Page 11 of Exposed

He turned and left, giving her the cold shoulder and Beth glanced back at Eric to find him watching the guy depart with a raised brow.

“That went well,” he said, his tone sarcastic. “Not suspicious or anything.”

“No. Not at all. I wonder. You said that room that you found had servers and computer terminals in it, right?” Her mind played with the idea that the resort was engaging in identity theft to steal guests’ credit card numbers or hack into their bankaccounts, but wouldn’t someone have reported that? All of the reviews were super positive—toopositive and also too similar, which was what had initially caught her attention.

“That’s what I saw,” Eric confirmed.

“We may need to take a second look, but it’ll be tricky getting in there.” She’d intentionally walked past the room several times when she’d been out taking photographs of the resort. There was always a staff member located near the door. Were they guards of some kind?

It was something to consider. Part of her wanted to go investigate right then, but if they left the reception dinner, their absence might be noticed. They needed to blend in, so they might as well enjoy the party. She sipped her rum and pineapple-flavored drink. Chunks of fruit speared on brightly colored plastic toothpicks stuck out of the top of the coconut glass, making it hard to find a spot to drink from. Eric solved the problem by eating the fruit first them tossing all the toothpicks aside to drain his drink in one long swallow.

“Clever approach,” she said and pulled the fruit from her drink as well so she could take a big gulp.

“Part of my training. Resourcefulness and problem solving.” He grinned at her.

A calypso band struck up a fun tropical-inspired pop song in the far corner and couples started to gather on the dance floor. She had an impulse to move as the beat picked up. “Care to dance?”

He grinned at her. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m not sure I’ve had enough alcohol for that yet.”

Beth held out her hand to him. “Let’s find out.”

He hesitated for the briefest of moments before wrapping his hand around hers and leading her to the dance floor. It might not be a real date, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t still have fun together. Plus, maybe they could mingle a bit more and get to know some of the other couples at the retreat better. Work and play combined.

Eric couldn’t remember the last time he’d danced. Maybe that time in Dubai, when his SEAL team had been between missions and they’d all gone to that nightclub. He’d not been lying about the alcohol part either. While he excelled at most sports and considered himself a pretty coordinated guy, dancing was a whole different skill set—one usually to be avoided while sober.

They wove through the couples on the dance floor, Beth’s hand warm in his, until she found a spot near the band and turned to face him. The music was lively and quick, and Eric quickly found himself losing his self-consciousness and enjoying the time with Beth. She made him feel comfortable in a way he hadn’t in a long, long time. Made him feel like it was safe to just relax and be himself.

And that was a dangerous thing, considering this was all for show.

Around them, couples did variations on the standard shuffle-step-shuffle-step, air punch, favored by white guys the world over and Eric looked over at Beth to find her biting back a laugh. Eric glanced down at his own shuffling feet then chuckled himself. Okay. Fine. He was no Fred Astaire, but he looked better than that guy who was busting a move over in the corner and—oops—busted the seam of his pants, too.

Beth did laugh then, the lilting sound washing over him like warm honey.

His body tightened against his wishes. Time to get back to the table before things got out of hand. Except just as he reached for Beth’s hand, the music switched to a sensual song and Beth moved in closer to him, her spicy rose scent sending his nerve endings into overdrive.

“Oh, I love this song, honey,” she said, twining her arms around his neck and pressing all those luscious curves of hers against his front, and damn, if he didn’t just about moan with the pleasure. She was tall for a woman, fitting well with his own six-three height. The top of her head brushed his chin as they swayed in time with the music and when she rose on tiptoe to whisper in his ear, he couldn’t stop the shudder of awareness that swept through him like wildfire. “Do you see the Murphys anywhere?”

The reminder of the couple from earlier acted like a cold shower to his overactive libido and he gave a small sigh of relief. Work. That’s what this was about. A job. Nothing else. As one of the tallest guys in the room, he was able to easily scan over the crowd, but didn’t spot them. “No. Why?”

“No reason. I was just curious about them.” She leaned back slightly to observe the couples around them. “It’s an old habit of mine.”

“What is?” he asked, doing his best not to notice the brush of her body against his as they danced.

“Trying to figure out people’s stories.” She gave a sad little chuckle. “I was alone a lot as a kid, too busy studying when the rest of the kids in my class were playing and making friends.”

“I’m shocked to hear that,” he said, making light of it even though his heart ached just a little thinking of poor little Beth locked away in a library by herself. “I guess that’s why you’re so smart now.”

She gave him an assessing stare, as if to see if he was mocking her or not, then smiled. “It is. I’ve always been ambitious. It’s not a crime, you know.”

“No, it’s not.” He resisted the urge to pull her closer into him again and looked at one of the couples close by. “What about them? What’s their story?”

“Hmm.” Beth’s pretty gaze narrowed as she watched them. “I’d say they’ve grown apart, focusing on their careers and taking care of their three sons. They want to rekindle the spark that first brought them together.”

He wrinkled his nose. “You can tell that just by looking at them?”

“No.” Beth shook her head and grinned. “They said so in therapy earlier. Weren’t you paying attention?”

“I was too busy scrambling to keep up with you changing our cover story at the last minute.”

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