by Mina Carter
“Wow! How did it get up in that tree? What was in it?”
“I guess it got thrown up there by the hurricane and was stuck there ever since. It may not have been full of gold, but to me it was like finding a treasure chest. Until that point, I had no pictures of my parents. I had nothing left from that time of my life, except for my memories. And as time went by, I felt like they were fading away. It was like a giant wave crashing over me. I never expected to feel that emotional over something so small. Now I have those keepsakes. I have the box up in the house.”
“Wow Ryan. That is really great that you found it. That is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about with spirits. Before you left the witch doctor, did you get a chance to communicate with your parents, or did they say anything else?”
“No, like I said they were suddenly gone. Oh yeah, I just remembered. After my parents left, the old man started jumping around yelling really loud up at the ceiling. The woman came in and was yelling something also. I got up and started to leave. When I looked up, all I saw was a stupid owl that had landed up at the opening in the roof. They probably were worried it was going to get their chickens or something. Anyway, I threw some money on a little table in the front room before I left.”
Lexi felt like all of her blood had pulled back to her heart. She shivered as a coldness crept across her body. “An owl? Just an Owl?” She asked uneasily.
Ryan shrugged. “Yeah, just an owl. Nothing scary.”
Dark billowing clouds pushed away the bright afternoon. The sea had changed its mood from a cheerful blue, to a turbulent charcoal gray.
“Well, so much for the spirit world. Unfortunately we’re still in the physical world and right now, this little part of the world is about to get a big thunderstorm!” By the second rumble of thunder the wind started to blow, and sheets of rain swept them from the beach. Lexi and Ryan bolted for the stairs that would take them to shelter. Buddy protested with a few barks at them, but eventually he bounded through the surf and up the stairs after them.
There on the clothesline, Lexi’s clothes whipped in the wind like banners on a castle wall. The slapping sounds announced they were now more wet than when Lexi hung them out to dry. They grabbed the soaked clothing and ran inside.
“Sorry Lexi, I guess we will have to hang them in here tonight.”
Lexi noticed how Ryan was looking at her. Lexi thought his look seemed more intense and serious for some reason.
“Here, you’re probably getting cold. There are some shirts you can pick from in my closet, or the bathrobe.”
Lexi looked down and grabbed the bottom hem of the shirt. The soaked cloth was clinging tightly against her skin. It revealed the curves of her breasts, along with the rest of her body. Her hardened nipples noticeably pressed out against the soft material of the t-shirt. Instinctively she started to cover them with her hands and then fought off the urge.
Go ahead take a look. I think you like what you see. She thought and then she wondered for a second if she may have actually said it out loud. She smiled at him and enjoyed the way he seemed to drink his fill of her. It made her feel confident and a little powerful.
Lexi’s mouth watered at the sight before her. Ryan’s tanned and perfectly toned body was dripping wet from the downpour. She watched the drops of water as they trailed from his chest, and down the well-defined muscles below. What she wouldn’t give to run her tongue over every inch of his hardened body. She was surprised by the thoughts that passed through her mind. Marcie would be so proud!
“Whew! I guess I am a little cold, thanks.” She took the towel he offered and headed to the bedroom to dry off. She needed to find something dry to put on, but her selections were extremely limited. At first she picked up the bathrobe and then paused.
She felt empowered by the effect she had on him. I can give him something to look at, if he likes looking at me. She flipped through an assortment of shirts in his closet and found just what she was looking for. A white cotton button down shirt. She stood in front of the mirror and let the oversized shirt hang on her unbuttoned. She decided to fasten only two buttons in the middle so it could still reveal plenty of her ample breasts and if she wasn’t too careful, it might reveal a little more. She remembered what Marcie said to her and smiled at the thought. This could be fun, or it could be embarrassing.
She walked quietly to the door and looked out to see where Ryan was. She paused to watch the unexpected show that was going on in the kitchen.
Ryan stood naked facing away from her with his back side to her. She froze against the door frame. Holy cats! She thought as she watched, mesmerized by the sight in front of her. He had gone into the little alcove off the kitchen to where he was sure he had some dry shorts.
He quickly stripped off his wet clothes and started drying himself with a towel. Lexi’s eyes were drawn down from his broad muscular shoulders to where his back narrowed meeting his trim waist. She let her eyes feast on his bare ass.
She felt the heat building deep inside of her. A need stirred that she wasn’t used to feeling. Slowly her hand slid between her thighs. She held in a moan as she felt the wetness that covered her center. The sight of Ryan’s naked body was far too much for her to handle.
Ryan hurriedly dug through a laundry basket to find something to put on before Lexi came out. He gave up on the idea and wrapped a towel around his waist. He turned around and saw Lexi standing in the door. It was obvious to him that she was pretending to have just walked in.
He could tell from the movement of her arm that swept away from her navel, she had almost certainly been touching herself during the accidental strip show.
“Well? I expect a few dollar bills, plus my going rate for a show like that.”
Lexi laughed and said, “Sorry sir, I only got to see the back side of the show and I only pay for the full version. I liked the END well enough, though.” Getting a laugh at her own silly pun.
“Alright. Maybe we can arrange an encore performance someday. I’ll warn you though, I’m not cheap! In the meantime, let me whip us up something to eat. I had started something this morning and I know you’ll like it. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back. I want to get a quick shower and find something decent to put on. When I come back, I just have to finish up the main course.”
He disappeared into the bedroom and Lexi wandered over to a large bookcase. She was curious to see what kind of books a man like Ryan would keep. She felt you could learn more about a person by knowing their reading habits than almost anything.
The selection was largely history, geology, marine biology, and a surprising number of books on art and architecture. He owned a decent collection and thorough representation from classic fiction with selections from the likes of Hemmingway and Rudyard Kipling on one side, and a virtual anthology of early American literature on the other.
It intrigued her that he was interested in a wide variety of subjects, and her observation of the bookshelf told her that Ryan was not the shallow playboy Marcie suggested. She knew he had to be much more thoughtful than that. Wow, an interesting brain to go with the hot sexy body. This guy is so damn perfect for me. I wish today would last forever. Buddy walked over next to her and repeatedly nudged her thigh with his large soft head, demanding a scratch behind his ear. Lexi gladly obliged him.
Ryan came out of the bedroom, freshly showered and wearing casual khaki shorts and a white button down shirt, just like she had chosen. She watched him busily working in the kitchen until the printer on the work station lit up and began to buzz.
Ryan quickly jogged out and grabbed the papers as the machine spit them out. Lexi hurried behind him to see what the news would be. He skimmed across the pages.
“Here’s our doctor. It looks like he’s retired. He ran a private psychiatric practice for a number of years in Israel.” He paused and looked over another page. “He was born in Poland and was taken into a concentration camp when he was nine. He was a rare survivor from the camp. Let’s see,
well it seems he did some work with the Israeli Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations. That’s the formal name for the Mossad. You could compare them to our CIA, but better. Of course, we’ll probably never know what he did there, unless he chooses to tell us.”
“Do you think it will be safe to visit him?” Lexi asked. Hell, what did she know about retired spies?
“Yeah and I’m pretty sure with just that information, it means there was a link with Kurt. Other than that everything looks legitimate, and most importantly here’s his address in Haifa.”
Ryan pulled up a map of Israel and pointed to the large city on the Mediterranean coast. “Now, I feel perfectly comfortable taking you there to meet with him and getting the information we need. He has to be pretty old by now, I would think. Well, let me fire off a quick message to the office and tell them to get us there as soon as possible.”
He went back over to the computer for a minute and quickly completed his task. We’ll get instructions pretty soon, and we will probably be able to leave tomorrow.
Ryan returned to the kitchen to finish up his master piece before announcing, “Your dinner is served!” He went to retrieve a hodgepodge of mismatched dishes, silverware, and serving dishes.
He proudly and theatrically announced the menu. “For tonight we have crab bisque, steamed rice and beans, and for the main dish, lobster.
Lexi beamed up at him. He looked so cute standing before her, proudly presenting the dinner he had prepared for them. She had to admit she was quite impressed with his culinary skills.
“You were probably thinking that a country boy like me would have thought a seven course meal meant a possum and a six-pack. If that was the case, I hope I changed your mind!” He walked around the room and lit a few candles. When he returned to the table, he placed a single candle between them. “Some things taste better by candlelight, don’t you think so?”
Chapter Seven
THE TWO SAT at the table serenaded by the sounds of the forest and the occasional distant roars of thunder. The chorus of frogs chirped and chattered until a monkey howled a loud, eerie call. Lexi was startled by the unsuspecting noise. “Do you ever worry about anything—or anyone ever trying to get in here, Ryan?”
“No, not at all. This place may seem like a run-down beach shack, but it really is my fortress. I don’t like having to feel like I need to be looking over my shoulder. Continually feeling like I’m on guard is a hazard of the occupation, I guess. I prefer to minimize that feeling by being prepared. I have several solar panels, generators, and my own water supply, so I don’t have to rely on any outside entity for my power and water. The hill behind the house drops down into a wide swamp that is always flooded by the river, and beyond that is dense forest. Even if someone made it through there, they would set off any one of dozens of trip wires and motion detectors that create a perimeter of alarms. The last resort is my weapons vault. There’s an access though the floor. I keep weapons and ammunition in a concrete vault under there. I’m pretty confident this place is secure.”
“Uh, I don’t know if that makes me feel very secure! It sounds to me like you are expecting the zombie apocalypse any day now.”
“Let’s put it this way, I’ve made some enemies over the years. A few of them could be tough to take on if they decided to come out here with any sizeable force. Really, it’s unlikely, but being prepared just gives me a little peace of mind.”
They discussed more of Ryan’s work and Lexi began to wonder how much of his life was spent in harm’s way.
“Well, if I ignore the fact that this place is a fortress on top of an arsenal, it seems pretty quiet and peaceful here. You seem pretty well at home out here away from your work, you know—smugglin’, thievin’ and shootin’ up the jungle.” Lexi had a little more of the soup and lobster. “This is really good.” She mumbled. After a couple of minutes passed, she asked “how long has it been?”
Ryan almost choked on his food with the surprise question. “Uh, well...I’m not sure I’ve kept track, but suffice it to say it has been far too long. What about you?”
“Huh?” Lexi asked confused. “I meant, how long since you’ve had to go chasing danger for a client? What did you think I meant?”
“Oh! Well, to be honest, I haven’t done anything in the past year. I’ve been seriously contemplating that it’s about time to make a career move. I’ve managed to stash away a seriously nice nest egg, and I’m getting anxious to start something new. I can’t stand the idea of being stuck in one role my whole life. I don’t regret where I am or anything, it’s just that I am always interested in what could be around the next corner. The way I look at it is, you’ll never know unless you just go and see for yourself. Besides, I have a very big and very luxurious sailing yacht just waiting for me to take it on an adventure.”
“Really? A sailing yacht? You mean like a huge sailboat yacht?”
“Yep! To make a long story short, I got it during the last mission I was on. I was hired to retrieve some very expensive stolen art from a known drug cartel leader. He was having the artwork transported on the yacht and I thought, ‘Hey, instead of sneaking all these paintings off of that boat, why not just take the boat and everything on it.’ And that’s exactly what I did. I took it from the guy’s guards one night, while it was in port in Panama. I timed it right when I knew that the CIA was helping the Colombians nail the drug lord in Medellin. He died in that fight, so he won’t miss it, and the government wasn’t getting their hands on it. My client got his paintings and I have a very nice boat sitting in Panama waiting for me.”
“So what’s stopping you? Why haven’t you just sailed away?”
“I’m not sure. I figured I would hold off another year to see if anything interesting came up. Maybe it has?” He winked at Lexi.
“You never know what could come along! Anyway, I know how you feel about living your own dream. I try to live my life being who I am, not who someone else wants me to be. Think about it. Trying to become somebody you’re not is by its very definition, self-destructive. It would be torture and I’ve seen many people fall into that trap. I’ve created a life for myself that I am pretty happy with. I have no idea what I will be doing five or ten years from now, but whatever it is, I know it will be something that I decide I want to be doing. Not what someone else thinks that I should be doing.”
“I have to tell you that I admire you, Lexi. You know, most people would be afraid to just pick up and go off into the unknown and start a new life like you did. Even fewer people would be willing to take off and chase into the unknown for their sister. I don’t think it’s just because I will be going along either. I’m certain that even if I said I wasn’t going, it wouldn’t stop you at all. I like confidence and independence. It seems like you’ve got plenty of both.”
“Thanks. You’re right, I would go it alone, but it sure will make it easier that you’ll be there with me. You’ve spent plenty of time in that area and obviously have some great contacts there.”
Lexi noticed how Ryan seemed to be carefully reminding himself to dissect his lobster with dignity in front of her. He finally gave up and cracked open the shell with his fingers, clearly tired of poking at the red shell with a fork.
Ryan noted how Lexi smiled as she watched him eat. “Sorry, we never have guests here for dinner. I have to tell you something, but you have to promise to keep it a secret. You’re sitting in Buddy’s chair. When we eat, he sits his whole 180 pound Newfoundland body there and keeps me company. He gets a dish of dog food. So, that is our embarrassing little secret. Some people might think that it’s a little uncouth.”
Lexi looked down at Buddy who was laying on the floor next to the table. “Sorry I took your spot, Buddy.” The dog made a small whining sound as if he were trying to make her feel guilty.
“You know what? There is one more thing I like about you, Lexi.” Ryan teased.
“Oh, and what would that be, Ryan?”
“You have been here for over t
wenty four hours and you haven’t had your clothes on the whole time! You know, you can’t really count that flimsy shirt of mine as much clothing, by the way.”
“Well, it seems like you’ve done a pretty good job of keeping my clothes off! Congrats!”
As their laughter subsided, they retreated to the living room area and sat in the oversized wicker chairs facing each other. Lexi liked that Ryan commented on her lack of clothes. It was time to see how Ryan would react to just a little of what Marcie had suggested.
She looked at her legs and noticed that the bottom of the shirt had slid up fairly high. She silently thanked Marcie for talking her into regular tanning sessions. Lexi would normally turn her legs to the side to be more concealing, but not this time. She positioned her legs in front of her towards Ryan.
She lifted one foot up on the low foot rest so her entire thigh was laid bare before him. Only the tip of one front corner of the shirt hung down, and shaded the delicate place between her legs. She hoped he took a careful look into the shadowy area. She was curious to see what his reaction would be, and if he would possibly make the next move. She could see Ryan trying to discreetly glance at her legs.
This is completely nuts. Why am I acting like this? I like him. I like him more than anyone I’ve ever met. Maybe it’s because he’s so hot and I’m out here—away from home. I just feel so—ready for something to happen. He’s going to think I’m just another easy lay. Oh shit, what if something happens. He’ll know I’m a virgin, and then he’ll think I’m nuts. Ugh! I don’t even care, for once I’m going to go with my feelings.
