Tempting Bounty (Inter-Galactic Bounty Hunter Series Book 2) (5 page)

“Everything okay?” He called out.

“Yes.”

“Look, I’m sorry for handling that situation badly. I should have been more sympathetic. I just keep thinking that if it weren’t for Stratford’s association with Roland, that poor woman would still be alive and you wouldn’t have had a crazy man cutting on you.”

She sighed as she looked up at him. “You’re right. It’s just that it was the worst way possible to find out someone you know or care about died.”

He understood her point and she was right. Her anger slowly faded. He could tell she was someone who didn’t hold on to her anger. He liked that about her. “How much longer before we get to the island?” He watched as she spread suntan lotion over her arms, shoulders and across her collarbone. He gulped when she started on her legs and thighs. His dick was throbbing.

“Maybe forty-five to fifty minutes. We’re making good time.” She laid back on her lounger chair. She turned her head and watched him. “Why don’t you take your shirt off. You have to be hot in all that black.”

He was sweating. What could it hurt?

*****

She couldn’t stay mad at Vic. He seemed sincere and though he didn’t say he was sorry, she could sense his regret. She learned a long time ago that holding on to anger and bitterness didn’t do anything except keep her from living a happy life.

Lexi tried not to stare but the man was sexy as hell. Her eyes were glued to him as he reached for his t-shirt and pulled it off exposing all of his sexy golden muscles. He was really big. She glanced down his perfect abs to his navel then further and found herself staring at his crotch. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was big... everywhere. She had felt him back at the club and he was impressive. She licked her lips, wanting to get a peek.

“You need some lotion on. The sun on Bazin gets really hot.” She sat up and motioned for him to come to her. She moved so that he could sit next to her on the lounge. “Let me help.”

They were sitting side by side, facing opposite directions at first. Lexi turned and faced his back. She poured some lotion on her hands and reached over to smooth the liquid oil over his smooth skin. He jerked a little as their skin touched. It seemed to set off sparks throughout his body. Then he settled down, allowing her fingers to roam over his wide back.

Lexi loved the feel of him. He was tight all over. Not an inch of fat on him. His skin was smooth but his muscles beneath were rock hard. As she ran her fingers softly up his spine she noticed a long scar that ran across his back from his lower hip across his spine to his shoulder.

“What’s this?”

“A whip scar.” He shrugged like it was nothing.

She gasped. “A whip? How did you get whipped?”

“I was hunting a fugitive that went to a primitive planet. The fugitive paid to have the local tribe’s people capture me and torture me while he escaped.”

“That’s horrible. I hope you caught the asshole.”

He turned his head to look back at her. “I did, but not before I got my revenge on the ones who tortured me. Most of the scars healed but I still have that one as a reminder.”

She didn’t know why she did it. It was an impulse that she couldn’t seem to ignore. She leaned forward and kissed the puckered skin. She looked up into his eyes and her breath seemed to halt. The way he was staring at her was so intense. She looked away and took several deep breaths.
Control yourself Lexi girl. He’s just a man, okay a Decaros but still...

“I can do my front if you don’t want to,” he offered with a deep voice.

She should let him do it. Touching him was dangerous. When he turned to straddle the lounge, she licked her lips and looked at his perfect body.

“I can do it.” She poured lotion on her hands, a little more than she needed. She raised her hands but hesitated. He was very muscular. She didn’t know which part of him she wanted to touch first. He helped make the decision for her.

He gently took her hands and placed them on his chest right above his pecs. He released her hands to place his hot hands on her thighs. She could feel his heat go right to her pussy. She concentrated on what she was supposed to be doing. Lexi spread the lotion over his pecs, moving upward in circular motions. She rubbed lotion over his shoulders. They were so wide, she could have spent hours rubbing him. She was so concentrated on covering every inch of his chest with the lotion that she didn’t notice at first that Vic had moved her closer to him. She was practically straddling his lap.

“You are the sexiest female,” he rumbled, leaning down to kiss her softly.

She moaned, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Vic…”

“Am I interrupting something?” Dan’s voice broke the steamy mood and sexual tension.

Vic growled at Dan. Lexi quickly pulled her hands back and slid off his lap. She looked up at Vic and watched as he tried to hide his slightly extending horns with his hair. She hid a smile. Then she turned to glare at Dan. He had the worst timing ever.

“I need some suntan lotion too,” Dan said, lying down on the other lounger chair.

Lexi threw the bottle at him. He barely caught it. “Put it on yourself.” She watched as Vic stood and went back down to the bottom level.
Damn, that man was sexy.

*****

Vic had to leave or he would have thrown Stratford off the boat. He had Lexi in his arms and her hands were all over him. He could feel the heat of her pussy and smell her arousal. Her bikini was a tiny scrap of material he could have easily disposed of. He wanted Lexi naked and beneath him in the worst way.

Chapter 8

The island wasn’t what Vic was expecting. When he pictured Lexi lounging and relaxing on a tropical island, somehow he thought it would involve a house and servants. It was smaller and very primitive. He wasn’t the only one who was less than impressed.

“That’s it?” Dan asked, standing next to Lexi as she moved to dock the boat next to a very small pier in the private bay.

“Yes, that’s it.”

“Is there a resort on the other side or something? Where are all the other people?” Dan asked.

“No resort, no other people. This island is a basic island with no amenities. The amenities are on the boat if you choose to stay on the boat. There are huts on the island but they have no running water. You must use hammocks for beds, and you have to cook your food on a spit.”

“Oh God, no. Can we go back? Why would anyone come here when it has nothing to offer?” Dan asked with a horrified look on his face.

Lexi rolled her eyes at him. “Some people like to leave all the business of their life far away. They take a break from all the technology and all the wheeling and dealing to enjoy a more relaxed atmosphere for a few days. My friend comes her with her boyfriend all the time. She says it’s very romantic.”

Vic tried not to laugh at the expression on Stratford’s face. Stratford was not the outdoorsy type at all. Vic was looking forward to exploring the island, though. He and his cousin Jagger often went to places like this to camp out.

*****

“What have you got for me?” Marcus asked Lloyd and Ted.

Lloyd shuffled his feet. “Sir, the only real property listed in Miss Tanner’s name is the nightclub she owns. She has two credit cards that she keeps the balance paid off on. She doesn’t have any police record except for one underage drinking incident and an indecent exposure during a parade when she was eighteen. The landlord to her apartment swears he hasn’t seen her in days. She has an old car but it’s not worth anything. She lives modestly.”

“That’s it?” Marcus narrowed his eyes at Lloyd then at Ted.

“Well, there is one thing that was odd,” Ted mentioned.

“What?”

“She rents docking space at the local harbor. From the records we pulled up, she does not own a boat,” Ted told them.

“Find out if she listed a boat to go in that space. Then I want to see if there is an emergency tracking system for the boat.” The two men scrambled out of the room to do his bidding. Marcus scratched his head. There was something about this docking space that indicated they needed to follow up on it. He opened the drawer in which he kept Lexi’s picture. He didn’t want any of his men thinking that he was overly infatuated with her. He stared at her image. Soon he would see for himself whether the woman was as beautiful as her picture. If she was, he would make her his. He could not wait.

*****

“No one else travels to this island?” Vic asked Lexi as she dropped the anchor. He reached a hand and took the keys from her.

“Not really. Jay, the man who owned the island, enjoyed getting away from all the electronic trappings. He would come here for a few weeks at a time and fish. Sometimes I would come out with him. In his will, he stipulated that the island could not be sold or have anything built permanently on it so that it would protect the island’s natural appeal and privacy.”

“He left his boat to you and a stipulation that you have free use of the island?”

She frowned. Where was he going with this? “Yes.”

“You had an affair with him then.”

“What? Are you serious?”

He turned to face her. “Honey, no man leaves an island to a woman he isn’t fucking.”

She walked up to him and slapped him hard across the face. “He left me the boat, not the island asshole.” Then she turned and hopped onto the small pier they docked by. She stormed off.

“Wow, you have a way with words my friend.” Stratford commented, leaning against the side of the boat.

“Shut up, Stratford.” He knew he had messed up. He had a big mouth and didn’t think things through before he spoke sometimes.

“Hey, I’m with you, man. She had to have been boning the guy to get a boat and private island out of him.”

“Shut up.” Vic tied the boat to the pier.

“Where ya going, friend?”

“We’re not friends. Try to keep from drowning while I’m gone.” Vic went in search of Lexi. The woman had him second-guessing himself
.
He also needed to check the island out for security measures.

He had been walking for ten minutes but still had not found her. Where the hell did she go? The island couldn’t be that big.

He moved across the huge boulder and caught a glimpse of her by the water’s edge. He watched as she took her shirt off. She had on a two-piece tiny red bikini.
Fuck, she was hot to look at.
She had perfect curves in all the right places. She wasn’t a tiny skinny thing. She had some meat on her bones, which he liked. He liked having something to hold on to.

She was attractive, but he found himself wanting to talk to her too. She was quick-witted and very intelligent. He liked how she could hold her own when arguing with Stratford. When she was thinking or unsure of something, she often bit her bottom lip, which he found very enticing. He longed to know what she was thinking about. Wanting to talk to a woman was new for him.

He jumped down from the boulder and made his way to her. She was walking into the water. He could tell by the way her shoulders stiffened that she knew he was coming, but she didn’t turn his way. She spoke before he could.

“Jay was a good man. He asked me to marry him once. I told him no. I didn’t feel the same way about him that he felt for me, but I cared about him. There were times I wished I would fall in love with him. Maybe he left this to me because he fell in love with me and didn’t want me to lose sight of what was really important in life. I worked a lot and the only time I took off was when I came here to the island. I never slept with him though.”

“I’m sorry for what I said. I can be an ass sometimes.”

She turned to look at him. The sun was setting behind her and it made the golden strands of her long hair glow. She looked like an angel.

She shrugged her shoulders in an attempt to act like it didn’t bother her. He wasn’t fooled. She was faking her bravado. “It’s not the first time people have assumed that Jay and I were lovers. His sister’s lawyers wanted to fight the will but his daughter was my friend and backed me up.”

“I’m glad it worked out for you. You seemed to have a good life here.”

“It’s a living.”

“Your club is doing well.”

“It’s not what I had hoped it would be. When I took over, I had no idea how hard it would be to transform a previous strip joint to a regular nightclub.”

“I am surprised you changed it at all.”
Crap.
He had probably just offended her again. Instead of getting angry, she gave him a sad smile.

“I know it would have been easier to keep it a strip club. I’ve had plenty of experience in enough of those to know how to run them. That’s not what I want. I want a business I can grow and be proud of and pass on to my children one day. I think with this club I have done all I can. The returning clientele expect certain services and even the current employees prefer the quick cash they get for doing those services.”

Lexi walked further into the water until she was about waist deep. Then she ducked underneath the waves. She came back up, her hair slicked down her back. She looked like a gorgeous siren beckoning sailors to their death.

“That feels so good. You should come in for a dip. The water is cooler and will help lower your body temperature.”

Vic wasn’t wearing a suit, but he didn’t care about that. When she called to him, there was no way he would refuse. He removed his shirt, kicked off his boots and removed his jeans. He was at least wearing boxers. He looked up and felt a thrill that she was watching him intently. He puffed his chest out a little bit to showcase his pecs and eight-pack abs.

“Damn,” Lexi commented without realizing she had spoken out loud.

Vic chuckled as he moved into the water closer to her. “See something you like?”

*****

Holy smokes!
Vic was well built. Not even her bouncers had muscles like that. His clothes really hid the extent of his sculpted goodness. He was golden all over, no hair on his chest. His hair on his head seemed a little more spiked than usual, but she suspected that his horns were starting to make an appearance.

He was aroused by her, she knew it. His eyes had followed her while they were on the boat and when he came out from the other side of the boulder and saw her in her bikini, he had licked his lips and adjusted his crotch. It was an obvious sign of his growing desire. She just wasn’t prepared for her own growing attraction.

“Um…” She decided to avoid answering by diving into the water and swimming away from him. She should have known that would be a mistake. When you run from a predator, they always hunt you down. When she came up for air she didn’t see him anywhere. Then she felt a yank on her foot dragging her back down under the water. She kicked at Vic to get him to release her. She came back up out of the water, sputtering.

“Jerk!” She splashed water at him.

He laughed. “I am most days. What do you do when you’re not at the club?”

That caught her off guard. She froze for a moment to think. “I like to read.”

“Really? What kinds of books do you like to read?”

“Mysteries, mostly. I really get into solving things.” Where was he going with this?

“I would have pegged you for a romance novel fan.”

She snorted. “I’ve never read one of those before. I have already read mystery novels. Do you read?”

“Yes, I like the mystery and horror books. I confess, I did read a romance book once by accident.”

She laughed. “How did you read a romance novel by accident?”

“My cousins fiancé left her romance novel on top of my mystery book. I picked it up without double checking and started reading. I knew immediately I had never seen it before but I didn’t put it down immediately.”

“You got caught up in the storyline and continued reading?”

He nodded. “It was actually a pretty good story.”

“Well there’s no harm in reading it if you enjoyed it.”

“Except that my cousin Jagger walked in and caught me reading it. He had not let me live that one down. For my birthday he bought me a subscription to a romance novel series. The books keep getting delivered to my office at work every month.”

Lexi laughed hard. “Oh my God that is funny.”

“Jagger thought so too.” Vic liked the way she laughed, he liked everything about her.

Vic was an arm’s distance away now and looked down at her breasts clearing the water. She was so sexy. Their bodies touched under the water, wet skin and fresh air. It spun a web around them. “I can see why your friend says this place is romantic.”

She cleared her throat. “I guess we should head back before Dan blows the boat up.”

“Not yet.”

She wasn’t expecting him to reach out to her under the water, but his arms circled her waist and he pulled her up against him. She felt the sizzle of their contact. Uh-oh. This was not a good idea. Each time they made skin contact, all common sense left her. She was about to tell him that but then his lips on hers made all rational thoughts leave her mind. She forgot everything except the way he made her feel.

Lexi wrapped her arms around his thick neck and rubbed her body against his. Their body heat ignited. She wanted nothing between them. He must have thought the same thing. The next thing she knew, the straps to her bikini came untied and her breasts were freed from their confines. They were supported immediately by his large hands clasping them and squeezing.

“Vic.” She whispered his name when he released her lips and trailed kisses down her neck.

“I like it when you call me Vic,” he growled.

“Vic.” She said his name again with a moan as he leaned down, bringing a nipple up to his mouth and sucked it in. It felt so good to have him suckling her. He used his teeth gently to tug and add an extra pull. She arched her back so that he could take more of her. She wasn’t going to let him have all the fun.

Lexi reached between their bodies and managed to wedge her hand inside his boxers. Vic was hard for her, and he was large.
Good grief, he was hung like a walrus.
She had never had anyone that big before. For a moment she wondered if it would even fit. The only way to know for sure was to try it. Lexi never backed down from a challenge.

She felt her bikini bottoms being pulled down her hips. Vic must be on the same page she was and wanting to get to it. He wasn’t wasting any time. He knew what he wanted and he was going after it. She liked that about him.

“If you don’t want this, speak now,” he warned her. She looked into his eyes. They seemed to darken to almost black and his horns were out and present. She wrapped her legs around his waist and grabbed ahold of his horns. His eyes sparked at her.