Page 214 of The Black Trilogy

Nick ordered us a late lunch of grilled fish and pineapple, and we sat under a shady palm on our terrace to formulate a plan. My plan would have been to lie out on a sun lounger all week, but it was the CIA’s dollar, so unfortunately we had to do some work.

“I thought we’d go for a walk this evening to see the lay of the land, then we should get an early night,” Nick said.

“Sure. Do you have plans for tomorrow?”

He nodded, and my stomach dropped as I recognised the same look Black gave me on many occasions. Right before he made my life a misery.

“Tomorrow, I’m giving you a scuba diving lesson. Black said he hadn’t gotten around to it yet.”

Wonderful. My week on the beach had just disappeared underwater. “What about equipment?”

“I brought it all with me.”

“I wondered why you had two suitcases.”

“The second one’s full of sunglasses and hair products.” Nick’s hair, the colour of freshly ground coffee, was half an inch long.

“Tart.”

He grinned back at me and pretended to fluff his hair. Did I mention he’d taken his shirt off? Well, he had, and those tight pecs and perfect six-pack were incredibly distracting.

As my heart flipped, I blew out a long breath, forced myself to focus, and wondered how far he planned to go with this marriage charade.

The main hotel building turned into the Mary Celeste in the evening. We had the restaurant to ourselves for dessert, a bored waiter and a by-the-numbers pianist our only company. What with it being a couples’ resort, I could well imagine why. I ordered an extra slice of chocolate cake to-go. And an individual cheesecake. And a small portion of churros. What? Without Toby’s beady eyes on me, I could eat what I liked and I was determined to take advantage of it, especially with the CIA paying. The chef packaged it up for me in a cardboard box covered in multi-coloured hearts and gift ribbon.

“Carry this for me?” I asked Nick.

“Not on your life.”

The soft chirp of crickets sounded from the bushes at the side of the path as we ambled back towards the villa just after eight, hand in hand. After a short walk up the beach to get an idea of the locale, we decided to call it a night.

“What are we doing about sleeping arrangements?” I asked, seeing there was only one bed. An enormous bed with enough cushions for an entire sorority to have a pillow fight, but still only one nonetheless.

Nick made a face. “Black told me before we left I’d be sleeping on the floor. I brought a camping mattress. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t want to tread on his toes.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, spending the night in bed with his girlfriend would hardly help our future working relationship, would it?”

“I’m not Black’s girlfriend.”

Nick turned and stared at me. “You’re not? I just assumed you and he were…well…you know…”

“We’re not.”

“But I thought you lived together?” Nick raised an eyebrow.

“I have a bedroom in his house. I didn’t know how long I’d be staying in Virginia initially, and he had sixteen to spare, so he let me use one. And sometimes at parties, we pretend we’re a couple so neither of us gets bothered by unwanted attention.”

“Oh. Right. Why’s he so protective of you then?”

I shrugged. “I’ve had some experiences with men in the past that have been less than ideal. I think he’s just looking out for me.”

Nick flipped back the lid of his suitcase and pulled out the mattress. Before unrolling it, he paused in front of me and put a gentle hand on my shoulder.

“I promise I’ll be the perfect gentleman.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that.”

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