“Thanks, Skip,” I say.
“I’ll bring your bags up,” he says helpfully.
“No worries, we got it,” I say.
“We can still leave right now,” Axe says into my ear. I feel a tingle down my spine with his mouth so near. “I didn’t drive you here to this blasted, idiotic theme hotel so that you could be uncomfortable.”
“I’m happy to be here. I’ve never been to Shimmy Beach, and I don’t think I can live another day without kicking it off my bucket list. So. What can I tell you to get you to stay?”
He thinks, then grins. “You really have a pair of waders?”
“Yep. Green, with the straps and everything.”
“You need to promise to wear those waders for me one day.”
“Deal.” I laugh. “Whatever floats your boat, Axe MacKenzie. If imagining me in waders somehow makes this whole ridiculous situation feel better for you, I’m all in.”
But when I catch his eye, the only way to describe how he’slooking at me is smoldering. It’s like he’s imagining me. Naked. In my waders. And it’s the sexiest fucking thing he’s ever seen.
He opens the door to the room, and I step in. Axe is right behind me, so close I can feel his breath on my neck. The smile drops from my face, and my entire body heats up. One bed, just like Skip promised.
I am so screwed.
Thirty-Five
Axe
Someone at SynthoTech would be getting the sack if it weren’t for Josie’s obvious fondness for the Nautical Nook. I shouldn’t be surprised, though. She always manages to find the silver lining in any cloud. When the rain stops, we decide to spend the afternoon strolling the boardwalk, and I have to admit, even on a cold, wet day, the charms of Shimmy Beach are growing on me.
The streets are lined with pastel-colored buildings painted with murals of the sea and surfing. The few shops that are open are all the usual kitsch, from the Flamingo Fiesta’s dancing flamingos, hula ornaments, and refrigerator magnets to my personal favorite, Bubble & Squeak, a bath and body shop.
The skies are low and dark, and Lake Erie stretches out before us like black glass. It’s a moody backdrop that feels familiar.
“Think the Nautical Nook’s got a backup generator?” I ask. Josie laughs, and it’s fast becoming my new favorite sound. She’s been downright giddy since we got here, with just a wee bit of nerves underneath. I’m nervous, too, if I’m honest. She knows that after dinner, we’re meant to be putting on those haptic suits. We were supposed to be communicating virtually, from totally separate rooms, as per the contract.
Not real sex, of course, but a simulated approximation.
I cannot fathom how we’ll make this work in one king bed.
I know how I’d like to make it work: without haptic suits and data recording and remanufacturing our date into someone else’s fantasy. I want my skin on her skin. My lips on her lips. I want to lick the curve of her hip.
I want to hear her gasp my name and then beg for more. I want toplunder her.
She’s mine, I think. Like a stupid goddamn pirate who thinks he’s entitled to treasure he doesn’t deserve.
“Yeah, unlikely. But there really is a brass-bound chest at the end of the bed. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are flashlights in there,” she says. “That or a fake skeleton.”
“And here I thought it would be filled with gold coins.”
“You have enough gold coins, MacKenzie.”
“My work— Watch it,” I say as I notice a drunken old man who I clocked stumbling out of a pub a few minutes ago lurching toward us. Although he seems harmless—likely a local who had one too many rainy-day pints—I instinctively pull Josie closer, wrapping my arm tightly around her and guiding her far out of his reach. I firmly clasp her hand in mine and tuck them both into my pocket to keep her fingers warm and safe. “My work has actually never been about money for me,” I say, picking up the conversation.
“Then why do it?” she asks, and I feel a flicker of shame. I shrug, wishing I’d kept my mouth shut. She’s working for insulin and rent. I’ve never had to think about either of those things.
Me, I’m working for revenge.
“Tell me something I don’t already know about you,” she says, sensing I’m pulling back. “Something no one else knows.”
