"Please tell me there's a point to this," Owensaid.
Ignoring him, I continued, "The priest—rather, former priest—has an old story about missionaries traveling west. The Church would send one party of missionaries after another to the desert, but they couldn't convert anyone. When asked why it was so difficult, one of the missionaries explained the people in that region didn't need religion because half the year gave them everything they needed to know about heaven and the other half gave them everything they needed to know abouthell."
"Great," Annette said, stillunimpressed.
Chuckling, Owen roped his arm around my waist. "You talk too damnmuch."
"I'll just ring these up and you two can be on your way." She glanced up, working hard at a sunny smile that just wasn't there. "Will these be together orseparate?"
Owen caught my eye, smiling despite Annette's increasing distress. "Together." He bowed his head toward my ear, whispering, "When we get home, I'm gonna torture you for severalhours."
I was all too happy to oblige. "You should do that," I said, keeping my voice low. "Torture. Punish. Subjugate. Whatever youwant."
Owen's gaze shifted to Annette and then back to me. "Don't say that," he murmured. "You don't know what I'mthinking."
"That will be one-forty-four fifty," Annette said, glancing betweenus.
I grinned. "I have an idea," I replied to Owen, pulling my wallet from my back pocket. I handed her my credit card without tearing my eyes away from him. "I have several ideas, actually. I'm in favor of all ofthem."
17
Keel
n. The longitudinal structure along the centerline at the bottom of a vessel's hull, on which the rest of the hull is built, in some vessels extended downward as a blade or ridge to increasestability.
Owen
The moon washigh in the sky, a cool breeze was blowing in off the water, and a choir of cicadas screeched in the distance. My body was spectacularly sated and my man was wrapped around me, still purring from the pounding I'd givenhim.
This life, it didn't get muchbetter.
Drunk on that milky afterglow, I stared at Cole's blond hair and sun-kissed skin and willed myself to withhold the declarations of love and forever I itched to give him. It was too soon for any of that, and if he didn't enthusiastically reciprocate, I doubted I'd recover from theblow.
Instead, I dug into my plentiful stores of jealousy, asking, "What changed foryou?"
"What? When?" he asked. His words were rough, his voice raw from hours of begging andmoaning.
Lord, I liked that. I liked the marks I'd sucked into his neck, chest, thighs. I liked the beard rash between his legs. I liked the red, swollen shape of his lips. He'd be sore tomorrow, his body used in delicious ways, and I'd like that,too.
For as much as I enjoyed the evidence, I enjoyed caring for him more. Soaping him up in a steamy shower. Rubbing him down with thick creams and herby balms. Kneading his tender muscles. Kissing it allbetter.
I patted his backside. "You said you were slutty in college, but then you wind up in the Cove and you're a born-again virgin. What changed?" Iasked.
"Mmhmm." He nodded, his scruffy chin scraping my chest. "I founded a technology firm, one that gained a certain amount of ubiquity. Most people think it's all about hatching a new idea and then watching the cash roll in, but that isn't a tenth of the truth. That new idea has to stay new, stay fresh. It has to evolve faster than its users, and it has to anticipate needs. Shareholders expect innovation but they also demand robust earnings. There are always disasters. Every day, a newcrisis."
I nodded, but I didn't know what tosay.
"And I've…I've made some mistakes," Cole said. "Years ago, when I was just starting out, I trusted someone. I shouldn't have donethat."
I shifted to catch his gaze. "Who do I have tokill?"
Cole offered a weak laugh. "It's in the past. It doesn't matternow."
"The past has a way of staying present," Isaid.
"Especially when there's litigation involved," Cole said. "We were close. Friends, then lovers, and then he was an essential member of my team. He took confidential information about my business—about me—and sold it to the highest bidder." He blew out a heavy sigh. "I've had a few hookups since then but nothing more thanthat."
A surprised breath burst from my lips. I didn't know what I expected Cole to tell me, but it wasn't that. "Are you kidding me? Someone did that toyou?"
