He put a key on the desk. “Everything you need to know is in a folder in your villa. Give me a call if you have any questions. We’re having a meet and greet at the pool bar tonight at eight.” He gestured to a point behind her. “Through the door and out the one at the end. Follow the yellow brick road until you reach Orchid Villa. Enjoy your stay.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you need a hand with your bag?”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
Kyle stood at the office door and watched Marc stare at the English woman with the crazy black and pink hair as she headed away from them down the corridor. He limped over and leaned on the desk to take the weight off his leg.
“You manage to speak to the bank manager?” Marc asked.
“Yep. All arranged.”
Marc smiled as the door closed behind the cute butt. “See, there was an advantage in doing the airport run today. Lovely ass, sweet face, weird hair, weirder name, and here on her own. But not for long.”
His heart clenched when he recognized the expression on Marc’s face. What would he think if he knew she’d asked him to take off his glasses and he had?
“She might be more into the two she arrived with,” Kyle said, certain she wasn’t.
“You know that won’t stop me. She’s here, isn’t she? Up for anything?”
The phrase fit Marc well and disappointment clogged his lungs. “Do you have to hit on every woman who takes your fancy?”
“I’m a man. It’s what I do.”
“So am I and it’s not what I do.”
“No one’s stopping you.” Marc brushed his fingers over his. “I wish you would.”
Kyle pressed his lips together.
“Just because we haven’t found anyone yet, doesn’t mean we won’t,” Marc whispered. “And since you won’t look, I have to. Take over here while I make sure Ms. Jones gets to her room safely and doesn’t go hunting for the Holy Grail.”
“It’s a straight path. She can’t get lost.”
“I forgot to warn her there’s a couple of big bad wolves around.” He howled and Kyle sighed.
One of the rules they’d set themselves when they’d agreed to run the franchise for six months was not to sleep with the guests, and Marc had broken that rule three times in the first week. Women couldn’t seem to get enough of him, but then he was over six feet of blond haired, blue-eyed, lean, toned pheromones, and very good in bed.
No point wishing he could be enough for Marc when deep down he knew Marc wasn’t enough for him. They needed a third for balance. But whereas Kyle had given up looking since the accident, his partner had never stopped.
He wondered if Indiana Jones knew what she’d let herself in for coming to a place like this. He also wondered why he’d taken off his sunglasses when she’d asked. The thought made him smile. He knew exactly why. He liked her.
Chapter Two
Indie made her way along the yellow brick path through the tropical garden, palm trees waving overhead, sky still a brilliant blue. Maybe Oz lay at the end of the road, a magical place where she’d find just what she wanted. She caught a glimpse of a glittering pool and determined the first thing to do would be to slip on a bikini and go for a swim. No, first she’d call Lisa. As she gave the water a lingering gaze, she did a double take. Had that been a bare backside?
No way
.
She really needed a chance to lie in the sun and forget about the pressures of her job. Forget about what happened last Christmas. She could be anyone she liked without Lisa to contradict her. Rich but lonely heiress. Minor princess of some obscure principality. Shipping magnate. Nobel physicist. Maybe not. She hadn’t actually passed her physics exam.
“Know which way you’re going?”
The blond guy from the desk wrenched her bag from her hand. She wrenched it back.
“Yes thanks. I’m fine.”
She spotted a sign saying Orchid Villa and turned up the path. As she put the key in the lock, he came up behind her, and she turned.
“I hope you’ll enjoy your stay here. If you have any questions, any requests, any special needs don’t hesitate to give me a call. Here’s my card.”
She told herself to be polite and take it. It wasn’t a snake, though he probably was. Finally, she grabbed it, bolted inside, slammed the door, and froze. She heard him chuckle and then walk away. Was he hitting on her? A shaky laugh bubbled from her mouth. No, doing his job and she’d wimped out at her first test. So much for being different. She should have grabbed his hand, not the card, and pulled him inside, stripped him and…. She sighed. Her eyes were bigger than her stomach.
The villa was lovely. Five times as big as her London bedsit, and she went from room to room admiring everything; the coffee table, the crockery, the glassware, the pictures, the huge bed. She spotted the folder of information but ignored it. She wanted to swim.
But first….
“Hi, Indie.” Lisa sounded worried.
“You haven’t broken your leg, have you?”
“No.”
“You never even booked to come?”
“You needed to get away for Christmas. If you’d stayed here, you’d have been miserable and brought everyone down. Ouch, sorry that sounded mean, but you know it’s true. I knew you wouldn’t agree to go anywhere unless you thought someone intended to go with you. Ooh, have to run. Gavin’s calling. We’re off to his company party. Have fun. Remember, it’s for your own good.”
For her own good? How did that work? She tossed the phone down. Then picked it up, switched it off, and stuffed it in her bag. She should have known Lisa never meant to come. She had a family, lots of mates, and a boyfriend, and moreover, Lisa loved Christmas. Indie had none of those things and after what happened last year, she suspected she’d hate Christmas forever.
Two minutes later, she headed for the pool in her new blue bikini carrying suntan lotion and her Kindle. She picked up a fluffy blue towel from a neatly stacked pile and made her way to the sunny side. A man and woman swam at the far end but no one lay on a lounger. She hopped out of her flip-flops and put her key and the Kindle in the folds of her towel.
Indie slid into the pool, closed her eyes, and glided to the bottom. It was deeper than she’d thought, but the smooth coolness instantly made her feel better. She opened her eyes and kicked off to swim under the surface to the other side, aware the couple in with her had moved closer. When she saw the erect cock waving at her and the woman’s hand on the guy’s balls, she gasped, swallowed water, and surfaced choking.
As she opened her mouth to gulp air, a wave surged over her head. She floundered, went under coughing, inhaled more of the pool, and for a split second worried she’d drown. Arms wrapped around her and yanked her to the surface. She spluttered into Marc’s concerned face.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded, still trying to catch her breath, but as he pulled her to the side, she tried to get out of his hold.
“Don’t struggle. I’m saving your life.”
“I don’t need saving. Let go. I’m trying to swim.”
He kept towing her. “Practice in the shallow end.”
She gave up and let him drag her to the steps. As she climbed out, she realized he’d jumped in fully clothed. He took a dripping cell phone from his pocket.
“Oh God,” she muttered.
“Don’t worry about it. I couldn’t let a guest drown. The paperwork would be horrendous.” He grinned.
“I wasn’t drowning.”
He put his hands on his hips. “Excuse me, but I know a drowning person when I see one.”
She opened her mouth to explain, and saw the naked guy who’d been in the pool coming over, still naked.
Eyes up
.
“You okay?” the man asked.
“Swallowed half the pool by accident,” she said. “Then some idiot jumped in and caused a tidal wave and I swallowed that as well.”
Naked guy laughed, she blushed, and realization dawned on Marc’s face he’d been part of her problem.
Naked woman joined them.
Look at her face not her breasts, not farther down—oh my
. Not that she was into other women’s breasts but boy, big big big.
“Excuse me,” Indie blurted, and grabbing her things, she fled back to the villa. All she’d wanted was a quiet swim and now everyone thought she was a moron. No clothes? A nudist resort? Her heart sank. She wanted to be different but wasn’t sure she was brave enough to be
that
different.
After she’d showered, she wrapped one of the huge bath towels around her chest and before she slumped on the bed, she picked up the folder of information. She’d not asked Lisa the questions she should have. She took a deep breath and started to read.
Minutes later, the folder fell from her hand.
Bloody hell
.
Heden—why hadn’t the name given her a clue? A hedonistic Eden?—was a swinging, clothes optional, anything goes resort with compulsory sex. Well, it didn’t say the last bit but it implied it. Apart from no sex in the pool or public hot tubs, there were no rules. Heden was a place to have sex with strangers in ones, twos, threes or in as long a daisy chain as you wanted, in any combination you liked. She’d never been into casual sex. She’d never had a one-night stand. She might have fantasized about having one, but in her dreams the guy—guys—always fell in love with her and one night became forever. Nothing like real life.
Half of her brain screamed—
go and ask for your money back, or sneak out and pretend you never found this place
. The other half whispered—
stay and be different. I dare you
.
She sat up straighter. No one here would force her to do anything. She could lie by the pool—in one of her lovely bikinis—read the books she’d downloaded, and ogle the two guys who ran Heden from behind her sunglasses. And if anyone did want to hook up with her, well, maybe she’d say yes. The idea of it would keep her happy all week.
Probably.
“Don’t ask,” Marc snapped as he plodded toward the reception desk leaving a wet trail behind him.
Kyle’s burst of laughter stopped him in his tracks. The first real laugh he’d heard from the guy for months. He put his soggy cell phone on the desk. “Want to see if you can do anything with that, genius?”
“Did someone push you in?”
“I jumped. I thought Indiana Jones was drowning.”
“Was she?”
“She says not. Didn’t need rescuing, by me at least.” He gave a mournful smile. “Want to come upstairs and console me?”
Kyle’s nostrils flared.
“Miguel will cover the desk,” Marc said.
“Miguel will what?” Miguel called from the office.
“Cover the desk.” Marc headed for the stairs.
After the accident, he’d tried to persuade Kyle they should move into one of the villas, but the guy was stubborn as a mule. He still had problems climbing the stairs and every time he did, Marc had to fight the urge to look back to check on him.
By the time he’d stripped and dumped his wet clothes in the tub, Kyle had closed the blinds so the bedroom lay in semi-darkness. No need for his sunglasses. Outside of this room, he always wore them. Marc’s cock went the rest of the way north when he saw his partner leaning against the wall, fumbling with the buttons of his shirt. He walked over and brushed his fingers aside. “Let me.”
“I can do it,” Kyle snapped.
“I know you can. I like to undress you. You’re beautiful.”
“You like scars?”
“Shut the fuck up,” he said gently.
He pulled off Kyle’s shirt and then reached for the button on his pants. He let out a long moan when hands settled on his hips and thumbs stroked the angular bones. A shiver of longing trickled down his spine.
“You’re always horny,” Kyle muttered.
“Your fault.”
“Not the fault of someone in the pool?”
“No, but under her bikini she had a hot body. All long and lean and smooth. Her nipples hardened like little pebbles against my chest. I didn’t want to let her go.”
“That discovery’s probably cost you a new phone.”
“It’s insured. Worth it anyway.”
He gave a silent sigh of relief when Kyle accepted his help in taking off his shoes and then his pants and boxers. He kept his gaze away from the vivid scar running from high on his thigh to below his knee. It seemed wrong to have escaped without injury when…. He snapped off the memory before it could take hold. Neither of them needed reminding. They never talked about it.
“Come and lie down.” He wrapped his fingers around Kyle’s and tugged.
Marc settled on the bed, propping himself on his elbow to look at the man who wouldn’t let him love him, wouldn’t let him kiss him. Not that he could stop him loving him, but he held the words in his heart until the idiot could accept them, suspecting the kiss would happen at the same time. He lowered his head and licked across Kyle’s pec, closed his mouth around the nipple, then bit down gently. At the guy’s sharp intake of breath, lust coiled low in his belly like a wakening snake.
“I can’t think straight when I’m with you,” Marc whispered. “You ought to have a warning label attached like they do with drugs. May cause dizziness, heart tremors, stomach cramps, erections lasting more than four hours—”
Kyle barked out a short laugh.
As he fluttered his tongue over the hard nub of a dark copper nipple, he slid his hand down to brush his fingers against Kyle’s cock. When it leapt at his touch, he smiled. He pulled their cockheads together, rubbing one against the other, smearing silky precum down their lengths and over his hand. Kyle’s breathing quickened and Marc’s fingers threaded in the dark hair he loved so much.
“Not sure I can go slow,” Marc said with a moan.
“Then go fast.”
Kyle stretched out his arm, and lube and a foil packet landed on the bed between them.
Marc grabbed both. “Going to turn onto your front?” He rolled on the condom and lubed.
“Let’s try it this way.” A simple bend of the knees and the grimace of pain clutched at Marc’s heart.
He almost asked if he was okay and stopped himself in time. Instead, he leaned over and danced his lips along Kyle’s shoulder, kissed his way down his chest while his fingers played in the wake of his mouth. He wrapped his other hand around the base of the dark-headed cock and squeezed.