by Young, Luke
She smiled. “Now we just need a tie.” She made a show of looking around the room, then her eyes got big. “Oh, here it is.” Just as she turned over and started to crawl on the mattress toward the tie George’s show went to commercial and he fanned his face with his hand. “Are you hot in here? I’m hot.”
“What?” She assumed the sexy position, but no one was there to see it. Turning back, she frowned, then looked around the room, mystified. “George?”
She finally spotted him on the balcony gazing out at the ocean. Springing into action, she picked up the tie and adjusted her position so her perky ass was pointed his way. Now sideways on the bed near the edge, she held perfectly still as she craned her neck to glance back to him. She called out loudly, “OH, I THINK YOU SHOULD WEAR THIS TIE.”
“What are you yelling about?”
Just as he turned back, one of her hands slipped off the mattress then the other and she went bare-ass over heels to the carpet. George caught none of the nudity and all of the fall.
“What are you doing?” Rushing in, he found her splayed out on the floor, hair a mess with unfortunately everything covered up.
“Are you okay?”
“Found your tie.” Wearing an embarrassed smile, she held the tie up in the air.
He rolled his eyes. “You’ve got to be more careful.” Taking hold of her arm, he helped her to her feet. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, sure.”
He wrapped the tie around his neck and went to work on the knot. Sitting on the bed, Jillian pulled her knees up to her chest and gave him a modified Sharon Stone. “Dinner should be fun tonight, don’t you think?”
“Uh-huh.” His eyes returned to the screen as he plopped down on the sofa and slipped on his shoes. “Hey, you don’t mind if I hit the casino for a few minutes before dinner do you?”
“Um, I—”
“Great.” He popped to his feet smiling and grabbed a belt and slipped it around his waist. “Yeah, I’ve really been on a roll lately and I want to ride it.”
“Why don’t you ride me instead?” She grumbled softly and rolled her eyes.
“Huh?” He glanced back to her as he pulled his jacket from the closet.
“Nothing.”
“I’ll see you at the table.” He pulled the door open.
“Want me to go with you?” She called to him then watched as the door slammed closed.
“Crap.” Closing her eyes, she let her neck flop down on her chest and sighed.
When she opened her eyes, she spotted her reflection in the mirror. Spreading her legs a bit, she gazed curiously at her nakedness with her tongue tracing its way around her lips.
She widened her legs further then slowly slid her hand down her thigh to her entrance. Biting her lip, her eyelids fluttered closed as she circled a finger around her clitoris.
When she opened her eyes, she drank in her whole package and whispered to herself, “At least, I think I look good.” She shrugged then plunged a finger inside and let out a low guttural moan.
Dialing up a number of recent memories— Ethan on the nude beach along with Ethan wearing only a towel just a few hours earlier, Jillian gave herself the biggest orgasm she’d experienced in more than a decade. When she was done she thought, who needs a man?
19
Jillian stood outside the main dining room waiting. At 8:01 p.m. she rolled her eyes, cursed her husband under her breath then walked toward the head waiter. He beamed. “Mrs. Grayson, the captain is expecting you.”
“Thank you.”
The tall man in the tuxedo led Jillian toward a large circular table situated all by itself in the corner of the large room raised up on a two-step platform. As they approached, she heard a familiar loud female voice rolling with laughter then spotted Victoria sitting next to Captain Waterbrook with Ethan beside her.
“Jillian?” Smiling, Victoria’s eyes widened.
“Hi. I didn’t know you’d be dining with the captain,” Jillian said.
“Welcome, Mrs. Grayson.” The captain rose from his chair along with the other men at the table as Jillian took her seat across from Victoria. The other two authors were there along with their spouses and a few other guests at the table for twelve. The captain introduced Jillian to the author’s spouses as well as the three other guests at the table she didn’t know.
“My husband George is running a little late,” Jillian admitted.
“Oh, that’s fine,” Waterbrook said. “Agent Wilde was just telling us a funny story about the time she brought down the mafia in Miami.”
“Well, it wasn’t the whole mafia,” Victoria explained with a cringe and gesturing with her thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “It was really just one small faction, but we’ll get them all someday— we’re still fighting the good fight.”
“I know I feel a little safer having you onboard.” The captain placed his hand over Victoria’s and gave it a supportive pat.
“Oh, I’m sure we all do,” Jillian agreed with just a bit of sarcasm seeping through her tone.
Theresa’s husband, Jeff, looked to Victoria. “Agent Wilde, how does one end up with the F.B.I.? Were you always in law enforcement? Did you study criminal justice?”
“Huh?” Victoria looked like a deer caught in headlights.
“I mean, how did you end up with the bureau?”
All eyes were on the gorgeous special agent, waiting.
“Um, well…” She glanced around the table, nervously. “I, uh… After college I spent a little time traveling and then I just applied.”
“I hear the academy is brutal, how in the world did you survive?” Jeff asked.
“Yeah, it, uh… As they say, it ain’t easy.”
Jillian gave Victoria a sympathetic look.
“But what was the training like?”
“The training?”
“Yes, what was that like?” Jeff asked.
“Well, they have the obstacle course, of course…” Victoria let out a soft chuckle as she scanned her captivated audience. “Um, but the worst part was the, um, they harness you into this thing…” putting her hands in the air, she motioned in a chopping downward fashion as she continued to weave her tale, “… um, it’s like an airplane cockpit and, um, they shoot you down this ramp and you crash into a pool.”
“Wow.” Jeff said as Victoria continued to dig a giant hole for herself. Jillian sunk a little lower in her seat, mortified.
Victoria spoke with more authority as she added, “And the hard part is you end up upside down and you have to undo the harness and swim to the surface. They tell you to watch your bubbles… That’s the important thing.”
Scoffing, Jeff narrowed his eyes. “You’re talking about F.B.I. training, right?”
“Yes.”
“That sounds like Navy Pilot training or something,” Theresa said then she nudged her husband’s arm as her eyes brightened. “Wait, isn’t that like a scene from that old Richard Gere movie? What that’s call—”
“What can I get everyone to drink?” the waiter interrupted.
“Oh thank God.” Jillian said a little too loudly and all eyes went to her. She shrugged. “Sorry, it’s been a long day.”
“I shall start with you then.” The waiter smiled.
“I’ll have a vodka martini.”
After getting all the drink orders, the waiter headed away just as George arrived and took his seat next to Jillian. “Sorry, I’m late.”
Jillian flashed him a frown.
A security officer walked with purpose toward the table and whispered something in the captain’s ear. Suddenly Waterbrook smiled and when the security officer headed away, he began, “We’ve been working on something that I wanted to share with you all— especially you Agent Wilde.”
Victoria looked at him shocked. “Huh?”
“But I wanted to wait until everything was finalized and now that it is, uh, well… We were able to lift a thumb print from the door handle to the steam room. We took the pri
nts immediately after the incident just as a formality although we weren’t sure we could do anything with them.”
Everyone at the table hung on the captain’s every word as Victoria and Jillian shared a horrified look.
He continued, “We were lucky, in that, the locker room had just been cleaned, so there weren’t a lot of prints. Actually there were three on the door handle, one was the victim Mr. Stein, obviously, and the other was Mr. Grayson here who happened to be in the locker room bathroom at the time of the incident and a third unidentified print. That’s the one we believe is from the perpetrator.”
“This is, um, great news.” Jillian took a big swig from her wineglass. “Yes, that’s a wonderful new development.”
Waterbrook turned his attention to George. “Thank you Mr. Grayson for working with us today by providing your fingerprints.”
George dismissed him with a wave of his hand. “It’s the least I could do.”
“When did you do this?” Jillian whispered to him.
“Earlier.” George shrugged. “You were signing books or something.”
“For the last few days our technology officer has been working around the clock to retrofit a new passenger identification system, which the cruise line has been beta testing.”
“Wow…” Victoria widened her eyes. “That’s just… Wow.”
“I know, he’s very talented,” Waterbrook agreed. “When we dock tomorrow at our final stop rather than simply scanning your ID pass at the embarkation point, passengers will be required to provide their fingerprint on a digital scanner.”
“What about those who don’t go ashore?” A woman at the table asked.
“Well, yes, we’ll setup scanning stations throughout the ship and then later that day we’ll actually come to individual cabins to obtain any prints we’re missing.”
“Is this for all passengers?”
“Of course, children under the age of thirteen will be excluded, but we will be fingerprinting everyone else, including women.” Waterbrook put his hand on Victoria’s wrist and smiled. “While Agent Wilde was assisting us with our initial investigation something she said made us realize we were being shortsighted by not considering female subjects.”
Jillian glared at Victoria then reflexively kicked her under the table.
“Ouch.” Agent Wilde looked to Jillian and they shared a snide look.
“You all right?” The captain asked.
“Oh, yes, sorry…” Victoria shook her head and winced, “… leg cramp. I get them sometimes.”
The remainder of the dinner was spent with Jillian picking at her food, pounding drinks and glaring at Victoria while the rest of the group discussed the miracles of technology in assisting investigations along with assorted police cases they had seen profiled on shows like 48 Hours and Dateline NBC.
As coffee was being served, Waterbrook smiled. “Maybe tonight’s special edition of The Love and Marriage Game will help take our minds off this unpleasant business— at least for the remainder of the night.”
“Oh crap.” Jillian muttered under her breath.
Ethan asked, “What’s happening tonight?”
“Our three authors and their spouses will compete in a celebrity version of our famous game— it’s like the newlywed game… For mature audiences only.” He flashed the group a raised eyebrow grin.
George leaned over to Jillian. “You didn’t tell me about this.”
“I forgot.” She gave him an apologetic shrug.
“Unfortunately, I’m going to have to miss all the fun. We still have some last minute tasks to attend to in order to prepare for tomorrow’s mass fingerprint collection.” Waterbrook frowned. “Many of my crew will again be pulling an all-nighter.”
Jillian fired off a mouth curling, eye narrowing glare at Victoria.
The captain checked his watch then directed a grin to the celebrity authors. “You all have about thirty minutes before your big game, you might want to relax before the embarrassing questions start, but remember no cheating.”
All except the guilty party and the pretend agent shared a laugh as everyone rose from their chairs and moved away from the table.
Jillian marched over to Victoria, pulled her aside and whispered, “What the hell did you say to him?”
“I really don’t know.” She shrugged.
“Great, just great! And why the hell are you quoting training scenes from An Officer and a Gentleman”
“I don’t know. I panicked.”
Jillian sighed. “Can you believe they’re still working on this damn thing?”
Victoria rubbed her hands together. “Maybe… maybe I could—”
“What, you think you’re going to flash him your boobs or give him a blowjob and he’s going to forget all about this?”
“I do give an excellent blow job.” Victoria tilted her head to the side and put on an uneasy smile.
“I’m sure.” Jillian rolled her eyes. “But somehow I don’t think that’s going to work.”
“It might.”
“No, I’ve got to put an end to this now. I’m going to tell him.” Turning, Jillian headed away and called out, “Captain?”
Victoria took off after her and grabbed her shoulder. “Wait.”
“What?”
“I’m going with you. I’ll tell him it was me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, um, it’ll be fine.” Victoria shrugged. “I’m sure he won’t be too upset and they can call off the whole thing and…”
“You would really do that for me?” Jillian asked.
“Sure, it was my idea and I think—”
“Great.” Jillian grabbed Victoria’s hand and yanked her toward the captain.
20
In Captain Waterbrook’s office, he gazed wide-eyed and smiling to Jillian and Victoria as they sat in chairs in front of his desk. “So, what can I do for you ladies?”
Jillian cleared her throat. “We, um, we believe that you should call off this investigation.”
“What? Why?”
The two ladies shared an uneasy look.
“We think that the incident was just a misunderstanding… A case of mistaken identity if you will.” Victoria gave him a timid smile.
“So you know who it is?” Waterbrook leaned over the desk and looked pointedly to Agent Wilde.
“Uh, well…” Victoria motioned with a few head nods and widened eyes toward Jillian.
Jillian scoffed. “And this is you telling him you did it!”
Victoria leaned to Jillian and whispered in her ear.
Waterbrook watched as the two exchanged angry looks and muffled whispers until they sat back in their respective chairs and folded their arms.
“Well it was your idea,” Jillian said.
Victoria sighed. “I figured you could at least tell your husband from an old man. I mean, who mistakes—”
“Ladies… What’s going on here?”
The two women once again exchanged dirty looks.
“Mrs. Grayson…” Narrowing his eyes, he turned his attention to Jillian. “Do you have something to tell me?”
“It was me okay?” Jillian raised her palms in the air. “I was just trying to surprise my husband and things went horribly wrong.”
“What?” The captain shot her a mystified look.
“It was all her idea.” Jillian nodded toward Victoria with an angry glare.
“You see my boyfriend and I enjoyed a little…” Victoria motioned apologetically with hands, “… alone time in your steam room a few days ago.”
“You did what?”
“Yeah, and Jillian here was sorta going through a rough patch in her marriage and I, um, I told her this might help,” Victoria explained, her eyes pleading for understanding.
“So, was that you in the robe on Monday’s security footage?” He looked to Victoria.
She nodded, embarrassed. “Um, yeah…”
“And it was you on Wednesday?” He pointed to Jillian.
His stunned expression moved from Victoria to Jillian then back to the agent. “This investigation has disrupted this cruise, cost the line at least twenty thousand dollars in overtime and put an unbelievable amount of stress on everyone aboard.”
“We know and we’re sorry.” Victoria said as she moved to the edge of her seat.
“Yes, we’re sorry.” Jillian gave him an apologetic look.
“You’re sorry?” He scoffed.
The each nodded, grimacing.
“You’re sorry.” Spinning his chair until he faced the wall, he looked to the ceiling and exhaled deeply. “This is…” With his blood obviously boiling and his face turning red, he spun back and looked pointedly at Victoria. “I assume that the F.B.I. does not know you use your position with the agency in this manner.”
“Well…” Victoria cringed. “That’s another thing, um, I’m not—”
“What?”
“I’m not actually with the F.B.I.” She cringed, dreading his reaction.
“What!” His face turned a deeper shade of red.
“I was just trying to save you the work of looking through all the picture and, um—”
“Uh-huh.” He picked up the phone and dialed a number.
“What are you doing?” Jillian asked.
Staring at the two criminals, he spoke into the phone. “Yes, I need you to escort two prisoners to the brig.”
“I told you they still had a brig.” Victoria turned to Jillian and frowned.
“You can’t do this,” Jillian said with as much authority as she could muster.
He hung up the phone and glared at them. “You are onboard my ship and on my ship I am the judge and jury. When we return to San Juan you will be handed over to local authorities and I believe charged as international terrorists.”
“International terrorists?” Victoria scoffed. “For blowing my boyfriend in the steam room?”
“No!” Waterbrook groaned. “For impeding this investigation, lying to security personnel… for impersonating an F.B.I. agent and yes, for performing a sex act in a public place!”
“Well, that’s just ridiculous.” Victoria shot him a snarky look.
“I assure you that the Puerto Rican government will treat this matter with the utmost seriousness.”
