Wild Nights

by Tina Wainscott

  Chase had responded. Sounds like you’re having fun. I’m jealous. Vivi’s able to get some time off if you’d like company.

  Did he need backup? As it turned out, he did—a woman’s touch. But he already had that, and he and Jennessy had a great rapport. Unlike what he would have with Vivi. I’m enjoying my time alone. Maybe next time.

  Sax locked his computer in the box with the tamper alarm and put it in the safe. With the staff having access to rooms, he wasn’t taking any chances.

  His hair was already brown, and with a flick of two contacts, his eyes matched. He slid on the glasses, brushed his hair flat, and donned his shirt. But he left it unbuttoned, easing into a more relaxed appearance. Jennessy was already in position at the mixer, keeping an eye on Willie.

  They were just finishing the limbo contest when he arrived in the same open-air hut where Willie had delivered Jennessy to him. The rage fired Sax again as he stepped into the space. His gaze went to Jennessy, who was clapping as they announced the winner. Magnum pumped his hands in victory.

  Jennessy tucked a spiral strand of her blond hair behind her ear with long, graceful fingers. She wore a beige knit dress that showcased her toned arms. Dayum, his stomach was doing that weird flip thing, and he’d been with her all morning. The red flags were flying, and it had nothing to do with bad guys or guns. Thank God he’d told her what he was about. No way would she fall for him, not with recently having her heart broken.

  And what about you?

  Of course he wouldn’t fall…like seriously fall. He wasn’t wired that way. Infatuation never lasted beyond a day after he’d parted ways with a woman.

  Willie handed Magnum a cheesy trophy, and the crowd applauded. “Now we’re gonna do a sexy version of Simon Says. We need everyone to pair up, as you’ll be competing against other couples.”

  Single people started migrating toward each other. Magnum had his eye on Jennessy, heading in her direction. In fact, she seemed oblivious to the three other guys who had her in their sights. Of course, that’s because she was looking for him. She glanced around, finding Sax making his way to her.

  He slid his arm around her waist, deterring the other guys. He was about to suggest that they find a table at the far edge to continue watching Willie when he announced, “Will all the couples come to the dance floor?” He gestured, including Sax and Jennessy.

  Sax glanced at her. “You don’t want to play this silly game…or do you?” Because she was watching the couples assemble, some laughing already.

  She gave him a sly smile. “Maybe I do. Would you play with me?”

  He swallowed back a groan at the provocative question. “I’ll play anything you want, darlin’.”

  Her smile grew as she led him to the dance floor.

  Once Willie outlined the basic rules of the game, which reminded Sax of being ten again, he announced the winning couple’s prize: a dual massage at the outdoor spa cabana. Jennessy let out a sigh and rolled her eyes, and Sax decided that he was going to make sure they won.

  Willie started with a few simple commands to warm up the audience, like touching their heads, their feet, and their asses. “Simon Says slow dance with your partner…real close.”

  A sultry song played over the speakers. Jennessy slid up against him, and Sax pulled her even closer. His arms went around to her back, his fingers resting just above the curve of her ass. She held him around his waist, nice and tight.

  “Simon Says grind your hips together.”

  Her stomach moved against his cock, which was already at attention as it was. He ground back, nudging his thigh between hers.

  “Now dip your lady,” Willie instructed.

  Sax left his leg nestled where it was, while several guys dipped their partners…and were eliminated.

  Willie’s next command did not make Sax feel like a ten-year-old. “Simon Says remove one article of clothing.”

  Giggles tittered through the group but bathing suit tops, shirts, and hats went flying. Jennessy pulled off her knit dress, leaving a dark pink, high-waisted bikini bottom and a top that dipped low enough to show delicious cleavage. Sax stripped off his shirt.

  “Now remove one more piece of clothing,” Willie said.

  Several people happily tore off something else, and Willie called them out. After they departed, he said, “Simon Says to strike a sexy pose for your partner.”

  Jennessy channeled a pinup girl, sticking out her fine ass, shifting one shoulder up and sticking her finger between her lips. Sax didn’t think he could get much harder, and it was probably apparent even in his loose trunks. He raised his arms and laced his fingers together behind his head, flexing his biceps and tightening his abs. Her eyes flared in appreciation.

  “Now it’s time to take off another piece of clothing.”

  Sax’s hands went to his waistband but halted. He gave her a subtle shake of his head when she glanced down to decide what to remove.

  Willie laughed. “You people are soooo anxious to get naked!” He pointed to four couples who were half-naked. “But you are out.” Once they left the dance floor, Willie went on. “Simon Says ladies, worship that one special part of your partner’s body without touching it. But feel free to touch all around it.”

  Jennessy widened her eyes as she lowered herself to her knees in front of Sax. Oh, boy. His cock was straining, even if it wasn’t going to be touched. She traced her fingers along the top edge of his waistband, just missing the tip of him. Her hands smoothed down on either side of his pelvis, thumbs a scant millimeter away from him. This was an ever-loving tease, no doubt about it.

  And Willie, the son of a bitch, was enjoying every minute of it. He even chuckled. “All right, gentlemen, I’ll take you out of your misery. Ladies, you can stand now.”

  Sax put his hand on Jennessy’s head as she was about to stand. She gave him a knowing nod.

  “And we have a winner, because everyone but one lady stood without the Simon Says.”

  Jennessy made an adorable squee sound as she hopped up and down and hugged Sax.

  Willie held his arm out to them. His smile faltered when he realized it was the guy who’d knocked his shots to the sand. “See Kyle to schedule your session.” He gestured to the woman who’d stepped up to the side.

  “Now on to our next game—Charades!” Willie said, calling for players.

  Kyle, a petite blonde, asked, “Would you like your massages now? We have an opening.”

  “How long do these games go on?” Sax asked. He needed to be back before they were done.

  “You’ll probably miss the rest of Fun and Games, I’m afraid. It ends in an hour, and your massage is fifty minutes.”

  Perfect. “Let’s do it.”

  After they grabbed their clothing, she led them to a gazebo that was set off to the side, with a view of the beach and ocean. Another woman stood beside the massage table on the right, introducing herself as Terry.

  “We’ll give you a minute to settle yourself. You can set your clothing on the chair.”

  “Want me to turn around?” Sax asked Jennessy once the therapists left.

  “You’re such a gentleman,” she said with a grin. “Even though we’ve seen each other naked, you’re offering me privacy.” She turned around, though, and untied her bathing suit top, then shimmied out of her bottoms. After tossing them onto the chair, she slid discreetly between the sheets on the table, her face in the extended bracket.

  Sax pulled off his shorts and did the same, settling onto the table facing Jennessy. For the next fifty minutes, a woman worked his muscles while he heard Jennessy letting out soft sounds of pleasure. So, of course, he imagined it was her kneading his back and shoulders. By the time he rolled onto his back for the last part of the massage, he had to put his mind back into his assignment just to kill his woody. He didn’t want the therapist getting the wrong idea. Because all of his ideas were about Jennessy.

  The coconut-scented oil they used was a perfect accompaniment to the sea breeze, t
he occasional squawk of a seagull, and the distant sound of laughter coming from the beach.

  “That felt so good,” Jennessy said a few minutes later when the therapists indicated that they were done.

  He wanted her to say that about other activities. And she would. But now they needed to hightail it back to the party. He turned away while she dressed, then pulled on his trunks and unbuttoned shirt.

  “Thanks,” she said, surprising him.

  “Why are you thanking me? I haven’t made you moan. Yet.”

  Her cheeks went pink for a second. “You helped us win. You stopped me from obeying a command without the ‘Simon says.’ ” She gave him a sweet kiss. “And boy, did I need this.” She grabbed the bottle of water the therapists told them to drink to help flush out the toxins. “Let’s go.”

  They had perfect timing. Willie was wrapping up the party, thanking everyone for participating and enticing them into going to the resort’s body painting party later.

  People lingered, but Willie made his way toward the back. He still had that phony-assed smile as he talked to people, but his eyes revealed a purpose. He crooked his finger at one of the guests, a decent-looking guy in his thirties, and the two headed toward the back entrance of the chickee hut.

  “Stay here for a sec,” Sax told Jennessy, then meandered his way in their direction. As the men converged, Sax stopped behind a stand of fluffy palm trees and pretended to inspect the fronds. He tuned out the murmur of conversations and focused on their low voices.

  “Where’s my tail?” the man demanded. “I’ve been here six hours and haven’t had any muff. Priority service is one of the perks of the Special K Club, right?”

  Special K Club? There was a club for these pervs?

  “I was so close, Eric, so close. Some idiot bumped into me just as I was about to give a lady her treat. Knocked my last one on the sand, and I didn’t have any more to offer. The second potential woman was escorted away by her friend, who I thought was too busy to notice. I’m going to make more shots right now. Give me three hours.”

  The scumbag was a regular. He came here to rape semiconscious women. It hit Sax with sickening clarity, how this system would appeal to predators. His stomach soured. They probably talked about it in perv chat rooms. Sexual control without the fight. No risk of getting caught, no drugs in their possession, and victims who would be reticent to report the rape.

  Sax was only supposed to gather evidence, but he wanted to nail these sons of bitches. Jennessy’s earlier words echoed in his mind: Will it mess up your investigation if I kill him? Sax could imagine saying that to Chase.

  Willie was on his way, and Sax casually followed. He saw Jennessy not far behind him in his peripheral vision. They hadn’t talked about her not going on this particular mission, only that she’d watch Willie until Sax could get to the mixer. He assumed she’d stay behind, but he should have known better. He would have gestured for her to stay put, except Magnum was watching from a distance. That guy was up to something, but Sax didn’t have time to dick around with him at the moment.

  Sax looked around, as though taking in the flora and fauna as he meandered around the edge of the main pool area. There was plenty to take in, with palm trees of every type, bushes bright with big hibiscus flowers, and small parklike areas with arbors. A resort employee was leading a conga line around the pool, encouraging everyone to shove their asses into the person behind them on the cha-cha-cha beat.

  He followed Willie past the tennis courts up to a gate with a sign stating that only employees were allowed past that point. The path from there was dirt and led into a wild and overgrown part of the island. Willie’s pace increased once he’d cleared the gate and was no longer in public view.

  Sax spared one glance back toward Jennessy, who was just rounding the corner of the courts, and waved her to stay put. Then he stepped through the gate as though he belonged there. He took on the same unhurried gait he used during any surveillance mission. If someone stopped him, he would simply say he was exploring. To deter that situation, he stuck his earbuds in and appeared to keep his gaze on the ground. If someone wanted to talk to him, they’d have to come close to get his attention. He doubted that these primarily easygoing people would be that assertive.

  In the distance was a smattering of small buildings. Most were duplexes, with small front porches and dingy doors. This was not the pretty side of the island. There was no landscaping or planting beds, only the natural vegetation. And much of that was broken and bent from one of the hurricanes that had swept through last year. The buildings were run-down and in desperate need of a paint job. A couple of men and one woman sat outside their building in plastic chairs sharing a joint. They paid Willie little mind as he walked past, odd considering that the employees would know each other well since they lived on the island. And Willie didn’t have one iota of all that charisma to spare for his coworkers.

  Other than the three, Sax didn’t see a lot of people or activity. Most of them must be working. Or out on the rocky beach he could see through a break in the trees up ahead.

  A tiny dog, tied to one of the posts, barked as Sax kept his head down and walked by. Up ahead, Willie headed toward a cottage set back from the rest and cut around to the back. Sax ducked around the side of the nearest building, reaching the back in time to see Willie tilt a potted plant on the porch, grab a key, and unlock the door.

  Once he disappeared inside, Sax wanted to storm inside and shake the hell out of him, make him call the authorities and confess. But he’d seen the shrewdness in the man’s eyes. The guy wasn’t about to crumble. Besides, some hotshot attorney would no doubt get the whole thing thrown out due to intimidation.

  As a SEAL, every mission promised the possibility of bloodshed, of taking out bad guys and being shot at. The Justiss Alliance wasn’t about storming in and shooting up a place. It was about quietly gathering intel and evidence to shut down an operation. His first solo assignment had been about finding corruption down at the border, agents who were taking payoffs to let trafficking operations move through unimpeded. He’d ridden shotgun on his SEAL brother Risk’s first assignment, which had on the surface seemed pretty benign: protecting a retired colonel’s daughter. It had ended with Risk and the woman running for their lives and Sax stuck in a small-town jail on trumped up charges. Julian rode all over the Midwest on his Harley infiltrating outlaw motorcycle gangs. Nothing benign about that.

  This assignment had seemed shiny and pretty on the surface, but something dark simmered beneath the breeze-tossed palms and sugar-white sand. Sax worked through some numbers in his head. A hundred bucks for the sure thing. If ten guys bought in a day, that was seven thousand per week, twenty-eight thousand per month. That was a lot of under-the-table money. Enough to go to great lengths to protect.

  He pressed against the wall at the sound of a door closing with a thud. Willie walked out with a bottle of water and headed toward the resort. At least it looked like water, though Sax knew exactly what it contained. He texted Jennessy. W coming your way. Intercept bottle of water. He wasn’t sure how she was going to manage that, but he had faith in her.

  She responded with a K. No, he didn’t need Chase to send Vivi. Jennessy would do everything she could to nail this operation. She had a personal stake in it. And she was, after all, going to be working for a law-enforcement agency. Even though she was slated to analyze crime scenes, she was good at working the front end of an investigation.

  Sax approached Willie’s cottage, alert for sound coming from inside or sign of activity. The place was pretty small for sharing. Sax donned gloves, as Chase had instructed during any breaking-and-entering situation. If a full-scale investigation ensued, Sax didn’t want his fingerprints found at the scene. He lifted the pot and snagged the key. Saved him from having to use the pick kit. He opened the door and took in the darkened interior of the kitchen and small living area beyond that. No sign of anyone. He stepped in, closed the door, and launched a full-scale search.
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  He found a bag of sugar on the upper kitchen cabinet shelf that looked a little off. That was because another bag of white powder sat nestled inside it. Sax took several pictures, then came in for closer shots that revealed the bag-within-a-bag trick. After sending those to Chase, he pulled a plastic baggie from his pocket and scooped in some of the powder.

  He did a quick search of the rest of the place, hoping to find…what? A note from the person behind this? Dear Willie. Enjoy the ketamine. Sincerely, Darius. Or Oscar. Yeah, right. Maybe Willie was the one and only, and the case was almost done.

  Sax took one more item from his pocket—another bug. Willie wasn’t a fastidious housekeeper, so Sax planted it between the oven and cabinet. A measuring cup and large bowl sat in the sink, along with a funnel. The man had been in a hurry, no doubt. He was trying to fit his activities in between his real job responsibilities. But if Willie was raking in all that cash, he had little to show for it here. Top-of-the-line electronics, yes, though covered in a snowdrift of dust. Large flat-screen television. But little else in the ramshackle place.

  He didn’t have time for a deeper search, as he needed to back up Jennessy’s op. He did look for the clipboard, but no such luck. After relocking the door, he walked away. He came around the courts a few minutes later, searching for a beautiful blonde. When he found her in the main pool area, it took a moment to make sense of the scene.

  She was dabbing at Willie’s chest with napkins, and all around them on the deck was a spray of spilled water. “There, it’s almost unnoticeable.”

  Except the wet stain all over the front of his shirt was very noticeable. Yep, she was good. And yep, she sounded incredibly contrite and looked adorably embarrassed. A nearly empty water bottle sat on a table next to them. It still held a little ketamine. As Sax approached, he scouted the area and found a bottle of water abandoned on a table nearby. He snatched it up, poured out enough so it matched the level on the one of the table, and came up behind Willie. She slid her gaze to him and then kept dabbing and apologizing, even as Willie said, “It’s okay, miss. Don’t worry about it.”