Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 101840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
She patted my hand. “I’m sure he’s very happy with your service, dear. You’ve done a good job making everyone feel welcome. Locke appreciates hard work.”
“Have you known him a long time?”
She smiled thanks to the server who brought out our first course before turning to me. “Since he was a little boy. My own father played in these Paxis tournaments. I used to travel with him. When he got too old to enjoy travel, he passed his game to my husband, and I accompanied Saleem instead.”
“Why didn’t your father pass the game to you?” I asked. I leaned closer and added in a whisper, “Is it because it’s boring?”
She laughed. “Not at all.” Her smile became more guarded. “My father believes Paxis is better handled by men.”
“Handled?”
She let out a puff of air. “Forgive me. My English. I meant played.”
Right. The woman’s English was perfect. She’d meant what she’d said.
“And what do you think?” I asked.
She smiled. “I think I want to send you a picture of a seashell I have at home to ask what kind it is.”
Her deflection was understandable but frustrating. I gave her my cell number, and when I turned back to my own plate, I caught Santi looking at me from across the table.
“We should take a swim later,” he suggested. Instead of his usual flirtation, this seemed more serious.
“Maybe,” I hedged. Could he tell me anything? Would he know what his father was involved in?
“We could talk about John,” he suggested.
I choked on a bite of salad while Santi watched me with dark eyes.
Had he overheard me calling Locke that? Had I somehow left the doors or windows open? Had we been naked at the time? Fucking? My face heated as I scrambled to remember.
I’d given Locke shit about his decree that we should hide our physical relationship, but that was mostly because I wanted the man so badly I was literally risking my career to be here, and it hurt that he didn’t seem to want me enough to even claim me as a lover in front of his friends.
Even so, I’d understood his reasoning, and I agreed with Locke’s desire to protect his own privacy. Ours wasn’t a relationship. It was a business transaction.
I needed to find out what Santi knew about it.
“Okay,” I managed. “Sure.”
Thankfully, one of the other guests began asking Santi about a resort in Colombia, and he turned his focus on them. Meanwhile, my brain finally landed on the only time I’d called Locke John since Santi’s arrival.
Today, when we’d been talking about chess. We’d been fully dressed. But I’d been in his arms. His hands had been on my face. I’d mentioned sleeping in his bed.
Fuck.
What would Locke do if he found out someone knew about our sexual relationship? And if that someone was from a known crime family who probably used information like this to control people, what would that mean for Locke?
Or was Locke part of it? Was all of this a front for a global crime syndicate of some kind?
I couldn’t quite believe it. But I wasn’t sure whether that was because the facts didn’t line up… or because I didn’t want them to.
Somehow, I made it through the dinner with more anecdotes from Liyana al-Qadiri’s elite horse world, which sounded like an obscene way to spend her money. But then again, al-Qadiri was part of a billion-dollar oil empire. Liyana’s father could buy her every horse in the world several times over, and it would still be pocket change to him.
When we finally finished, I took the opportunity to check in with Locke by slipping into the game room and standing quietly behind him until he had enough of a break in the play to summon me forward.
“Do you need anything?” I asked softly, keeping my hands behind my back to keep from touching him.
The scent of him filled my nose, and being this close perked up my dick. I hated that my response to him was so damned predictable. Especially in light of my discoveries.
“Ask Minnie to get me a list of all ships traveling through the Kiel Canal in the next twenty-four hours, not just ours, along with their positions,” he murmured. “And please bring me a Sprite or ginger ale or something if you don’t mind.”
After bringing him the drink, I made my way to the suite to email his assistant with the request before changing into a swimsuit.
When I got out to the pool, Santi was already in the water. And we were completely alone.
26
JETT
“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?”