Page 9 of Exposed

“Don’t flatter yourself. Anyway, that’s not the point.” She scowled. “We should clear any physical stuff between us beforehand.”

“You kissed me at the airport yesterday.” And that had shocked the hell out of him, so he got how she was feeling.

“On the cheek,” she squeaked. “It’s not the same.”

“Look.” He turned toward her, bringing them to a stop on the path. He kept his voice low and leaned close enough that her scent washed over him. “We’re supposed to be married. I think people would be suspicious if we didn’t touch or kiss once in a while, right?” The breeze caught her dark ponytail and set it dancing. “I figured you’d want to keep all this on the down-low as much as possible. Sorry.”

She huffed and shook her head. “You’re right. I’m sorry, too. I’m just on edge, and it’s making me jumpy. I really want to start digging into what’s going on here and this is my first shot.”

“Let’s make the most of it then.” They started moving again and entered the huge, open air rec room.

“I should probably warn you that I played competitive ping pong in college,” she said softly. “I’m good.”

“Yeah?” Eric gazed around at the high thatched ceiling above and the various game tables and activities set up around the space then grinned at her. “I’m good, too. I look forward to winning.”

“In your dreams, honey,” she said before running over to join Cindy on one side of the ping pong table. “C’mon, hubs. You chicken, or what?”

Hubs?Eric shook his head and picked up a paddle, moving in beside John on the opposite side of the table. Apparently, they were playing gender teams instead of as couples. “Just giving you ladies a moment to savor the hope of victory before I crush you in defeat. Isn’t that right, John?”

“Oh, well.” John gave his wife a nervous look before smiling. “We’re just playing for fun.”

“Sure. I’m all about fun,” he said before serving the first volley over the net. Beth returned the shot, and the game was on. As they played, Eric tried to engage John in conversation when he could. “So, is this your first retreat?”

“Yeah. We’ve been here a few weeks already though. Came early to relax and center our chakras.”

Eric narrowly avoided rolling his eyes but managed a friendly grin all the same. “I didn’t know they let you come early.”

“It costs extra, of course,” John said, stepping back as Beth sent a blistering shot into the guy’s quarter of the table. A resounding whoop went up from the ladies’ side at the miss.

“Point for our side,” Beth said, her expression smug. “I believe that makes the score one-zero in our favor.”

“Enjoy it while it lasts, sweetheart,” Eric said, crouching slightly and bouncing on the balls of his feet. “You’re about to go down, big time.”

The double-entendre of his words stuck him before he quickly pushed it aside. Thoughts of Beth on her knees before him, undoing his belt and zipper, then slowly taking him into her mouth had his blood thundering and his cock twitching and…

“Ha!” Beth yelled, clapping excitedly as the ball whizzed past him to land across the rec room. “Another point for us! I think you’re the one going down, big boy.”

And man, oh man, those thoughts were even steamier. Kissing his way down her luscious body, parting her thighs, settling between them to swipe his tongue across her slick folds…

“Need help finding that ball, man?” John asked, joining Eric in the search for the tiny white ping pong ball.

Eric raised a hand to him in thanks then bent to search underneath a foosball table. It had to be over here somewhere. Perhaps he could find his missing common sense along with it. Jesus. What the hell was wrong with him? He was here on a job. It was another mission just like any other. He shouldn’t be thinking about Beth or anything else except the swift completionof his goals. But just that little kiss had given him a taste… No. Not going there.

Get in, get the intel she needed for her story, get out.

Now, if he could just get his traitorous cock to calm down, that’d be awesome. It had been too long since he’d gotten laid. That had to be it. Thankfully, his T-shirt was long and loose enough that it covered his crotch and any signs of his arousal.

“Got it!” John called, holding up the ball, and they got back to the game.

Bethwasgood. He’d give her that. But he was no slouch himself, even though he’d missed a few shots at the beginning. Play continued until they ended it all in a tie, neither side conceding defeat.

“Well, that was fun,” Beth said, taking Eric’s hand and leading the group over to a seating area in the middle of the rec room. The place was empty except for the four of them, making for ideal talking. She slumped down into the corner of a rattan sectional sofa and tucked her feet beneath her while Eric took a seat beside her and slung his arm along the back of the cushion. His body was back under control at last, allowing him to concentrate on the conversation. “And relaxing.”

“Yep,” Eric said, feeding her the information he’d gleaned from John earlier. “Did you know they let some couples come to these retreats early, sweetheart?”

“Really? No. I didn’t know that.” Beth turned to Cindy and John who were sitting across from them. “Is that what you guys did?”

“Yeah.” Cindy smiled. “It’s been great here. We weren’t certain at first, after another couple who arrived at the same time we did left early because of a bad experience.”

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