“Ahh, there he is,”Santi said with his usual flirty grin. “Get in. It’s cold as balls out here.”
I pulled off my T-shirt and walked slowly down the steps into the illuminated water of the pool, glancing around in search of others. “Is Rylee joining us?”
He shook his head. “I told her to meet us in an hour. I wanted to talk to you alone.”
The water was warm, and I sank down the rest of the way so it covered my shoulders. “Okay?”
His eyes moved up and down my body as if running a hand over my skin. My stomach tightened with unease.
“Why are you with him?”
“With who?” I asked, widening my eyes with what I hoped was manga-level innocence.
“Whatever he’s paying you, I’ll double it,” he said with a smile. He moved closer to me and reached out a finger to touch the side of my face.
My stomach flipped with nerves. “You have it all wrong. I’m Mr. Maris’s personal assistant. I fetch his meals and make phone calls for him. My job is to help?—”
“That’s not what I heard when I was stealing a smoke in the garden outside your windows. You two seemed really fucking friendly. His hand on your face. Your mouth on his. Mm. Hot.”
Fuck. “It’s not what you think,” I said out of utter desperation. And I finally understood how other people could say something so stupid when caught red-handed. What else was there?
He leaned in and made a production of sniffing my neck. “I can smell him on you, chico lindo,” he said with a soft chuckle. “Stop trying to protect the man. He has nothing to fear from me.”
I gritted my teeth, angry that anyone would dare poach on Locke’s territory while a guest in his home. But I couldn’t say that.
“You’re wrong,” I said again, this time through clenched teeth. “Locke is straight.”
Says his mouth, anyway.
Santi ignored my words. “Then I’m a better bet, pretty Jett,” he continued. “I actually like cock, so I won’t have to pretend you’re a woman to get it up for you.”
I couldn’t hold back a laugh. “So now you think he’s sleeping with me despite not being attracted to me? Which is it, Santi? He’s fucking me, or he can’t get it up for me?”
His eyes darkened. “I don’t care. Let me fuck you. What will it take?”
It was time to work.
I made a flirty little face at him. “Why aren’t you playing the game tonight? I thought you’d be in there with all the other guys.”
He waved a hand through the air, flicking droplets in an arc. “Boring bullshit.”
“Is it? It seems like there’s more going on than just a game. With all those important people? Surely there’s side deals for work and stuff.”
He rolled his eyes. “Not even. If only there was, maybe I wouldn’t be so fucking bored. We come here and fall asleep from the boredom.”
“Your father’s bored, too?”
He shrugged and stirred a finger in the water, watching it swirl in a vortex. “He plays the game, he comes to the room to work or fuck. Plays the game, works, fucks. That’s it. Like I said, boring.” He winked at me. “Except the fucking, of course.”
The man seemed to be telling the truth. I got the feeling he would have bragged if there’d been anything to say about the game or power moves outside the game. “What kind of work does he do between sessions? With Locke, it’s all phone calls with the office and compliance stuff.”
He snorted, his eyes dark on mine. “We’re shadow movers, Jett. You want someone to do something without getting caught? That’s us. That’s what we do.”
I nodded as if that was enough detail for me. “Sounds like something that’s none of my business, sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
He took my face in his hand and leaned in until our noses almost touched. “Let me have you, pretty Jett.”
I hated that he’d learned my real first name from Locke and the staff. It made me feel less safe somehow. There was a reason for cover identities, and I was a fucking idiot.
