Page 49 of Kiss Marry Kill
She still wasn’t safe.
This was just a mirage.
Tomorrow they’d be back home and Ryan would still be fucking with her.
Jax stepped back, handed her the bottle, and grabbed the masks.
She turned her eyes, which were narrowing on him. He went to work adjusting the straps of the masks, trying not to stare at the way her nipples were straining against the white bikini.
He knew he was an asshole: one minute hot, the next cold. She looked like she was going to push him into the ocean.
“Your turn,” she hissed, putting lotion on her hand. His eyebrows furrowed as she rubbed her palms on his chest. She started on his pecs and instead of moving up to his shoulders, she moved down to his abs, which tensed underneath her touch. She kept her eyes on his, something she didn’t normally do. But she was being brave and brazen as she unabashedly explored his body. He swallowed, trying to seem unmoved by her exploration; his hard cock told a different tale.
But, he didn’t move, standing still and letting her touch him.
After it was obvious that all the lotion had been rubbed in and there was no excuse to continue, he stepped away. “Hold your hair back,” he ordered her. Lifting the mask to her face, he carefully adjusted the straps. “Okay, that’s good,” he said in a thick voice, then dove right into the ocean. Maybe the cold water would help regulate his beating heart—and throbbing dick.
The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring all the different colorful fish that circled them around an artificial reef, staying close together and pointing as things swam by them.
“If I don’t get out of the water soon, I’ll turn into a fish,” she finally said.
He smiled and headed back to the anchored boat. “Is that a smile I just saw?” she teased, winded, swimming behind him. “It only took a private plane to the Bahamas, a chartered boat, three hours of fishing, a blue marlin, and a day of snorkeling.”
He chuckled again. “I’m not a cheap date, what can I say?” He hoisted himself up onto the small platform at the back of the boat. “Grab that step and take my hand,” he directed, reaching for her and pulling her up. They were wet, half naked, and pressed close together, enjoying one of the best days he’d had in as long as he could remember. “It didn’t take all of that to make me smile,” he said, his voice thick with emotion as he wrapped her up in a towel. “You, sweetheart, you make me smile.”
* * *
Her heart hammered into her chest. This was the Jax she remembered. The one with a smile that could melt her heart. The one who didn’t speak often, but when he did, it was meaningful and perfect. The one who could have her walking out of a stadium full of people, leaving her boyfriend behind. Leaving her entire life behind to start a new one. A better one.
“You ready? There’s a storm coming,” Kenneth hollered from behind the glass. He pointed westward to where the sky was darkening.
The moment was broken. “Yeah. We’re ready.”
In an effort to avoid the storm, the captain charged forward so fast that they both sat on their seats holding on. Thirty minutes later they were docking when the downpour began.
“Oh my god, Jax!” She yelled over the thunder and pelting rain. “Hurry!”
“What’s the rush? You’re already wet.”
He was right. She stopped panicking and calmly looked around. She found a little shelter by a shed and waited for Jax to help Kenneth and Lefty tie the boat up and disembark.
While waiting, she found her phone and turned it on. She had ten messages and countless texts, but the only one that concerned her was the one from her manager.
“What’s going on?” Jax asked.
“Oh, man. Glen’s been trying to get in touch with me. Look.” She showed him the phone. It said there was a bad storm heading their way and the planes were grounded. “He checked us into the nearest hotel that had vacancy. Let’s find a cab.”
“Come on, guys, I’ll take you,” Lefty said, hopping into a small clunker with the captain. Jax and Megan scooted into the back seat and asked Lefty to take them to the Ocean Breeze Inn. The thoughts running through her mind at being alone all night in a hotel with Jax were more thunderous than the actual storm crashing down on them.
With the rain and wind coming in hard, it took them twenty minutes to get to their hotel and it turned out that Glen had only been able to secure one room. And because of a festival happening on the island that week, rooms were scarce, so the hotel was really more like a very old motel. Megan couldn’t help but stare at the comfortable-looking king-size bed, thinking about what the night would bring, while Jax insisted on doing a routine security check of the room. As if Ryan would be able to predict a freak storm and an impromptu overnight stay.
After checking the room, Jax let Megan have the first shower while he called Joey. She needed a moment away from him to regroup, anyway. Tonight would be the night. There was no way he could deny the attraction, it was just too much already. If he didn’t do something about it, they could not continue their current living arrangement because she would surely go crazy.
In the little bathroom with the cheap soap and tiny bottle of shampoo, she scrubbed herself clean, thanking God she shaved that morning. She could hear him talking with Joey from the bathroom as she rinsed off and wrapped herself in a towel.
She walked out of the bathroom as he was tossing his phone on the bed. “You think there’s a gift shop here where I can get some clothes?”
“Maybe.” His voice sounded distracted. “Why don’t you call the front desk and ask while I take a quick shower?”
