Audra snorted with laughter. "You made that up. A chocolate condom? It'd melt."
Jay held it up. "Chocolate flavoured, it says. We can open it up and see."
Audra pressed her lips together and swallowed hard. "We shouldn't. I shouldn't be here. I should go..."
"Really?" Jay's eyes burned with frightening intensity. "Then let me give you a goodbye kiss."
He didn't hesitate this time. Audra found herself yanked hard against him as his tongue seduced her lips apart. With every stroke of his tongue, he licked away her resistance and coaxed the spark of desire inside her into a roaring bushfire that devoured all her good intentions.
"What do you want, Audra?"
The moan that came out of her mouth didn't sound like hers. "You."
Jay chuckled. "That's the best news I've heard all day." He fished something out of his pocket and slapped it on the table. "That says I'll give you the best orgasm you ever had and you'll beg for more."
Audra's gaze followed his pointing finger and what she saw sliced through her lust like a shark fin gliding across the lagoon. She'd never seen as much cash as the stack of fifties sitting on the bench. "How much is that?" she said faintly.
"Five grand."
Enough to pay for the repairs to her car and buy her the basic DSLR camera she'd seen at the electronics shop in town without touching her savings. But... "Jay, I'm not a prostitute. You can't pay me for sex."
He caressed her face. "You're not and I'm not. Fuck. No, that's a bet. You're still not sure and I get that. You don't think I can give you what you're asking for. That money says I can and I will."
"I can't match that. I don't have that kind of money, Jay." A hysterical giggle escaped her. "If that's how much it is to hire you for a night, I can't afford you."
He silenced her with another searing kiss. "If I can't deliver, you take the money. But if I can, and I know I will...I don't want your money. I've already told you what I want." His hand cupped her breast through her shirt. "When you scream for more, I won't give it to you until you've let me worship these properly. I want all your clothes off, so I can taste your tits next."
"Deal," she whispered, not believing she was agreeing to this. But she had to.
"Fuck, yes!" he groaned. "You won't regret this, I swear. Ohh, Audra." He swept her up in his arms and strode across the living room to the master bedroom. He set her in the middle of the bed and grabbed a pillow. To her surprise, he slid it under her backside.
"What...why?"
Audra closed her eyes as he leaned in to kiss her again, this time slow with smouldering passion.
"For a better angle. You'll see. Or maybe not, but you'll feel it." His hands slid down the back of her pants, cupping her arse cheeks. "These have to go." He slid his hands down the backs of her thighs, dragging her shorts and underwear until they garnished her ankles.
With shaking hands, Audra reached down to free them and toss the clothes to the floor. Naked to the waist, she turned her eyes to Jay. "You're still dressed."
But as she watched, he shed his shirt so he mirrored her. Taking her hand, he placed it on his rippled abdominal muscles. "This is all I take off until you're naked. I want to hear you scream, Audra. No holding back."
She gasped as he slid a finger inside her – something no one else had ever done.
"There's the pearl," he whispered, touching another finger to her clitoris. Magic button, more like.
Audra almost choked. "No one calls it that outside of books."
"I do." His finger circled slowly, teasing her. "Pearls show a woman's beauty and make her radiant. When I stroke this pearl – " He pressed harder. " – you're not just the most beautiful woman in the world. You're the most incredible woman in heaven, too."
He bent and she felt the rasp of his tongue across sensitised skin. "And the sweetest."
His tongue danced with her, more intimately than before. Swirling her into a storm of sensation as his finger seemed to swell inside her. One, two? No, three, surely. Filling her and thrusting, thrusting for all the world like the fire hose he kept in his pants.
She wanted it. She wanted him. Every inch of him as he explored every inch of her.
"Jay, Jay..." She spread her legs wider, giving him unlimited access to all of her. Anything to keep his fingers moving and his tongue...his tongue...stirring a storm into a cyclone centred on one point. Not a pearl. An eye that wasn't a calm centre at all. Because that's where Jay's tongue sparked her nerves, setting off a lightning strike that ignited her like a forked discharge lighting up the sky.
She sucked in a breath of charged air, sensing it was her last before she detonated.
"Say it, Audra. I can feel you tensing. Scream for me."
Selfish bastard. I'm doing this for me. She bit down on her lip to smother the scream that wanted to escape. Her body convulsed in an orgasm so powerful it blinded her, but she didn't make a sound. Vision returned and she blinked to find his eyes boring into hers, even from between her thighs.
"Didn't you enjoy it?" he asked, grinning as if he knew the answer. Or he thought he did.
"No," Audra replied, forcing her voice to sound normal and not breathless from the ecstasy she hadn't entirely returned to Earth from.
"No?" He ran his tongue over her...pearl again.
Audra sat up, scissoring her legs closed to stop him from tempting her any more. "No. No, I don't want more." Yes, she did. Every cell in her body was screaming for it. She couldn't let him know that, though. Lust didn't rule her life. Her head did, and her head said to find her pants and get the hell out of there with her money and her ID.
She yanked on her knickers, then her shorts, not caring that her skin was burning for more of his touch. Burning so much maybe her pants would combust...
"Thanks for showing me what you can do. I'll send someone to clean up the mess tomorrow so you can move back into your villa." Audra didn't recognise her own matter-of-fact voice. She was a raging storm of emotion right now, yet she sounded like she was discussing the hotel's annual report.
She had to get out of there before he could touch her or even meet her gaze, because he'd know she was lying with every fibre of her being. Audra marched to the kitchen and pocketed the money. Now all she needed was her ID...where had he put it?
How had he known what drinks were in the fridge? Or that there was ice in the... Audra wrenched at the freezer door and threw it open. There on the top shelf sat her ID. She grabbed it and bolted for the front door, hoping she'd be out of sight before he could see her cry.
She made it to the lagoon before her tears blurred her vision so much she had to stop. But she couldn't – what if he caught up with her? Heedless of her surroundings, Audra sprinted back to her room and locked the door. She threw herself on the bed and cried herself to sleep as a new day dawned.
FIFTY-ONE
"Audra, are you okay?"
Audra made a noise in her throat that she hoped Pamela took as agreement. She was asleep, damn it, or at least she wanted to be.
"Serge is back and he wants to see you. I said he has to wait until you're awake and dressed, but he's getting a bit impatient."
God save her from demanding men and their lack of patience.
"Audra, the police want a statement from you. And they need to photograph your injuries." Serge's voice sounded hesitant. "They need it as evidence to charge Penny."
Penny? But sleeping with Jay wasn't a crime. Audra climbed out of bed and stumbled toward the door. Why did her head throb again?
Oh. Penny had attacked her in the gym. Maybe she'd get prison time out of it. She could only hope.
Audra peered at her reflection in the tiny mirror and winced. That black eye on her otherwise wan face made her look like her parents' neighbour's pit bull, Patch. If only people would give her as wide a berth as they did that menacing-looking dog. Something yellow caught her eye and she turned to scan the room. Why was there a stack of fifties on the desk? Were those real?
Her memories came flooding back. Ecstasy with Jay before she'd lied to him, taken his money and run back to her room. She couldn't let Pamela and Serge see it – she didn't even want to look at it. She should never have taken it. Grabbing an envelope off the desk, she stuffed the money inside and threw the innocuous white packet onto the laminate surface, making it look far cleaner than the dirty money it was.
"Okay, I'm coming," she called, pulling on clothes as she heard a muffled conversation between Pamela and Serge. "Right." Audra threw open the door, only to find Serge standing outside alone. "Where's Pamela gone?"
Serge shrugged. "Something about the big conference thing here tomorrow. She has to get all the rooms ready. The hotel's going to be packed all week." His shoulders lifted as he straightened. "They've booked morning and evening relax sessions with the gym, so even I'll be kept busy."
Audra rubbed her eyes. Right. She'd forgotten. "That's good." She reached for her toiletry bag. "Let me just brush my teeth and freshen up, then I'll be right with you."
Five minutes later, she strode at Serge's side toward the main building. To her surprise, he took her to Dennis' office. It wasn't Dennis' domain this morning, though – a police officer sat in the seat of power, with Dennis perched uncomfortably in one of the guest chairs off to the side.