Page 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Wick

She came down smelling like my coconut soap and lotion, looking fresh and relaxed.

I couldn’t seem to stop my mind from thinking about running my lips and tongue up her skin, of feeling how she’d shiver and writhe, of hearing the soft little moans she’d let out as I…

Fuck.

No.

I couldn’t let my mind go there.

That little tussle-turned-almost-kiss was bad enough.

“I’m surprised you didn’t flood the whole upstairs.”

“Don’t think I wasn’t tempted,” she said, but all the heat was out of her voice as she pulled herself up on one of the island stools. “What did you make?”

“Well, as you can tell, we’re pretty cut off from civilization here. So most of the food around here is shelf-stable. But I managed to throw together some rice, beans, lentils, and enough spices to make all that palatable.”

“You cook?” she asked, brows pinched.

“I told you I was cooking.”

“Right, but I thought you’d, like, heat up canned chili or something. You cooked cooked.”

“I can feed myself, yeah. Do you cook?”

I took down plates, separating the meal into thirds, though our visitor insisted on staying outside when I’d invited him in. So once I’d served Violet, I brought his plate out to him.

“It’s kind of rude to make him eat out there.”

“He doesn’t want to come in. I think he senses I have some shit to tell you. And that you have a bit of a temper,” I said, rubbing my jaw pointedly.

“You caught my elbow because you were trying to pin me,” she said, shrugging.

That was fair.

The memory of her body under mine, panting, heated, pupils blown wide with desire rushed back to me, making me need to take a deep breath or two before I could think straight again.

“Oh my God,” Violet groaned, the sound going right to my dick before I could stop it. I turned to find her with her fork still raised and her eyes closed as she chewed. “I can’t tell if this is just that good, or if I’m just that hungry.”

“Maybe both,” I said, reaching for my plate and fork, even though I had no appetite.

“So, I get the feeling you’re buttering me up with a nice shower and decent food because you’re about to say something you know I don’t want to hear.”

“That about sums it up.”

“I know you don’t exactly know me well, but I’m not someone who likes to have to pry information out of people.”

“Rather beat it out of them, huh?”

She tried hard to keep those plump lips of hers in a straight line, but they twitched until she lost the fight and the smile spread.

“You’re not exactly wrong. But… What is this place? Why are we here? What are you hiding?”

Easy stuff first.

“This is Ilsa Perdita. The Lost Island,” I told her as she plowed through her food with impressive gusto. “It’s a private island.”

“A private island. Like billionaires have?”

“Exactly like that,” I said. “My grandfather, who bought it, was a billionaire until his death. He left the land to me. I built on it.”

“Why? As a hideout from the law?”

“Built it before all that. Always meant for it to be a vacation spot. It’s fully off-grid. Solar, compost, I even planted some trees other than the local ones. Avocados and papaya, like they grow on the other islands.”

“How’d you have time to do all that while engaging in white-collar crimes in the States?”

I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, reminding myself that in her line of work, Violet likely dealt with hundreds of people who claimed they were innocent, who said they were set up or whatever other sob story they wanted to feed her to get sympathy.

The difference here was, I was actually innocent. So I needed to act like it. Not be defensive and short-tempered. Even if she seemed to really respond to aggression.

“After my grandfather passed, my great-uncle took over the company. I… opted to get the hell out of there and explore the world on my trust fund.”

“Trust fund. Fancy.”

She was trying to goad me into a fight. But I wasn’t biting.

“I ended up here. Worked on the plans to build. Until one day, I got word that my grandfather’s company was working on something that interested me.”

“What’s that?”

“Eco resorts.”

“What the hell is an eco resort?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. Eco-friendly resorts in locations known for eco-tourism.”

“What areas are known for eco-tourism?”

“There are some in the States. But it’s mostly Costa Rica, various islands, and the Amazon rainforest. The latter was what my grandfather’s company was working on.”

“Okay. Is this the insider trading part?”

“I got interested in the venture. So I flew back to the States, started sitting in on meetings, learning about the plans, investing a fuckton of money in stocks. I really believed in the mission.”

“Okay,” she said, looking less suspicious and more interested.

She’d also cleared her plate.

I took hers away, sliding mine in its place.

“You need to eat too,” she objected.

“I’m not hungry.”

Because we were getting to the part where my whole damn life imploded.

“So, what’s next?” she asked after another forkful of food.

“There were all sorts of site plans, flyers, bookings…”

“But?”

“But something… felt off.”

“Off how?”

“I couldn’t put a finger on it. No matter what questions I had, I kept getting the same answers. Eventually, I was told to stop asking questions. They were focusing on the IPO and they didn’t have time for my bullshit.”

“Hmm,” Violet said, brows lowered.

“Yeah, that was my feeling too. And while the reports kept making big promises and the stocks kept skyrocketing, I got more and more uneasy.”

“Okay. So where does the insider trading come in?”

“I was heavily invested. A hundred thousand shares. Close to going public, shares were upward of two hundred each.”

“Two hundred? On the promise of a few eco lodges in the rainforest?”

“No, the plans had expanded well beyond that. They were promising resorts all over the world once the IPO went through.”

“But you had a feeling.”

“I had a feeling. A bad one. The more I asked questions, the more they pushed me out.”

“So you, what? Tanked the IPO?”

“I didn’t intentionally do anything. I just didn’t like the feeling I was having, so I sold all my stocks right before it went public. The stock crashed. I got investigated for insider trading.”

“So, if I believe you—and that’s a big if—why would you get blamed? Can’t you just… sell whatever stocks you want?”

“Essentially, yeah. But not if the SEC thinks you have insider knowledge of something. Like the company’s value being inflated.”

“Did you?”

“I had no solid proof of anything. Just a gut feeling that told me I needed out.”

“But if the company’s value was inflated… how? Why?”

“That’s what I’m doing in this part of the world again. I want to find those damn eco resorts. If they exist at all. And I want to prove that they’re not what my uncle and his company said they were for the valuation. I want to prove that the only ones committing stock fraud are the company and its leadership, not me.”

There.

It was out.

She could believe me. Or not. But that was the whole of it. More or less.

“Okay. So who is that guy?” she asked, nodding over her shoulder.

“That is Marco, my guide.”

“Guide?”

“For the rainforest.”

“Don’t you have, like, maps?”

“Yeah. But the average person would get lost in minutes in the rainforest without someone who knows it well. I got word to him to meet me here, but I had no way to get word from him for when he would meet me.”

“Hence the fake being stranded thing.”

“Yeah.”

“Why not let me have the speedboat and go back to the other islands?”

“Honestly didn’t imagine you’d be able to drive it back. And I wasn’t exactly keen on being genuinely stranded if Marco didn’t make it here for some reason.”

“I mean, someone would come eventually…”

“This is a private island. The tour guides and islanders would all know not to come here. If Marco didn’t come, I’d be stuck here… maybe forever.”

“Is there no service?”

“You can get a bar here or there. But it’s rare. And it’s usually gone before you can try to shoot off a text, let alone call for help. I wanted a way off, just in case.”

“Why not just tell me?”

“Because you would have taken the boat.”

“That’s… accurate. So, what, were you going to tell me when Marco got here?”

“I figured I would have to. I’d bring you back to the island, then take off with Marco.”

“Into the rainforest.”

“Yep.”

“To get proof to clear your name?”

“Yes.”

“And then?”

“Then, the plan was to send the information to the investigators.”

“Was?” she asked. “It changed?”

“I’ve been… considering a change. A mutually beneficial one.”

“Involving me.”

“Yes.”

“Well, what is it?” she asked, putting the last of the rice mix into her mouth, then finally reaching for her powdered iced tea and draining half of it in one long sip.

“Once I get my proof, I let you take me in.”

Violet eyed me for a long moment.

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch. We get my proof. I let you take me in, so you can collect your money.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Did you say we ?”

“Yes. We get my proof.”

“We. We feels like a big catch. You expect me to trek through the rainforest with you?”

“Yes.”

“Because I’ve been such pleasant company so far?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

“Because I want someone else who can testify to what I saw. If it comes to that.”

“I can’t testify.”

“Why not?”

“Because then it will be clear that I broke the law by pursuing you here.”

“Or… you just so happened to be on vacation, saw me, kept an eye on me, then when I went back to Miami willingly, you apprehended me.”

“That’s… a stretch.”

“If I get the proof I think I will, believe me, the SEC and DOJ won’t give a damn about you bending the law. They will have much bigger fish to fry. Besides, who is going to contradict you? If I confirm it happened that way…”

“That’s true. But why do I need to trek into the rainforest? Can’t I go stay at a nice hotel with a comfy bed and fresh coffee while you do all that, then you come back, and we go back to Miami together?”

“Duchess, where’s the fun in that?”

“Fun? The rainforest? With its panthers and a billion types of venomous snakes.”

“Nah, not a billion. Just the Fer-de-lance, Bushmaster, Green Jararaca, Eyelash Viper, Palm viper, Pit viper, ground and aquatic Coral Snakes…”

“That’s not helping your case.”

“We have Marco. I’ve got a well-packed bag. It should just be a day or two.”

Violet sucked in a deep breath and huffed it out.

“Fine. But if I get bit by anything, I am going to make it your problem.”

It would be fucked up to say what I was thinking out loud.

That I had a sneaking suspicion I would enjoy having a woman like Violet being my problem.

So, yeah, I kept that shit to myself.