Page 52 of Last Resort

What is going on here?

First my panties and now this?

I pick it up and set it on my bed, curious and confused when I see a card that has my name on it.

These should fix the problem.

—Johnnie

What?

When I lift the tissue-wrapped contents out of the box and open them, all I can do is laugh. There on my bed are the biggest, ugliest, granny panties in every boring color imaginable. We’re talking full coverage fabric from below your ass cheeks to above your belly button granny panties. And at the very bottom of the pile are the most basic, black bathing suit bottoms that are much the same style.

My smile is wide as I shake my head at the contents in disbelief.

He really just did that.

I clutch my towel around me and grab my phone off the nightstand. He answers on the first ring.

“Sharpe,” he says nonchalantly when he knows damn well who is calling him.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“About?” I can hear the smile in his tone.

“Granny panties? Seriously?”

I hear a door close, and I can assume he’s shutting the door to his office for privacy from the rest of the staff. “Well, since I’m holding the rest of your panties and bikini bottoms hostage, I think you’ll be happy with the many choices I provided you with.”

“Are you insane?”

“Probably.” He laughs, and I love that little sound of disbelief over the fact that he actually did this. Because that’s exactly how I feel about the whole situation between the two of us.

“You went through my drawers?” I know I should be freaked by this. I’m not.

“You left your door and your drawer open when you walked out to leave me while playing with the staff. Curiosity got the best of me. I mean . . . I was a desperate man. How could I not be when all of your underwear is completely sexy and more than a man in my dire situation needs to see or imagine.” He coughs over a laugh.

“But you can imagine me wearing these?”

“It’s so much easier on certain parts of my anatomy to imagine you in those, yes. So I took matters into my own hands.”

“Clearly.” I laugh. How can I not? “And now you’re holding mine hostage?”

“I figured a certain ransom could be paid in order to hand them over, yes.”

He’s clever. I have to admit that. He’s definitely clever.

“Tell me something. We’re on an island in the middle of nowhere,” I say.

“Yes, I’m aware.”

“And you were able to get all of these at the drop of a dime?”

He chuckles. “It’s amazing the things you can get when you have money.”

“You’re arrogant.”

“I know. You love it.”