Green-Eyed Monster (20 page)

“Thank you.” Ginette nodded her head and chewed thoughtfully. “When do I get my money?” Victoria smiled at her directness. “Later. We’ll talk about that with BJ at a more godly hour.” She stood up to rinse her dish and go back to bed. With a light kiss on the top of Ginette’s head she murmured, “Sleep tight, sweetheart.”

❖

“No, no, please. I can’t take any more. You’ve got to stop.  You’re killing me.” Victoria gasped, her hands weakly pushing at the heavy head nestled between her thighs. “This can’t be legal.  It’s assassination.” She was drenched in sweat, her breathing coming in ragged heaves. All her limbs had melted under the carnal onslaught she’d just undergone. She rolled from her side onto the flat of her back to escape Mickey’s attentions.

“I’m done in,” she groaned. “I just can’t multitask at this level.”

Dawn was creeping through the window blinds, and her body felt as if she hadn’t closed her eyes all night.

“Hey. This is supposed to be a sixty-niner. You haven’t been keeping your end of the bargain. Where’s your fifty percent, huh?” Mickey complained.

Victoria shook her head feebly. “Can’t do math right now.  Brain’s turned to soup.”

Mickey crawled up the bed and snuggled into her. “Okay, Soupy, but you owe me half a sixty-nine.” Victoria idly played with the long strands of dark blond hair, letting them run through her fingers like silken threads. “Are you making demands?”

“No demands. I’m calling it a debt.”

“A debt for oral satisfaction?”

Mickey rolled onto her belly and languorously licked Victoria’s nipple as if it were a blob of raspberry ice cream. She nodded in satisfaction at the entire situation. “Yes. You owe me oral satisfaction.”

“Hmm. What if I just said something nice? Would that count?”

“Well.” Mickey ceased her lazy licking and scrunched up her face in thought. “I suppose if you said you’d be my sex slave for a day, that might seal the deal.”

Victoria sighed. She would obviously just have to manage the conversation herself. “What if I told you
Green Eyed Monster
was probably salvageable? At great cost, mind you, but salvageable.”

Mickey’s head popped up, hers eyes full of hope. She stayed silent. Victoria cleared her throat before continuing.

“What if we used the last of my honest money and got her shipshape again? And made her our floating home. Maybe even take a cruise, just the two of us. Sort of like a make-or-break honeymoon thingy.”

Mickey gave a big blink at the word
honeymoon
. Misreading it, Victoria hurried on flustered. “Not honeymoon! I meant holiday.  I mean if we can survive in a confined space for several weeks and not poison, drown, or stab each other, there’s a pretty good chance that maybe we could hang out together. In the future, I mean.”

“Hang out?” Mickey asked cautiously.

“Mmm, well, be together.”

“Like a couple?”

“Yes, a couple.”

“Who hang out together?”

“Well, yes, most couples hang out together. Hence the word
couple
.”

“Who live together?”

“Yes, I suppose we would be living together. On the boat.”

“Like partners?”

“Well, yes, maybe—”

“Like wifey and wifey?”

“That’s a bit quick!”

“Like barnacle and boat?”

“Hey.” All further protests were smothered by a big kiss from her intended.

BJ and Ginette sat and blinked in unison.

“You did what?” Ginette asked.

“Huh?” BJ managed.

That’s so sweet. They even blink in harmony now.
Victoria smiled patiently and explained again, for the third time. “We’ve signed over the resort to both of you. You have co-ownership.”

“Where is my money?” Ginette demanded.

“In the resort,” Victoria answered with growing impatience.

“And my half mill?”

She looked at BJ. “In the resort. What part of this don’t you both get?”

“You’ve put all our money in that resort?” Ginette spluttered.

Finally.
Victoria sighed in relief. “Yes. All the funds Mickey and I clawed back into legitimate American accounts have to go to pay excess fines and back taxes. There won’t be much left after that. The resort is one of the few remaining unclaimed resources I have left to pay you with.”

“That’s not what we agreed.” Ginette began to panic, her voice becoming slightly squeaky.

“Actually, we didn’t agree on anything, just that I recompense you. And I’ve done that through real estate. Same goes for you, BJ. You can now take over from your uncle. May he rot in jail— sorry, I meant hell.”

“Hey—” Ginette began to protest again, but Victoria held up her hands.

“It’s done. Take it or leave it. Run it, sell it, demolish it, burn it to the ground. But it’s yours, and it’s a done deal. You both now own the resort. Go make it work.”

As far as Victoria was concerned, the deal was closed, and it was for the best. No scams, no shortcuts, no blackmailing— she had given them both a fresh new start.
So, BJ, let’s see how quickly your wife for a week turns into a future life together. And, Ginette, I think you’ve finally found your equal footing. You have your money, your lover, your new business. Go work that ass off, girl. I think it’s about time you said hello to your heart.

❖

“How’d they take it?” Mickey looked up as Victoria joined her on the dock.

“I left them bickering over percentages and who was the boss. That resort will be their glue in the first instance, until all the other things drop in place.”

“And then what?”

“Then they’ll wake up one morning and realize they’re a forever type of couple.”

“Just like us?”

“Just like us.”

“What was our glue?”

Victoria grinned. “Your greed for my money.”

“And here we are, waiting to see a man about a boat, so we can sail off into the sunset and live like ship rats. So what happened to our glue?”

“It’s still there. It’s just the nature of the greed has changed.” Victoria rubbed a possessive hand over Mickey’s belly as she snuggled in under her arm. “Now all I want is you.” Mickey smiled down at her. “Done deal. You got me, for richer, for poorer. Now let’s go see this guy about a salvage operation.”

In the warm Caribbean sunshine, arms twined around each other’s waists, they wandered down the jetty. Topaz water sparkled on either side. The breeze was balmy, and the sun shone down on them. They had each other and not much else. But sometimes empty pockets mean full hearts, and in that particular currency, they were forever rich.

THE END

Gill McKnight has contributed short stories to the award-winning
Best Women’s Erotica 2008
(Cleis Press),
Romantic Interludes 1: Discovery
(Bold Stroke Books),
Ultimate Lesbian Erotica 2009 
(Alyson), and
Read These Lips: Openings
.

Her debut novel,
Falling Star
, was published by Bold Strokes Books in July 2008, followed by
Green Eyed Monster
and
Goldenseal
(forthcoming September 2009).

Books available from Bold Strokes Books

Green-Eyed Monster
by Gill McKnight. Mickey Rapowski believes her former boss has cheated her out of a small fortune, so she kidnaps the girlfriend and demands compensation—just a straightforward abduction that goes so wrong when Mickey falls for her captive. (978-1-60282-042-5)

Blind Faith
by Diane and Jacob Anderson-Minshall. When private investigator Yoshi Yakamota and the Blind Eye Detective Agency are hired to find a woman’s missing sister, the assignment seems fairly mundane—but in the detective business, the ordinary can quickly become deadly. (978-1-60282-041-8)

A Pirate’s Heart
by Catherine Friend. When rare book librarian Emma Boyd searches for a long-lost treasure map, she learns the hard way that pirates still exist in today’s world—some modern pirates steal maps, others steal hearts. (978-1-60282-040-1)

Trails merge
by Rachel Spangler. Parker Riley escapes the high-powered world of politics to Campbell Carson’s ski resort—and their mutual attraction produces anything but smooth running. (978-1-60282-039-5)

Dreams of Bali
by C.J. Harte. Madison Barnes worships work, power, and success, and she’s never allowed anyone to interfere— that is, until she runs into Karlie Henderson Stockard. Eclipse EBook (978-1-60282-070-8)

The Limits of Justice
by John Morgan Wilson. Benjamin Justice and reporter Alexandra Templeton search for a killer in a mysterious compound in the remote California desert. (978-1-60282-060-9)

Designed for Love
by Erin Dutton. Jillian Sealy and Wil Johnson don’t much like each other, but they do have to work together— and what they desire most is not what either of them had planned.  (978-1-60282-038-8)

Calling the dead
by Ali Vali. Six months after Hurricane Katrina, NOLA Detective Sept Savoie is a cop who thinks making a relationship work is harder than catching a serial killer—but her current case may prove her wrong. (978-1-60282-037-1)

Dark Garden
by Jennifer Fulton. Vienna Blake and Mason Cavender are sworn enemies—who can’t resist each other. Something has to give.  (978-1-60282-036-4)

Shots Fired
by MJ Williamz. Kyla and Echo seem to have the perfect relationship and the perfect life until someone shoots at Kyla—and Echo is the most likely suspect. (978-1-60282-035-7)

truelesbianlove.com
by Carsen Taite. Mackenzie Lewis and Dr.  Jordan Wagner have very different ideas about love, but they discover that truelesbianlove is closer than a click away. Eclipse EBook (978-1-60282-069-2)

Justice at Risk
by John Morgan Wilson. Benjamin Justice’s blind date leads to a rare opportunity for legitimate work, but a reckless risk changes his life forever. (978-1-60282-059-3)

Run to me
by Lisa Girolami. Burned by the four-letter word called love, the only thing Beth Standish wants to do is run for—or maybe from—her life. (978-1-60282-034-0)

Split the Aces
by Jove Belle. In the neon glare of Sin City, two women ride a wave of passion that threatens to consume them in a world of fast money and fast times. (978-1-60282-033-3)

Uncharted Passage
by Julie Cannon. Two women on a vacation that turns deadly face down one of nature’s most ruthless killers—and find themselves falling in love. (978-1-60282-032-6)

Night Call
by Radclyffe. All medevac helicopter pilot Jett McNally wants to do is fly and forget about the horror and heartbreak she left behind in the Middle East, but anesthesiologist Tristan Holmes has other plans. (978-1-60282-031-9)

I Dare You
by Larkin Rose. Stripper by night, corporate raider by day, Kelsey’s only looking for sex and power, until she meets a woman who stirs her heart and her body. (978-1-60282-030-2)

Lake Effect Snow
by C.P. Rowlands. News correspondent Annie T.  Booker and FBI Agent Sarah Moore struggle to stay one step ahead of disaster as Annie’s life becomes the war zone she once reported on.  Eclipse EBook (978-1-60282-068-5)

Revision of Justice
by John Morgan Wilson. Murder shifts into high gear, propelling Benjamin Justice into a raging fire that consumes the Hollywood Hills, burning steadily toward the famous Hollywood Sign—and the identity of a cold-blooded killer. (978-1-60282-058-6)

Truth Behind the Mask
by Lesley Davis. Erith Baylor is drawn to Sentinel Pagan Osborne’s quiet strength, but the secrets between them strain duty and family ties. (978-1-60282-029-6)

Cooper’s Deale
by KI Thompson. Two would-be lovers and a decidedly inopportune murder spell trouble for Addy Cooper, no matter which way the cards fall. (978-1-60282-028-9)

Romantic Interludes 1: Discovery
ed. by Radclyffe and Stacia Seaman. An anthology of sensual, erotic contemporary love stories from the best-selling Bold Strokes authors. (978-1-60282-027-2)

A Guarded Heart
by Jennifer Fulton. The last place FBI Special Agent Pat Roussel expects to find herself is assigned to an illicit private security gig baby-sitting a celebrity. (Ebook) (978-1-60282-067-8)

Saving Grace
by Jennifer Fulton. Champion swimmer Dawn Beaumont, injured in a car crash she caused, flees to Moon Island, where scientist Grace Ramsay welcomes her. (Ebook) (978-1-60282-066-1)

The Sacred Shore
by Jennifer Fulton. Successful tech industry survivor Merris Randall does not believe in love at first sight until she meets Olivia Pearce. (Ebook) (978-1-60282-065-4)

Passion Bay
by Jennifer Fulton. Two women from different ends of the earth meet in paradise. Author’s expanded edition. (Ebook) (978-1-60282-064-7)

Never Wake
by Gabrielle Goldsby. After a brutal attack, Emma Webster becomes a self-sentenced prisoner inside her condo—until the world outside her window goes silent. (Ebook) (978-1-60282-063-0)

The Caretaker’s Daughter
by Gabrielle Goldsby. Against the backdrop of a nineteenth-century English country estate, two women struggle to find love. (Ebook) (978-1-60282-062-3)

Simple Justice
by John Morgan Wilson. When a pretty-boy cokehead is murdered, former LA reporter Benjamin Justice and his reluctant new partner, Alexandra Templeton, must unveil the real killer.  (978-1-60282-057-9)

Remember Tomorrow
by Gabrielle Goldsby. Cees Bannigan and Arieanna Simon find that a successful relationship rests in remembering the mistakes of the past. (978-1-60282-026-5)

Put Away Wet
by Susan Smith. Jocelyn “Joey” Fellows has just been savagely dumped—when she posts an online personal ad, she discovers more than just the great sex she expected. (978-1-60282-025-8)

Homecoming
by Nell Stark. Sarah Storm loses everything that matters— family, future dreams, and love—will her new “straight” roommate cause Sarah to take a chance at happiness? (978-1-60282-024-1)

The Three
by Meghan O’Brien. A daring, provocative exploration of love and sexuality. Two lovers, Elin and Kael, struggle to survive in a postapocalyptic world. (Ebook) (978-1-60282-056-2)