He moved quickly through the store, grabbing whatever looked like it would fit while not making him look like acompleterich arsehole, keeping one eye on Maisie the whole time.
Guess I need something to wear if I want to go swimming,he thought. And he did want to go swimming. He just wanted to plunge into the ocean with Maisie and look at some coral and colorful fish, maybe find Nemo, maybe see a turtle, and just forget about everything else in the world.
He paid for his clothes and ducked into the swimwear store… and was promptly horrified by the array of Speedos spread out before him.
I amnotwearing those things.
He examined the price tag on the nearest pair out of sheer morbid curiosity, and almost dropped it in his horror.
Two hundred dollars for a pair of budgie smugglers?! I suppose shrinkflation comes for everyone in the end, even the rich.
He was suddenly very grateful for Michael’s ill-gotten credit card. He wasn’t sure he would be able to afford to eat a bowl of cereal on this island without it.
In the end, he was able to locate a pair of board shorts for what, by comparison, seemed like a very reasonable ninety bucks, and then ducked back out of the store. In a way, he wasgrateful for the sheer absurdity of the prices here, because at least it was a distraction from all the other bullshit that was going on.
“How’d you go?” Maisie asked, as she licked at a waffle cone piled high with what looked like boysenberry ice cream. Her tongue darted out to catch a melting section before it ran over her fingers, and he watched, entranced, as she gave the side of the cone a long, slow lick.
“Well, I won’t have to go naked for the rest of the trip,” he muttered, before his brain caught up with his mouth.
“Oh, well, that’s… uh, good,” Maisie murmured, looking down at her ice cream. “Do you want some?” she asked, her voice low, as she held out the ice cream toward him.
Boysenberry wasn’t usually Rhys’s flavor, but he leaned forward and took a long lick, holding Maisie’s gaze over the top of the ice cream the whole time. She shivered visibly.
Maybe boysenberry isn’t so bad after all.
He straightened up, keeping his eyes locked with hers.
“Do you want to get wet?” Maisie breathed. Then, wincing, she added, “By which I mean, go for a swim.”
“Yeah,” Rhys replied, after clearing his throat one or two times in an attempt to get both his brain and his vocal cords back in good working order.
He suddenly felt like the best place for his overheated body – and mind – was in a nice, cool swimming pool. They hurried back to the room, which wasstill, of course, just as luxurious and rose-petal strewn as they had left it. The pool was still lapping invitingly just beyond the decking.
“Well, uh, I’ll just go get changed in the… in the bathroom,” Maisie said firmly, as she carefully placed all her shopping bags down on the expansive sofa in the living area. “Um, I hope you won’t think I went overboard at all.”
“I’m sure you didn’t,” Rhys said, though he couldn’t begin to imagine what she might mean byoverboard.“I’m sure you –”
Frustration snarled up through him at the sound of a knock at the door of the hotel room. Rhys couldn’t keep the snarl of annoyance from his face.
What now?!
“I’ll get it,” Rhys told Maisie. “Hopefully it’s just someone bringing us gold bars to spend at the hotel bar, or whatever it is they do in places this fancy.”
He could see Maisie’s face mirrored his own look of annoyance, but shedidat least giggle at his stupid joke.
Despite the fact Burr Island seemed like a world away from Sydney and the danger he’d been coming from, Rhys still took a moment to listen at the door before he opened it, letting his griffin’s sensitive hearing come forward, its sense for danger guiding him.
Not a shifter,his griffin informed him.But still, we must be careful. Our mate’s safety is paramount.
It didn’t have to tell Rhys twice.
“Who is it?” he called through the door.
“Hi!” a chirpy voice called back. “I don’t mean to interrupt! My name’s Bee, and I’m your personal butler for the time you’re at the island! I just wanted to come and introduce myself and tell you about how I can enhance your stay!”
Rhys frowned. A personal butler? He guessed this place really did have everything.
Cautiously, he opened the door a crack, peering out.
