
“Cordwainer? The boss? What’s it to him?”
“Oh, you’ll find soon enough that everything that goes on in this town is something to him. Many fingers in many pies.”
“And some of those pies are a bit rancid maybe?”
Rocky made a grimace that might have been interpreted as a rueful grin.
“You’re a sharp girl. All the same, best not to ask, Flipp. Best not to mix business and pleasure.”
“So because I work for Cordwainer…I’m business?”
“You’re the business, babe.” It was trite but sweet. Flipp glowed despite herself. “But yes. I’m not meant to fuck the workforce.”
“So why did you take me out tonight?”
“I wasn’t expecting…what happened to happen. I just wanted to let you in on a few things. A warning of sorts.”
Cool evening air prickled goose bumps on Flipp’s bare arms.
“I’ve only just got here and already I’m being warned off? I might change my name to Trouble.”
“That’s already taken.” Rocky was devilish again. “It’s my middle name. No…just…keep clear of Cordwainer, as much as you can. Don’t get involved in anything extra—just do your thing with the tokens, collect your wage and get out of there.”
“Extra? Like what?”
“Dropping things off…picking them up…invitations to parties…”
“Is Cordwainer a drug baron, then?”