When She Was Bad...

The second her robe hit the floor, she took his hands and said, “I want to touch you the way you always touch me. All over. Will you let me do that?”

Even in the dim light, she caught the gleam in his eyes.

“Of course,” he said. “Don’t you remember the one rule we agreed to, Elena? Every request we make of each other must be granted. Without exception.”

Pepper felt a dark, hot thrill move through her. Cole not only didn’t think she was nuts, he was adding to the fantasy.

Her hand trembled as she pushed aside the gauzy fabric draping the bed. He climbed onto the mattress first and then pulled her up beside him. After she urged him back on the pillows, she straddled his waist. Just the feel of that smooth, hot skin beneath her began to cloud her mind. Inching herself forward a few inches, she placed her hand on either side of his face.

His low moan distracted her for a moment.

“What?” she asked.

“You feel so good on top of me, I’m not sure how much time I can give you to touch me.”

As Pepper considered that, all the sensations moving through her intensified. She was aware of the sharp angle of his jaw and the roughness of stubble beneath her palms. She felt the hard heat of his stomach muscles pressed against her center. There was a growing feeling of emptiness right there, and she hungered for it to be filled. In a moment, she promised herself as she drew her palms down his neck and over his shoulders. Then she moved her hands slowly down the muscles of his chest absorbing the texture of the crisp dark curls that covered it until her fingers finally stopped at the apex of her thighs.

“Touch yourself now, Elena.”

A tide of heat moved through her, so hot that she was afraid she was going to melt.

“Do it for me,” he urged. “You promised to do anything I asked you to do.”

It seemed such a wicked and wanton thing to do. And she was surprised at the strength of her desire to touch herself simply because Cole wanted her to. But the melting sensation inside of her was so intense now that she wasn’t sure she had the strength to…

“Now.”

It was the tight husky tone of his voice that had her rising just enough to insert her fingers into the soft heat at her center. Pleasure speared through her.

“Tell me what it feels like,” he said.

Battling a fresh onslaught of sensations, she said, “Hot. My fingers are burning. And it’s so wet.”

“Go deeper,” he urged.

Her hand seemed to be controlled by his commands because all of a sudden, her fingers slid in further. But…“Not deep enough. I want—”

“Soon. But first, pull them out and then push in again.”

Once again her fingers moved at his command as if she were merely his puppet, and this time a fierce tightness began to build inside of her.

“Out and in,” he murmured.

She could barely hear his words so focused was she on the sensations that were flooding through her. His skin was so hot, so hard against her thighs. And his hands were at her waist now, gripping her tightly as her fingers moved. Out and in. Out and in. Pressure built inside of her until that’s all she knew, all she felt.

“Come for me, Elena. Come for me, now.”

The whispered words, the urgency of them, moved through her, releasing the pressure in one colossal wave of pleasure that grew in strength as it moved through her.

When she could think again, she was lying on top of Cole, her face pressed into the curve of his shoulder, his arms holding her close. She wasn’t sure that she could move, wasn’t sure she wanted to.

“I didn’t get very far with my plan to touch you,” she murmured.

She heard the deep rumble of his chuckle beneath her ear. It was a nice sound, one she hadn’t heard before.

“You can give it another try as soon as you feel up to it,” he said.

“I think my arms are still about as operative as wet noodles,” she said and had the pleasure of hearing his chuckle again.

There was a sudden explosion of sound from the other room—the front door crashing open. In one smooth movement, Cole lifted her and pushed her aside.

“My gun,” he whispered as he slid from the bed. “It’s on the nightstand.”

Footsteps pounded across floorboards as she slithered out of the bed, twisting herself in the sheet and nearly losing her balance. By the time she grabbed the gun, two men were in the doorway of the bedroom. She recognized them as Butch Castellano and the man Cole had identified as his bodyguard, Mr. H. Butch was reaching behind him for something. There was no time to hand the gun off to Cole. He was on the other side of the bed. So she raised it with both hands and pointed it at the two intruders.

“Put your hands in the air,” she said.

But Butch had already drawn his gun and was pointing it at Cole.

The noise when she released the safety was loud and seemed to echo in the room.

Everyone froze and looked at her.

Despite that her hand was shaking, she kept the barrel pointed in Butch Castellano’s direction and said, “Drop that gun and put your hands up.”

“Renie—”

“If I were you, I’d put my hands in the air,” Cole said.

For a moment no one spoke or moved. The only sound was the pound of waves on the shore.

“Renie, put that gun down,” Butch said. “You know you won’t shoot it.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Cole said. “And her name isn’t Renie. It’s Pepper.”

“You keep out of this,” Butch said, taking a step toward Cole.

Panic struck Pepper. Butch had a gun and he had it pointed at Cole. Her hand was shaking so hard that any minute she might drop the weapon she was holding. What was she going to do? She couldn’t shoot Butch. She was pretty sure she couldn’t shoot anyone. Before she was even aware that her brain had made a conscious decision, she aimed the gun at the ceiling and fired a shot through the thatched roof.

The sound was so loud that she thought she’d gone deaf. The others had frozen in place again.

Pepper registered the expressions on the two men’s faces. Butch looked shocked, his companion thoughtful.

H turned his head and spoke to Cole. “I’ll handle Mr. Castellano if you’ll get the gun from her.”

“No can do,” Cole said. “Her hand might be shaking a bit, but she meant that last shot to go where it did. She’s as good as I am at the practice range.”

Pepper saw that her hand began to shake even more.

After three long beats, H said to Butch, “Lower your gun.”

Butch did. Then he shot Cole one searing look. “You, I’ll deal with later.” He turned back to Pepper. “Renie, why are you—”

H put a hand on Butch’s shoulder. “That isn’t Renie.”

Butch blinked and then put the gun back in the belt of his shorts. Pepper nearly dropped her own weapon in sheer relief, but she managed to get it onto the nightstand.

“You’re not Renie?” Butch’s eyes narrowed as he studied her. “You sure as hell look like her.”

“She looks like Renie did forty years ago,” Mr. H said.

“Perhaps it would help if I made some introductions,” Cole said. “The woman who just shot a hole through the roof is Irene Rossi’s niece, Pepper Rossi.”

“Niece,” Butch said. “You’re Renie’s niece?”

“Yes.” She glanced up at the ceiling. “Sorry about that.”

“I told you that you should watch one of her TV shows. People change in forty years,” Mr. H commented.

Without replying, Butch turned to Cole. “And you are?”

“Cole Buchanan. I work for Irene’s nephews at Rossi Investigations,” Cole said.

Butch looked from one to the other of them, then said, “Where in the hell is Renie?”

7

Friday, February 13—4:00 p.m.—Eden Island

“WE’RE GETTING OFF THIS island,” Irene said, urging Happy along the shoreline.

“I don’t see why you’re so upset. You’ve got a room, and look at this place. It’s paradise.”

Irene glanced around. The sun sent sparks off the water that nearly blinded her to the shadow on the horizon that was Escapade Island. “This island is the wrong paradise.” She pointed to across the water. “I have to get over there.”

She just had to figure out a way to do it, and her first stop was going to be the marina she’d spotted from the room she and Happy had been assigned to in the hotel.

“You heard our commander-in-chief,” Happy said.

Irene snorted. “That’s a very apt description of her. She’s running a regular sex boot camp here. Did you see those ‘morning exercises’ she’s recommending?”

“Yeah.” Happy’s smile widened. “I thought they looked exciting.”

“They looked anatomically impossible.”

“We won’t know until we try, will we? And besides, the morning exercises are only the first step in exploring your inner sex goddess.”

Irene clenched her fingers into fists. She had never met a man in her life who exuded such positive energy. It made her want to slap him. But he might start moaning again.