“You’re hurting me!” she snapped. He gave one more sharp squeeze, then let her go.
“Good. There’s people out there that would do a lot worse than anything I’ve done to you. I’m just trying to protect you,” he explained.
“Well, thank you very much, Mr. De Sant, but I think I’ve shown that I’m very capable of taking care of myself,” she reminded him.
“No, you think you’re ‘very capable’, which is worse than knowing you’re not,” he snapped.
Lily’s first reaction was to get mad, to tell him to go fuck himself. But she paused for a second and stared up at him. He was upset, irrationally so. It had been his idea to stop and take a breather – what was better for taking a breath than the seaside? She was on a beach, at a beach side hotel, in her bathing suit. There were other people scattered about the beach, also in bathing suits. There were black people and white people and tan people, all sorts of different colors. She didn’t stand out that much, he was completely overreacting.
And Marc didn’t overreact.
“What’s going on?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.
“Huh?”
“You’re freaking out. What’s the big deal? Did something happen when you were out and about?” she continued.
He glared down at her for another moment, then sighed and looked away, scanning the horizon behind her.
“No,” he answered. “It’s been a long weekend, sweetheart. I’ve invested a lot energy in this mission. It would be a shame if we got this close to the end, only for you to get shot or kidnapped.”
He’s worried about me!?
“That’s almost sweet, Marc, but I’m fine out here. If this is wearing you out so much, you don’t have to continue, you know. You could still just leave,” she pointed out, though once it was out of her mouth, she was nervous. She didn’t want him to go.
“Not getting rid of me that easily, I’m getting those diamonds, we had a deal,” he said quickly. She smiled, though she almost felt worse than before; it wasn’t exactly a proclamation of love and devotion, a sonnet dedicated to how he felt a burning need to be in her presence.
Not that I want those things from him …
“Alright, then. I promise not to get shot or kidnapped, at least not anytime soon. Can we get something to eat now, or is that too dangerous?” she asked, her tone mocking.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her back towards the hotel. He hugged her close to his side, babbling about some shop he’d been in while on his jaunt about town. But when she looked up at him, he wasn’t looking at her. Wasn’t looking ahead of them. His eyes seemed to be scanning the top floor the hotel. She followed his gaze, searching the windows for any sign of movement.
“… maybe we can have them deliver lunch to our rooms,” Marc was finishing as they walked around the edge of the pool.
“Marc,” she started, before climbing over the railing to their patio area. “Is there someone following you?”
“Why would you ask me that?”
“Because you’re all twitchy and you were staring at the top floor .”
“I wasn’t staring, and I’m not twitchy.”
“You’re very twitchy.”
“Shut up, Lily.”
“Look at you, you’re all nervous, and -”
He grabbed her arm again and pulled her close, catching her off guard. She stumbled into him and he immediately kissed her, walking her backwards through the sliding glass door. She moaned and pressed her hands against his face, standing on her toes to kiss him back.
“You talk too much,” he breathed when he finally pulled away, slamming the glass door closed and locking it.
“You have the worst game of any man I’ve ever met. You’re always insulting me. You must never get ass on your own,” she pointed out. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her towards the bathroom.
“I got you.”
“Lack of options. You were the only man in Liberia worth fucking.”
“I take what I can get.”
Once in the room, he pushed her up against a wall, shoved his tongue down her throat. Worked his leg between hers, forcing her to straddle his thigh. Every time she moved, it caused sensitive areas to rub and move and come alive.
“Why’d you get me a bathing suit if you didn’t want me on the beach?” she struggled to breathe while his teeth worked at the outline of her clavicle.
“There’s that talking problem again,” he mumbled, untying the bikini strap from behind her neck.
“Did you only want to rent a hotel room to do this?” she questioned. She’d always thought his request to stop had been strange – had he done it for nookie?
“Beats the back seat of a car.”
“Yeah, but at least in the car, we wouldn’t need to stop for a whole -”
“Seriously, Lily. Shut your mouth, or I’m going to find something more useful for it.”
“Big talk.”
When he grabbed her hair and forced her to her knees, it didn’t seem like such big talk anymore.
Maybe stopping for the night isn’t such a bad idea.
*
Lily twitched and rubbed at her nose, still half asleep. She was laying on her stomach, the sheets yanked away from her body and twisted around her legs. She yawned and stretched out her left arm, feeling around for Marc. But the bed next to her was empty. She twisted her head to the side and cracked open an eyelid.
“Marc?” she croaked out, then cleared her throat.
She hadn’t so much fallen asleep, it was more like passing out. Marc’s energy was never ending, and he had hard ons to match. They went through lunch, fooled around in the shower, then he bent her over the bed and didn’t let up till she literally begged him to stop. And even then, as she was almost asleep, his fingers were back between her thighs, and before she could say yay or nay, his head had replaced his fingers, and well, a girl simply couldn’t say no to that, not when a man was so good with his tongue.
Lily rolled over onto her back and propped herself up on her elbows, glaring around the room. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep. The last thing she remembered was going to the bathroom and putting her t-shirt and bikini bottoms back on, with the intention of staying awake. But then she’d laid down, just for a second, and that was it. Lights out. It had to have been an hour since then, at least.
It was dark in the room, the sun had set, and she was starving – they had never gotten around to eating anything. She tried to look out the glass doors of the room, to see if he was sitting on their terrace, and wondered why he hadn’t woken her up. Then she looked out the window, which offered a view of the pool, and wondered why he’d let her sleep for so long. Then she turned her head to the other side of the room.
Oh, and I definitely wonder why there’s a strange man in the room with me.
She immediately started scrambling sideways across the bed, but he was quick, leaping forward and grabbing her arm. He was also strong – one good yank, and she was pulled off the mattress, landing in a heap on the floor. As he tugged her to her feet, she swung her free arm, directing her elbow towards his head, but he managed to duck, and grabbed that arm, as well. Both her wrists were pinned behind her back and his free hand gripped onto her shoulder, squeezing painfully.
“Let’s not make this difficult, shall we?”
Whoever he was, he had a very posh British accent. Very cultured sounding, very refined. She growled and yanked around, trying to pull free.
“Fuck you.”
“Lovely, a charmer. Let’s go, darling.”
He pressed her wrists hard into her spine, forcing her back to arch, and his fingers pulled on her shoulder, pulling her into an awkward back bend of sorts. She had to walk on her toes as she was pushed around the bed.
“Wait, wait, wait,” she breathed, refusing to move.
“No waiting.”
“Please. You don’t understand. I know why you’re here,” she tried to kill tim
e, hoping Marc would show up. Or was Marc already dead?
Or did he leave you? He was acting so strange. Maybe he saw this coming. Maybe he left you and took the diamonds.
“I don’t think you know anything. Please, keep walking,” the man instructed.
“I’m not stealing the diamonds. I’m still going to Morocco. I’m still doing the job,” she insisted.
“Really? Didn’t look like you were on the job this afternoon,” he called her out. She scowled.
“Oh, a hitman and a peeping tom. Versatile,” she didn’t hide the disdain in her voice.
“When a show is that good, darling, you don’t look away. You were very impressive. Very flexible,” his voice was almost teasing. She pressed back into him, sticking her butt out as much as was possible in her position, pushing directly into his crotch.
“You have no idea how flexible I can be,” she whispered.
“Don’t fall for it, she’ll fuck you up.”
Marc’s voice startled her and she immediately started looking for him. Her captor twisted them around, pointing them back towards the glass doors. One of them was open, and they turned just in time to see Marc drop to the ground. He’d been hiding in the trellis that extended beyond their little patio area. As he walked forward, she saw light from the pool area glinting off the barrel of the gun he had pointed at them.
“You say that, but how do I know you’re not just keeping the goods to yourself?” their intruder commented. It threw Lily off. There was a familiarity in the way he talked to Marc.
“I am doing that, but I’m also not lying. That wildcat you’re holding has kicked my ass on several different occasions. She’ll say anything you want to hear and then she’ll hand you your nuts,” he explained.
“She didn’t look so threatening earlier – you handled her pretty well.”
“I have a magic touch. Subdues her like nothing else.”
“Hey!” she finally yelled. “I am actually in the room! Is this a kidnapping or not!? Because if not, I’d really love it if you could take your fucking hands off of me!”
There was silence for a second, then she was abruptly shoved forward. She fell to her knees, catching herself with her hands. When she looked up, the man had used the distraction to pull out a firearm of his own. Marc was fully in the room and the two men glared at each other, guns pointed and ready to fire.
“I can’t believe it,” Marc was growling. “How much is the bounty, huh? Must be pretty fucking big to get you here.”
“That hurts. When I saw your name come across the board, I didn’t even look at the price. An opportunity to take out the Marcelle De Sant? Couldn’t resist, mate,” the man commented.
“Pity you wasted the opportunity. Whatever happened to being friends, huh?” Marc asked.
“Whatever happened to honor? I know you’re a thief, De Sant, but stealing from the hand that feeds you? Tsk tsk,” the guy clucked his tongue. Marc glared.
“Easy to do when the hand that was feeding me turned around and tried to set me up and have me killed, after I completed the job,” he countered.
“Is that the truth?”
“Do you really think I’d lie about this?”
There was a long pause. The way they were staring at each other was intense. Lily held still, sitting on the floor in front of the British man. They clearly knew each other some how. A hit had been taken out on Marc, obviously from the Bratva. The stranger had taken the job. And he was a friend of Marc’s. Or colleague? Something.
What an asshole.
Lily was sitting at an angle, on her left hip, her legs bent at her side. The two men were distracted by angrily glaring at each other, so she decided to act fast. Pushing off the ground with her hands, she jabbed her right leg out, slamming her foot into the other man’s knee. He let out a surprised shout, bending forward, and she swept her leg behind his ankles, sending him to his ass.
She was on him in a second, grabbing him by the hair and slamming his head into the ground. He dropped his gun and his hands went to her hips, holding her tight against his waist. She still had her hands in his hair when he surged forward, rolling them backwards. Suddenly, he was on top, with her legs wrapped around his waist.
“Christ, where did you find this woman!?” he shouted. She pulled his head towards her and bit down on his ear, earning her a strangled cry.
“Told you she’d kick your ass!” Marc shouted from above them.
Why isn’t he doing anything!?
The intruder pulled away, his ear bleeding. Lily dug her fingers into the sensitive underside of his arm, trying to pinch skin through his knit sweater, but before she could get a good grip, his hands went around her neck. He wasn’t fucking around – her wind pipe felt like it was pinched in half.
“You were right, De Sant. A wildcat. She’s practically feral. Best to put her down,” the guy said through gritted teeth, his fingers squeezing harder.
I did not live through Bratvas and Liberian gangs and darkest Africa and Marcelle De fucking Sant, just to get strangled to death in a posh hotel room. How embarrassing.
There was the sound of a slide being racked and everything froze. Lily and her attacker both looked up at the same time. Marc was standing over them, the barrel of the gun pressed up against the back of the man’s head.
“Maybe so, but you see, that’s my wildcat, and I’d really appreciate it if you got the fuck off of her, now.”
The guy let go of her throat and she hacked and coughed, sucking in air. He slowly climbed off her, his hands raised in the air. She rolled to her side, trying to catch her breath.
“Now De Sant, you know I could’ve killed her. I didn’t,” the man pointed out. Marc kept the gun at the back of his head.
“What do you think, sweetheart? Shoot him or no?” Marc called out. She got onto her hands and knees, still coughing.
“Shoot him,” she croaked out.
“Since when do you take orders from a woman?” the assassin asked. Marc snorted.
“I don’t. She makes horrible fucking decisions,” he replied, then he dropped his gun.
Lily was shocked, but was doubly so when the British man turned around and held out his arms, hugging Marc. The two men laughed and clapped each other on the back.
Maybe he choked me unconscious and I’m hallucinating.
“I really thought you came here to kill me,” Marc was chuckling as he pulled away.
“I’m crushed, De Sant. You think I’d kill a brother? When I found out they were looking for someone to take you out, I decided to immediately fly out here. Figured if I could get here first, maybe you’d actually have a chance at pulling off whatever it is you’re trying to do,” the man explained, taking a few steps back and pulling off the black gloves he was wearing.
“We were pulling it off just fine before you, thanks, but help is always appreciated,” Marc told him.
“Go on, tell me how glad you are that I’m here.”
“Well, I don’t like to lie.”
“Since when?”
“Excuse me!” Lily interrupted, climbing to her feet. “But when you two gentlemen are done blowing each other, could you explain to me what the fuck is going on!?”
“Lily, this is a friend of mine, of sorts,” Marc said. The man took off the black bulletproof vest he was wearing and let it drop to the floor before he leaned towards her, holding his hand out.
“Cheers, darling, a pleasure to meet you,” he said. She refused to shake his hand.
“Sorry I can’t say the same,” she hissed.
“Don’t worry, you’ll learn to love me”
“Doubtful.”
“All the ladies do.”
“I think I’m going to vomit. Can you get him out of here?” she asked Marc.
“No. Law is the kind of person you want on your side,” he replied quickly.
“Excuse me? What law?” she was confused. The man finally took her hand into his own, raising the back of it to his lips.
&nb
sp; “My law, darling. Kingsley Law, at your service,” he introduced himself. She yanked her hand away.
“Now I definitely know I’m going to vomit.”
*
Lily didn’t want to like Kingsley, she really didn’t. She didn’t like new people, in general. She didn’t like having a whole new wrench thrown into her plan. She didn’t like someone who had watched her have sex, then broke into her hotel room, attempted to abduct her, choked her, then proved to have a closer relationship with Marc than she could ever hope to have. She wanted to hate him.
But he’d been telling the truth – he was impossible to dislike.
He was charming and he was funny, but even more than that, he was ridiculously good looking. He was also all the things his voice had hinted at; cultured, refined, intelligent.
Marc was all rough sexiness, five o’clock shadow and gritted teeth, his presence filling a room like a bomb blast.
Kingsley was smoothness personified, with gel in his hair, and a suit under all his black gear. He was well groomed and had stormy blue eyes and fair skin, a sharp jaw and broad shoulders, complimented by perfect pearly teeth and a perfect pearly smile. His presence was sharp, like a knife.
They probably make one hell of a team.
“That’s why you were freaking out on the beach,” Lily put it all together.
“I knew I was being tailed in town,” Marc explained. “He’s good enough to stay out of sight, but not good enough to go unnoticed.”
“Oi, watch it. I wanted to be noticed,” Kingsley cut in.
“Sure. Whatever you say.”
“Why didn’t you tell me!?” Lily snapped, punching Marc in the arm.
“Well, we were a little busy. ‘Hey, we might have an assassin following us’, seems an awkward thing to say when I’m inside of you. Didn’t want to kill the mood.”
They went to dinner and spent a few hours introducing Lily and Kingsley, explaining their back stories to each other, or as much as they were willing to share, and then going over the previous five days. They had dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, sitting outside on a large cement patio. It was the most relaxing thing Lily had done since she’d arrived in Africa. Probably in the last five years. They ate, they drank, they chatted. Like a normal group of friends, on a normal vacation.
Best Laid Plans Page 18
