Ian couldn’t help but grin a little as he looked down the beach. Charlie had hopped into their Jeep after the rest had headed up to the fort. She’d kept her head down as they drove a couple of miles down Palolem Road. Now she made her way to them wearing exactly what Ian had asked her to wear. He’d had the bikini delivered along with her other clothes before they left the US. Thank god for personal shoppers. His breath nearly caught as he looked at her. Despite the bikini, she looked innocent, damn near angelic with all that hair and her soft eyes. She didn’t look at him as she approached, merely wandered down to the beach as if she didn’t have a care in the world. She could be so obedient when she wanted to be. “Here she comes. Do you think she’ll do?”
“Ian, we have trouble,” Damon said, his voice rising with urgency. “It looks like your girl got away from the nest. Good god. I think she’s trying to get your attention, mate. This could be very bad. I don’t think you spank her often enough.”
Oh, she had every bit of his attention. His wife. His sub. His. Just his. Fuck, he was in love with her and it felt damn good. It felt so fucking good to just let go of all the shit between them. They weren’t exactly starting over again. He didn’t want that. He didn’t want to let go of a minute with her, even the bad stuff. The bad stuff was still theirs. But they did have a clean slate.
She walked toward him wearing a ridiculously small white bikini that showed off her every luscious curve. The beach was full of lovely women, many much more slender and fashionable than his baby, but she reeked of sex to him. Charlie walked with the confidence of a woman who was comfortable in her own skin, and that had every man with eyes following her with their stares.
Sean shook his head a little. “Damn. Yes, I believe she’ll do the job. What is wrong with you? You said she was wearing a bathing suit, not pasties and a thong. If I caught Grace wearing that little clothing outside a club, I would slap her ass red.”
When had his brother become such a prude?
“I’m not worried.” He winked at her as she started to walk by them. Her strawberry blonde hair caught the light as it swung down her back. She was never cutting that hair if he had a say. It nearly reached her ass. It was perfect for holding onto and controlling her during sex. He was getting a hard-on just watching that juicy ass sway as she strolled along. “They can look all they like. I’m confident I can kill anyone who touches her.”
He didn’t mind them looking. He understood it. Charlie’s sex appeal came from far more than her curvy body. There wasn’t any self-consciousness in her movements. She’d accepted herself a long time before. He’d gotten to be the one to usher her into that beautiful state. When he’d first met her, she was gorgeous but shut down. Like a tightly budded flower that just needed a little light to bloom.
She glowed now. She glowed because she loved him.
Something calm had settled in his soul. Some piece of him that had always banged around in his head had finally stopped, finding its natural place because she was here.
“Ian, you need to stop her,” Damon said, his voice tense now. “She’s going to ruin the plan.”
Ian stood up. He was dressed somewhat like his brother. It was comfortable and he had no real intention of swimming this afternoon, so he’d gone along with it. “Plan’s changed, my friends.”
He and Sean made their way across the sand. Following in Charlie’s wake, no one really took notice of them.
“I think that dude is drooling,” Sean pointed out. “You were totally right. They don’t even check the women. What is he thinking?”
“He’s thinking he wants to get laid.” He’d made a quick study of Kamdar. He was known for inviting beautiful women onto his boat. He would find one, likely from watching the shoreline like a Peeping Tom pervert, and then send his men out to bring her to him. But men getting on the boat would likely go through rigorous checks.
The king’s errand boy was, in fact, drooling. He had gotten out of the boat to push it back toward the water, but he’d stopped the minute he’d gotten sight of Charlie.
“So you’re coming from that big yacht out there? Wow, that’s really impressive.” Charlie sounded so sweet and slightly dumb as she pointed out to the mega yacht. So very different from the way she sounded when she was giving him hell. Oddly, he thought she was way sexier when she was mouthing off.
“Yes,” the man replied, his chest puffing out. “This is the boat of my king. It is one of the largest yachts in the world. It is almost one hundred meters in length and has everything you could want. So much luxury. King Kashmir is the greatest king in the world.”
Charlie laughed, a giggly sound. She would make such a naughty schoolgirl. Just put a little skirt on her, put that hair up in pigtails, and he could go to town. “He must be really rich.”
“So very rich. I am very close to the king. Perhaps you would enjoy seeing the boat, meeting him? I could arrange this.”
Yeah, Ian could just bet what that would cost Charlie. The man had stepped up to her, almost touching her. Luckily her husband was here to back her sweet ass up.
He put his arm around his girl as his brother eased behind the man, shoving his SIG in the fucker’s back.
The driver’s eyes widened, but he didn’t scream. “I view the girl as I would a sister. I was only trying to make sure she was safe. So many bad elements around here, you know.”
Yeah, Ian wasn’t buying that, but he was impressed with the man’s calm demeanor. It looked like the king trained his employees properly. “Look, buddy, here’s what’s going to go down. You’re going to float us out to your king, and we’re going to have a nice long talk with him about the fact that his freaking intelligence department is full of idiots.”
The man shook his head. “I do not know what you are talking about, sir. I work for a Hollywood star. Very big star. Sleeps with many women. Likely has many diseases. You do not want to go there. Very bad. That boat is a floating venereal disease.”
Ian nearly rolled his eyes. “Look, I know that’s not George Clooney out there, so let’s drop the BS. That’s the king of Loa Mali and there are CIA operatives and MI6 agents watching him from the fort. If he wants to find out why, you’ll have to take us all there. I like to tell heads of state how fucked they are in person.”
“You’re a bloody bastard, Taggart.” Damon Knight was not impressed with his maneuver, that was for sure. His voice had turned rough and angry in Ian’s ear. “If you fuck this up, our deal’s off. Do you understand me?”
Ian pulled his earpiece out. He didn’t need to hear from the peanut gallery. He shoved it into his pocket though he really wanted to toss it away. He might need the damn thing later. “Yep, they’re pissed as shit at me right now, but I think your king and I can come to some solution without having to involve those busybodies.”
Sean winced a little. He couldn’t pull his earphone out yet. It looked like he was getting the brunt of their frustration. “They’re on their way, brother. Or at least they’re going to try to get down here before we can leave.”
“See, if we don’t head out now, your poor king’s party is going to be swarming with nosy assholes. Does he really want that? We’re kind of the good guys here.” He nodded to Sean who shoved the SIG back in his pocket and let the guy go. “See, that was just to get your attention. Let your boss know that we’ll surrender our weapons when we get to the boat. We just want to talk. He’s in danger from several fronts. If he talks to us, it can be a quiet chat. If he waits for them, well, the government gets involved and that can be a shit storm.”
There was a crackle as the radio in the boat came to life. “Bring them, Taral. You might want to hurry. I am watching the fort and they are certainly right about the level of activity up there. And, Taral, don’t leave the woman behind. I am so looking forward to meeting her.”