His Bahamas Affair (The Albury Affairs) (14 page)

Loraine sighed. From
prince charming to a jealous jerk. She was getting tired of how he kept on
pointing out her family’s money. Yes, her father’s money, money she had no claim
to, money she knew her life would have been fuller without, money that made her
life miserable. She wished she could tell him this, but he would just crack it
up to her ‘rich girl rebellious act’. So instead she said, “You have a
commission coming to you from those mansions? Are you a real estate agent
besides being a resort owner and manager? You know what they say about a Jack
of all trades.”

He snorted shaking his
head. “Keep your eyes open. There are some historical sites you might find
interesting.”

“Oh no, that’s Riana’s
thing. I’m only here to sunbath and sip champagne on the deck, like all the
other rich snobs.”

Reno pulled her to him,
her back to his chest and wrapped his arms around her waist. He kissed her bare
shoulder then leaned his chin on it and whispered, “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to
be a jackass.”

“No?” she gibed.

He sighed, his hot
breath tickling her ear. “No. Some things are just hard to get over, even now
with the success I have. Working at a fast food joint, I encountered some condescending
rich assholes and I still harbor some resentment.”

Loraine understood.
When she was still trying to conform to how her family thought a proper heiress
should behave, she was a hoity-toity royal bitch to people she was told were
beneath her. Right after she would feel so ashamed and disgusted with herself
she had to take a shower to wash off the grime.

She turned in his arms,
sliding her hands up his hard chest and wrapping them lazily around his neck.
“I get that you are bitter about your past, but you’ll never be able to enjoy
the money you are now raking in, if all you think about is going back to having
nothing. That fear may make you rich but it will also make you a lonely,
miserable miser. Just to make things clear, that money you keep throwing in my
face belongs to my father and grandfather. I work hard to spend what I have
now.”

“But you still get a
trust fund and spending cash?”

She shrugged. “Yes I do
and I think I’ve earned that money putting up with those psychos for twenty-six
years.”

Reno laughed kissing
her forehead. “Okay fine, I’m an ass. Well, I guess I should start spending it
now. Riana won’t take anything from me because her husband is a billionaire and
Ruiz,” he shook his head with a sad sigh, “he has daddy issues worse than mine.
He won’t let me give him what’s rightfully his.”

“I bet he just wants to
be in his sibling’s lives, that’s enough for him now. I know I would make the
same choice if I had a brother like you and a sister like Riana.”

“But that’s what
doesn’t make sense. The first time he came I got the impression he wanted the
resort but after a few weeks of spending time together, the harsh and angry
Ruiz just disappeared.”

“Do you know what
happened in his past?”

“No, but I hope it was
nothing like or worse than mine.”

“He’s happy, just let
him be. When the time is right, he’ll tell you.”

Reno’s lips rose in a
lazy smile. “You are smarter than I give you credit for.”

She punched him in the
gut and he grunted, quickly turning her around so her back was to his chest
again, wrapping his arms around her. She curved her hand over his upper arm,
her other hand resting on where his arms crossed over her abdomen. She loved
being held like this by him, his chin resting on the crown of her head. It made
her feel small and protected—safe. They stood like that in comfortable silence
as they watched the beautiful scenery pass by them.

“As an apology,” he
started some time later, “how would you like to go snorkeling and deep sea
diving?”

She smiled, rubbing her
cheek against his chest like a content cat. “Definitely.”

He tightened his hold
on her and dropped a kiss on her temple. “Well it’s a good thing this catamaran
offers both. Come on.”

After an hour or two of
sailing, they spent the next forty five minutes snorkeling over a coral reef
teeming with colorful aquatic life. It was beautiful, like being inside a high
definition three-D color television. Beautiful wasn’t an adequate word to
describe it. It made her understand the environmentalists, and even more the
radical steps to fight against aquatic pollution. This beauty needed to be
preserved, cherished and respected. She would have stayed down there all day if
Reno hadn’t forced her out.

‘You don’t have gills
Lori, or fins. And so you know, Atlantis is just a story.’
Ass!

After they cooled down,
they had lunch of peas and rice, barbecued chicken and corn ashore on the beach
of one of the islands. It was a great picnic and she had more local food to
appreciate. Going to culinary school was the best decision she ever made in a
long time—next to inserting herself into Reno’s life.

Loraine felt a shade
cast over her and she opened her eyes to see what it was. Reno was leaning over
her, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“What?”

“What are you plotting
in that little head of yours?”

Loraine chuckled.
“Aren’t we paranoid. What makes you think I’m plotting something?”

He ran his thumb over
her lower lip. “That smile you had a few seconds ago. It was your plotting
smile. You are up to something, Crazy Lori, and I’m wondering if I should be
worried.”

Loraine smiled what he
called her plotting smile. She was scheming alright. She was scheming how she
was going to get him to love her, but there was no way she was going to tell
him that. His mind would go into high gear and assume she wanted marriage. Well,
yes, she did. What woman who was madly in love didn’t? But after the debacle to
Georgia, he would avoid the ball and chain like a prisoner on death row would
the electric chair.

“There it is again.
What are you up to Crazy Lori?”

Instead of speaking, she
answered him in another way. She pushed herself up on her elbows till her lips
reached his and kissed him lightly. No tongue, no deep kissing just their lips
doing the waltz.

She then pulled away so
that she could stare into his heated brown eyes and whispered, “Now you know.”

“I ah…I ah…” His gaze
darted between her lips and her eyes then he suddenly vaulted to his feet. “I
need to take a dip.”

Loraine dropped her
eyes to his crotch. The little guy was already tenting his swim shorts. She
nibbled playfully on her lower lip, raised her knees and dropped them open. And
like a trained dog, his eyes fell where she wanted them to. “You could take a
dip in a place much smaller, tighter and very wet if you like. I guarantee the
white waves you’ll be seeing will be much more mind numbing.”

His dick twitched
rising higher. He groaned and barked with a husky tone, “Don’t move from
there!” Then he turned around and ran into the blue waters.

Loraine couldn’t help
but laugh. He’ll never think of her as shy when it came to sex again.

There was a loud
whistle then a familiar voice said, “If I hadn’t seen that hunk run for the
ocean with the biggest woody I’ve ever seen in my life, I would still be
wondering if it was really you. You were always a tease Loraine Larson, but
never a closer.”

The next thing Loraine
did was scream.

* * * *

Reno swam a few laps in
the crystal blue ocean hoping to work off some energy. He was getting tired but
his dick was still pulsing with need. Seeing Loraine in that two piece string
bikini had him at half-mast and his heart beating like a racing horse. He’d
hoped teasing her and finding out what had her smiling would be distraction
enough. He never thought she’d be thinking the same thing he was. It was good
to see she wasn’t all that shy about sex. She may just be agreeable to a
friends’ with benefits relationship. They may even start now.

He swam back and stood
once he got to shallow waters. He swiped water out of his face and opened his
eyes just in time for the kiss that turned his feet to lead. Loraine was in the
arms of another man her lips pressed to his before he picked her up and twirled
her around. Reno couldn’t believe this was happening. It was Georgia all over
again but this time he had front row seats.

Damn!
After all that he’d shared with her. He’d told her things he hadn’t even told
his own sister! And now she was in the arms of another man.

I
could love you
. His own words taunted him, making him
sneer with disgust. What had possessed him to even say that? But what disgusted
him the most was that she’d said those words back and he’d actually believed
her.

Well, he wasn’t going
to be played a fool again. He wasn’t going to let her hurt him. He was going to
act like he didn’t care then hit on the first girl he sees.

He trudged through the
water until he came on shore. Purposefully he walked toward them watching as
they talked, laughed and hugged. He was a few feet away when Loraine turned to
him, her eyes wide. But not with fear, shock or alarm but wide with merry—like
her smile.

“Reno! I’d like you to
introduce you to someone.”

I
bet you do!
That amazed him too. She didn’t act
like she was caught cheating. She was actually excited to introduce him to her
boyfriend! Well, two could play at that game. He plastered a smile on his face
and stopped near them, far away enough from Loraine so that she couldn’t touch
him.

“Reno, I’d like you to
meet Jake, my high school boyfriend.”

He chuckled, shaking
his head
. Of course he is!
“Just high
school?”

Loraine’s brows
furrowed forming a deep V and he knew she’d picked up on the hostility he felt
in his voice.

“Yes, just high
school,” she returned with the same tone. “What’s up with you? Shark bite your
ass?”

“What’s—what the hell?”
Reno looked down at the hand that was running down his chest to his abdomen and
too close to his shorts.

He looked up at Jake.
He had the same look women gave him while they admired—more like pawed—his
body. He turned to Loraine with a raised brow. “You turned your high school
boyfriend gay.”

Loraine gasped her eyes
as wide as her open mouth. “I did no such thing! I found him like that.”

Reno looked at the hand
that was now on his bicep, his brow going up higher as he faced Loraine again.
“Really?”

“If I had a hunk like
this, I wouldn’t leave the bedroom!” Jake said with a breathy whimsical voice.

Loraine punched Jake in
the arm, pulling him out of his reverie. “Great time to join the conversation
moron!”

Reno laughed as Jake
scowled at Loraine, sticking his tongue out at her. Then he turned to Reno,
looking up at him with hopeful eyes and said, “You wouldn’t happen to be gay,
would you?”

He laughed harder
shaking his head. “No.”

“How about bi?”

Man was he persistent!
“Sorry man, I like long legs that wrap around my waist when I dip into their
chestnut pot, my hands filled with their boobs and my mouth around their perky
nipples.”

He sneered. “You didn’t
have to be cruel! A simple ‘no’ would have sufficed.”

Reno could see how
Loraine ended up being his beard in high school. They were two peas in a pod.
“No, I’m very straight.”

“You sure?”

“He said he’s
straight!”

They all turned to the
angry yell. It was a short slim girly looking man, with long front blond hair
that covered his right eye.

“Ah hell!” Jake mumbled
then as he went after the guy who was briskly walking away he yelled, “Honey,
it’s not what you think!”

Reno shook his head at
the two before he turned to Loraine. He quickly choked down the laugh that
bubbled up in his throat. “I know I jumped to the wrong conclusions. I’m
sorry.”

“I’m not Georgia!” she
bit out angrily.

She turned to walk away
but he quickly grabbed her, imprisoning her against his chest.

“Forgive me. I had no
right getting pissed off without knowing all the facts. I wanted to put a fist
in his pretty face. But you’ve got to admit, kissing him like that…I had every
right to be jealous.”

He saw how hard she
fought to hide her smile and knew he was forgiven.

“You were jealous?” she
mumbled, pressing her hands flat on his chest.

He twirled a strand of
her hair around his finger. “Of course I was. Seeing another man with his hands
and lips on my woman, how could I not be?”

“I’m your woman?”

He wanted to laugh at
her little sweet voice but that would only get him a knee to his groin. So
instead he said, “Do you doubt it?”

Two rosy spots filled
her cheeks as she shook her head no. “Just don’t do that again. I would never
cheat on you.”