Treasured by Lexi Blake

Chapter Four

What the hell was she doing?

Tessa glanced down at her watch. She was standing in front of her building ten minutes early, and there was a big part of her that wanted him to be late. Really late. Annoyingly late.

There had to be something about the man that wasn’t perfect beyond his connection to her employer.

She’d come down when she realized if she stayed inside one minute more she was going to decide to change again. Because she’d been halfway to convincing herself that she could do a fine job as a bodyguard in that curve-hugging dress that gave her so much confidence. Lots of bodyguards wore four-inch heels and a push-up bra. Yeah, sure they did.

Coming down here had saved her so much discomfort because in her line of business, slacks, a sensible shirt and shoes, and a blazer were the only way to go. The blazer hid her shoulder holster in a way that off-the-shoulder sex dress never would. And she didn’t care that Hollywood assassins could stuff any number of weapons between their thighs. Hers did not work that way.

It’s not a big deal.

The words David had said haunted her. What did that mean? It’s not a big deal. It had felt like a big deal. Not texting that smart hottie back had been a big fucking deal to her. She’d agonized over it, and he’d just kind of let it wash over him. He’d taken his shot and moved on. She had thought of nothing but him for weeks.

Or he was saving face by playing it cool and she was being ridiculous. The man was making this easy on her and she was inwardly complaining that he wasn’t making it harder. It was perverse, but then she had deeply conflicted feelings about David.

Feelings she could maybe work out over the course of this week. She could get to know him and then she would see he wasn’t as perfect as he seemed to be. Most men showed their true colors when a woman spent too much time with them. He wouldn’t be as patient as he seemed. His charm would wear off when she took charge and he got annoyed.

Yes, this could be exactly what she needed.

Especially if he was late.

A deep purr caught her ear, and she turned to see a gorgeous muscle car rolling down the road. It started to slow as though it was going to turn into the parking lot but then righted its path as the driver seemed to recognize her.

That car was a dream. Navy blue, with a wide black stripe running over the hood. David had done a spectacular job. He’d likely spent months restoring her and making her glow.

And that suddenly seemed sexual. The man was obviously good with his hands.

He pulled the car to a stop in front of her, put it in park, and hopped out.

Would being around him make him less attractive? Because a couple of weeks apart had definitely not done that trick. He was dressed more casually than he’d been earlier in the day, and the T-shirt he wore showed off muscular forearms. His hair was a bit messy, like he’d taken a shower and simply ran a towel over it and let it dry naturally into waves. Even the glasses he wore were sexy.

He was the college professor equivalent of a dreamy boy-band singer. Except he was a man, and that scruff on his well-defined jawline did something for her.

“Hey, I’m sorry. Am I late? I was going to come up and help you with your luggage.”

Of course he was going to do that because he was a gentleman and he helped people even when they were horrifically rude and ignored his polite texts.

She was definitely the asshole in this situation.

She hefted her small bag. “You’re early, and I travel pretty light. You were right about that car. She’s a beauty.”

Small talk. She could make small talk with him, and then they wouldn’t have to feel weird and awkward.

The biggest grin came over his face, and it took everything she had not to sigh. “Thanks. She’s the outcome of many, many hours of work. Although it doesn’t feel like work. It’s a way to shut off my brain. Like muscle memory. I used to help my dad work on cars. It was his hobby, and I think I feel close to him when I’m restoring a car. Sorry. I was reminded of that today. I think I told you this was a present from my mom and stepdad when I finished my doctorate. I thought it was my mom’s idea, but now I wonder if it wasn’t Sean’s. And I am talking entirely too much. Let’s store your bag and we can head to the airport.”

He moved around to the trunk and had it open in a second. She placed her bag beside his and tried not to think about how sweet it was that he’d restored this whole car so he could feel close to a father who’d been taken too soon.

But she couldn’t because she knew that feeling so well. “My dad had this vintage record collection. Like all the oldies. Elvis and Frank Sinatra and Sam Cooke. When he died all I wanted were those albums. When I listen to them I feel close to him. He used to put on a record and he would stop my mom from whatever she was doing and they would dance in the living room.”

That was how she always saw her dad—dancing in the middle of the day, his eyes closed because he didn’t need to see. They fit together perfectly. She and her brothers used to gag and make fun of them, and now she would do anything to see them together one last time.

Why had she told him that? She was supposed to stay professional toward the gorgeous man who could easily get her fired.

Though that wasn’t what she was really afraid of.

He grimaced as he moved to open her door. “Okay, so this is one of those coincidental things. I need you to understand that I had no prior knowledge of that story.”

“Of course you didn’t. I haven’t told it to anyone.” Not even Michael. She’d been engaged to the man, lived with him for six whole months, and she’d never taken those records out of their box. They hadn’t fit in that magnificent, state-of-the-art mansion in the sky of his.

She’d never opened herself up to him even though he was a good man. He simply hadn’t been the right man.

David slid in behind the wheel and turned the key. “Remember that. I play it because it goes with the car.”

Sam Cooke’s brilliantly smooth voice filled the car. “Lovable.” It was one of his early songs and one that a person who was only passingly familiar probably would overlook.

“You do not.” She stared ahead as he pulled out onto the road. “You’re a fan.”

“I like music, and I love that man’s voice. I had a professor who taught Contemporary Black History who introduced me to him. Opened my eyes about a lot of things, he did,” David said. “So I thought we could talk on the way to the airport. It’s probably best if we try to sleep on the plane. I need to hit the ground running, so to speak. It will be roughly ten a.m. when we land in Mar del Plata.”

“I’m sorry about that.” She’d made the decision to skip Buenos Aires entirely. Since they had a private plane, they could fly straight to the coast. She would have taken them directly to the island, but there wasn’t a landing strip. The island was mostly jungle, and the owner wasn’t interested in developing it past the two small towns on the coast and the tiny village in the center of the island. “I know you wanted to take the route the guy did.”

“Montez,” he supplied. “Yeah, I did want to take the same route, try to get the feeling of wonder he must have sensed when he first saw the island after that long bus ride. But the bus will still be around later. I’m afraid the island might not.”

“Is it going to explode or something?”

“Ricardo’s son is now the owner of the island. He’ll change things. It’s inevitable. I want to see the house and the grounds before Eddie renovates.” David pulled the Mustang onto the freeway and eased up to speed. “I think he’ll hold off on the renovations for a while. At least until he finds the treasure.”

That engine was purring perfectly, and she wondered how fast it could go. “The treasure?”

“You haven’t heard the story of Montez’s treasure?”

“No.” Though she had to admit she was becoming more and more intrigued by this hero of David’s.

“Wow. It’s kind of a big deal,” David murmured, obviously unimpressed with her knowledge. “Though I guess it’s a big deal in academia and treasure-hunting circles.”

“There are treasure-hunting circles?”

David flashed her a grin that threatened to make her melt. “Oh, yeah. There are treasure hunters across the globe. Mostly they look for shipwrecks or historical objects that were lost. Montez’s treasure is a contemporary thing, so it’s unique. Montez became an urban legend when it was hinted that he hid a treasure on his island. Then shortly after he died, a poem that he’d written was released, and it seems to hint that the treasure is real and it gives clues to its location.”

“What kind of treasure?” Tessa asked.

“No one knows exactly. It’s been speculated that it’s a small box that includes gold coins and some artifacts he collected. Some people think it’s a larger treasure. Montez liked to collect historical objects. Some think it’s cash. But more importantly, some believe he hid his final manifesto on the secret to life. As a biographer you can understand why I would want to read that.”

She could understand why it would be important to him. “So you want to look for this treasure?”

He nodded. “It’s one of the things I intend to do while we’re there. I’ve got an assistant who’s already on the island. He put together camping equipment for us. Well, for him and me. I certainly don’t expect you to traipse through the jungle looking for treasure.”

What did he think she was going to do? “Uhm, that’s exactly what I’m supposed to do.”

For the first time since she’d gotten into the car, he seemed a bit awkward. “I thought once we were on the island, you were off the hook. Ian told me if the island seemed safe, you would likely treat the rest of the trip as a vacation.”

Was that why he was so comfortable with her? He thought he could ditch her when they got to the island? She wasn’t about to lose the big guy’s nephew. “I’m not a big vacation girl, to tell you the truth. I would rather stay close to you and do my job.”

His eyes were back on the road. “This is jungle territory.”

“Then it’s good I brought my hiking boots.” She’d looked up the island they were going to this afternoon. It was rugged, and she was likely in for a week without her cell. The island had power and water, but cell service was notoriously bad, and there weren’t tons of cars there either. It looked like an interesting place—a place trapped in time.

“We’re going to be eating MREs and sleeping in tents,” David pointed out.

“I’ve done both before, Professor. And if you mention the mosquitos, I’ll let you know I’ve survived those, too. I did my time in the Army. They didn’t take into account my delicate femininity, and neither should you.”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I wasn’t saying you can’t handle it. I’m sure you’ll handle it better than I will.”

Something about the way he said the words made her wary. He lived in the city and had a very intellectual profession. And they were sitting in his hobby, which also didn’t lead to lots of time spent in the great outdoors. “You have hiked before, right?”

One big shoulder shrugged. “A little. I’ve camped before, too.”

They might have two different versions of camping. “How old were you the last time you camped?” She remembered that Big Tag had bought a lake house with David’s stepdad. “Lake houses do not count. When was the last time you slept outside in a tent you had to put together yourself?”

He sighed. “All right. I was probably twelve. Right before my brother went into the Navy we went out to Big Bend National Park and did some hiking and some rock climbing, but we stayed in a cabin so it probably doesn’t count.”

She tried to envision the sexy professor climbing his way up a rock face. It was hard. Kyle, though, now that she could see. But a national park in Texas was way different than what they were getting into. “How many jungles have you been in, Hawthorne?”

He seemed to think about that for a moment. “There are some parts around Seattle that are considered a rain forest.”

She snorted. “Oh, it is so not the same, and now I know I have to go with you. I thought I would be protecting you from criminals. Now I get to protect you from yourself.”

For the first time she saw some genuine irritation in his eyes. “I can take care of myself, and I’m not going in alone. Luis is coming with me. He camps a lot.”

She felt a brow rise. “Luis, your graduate assistant? In history?”

“Just because he’s an academic doesn’t mean he can’t camp.”

“Given that he’s here doing his graduate work, and from my very cursory look into his background, he’s not on a scholarship. That means he’s likely from a wealthy family. He glamped. You can’t glamp in the jungle.” Glamorous camping—otherwise known as glamping—was what she suspected David had done as well. Somehow she couldn’t see Grace Taggart roughing it out in the wilderness. His mom was an elegant woman who was always flawlessly put together. “Not that I don’t think a good glamp isn’t fun. I would far rather enjoy nature from the comfort of a pimped-out tent. However, I suspect that isn’t what we’ll be doing.”

“I didn’t think we would be doing it at all,” David pointed out.

“Well, plans change.” Hers sure had. She’d thought she would go home and get ready for an evening of standing outside an ex-president’s hotel room. She hadn’t expected she would be going to South America with a history professor. A hot as hell, “Oh, Dr. Hawthorne, I didn’t turn in my project, you might need to spank me” history professor.

How many of his students screwed up an assignment so they could get some private attention from him?

“We only have two tents. Kyle wasn’t planning on camping with us. He thought we would be safe enough on the island. So we have two tents and now apparently we have three people.”

It was her turn to shrug. “Then I guess you and Luis are going to be sharing one.”

“They’re small, Tessa.”

“You can cuddle.”

Although the more she thought about it, she should be the one sharing a tent with him. They called it close cover for a reason.

His hands tightened around the wheel. “I thought I would have more freedom if I agreed to go straight to the island.”

He was starting to get the reality of the situation. “We can turn this beauty around if you like.”

He sped up. “How hard are you going to make this on me, Tess? Is turning around what you want me to do?”

She wasn’t sure. Turning around would be the smart thing to do, but she was starting to think she wanted to be dumb when it came to him. “I’m not trying to make this hard on you at all. I’m trying to do my job, which is to ensure you make it back safely. Look, the jungle is dangerous. I’ve spent some time in a couple. We trained on all kinds of terrain. I’m going to stay in the background most of the time. You’ll barely know I’m there.”

“So first you nix my bus ride and now you want control of my search for the treasure. I understand you don’t want to be here, but I need to know if you’re going to…I don’t know…sabotage me in some way. It would be easier to call it all off if that’s your intention.”

Ah, there was the irritation she’d expected. It was good because they couldn’t talk about the problem if he didn’t acknowledge it existed. “My only intention is to do my job, David. I’m sorry if I didn’t make that clear. Can we talk about it now?”

“We don’t have to.” At least he wasn’t playing dumb.

It would be easier to ignore the problem, but the truth was she didn’t want him to dislike her. And she was starting to think they needed to work this out or she would never be able to stop thinking about him. “I think we do because you think I’m out to get you or something.”

“You made it clear you didn’t want to see me again and now you’re being forced to spend a week with me,” David pointed out. “If I were in your position, I might try to find a creative way out of it, too.”

She hadn’t tried very hard when she thought about it. She could have gotten out of this job. “I know this sounds like a cop-out, but it wasn’t you. It’s me.”

“Sure.” His eyes stayed on the road, but she didn’t miss the way his jaw tensed.

“I mean it. I told you that night that my last relationship ended. What I didn’t tell you was my fiancé was Michael Malone, the son of a ridiculously wealthy oil baron.”

He shook his head. “You don’t have to explain. You don’t owe me any explanations.”

“Stop being the good guy.” She huffed in frustration. “I know I don’t owe you anything, but I want to explain. We’re going to be stuck together for a week, and it’s best if we both know where we stand.”

“Okay,” he agreed.

“I didn’t fit into his world. I didn’t even want to. It’s not that they weren’t lovely people, but I felt uncomfortable there. He was raised in an entirely different way than I was. I know that sounds weird, but we would fight about things like paying too much for groceries. He didn’t understand why I was upset he didn’t use the coupons I found. He thought it was silly for me to try to keep costs down when he has all the money in the world.”

“But it wasn’t your money and it never would have been,” David said. “Even if you married him, you would have still felt that way.”

It was one of the things she’d worried about. They’d come from two different worlds, and she simply didn’t fit into his. And she hadn’t loved him enough to truly try. “Yeah. Like it’s hardwired in me to be frugal. I didn’t like the parties we went to. I always felt like they were watching me, waiting for me to screw up. Again, it wasn’t his family, though I was always worried about embarrassing them. Reporters actually followed us around when we went to visit Nina after she had her last kid.”

“Yeah, I understand that,” David replied. “It’s weird. I don’t know how or why anyone would want to live that way.”

“Sean’s been on TV.” She hoped he could start putting two and two together. “He’s on TV a lot.”

“Sean’s got actual groupies. I don’t know why people watch shows where other people cook. It’s not like you can eat the food.”

She could understand. She’d actually watched Sean’s shows. “I don’t know. There’s something soothing about it.”

“So you decided not to take me up on my offer because you think I run in those circles?” David asked.

Good. At least he understood. “I think you’re Sean Taggart’s stepson. You’re related to Ian Taggart. He might not be TV celebrity, but he’s a rock star in my world. He knows presidents and prime ministers.”

“He also once threatened to punch a reporter if he didn’t walk away.” David chuckled, though it was obvious he wasn’t amused. “Sean’s a little better but only because his agent forced him to take media training. You know they nicknamed him Sean the Viking Chef, right? Once this group who call themselves Sean’s Shield Maidens showed up at Top. These are not nice women. They like to troll my mom and tell her she’s too old for him or too fat for him.”

“What?” His mom and stepdad were one of the most gorgeous couples she’d ever seen.

“Yeah, the celebrity thing sucks. Anyway, they show up and they’re waiting in the parking lot, and Ian happens to be there that night. No one wants to tell my mom that five crazy fans are waiting for Sean to walk out into the parking lot and they’ll likely heckle her. So Ian goes out to talk to them.”

“Oh, shit.” She hoped the big boss had buried the bodies well.

“He talked to them by turning the hose on and spraying the hell out of them,” David explained. “He said they were obviously overheated and needed a cooldown. They did not come back, and my mom never even knew it happened.”

“That sounds like Ian.”

“Yes, it does. Do you know who it doesn’t sound like?” David asked. “The Malones. They’re always in the public eye, and they’ve learned to navigate it. My stepdad still kicks people in the balls when they deserve it. The Taggarts aren’t the Malones. Ian might know how to put on a tux, but I assure you the minute he can take it off it’s gone. But none of this matters. You don’t owe me a date. All you owe me right now is the promise that you’ll let me do what I need to do.”

It was completely perverse that she didn’t like the sound of that. Wasn’t he offering her exactly what she wanted? He was offering up a completely professional relationship with no hope of slipping up and whoops, we didn’t mean to end up in bed together. The one tent thing was sounding better and better. He was right about Ian not being anything like the Malones. The guys she worked with talked about how he used to get in the ring with them when he was frustrated and let everyone punch him. Of course, he punched back. “As long as it’s safe, I promise.”

“Okay.” He kept his eyes on the road. “And there’s this app I use. It shops around for the cheapest price on the groceries you want, and it even applies coupons it finds online.”

Naturally they even liked the same apps. “Grocery Pro. I love that one.”

“Yeah, I do, too.” He went quiet and took the exit that would lead them to the private airport.

And Tess wondered if she’d made a big mistake. The good news was she had some time to think about it.

* * * *

David yawned as he looked out over the ocean and had to admit that he hadn’t been all that great at tempting Tessa so far. He’d brought out the big guns when he’d picked her up. He’d hoped showing up in the Mustang would buy him points, and then there had been that completely coincidental choice of music.

He wasn’t a man who believed in fate, but damn the universe seemed to be pointing him directly at Tessa Santiago. They liked the same things. He’d never known a person he could talk to as easily as he did Tessa.

Unfortunately, he seemed to be the only one who felt that cosmic pull.

He was never telling his brother he’d thought those words. Nope. Kyle would give him the emotional equivalent of a noogie and never let him forget what a romantic douche he could be.

Except he wasn’t. At least he’d never been before. He was a focused academic. He was the guy someone had to pull away from a book. His mom used to have to remind him to eat at times.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have needs. He absolutely did, and he certainly indulged them, but he was a guy who sometimes scheduled his sexual encounters. Everything in his life was organized. There was study time. There was teaching time. There was perverted fun time. Until now he hadn’t had sit-and-think-about-Tessa time.

He’d had ten hours on a flight, and he’d barely cracked open his notes. When he wasn’t napping, he’d been wondering what Tessa was thinking about and if it was anything but him.

“Is that the island we’re going to?” Tessa had been inside the cabin of the boat trying to get a cell signal for most of the thirty minutes they’d been sailing. “It’s pretty.”

It was a lovely place to be. He would like to show her all the sights. There was a pool in the middle of the island where the water glowed from the phosphorescent algae found there. “Montez bought it in the late eighties. He’d sold his first company for almost a billion dollars, a number unheard of then.”

Her pretty face had a quizzical expression on it. “Why haven’t I heard of this guy?”

There was a simple explanation for that. Americans focused almost exclusively on their own world. Even at the university he taught at almost all the classes were focused on Western history. “Because his business was based outside the US. Tell me how many billionaires do you know who aren’t Americans or Richard Branson? Yet, they exist now and they existed then. Montez wanted to get away from the stress of dealing with his company, so he bought this island as a place to unwind and get back to nature. I don’t think when he started out that he meant to write entire manifestos that would change politics in the Southern hemisphere. He was an engineer, after all. But he was changed by the island we’re about to go to. By the end of his life, he’d given away almost a billion dollars, and world leaders would flock here to get his guidance.”

“Okay, maybe I’m going to have to read this book of yours.”

He wasn’t expecting it to be some crazy best seller. It would be an academic tome. What it might get him was tenure, and that was better than gold in his world. “He’s an interesting man. His son became a friend of mine when we were in São Paulo together. Eddie was a late in life kid for his dad. He was Montez’s only child, so he inherited the island, but you should know Eddie’s not a billionaire. Remember the part where Montez gave it all away? The only thing Eddie inherited was the island and the trust his dad set up to keep the island running. By the time he died, there were over two thousand inhabitants and a pretty decent scientific presence. So he set up a kind of government, and it’s been run that way ever since.”

“Wow, that must be interesting for the political historian.”

It was completely fascinating. “Obviously.”

“So your friend lives here?”

“No. He lives in Buenos Aires. He often visited his father on the island before he passed two years ago. The money left over kept up the big house Montez had built out here. It’s pretty much a mansion in the middle of the jungle. At one point in time, Ricardo Montez had these crazy week-long parties where famous people would come out and have these long dinners and discuss politics and metaphysics. And they did a lot of drugs, of course.”

“As one does.” Tessa’s lips curved up, and the wind blew her hair to the side, showing off the long line of her neck. She looked back out to sea. “How much longer do you think we have?”

“At least fifteen minutes. Maybe twenty. Then we’ll have a drive out to the estate.”

“I thought I read there weren’t many cars here.”

It was good to know she’d done some research. He happened to know what Kyle had left her was on the thin side, but then his brother hadn’t taken this all that seriously. He’d thought their mom was overreacting, too. “There aren’t, but there are a few buses and some all-terrain vehicles. There are several scientific teams studying the wildlife on the island, and they’re allowed to use Jeeps. We’ll hop on one of the buses and then we’ll have to walk about half a mile from the stop to the villa.”

It was a nice time of year to be out here. He’d intended to make that walk by himself, to take in everything Montez must have seen and heard on that first trip to the place that would eventually be his home.

Now he was pretty sure all he would be able to think about was Tessa. “Of course, I can also radio him from the boat and ask him to send a car out.”

She probably didn’t want to sit on a minibus and then walk through the jungle.

A single brow arched, and she stood up suddenly. Her shoulders squared as though she was about to perform a task she’d had to build herself up to. “I think I can handle it, Professor, but we should talk about something else. Something that might help us both, but you have to promise me if you choose to tell me no, you’ll still remember that I’m in charge when it comes to the business stuff.”

His gut tightened because she looked so serious. He thought they’d handled all of this. “What is it?”

“I’ve given this some thought and I’ve come to one conclusion,” she said evenly. “I think we should throw down.”

“Throw what down?” She couldn’t be talking about what he thought she was talking about. She wasn’t standing there looking totally professional and suggesting that they have sex.

“Throw down, as in get nasty, do the deed.” She nodded as though confirming to herself that this was the way to go. “I think we should fuck and probably soon because I need my mind on the job, and you need to concentrate on your work. I thought at first that you didn’t care about the whole I-never-called-you-back thing.”

“You weren’t the first woman to not call me back.” She wouldn’t be the last either. Probably.

Or he could be optimistic for once. He wasn’t some shrinking violet when it came to sex. It was often his stealth weapon. Women saw him as an intellectual, and he was. But there was another side to him, the side that had spent months studying in one of Dallas’s most exclusive BDSM clubs. Not the one his mom went to. Yep. Even thinking the words made the world a less sexy place.

“But I am the one who’s been on your mind all day.” Tessa brought sexy back real fast as she moved closer to him, and he wasn’t thinking about the fact that he’d trained at The Club instead of Sanctum. He would bet Tessa went to Sanctum. “I’m the one who’s got you closing those books you should have been studying. Tell me I’m wrong.”

He couldn’t. “I’ve been thinking about you for weeks.”

She let out a breath, and her shoulders relaxed. “And you’re the one I can’t get out of my head. I think we go all in sexually tonight and get it out of our systems. Then you’ll be able to write your book, and I’ll be able to take out the bad guys. If there are any bad guys.”

He did not hate this plan. When he looked at it intellectually it was a good plan. It was logical and practical since they were only spending a couple of nights at the mansion where there would be nice beds and they wouldn’t have to fuck in a tent. The only thing he hated about it was her utter conviction that one night would be enough.

So show her it’s not. Study her like you studied for your freaking GRE and give her something to be distracted by—your talented dick.

Sometimes his inner voice reminded him he’d been around Taggarts for a long time. “Let me see if I have this straight. You think we spend one night in bed and then we’ll be able to forget the chemistry between us?”

“I think we’ll be getting rid of the tension between us,” she corrected. “I think we made a weird connection that night we met. I don’t know what it was about. I think maybe I was vulnerable.”

“Vulnerable?” She hadn’t seemed vulnerable. She’d seemed almost luminous to him. She’d seemed happy and vibrant and bright.

“I was at an anniversary party with the family I could have had, and it reminded me that by this time in her life my mom had been married ten years and had three kids.” Every word that came out of her mouth sounded sensible. It made him wonder how long she’d been thinking about this. Had she sat there on the plane and justified a reason to have him that she could handle?

He did not miss the fact that she’d talked about the family she could have had and not the man. He knew for a fact Michael Malone had been there that night, and yet she didn’t mention him.

“So you think you met me and I felt safe,” he posited.

She seemed to consider that for a moment. “I don’t know that safe is the word I would use. You were easy to talk to, and it felt like somehow we fit together in a way I hadn’t with anyone in a long time.”

“I’ve never felt that instant connection before.” He wasn’t going to play mind games with her.

Her lips firmed, and he realized she didn’t want this part of the conversation. She wanted him to jump on her and probably prove that the sex wouldn’t be as good as she thought it would be and then she could go on her merry way and put him in the box with all the other men who hadn’t quite fit. The sneaky brat was trying to get her taste and get out.

Maybe they would play a few games together. 

“Look, that night was special, but we have to live in the real world,” Tessa began. “That’s why I didn’t reply to you. The two of us—it’s not something that’s going to work out, but we’re stuck together for a week. So we should go ahead and do it, and then we’ll see that it’s just sex and we’ll be cool with each other.”

Ah, so he’d called that properly. He’d been blown over by the attraction he’d felt for her. He’d thought this was it and how awesome that he hadn’t had to jump through hoops. But there were always hoops. There was always work to be done, and he had the distinct feeling that she would be worth it. Maybe it was time to stop wondering what had gone wrong and try to make things go right. “And if it’s not?”

“Not?”

He moved in, getting closer to her than he’d been all day. She wanted to fuck him out of her system? He leaned over and brought his lips to her ear, letting their bodies brush together. It was time to show her getting him out of her system might not be possible. She’d seen the soft side of him, the brainy side that was cautious about relationships and ensuring that the woman he was with felt safe at all times. He would still make sure she was safe, but he’d let her lead this for far too long. “What if it’s not just sex, baby? What if it’s something more?”

She stepped back but not before he’d heard the breathy gasp she’d emitted the moment he’d touched her. Her face had flushed, and while the air around them was warm, her nipples were perfectly visible against the material of her shirt. The gentleman in him probably shouldn’t have noticed that, but the gentleman in him had also been the one she’d rejected the first time.

Maybe she needed a hint of bad boy in her good man.

“David, I’m not going to start a relationship with you.”

He couldn’t help but grin because she couldn’t even say the words in a firm tone of voice. They’d come out shaky. Like he’d offered her something she wanted but knew she couldn’t have. “I understand. You’ve made yourself clear. You can’t have a relationship with me because of my jet-set lifestyle. I wish you could have seen my town house with its stunning views of the parking lot. When the wind is right, you can smell the fried chicken from the fast-food restaurant down the block. And you should meet my purebred cat. When I say Hamilton’s a purebred I mean he is one hundred percent grump. I didn’t even pay for my cat. He walked in one day and now he won’t leave. Like my brother.”

Her expression softened. “It’s not about money. I work with your brother. I work with a bunch of your family members, and that could make things awkward. I don’t need more awkward in my life.”

“And after this, you won’t have to see me again.” It was precisely why she was willing to sleep with him.

She frowned, and her arms crossed over her chest. “I didn’t say that. I’m sure I will, but we’ll both go in knowing that it isn’t forever, so we’ll be okay with each other. You don’t seem like a man who would get angry with a woman because things didn’t work out.”

“Is that what your fiancé did?”

“Not at all,” she said with a sad smile. “Our breakup was one of the easiest things I’ve ever been through. We were logical and practical and we’re still friends.”

“And that’s why you’re not married to him.” She was one of those people who thought logic could dictate the selection of a partner. Maybe in the work world it did. She was likely paired up with someone who was perfect on paper, and she thought that was how she should do it in her romantic life, too. “There’s not a lot that’s logical about love and passion.”

She took a step back. “Maybe this was a mistake. I was only trying to make things easy on both of us.”

He knew he could lose her if he pushed too hard, but he had to make a few things plain. “It’s definitely a mistake if all you want is a quick lay to prove I’m not really the man for you because I am, and I think you know it.”

She pointed his way. “I knew it. I knew there was an arrogant jerk behind all that nice-guy charm.”

There was always a jerk down deep. The key to being a good man was knowing how to resist the temptation to let the jerk roam free. “If I’m arrogant because I know I’ll be good for you, then so be it. You want to play it this way, then let’s go. Eddie doesn’t know I’m bringing a woman with me. I couldn’t get in touch with him before we left. Communication on the island can be hard. So that leaves us with some options. I’m telling him you’re my new girlfriend and we’ll stay together in one room. Every single night you’ll come to bed and we’ll play.”

Her jaw dropped, and she stood there for a moment. “Play?”

Oh, she hadn’t thought he was kinky. That was a surprise. Since he’d started training at The Club, he’d learned pretty much everyone had a kink of some kind. She’d thought she could ride the vanilla boy a few times and walk away with the full knowledge he couldn’t give her what she needed. “Yes, play, baby. As in I’ll tie you up and have you any way I want you, and you’ll beg me to do it again the next night.”

“You’re a Dom?” The question came out with what felt like equal parts horror and intrigue. “You don’t go to Sanctum.”

“Sanctum isn’t the only club in town.” And thank god for that.

She blinked a couple of times as though allowing herself to absorb the shock of what he’d said. “I wasn’t…I wasn’t thinking that we would have that kind of relationship. I was thinking we would just have sex.”

“So you don’t like D/s sex?” David asked.

She seemed to think about that for a moment. “Uhm, I do. I’ve been going to Sanctum for a couple of years. Ever since I started working at MT. I wasn’t expecting to have it with you.”

“Because I’m not the guy for you?” It was a theme with her.

“I guess I didn’t think you would be into it,” she explained. “You seem so…”

He could help her out. “Staid? Buttoned up? Intellectual?”

Her eyes flared as though she’d finally figured out how to deal with him. “What makes you think I’m a sub? Maybe I’m a top, too.”

He didn’t hesitate for a second. While he enjoyed topping, what he really liked was exploring with his partner. He liked the openness of D/s. He didn’t need to be in control all the time. Unlike his brother, who seemed to need it on a pathological level, but that was a problem for another day. “Cool. I can bottom. I’ve done it before. It can be fun.”

“You’ve bottomed?” She was right back on her ass. Not literally, of course, but she definitely hadn’t been thinking that he was as perverted as he was.

“Of course. I’ve tried almost everything. It’s part of the program. Big Tag doesn’t make his Doms in training bottom?”

She nodded, and her eyes were wide enough to make him think she was still surprised to be having this particular conversation. “Yes, he does. You’re really a member of The Club?”

This would likely reenforce the idea that he was some kind of rich boy, but it was more about his family connections. “Ian and the owner of The Club have ties that go back decades. As their kids get older, the ones who want to experiment don’t want to do it at their dad’s club. I say kids, but right now it’s me and Kyle. I think it will probably be even weirder in the future.”

“I wondered why I never saw Kyle at Sanctum,” she replied. “All the other guys go. Now that I think about it, I totally understand. It would be weird to run into my mom in a dungeon. Not that she would.”

“How would you know?” He would bet she hadn’t talked to her mom about sex. He knew way too much about his own totally sex-positive mom’s sex life. She and Sean were all about teaching acceptance and the rejection of shame.

Her nose wrinkled. “Because she’s my mom.”

“Yeah, and if I’d said that about mine I would have walked into Sanctum and had a complex it would take fourteen shrinks to fix.” He’d dealt with this a long time ago. “But you know what? I’m glad she has Sanctum. I’m happy she’s got a Dom who adores her and fulfills her. Our parents are humans, too. There’s nothing wrong with them having sex lives. But some things should go into different compartments. So Kyle and I are at The Club. We pay our membership dues through service. We both take dungeon monitoring duties, and I tutor a whole bunch of kids in history and Spanish. Now I would be surprised if you’re a switch, but like I said, I’m happy to experiment.”

She was back to blushing. “I’m having a hard time seeing you as a top. You’re a history professor.”

She was thinking inside the box. It was time to give her a good sharp shock to the system. “Do you think only badass security guys can be sexual dominants? Or any kind of kinky? Because you’ve obviously never been to a Revolutionary War reenactment.”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, those are full of freaks,” he said with a fond chuckle. “I call them sexual mullets because upfront they’re all business. I mean these people take costumes and details seriously. But the minute the battle’s called, it’s one big orgy. I dated Betsey Ross for about a year—obviously not her real name—and the things she wanted me to do with her sewing needles would shock you. I say that because I was open about my experiences with Julian Lodge, and it even freaked him out a little. So should we have a contract?”

She was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know. I probably should think about this. This conversation didn’t go the way I thought it would. And I don’t know that we should share a room.”

“But then how will you protect me?” She didn’t get it both ways.

“They don’t know you’re bringing a bodyguard? Shouldn’t you have prepared them for me?”

“As far as I know, they still think I’m bringing Kyle.” He waved that off. Eddie had always said the more the merrier, and he wasn’t always the host when he offered it up. He’d once shown up in Dallas where he was supposed to sit for an interview with David with three women he’d picked up in an airport. Needless to say, he hadn’t gotten much of an interview out of the man. “It wouldn’t matter if I’d brought three or four extra people. It’s a big house. There’s plenty of room. Of course that also makes it easy to slip into a bedroom and kidnap me. After all, I’m a professor. I won’t be able to defend myself with historical facts. Though I might be able to put the kidnappers to sleep. Ask my Contemporary Latin American Politics class.”

“I thought there was nothing to worry about once we got to the island,” she replied, obviously not willing to let him have it both ways either.

Good. He liked a challenge. It looked like he would only have a week to convince her to give him a real shot, so he was going for broke. “All right. Let’s pick a path and stick to it. You’re right. We’re stuck together for the next week, and then if you choose to, you never have to see me again. So let’s call this one week out of time. No expectations on what happens after because we know nothing happens after. When this trip is done, we go our separate ways. Until then we see where this connection we have takes us. If you decide not to sleep with me, I’ll take the couch because I happen to know I’m staying in one of the bigger guest rooms in the house. I won’t lay a hand on you unless you want me to. Can you trust me that much?”

Her eyes rolled. “I don’t think you’re going to attack me.”

“Neither did Betsey Ross.”

She shook her head. “You’re joking about that.”

Oh, he was not. She’d enjoyed some role-play. “She had very particular fantasies, so I am joking about her not knowing. But she didn’t know when, and that was all kinds of fun. Did I mention I do a killer British accent? And I have an actual red coat.”

She stared at him for a moment. “I don’t know that I like this side of you.”

“I think you like it a lot.”

She huffed, a flustered sound. “What are you doing?”

“Opening up and showing you more of who I am,” he admitted. “I’ve been on my best behavior around you, and I think it’s given you the wrong impression. You say I get one week? I’ll take it. If you reject me at the end of this it’ll be because you truly don’t like me. The real me.”

“I’m serious about the relationship—about not having one,” Tessa insisted.

He wished she didn’t sound so sure. “Okay, then what’s the problem?”

Her eyes went soft. “I don’t want to hurt you. You seem like a guy with a lot of feelings.”

“How about I worry about my feelings and you trust me to know what I can and can’t handle? Like I said, think about it. I can always tell Eddie that you’re the walking, talking symbol of my mom’s paranoia, and then you take the bodyguard role and hang in the background. No muss. No fuss.”

“Ah, and no sex if I don’t stay in the room with you and play your girlfriend.”

He held his hands up to ward off the accusation in her tone. “Hey, no machinations here. If you don’t want to sleep in the same bed with me, that’s cool. You want sex, you can sneak in and slip out, and no one knows I’m fucking my bodyguard. Also, I would like to remind you that you’re the one who brought this up.”

She huffed, a frustrated sound. “Yeah, well, I didn’t think we’d make such a big deal out of it. I thought we’d be one and done.”

“And I think it’s going to be more fun my way. Is this a take it your way or leave it deal?”

She shook her head. “No. We can negotiate, but I thought I wouldn’t have to.”

Yeah, he’d gotten that vibe. “Because you thought the vanilla boy would just be happy for the sex?”

She shrugged one elegant shoulder. “Something like that.”

If he played his cards right, he would slip that shirt off her shoulder later tonight and run his lips across her golden brown skin. “Like I said, if I’ve only got a week, I’m going to make the most of it. So how about we do this? I’ll explain who you are to Eddie and you’ll take a room close to mine, and if you decide to go through with it, you knock on my door and then we’ll negotiate.” He wasn’t willing to push her too much because he might lose her. “If vanilla sex is all you want, then we’ll talk about that.”

She took him in with those warm brown eyes. “But you would rather be in charge.”

“I think you would enjoy it, too. I’m right, aren’t I? I’m right about you being sexually submissive.” He would bet a lot on her answer.

She sighed. “Yes. I find it relaxing. I can be kind of intense.”

He could see that easily. She would need a place to relax and let someone else be in charge. It was likely why she’d fallen into the relationship with her fiancé. He’d been a dominant male, and they’d seemed to have a lot in common on the surface. But the historian in him knew it was always in the details. Something that looks like it should work could fall apart because it often didn’t matter that a couple liked the same things. It was in how they lived, what they valued underneath the basics. Two very good people could simply not make it work because their core needs didn’t mesh. He could meet all her sexual needs, but if he couldn’t fulfill her core emotional ones, then it wouldn’t work.

But he rather thought he could if she let him try.

“Well, I stand ready to help you if you need some stress relief.”

An exasperated huff came from her lips. “I thought you would be weirder about this.”

“You thought you could either shock me and then I would prove I’m the uptight academic you think I am, or I would jump on you without another thought and then the sex would be bad. Either way, you could safely forget about me. How about we go into this with open minds? You tell me how you want to play it going onto the island and we’ll take it from there. If you want to keep your options open, I’ll still promise to sleep on the couch if you want to stay in my room. If you want your own, then I’ll make sure to leave my door unlocked.”

Her eyes narrowed in pure challenge. “Don’t bother. If I want to get in, I’ll get in.”

He liked the sound of that, but he had to hope she wouldn’t shrink away again. “I’ll make it easy on you.”

“I don’t think any of this is going to be easy on me,” she replied.

“It’s only as hard as you want it to be. You get to make the choices. You’re in control.”

“Until I give it to you.” There was anticipation in the words.

“Even then.” He needed to make it plain to her that he knew the rules of D/s and he followed them. “It’s an illusion that you’re giving up control. What you’re giving yourself is really permission. Permission to enjoy your body, to let go for a while because you trust your partner.”

“Can I trust my partner?”

“Yes. You can trust me to take care of you in bed.”

“And you can trust me to take care of you out of it.” She turned and looked out over the sea. “All right, Professor. I’ll think about it. I don’t know about this whole go-with-the-flow thing, but I still think we’ll both be more focused if we get this out of the way.”

She was making excuses, rationalizing something that wasn’t rational. But she needed that wall between them.

For now. “I’ll wait for you tonight. I’ll wait for you all the nights we’re here. But I’ll make it clear to Eddie that you’re working.”

“I should have called you,” she said quietly.

He wanted to touch her, but she wasn’t ready. “I wish you had.”

She looked back at him, her lips quirking up. “We could have already thrown down, and this wouldn’t be a problem anymore.”

He sighed and leaned on the railing, the smell of the sea surrounding them. “You’re a brat.”

She leaned against him. “Yeah, probably.”

When he put an arm around her, she didn’t protest, and he was perfectly satisfied to stay that way the rest of the trip.