Page 58 of Deadly Waves

Eighteen

James was distractedwhen he returned to the room. He knew Mandy remained by the marine window – and he believed she was still asleep – so he thought he would get a few moments to himself to think before waking her. He was wrong.

“What’s in the bag?” Mandy asked.

“Hmm? Oh, gifts.”

“For who?”

“You, of course,” James said, finally shifting his eyes to his wife and gasping when he realized she was naked. “What the … ?”

“I’ve missed you,” Mandy said, reclining on her elbows, her legs bent at the knee as her toes rested on the marine window. “Don’t you want to spend some quality time with me?”

Before walking through the door, James was convinced he was going to be able to focus on work before rousing his slumbering blonde. Now he couldn’t remember what part of his work detail he wanted to focus on first. “Um … what?”

Mandy’s grin was mischievous. “What’s in the bag, James?”

“I got you some stuff,” James said, licking his lips as he recovered. “I think you’re really going to like it.”

“Can I see what’s in the bag?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I feel you need to earn your treats today,” James replied, resting the shopping bag on the table and reaching for the back of his shirt so he could tug it over his head. “We’re going to have to come to a compromise, baby. I do have some work that needs to be done … and so do you.”

“I’m on vacation.”

“Yes, but you’re going to like your work,” James said. “I’m going to reward you by doling out everything in the bag if you help me look through files and run searches on a few people.”

“That sounds boring.”

“I’m going to do something else before we start that,” James offered. “I promise it won’t be boring.” He unbuttoned his shorts and dragged them down, revealing his own nudity to Mandy’s gleaming eyes.

“You went commando?” Mandy was intrigued. “That was … ballsy.”

“Cute, wife,” James said, dropping to his hands and knees as he crawled between her legs. “I didn’t expect to be gone as long as we were.” He pressed a kiss to her soft flesh and smirked when she groaned. “Now, I’m going to spend some quality time with you, but then we have to do some work. Do you agree to my terms?”

Mandy pressed her lips together and nodded.

“Good,” James said, flicking out his tongue and causing her to squirm. “Be prepared, wife. You’re going to be endlessly worshipped today.”

“I can’t wait.”

“That makes two of us.”

“WHERE HAVE you been?” Sophie asked, letting herself into the suite she shared with Grady shortly before noon. She was dressed in a bikini, a towel cinched at her waist, and she had a curious look on her face. “I was getting worried. We ran into Finn and Jake and they said you stopped early because you were sick. Are you okay?”

Grady flashed a genuine smile as he looked up from his tablet and motioned for Sophie to close the distance between them. “I’m fine, sugar,” he replied. “I wasn’t really sick. I made that up.”

“Why?”

“Mostly because I didn’t want to work.”

“Why else?”

Grady cocked his head to the side as he decided how to answer. “I want to get some advice from James.”