Chapter Four
The phone in Jaime's cottage was ringing as she walked through the door. She picked up without saying a word.
"It's me," the voice on the other end stated, then fell silent, allowing Jaime to check the line for bugs or taps.
"Line's clear. Hi, Steve."
"Looked mighty cozy out there tonight..."
Jaime chuckled. "Doing my job."
"Yeah, well I'd feel better if your job involved a ninety-year-old hunchback with warts."
"That is so gross."
"Exactly," Steve said. "So is he a good kisser?"
"Steve!"
"Sorry. It's just a little hard, seeing my wife in another man's arms, smiling while he kisses her."
"So don't watch," Jaime suggested. "What about you? How'd your day go?"
"I learned a couple tidbits from my harem," he answered, throwing in 'harem' just to tease her a bit. "Your friend Alex apparently isn't the womanizer Oscar made him out to be. According to a few of my girls, he's been here almost two weeks and you're the first one he's taken an interest in."
"Your girls, Austin?"
"Only a couple dozen."
"Ha. Ha. Ha." In truth, Jaime was relieved, glad he was still in a joking mood.
"Are you seeing him again tomorrow?" Steve asked.
"Bright and early for breakfast."
"Find out anything yet?"
"Just that he owns a fleet of helicopters."
"Yeah? Well, I walked on the moon."
"Steve, you're not in competition here."
"That's what I'm afraid of," he said lightly, hiding his nervousness.
"I love you. I tolerate Alex."
"I'd tolerate him, too," Steve agreed, "if he wasn't - as you women say - drop-dead gorgeous."
"You've got nothing to worry about," she told him, smiling to herself.
"Promise? You're not gonna kiss him again tomorrow morning, melt right into his arms and forget all about me?" He was only partially joking.
"Steve..."
"Sorry. Again. You'd better get some rest, Sweetheart. I miss you already."
"I miss you, too. 'Night."
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Jaime was expecting to meet Alex at the villa, but he was waiting on the path directly in front of her cottage, a bouquet of flowers in his hand. "Thank you," she said, accepting them and standing on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly on the cheek. His arms gently enveloped her as though it were the most natural thing in the world, and he pulled her in closer for a real kiss. To her shock, Jaime felt her body begin to respond instinctually until she stopped it with the sheer power of her will. There was no way she'd let things progress, of course, but she had to remind her body where she was and exactly what she was doing.
After breakfast, they walked arm-in-arm through the sand at the edge of the water. As they approached the main portion of the beach, they both saw Steve. He had a redhead on one arm and two brunettes on the other, with two or three more women gathered to the side.
"Now that's tacky," Alex remarked, "stringing 'em all along like that." He reached over to run his fingers lightly across Jaime's cheek and through her hair. "I'd so much rather stick to one very special woman."
"What do they see in him anyway?" Jaime asked. "He looks like a muscle-bound Ken doll on steroids." I'm sorry, Steve.
As they walked slowly back toward the villa, Jaime could feel her husband's eyes boring into her back the entire time.
After she had spent most of the day with Alex, observing him, talking with him (and, yes, kissing him), Jaime found that she was actually starting to like him. Not in a man-woman romantic sense of the word, but she liked him as a friend, as a person. Oscar had been wrong about his being a womanizer; could he be wrong about the rest as well? What if Alex was innocent...?
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The phone rang as Jaime was changing clothes before dinner. "It's me," the voice on the other end told her. She listened carefully - still no phone taps.
"Line's clear."
"Muscle-bound Ken doll on steroids, Sweetheart?"
"Now he'll never picture us as a couple," Jaime explained.
"But we still are, right?"
"Are what?"
"A couple."
"I'm not even gonna legitimize that with an answer."
"He sure does seem to enjoy kissing you," Steve said softly.
"Steve -"
"Just pointing out the obvious. I'm surprised he hasn't offered you a room at the villa yet."
"Actually..."
"He did? Are you going?"
"I'm not sure yet. I know I'd be able to see and hear a lot more, but I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea -"
"Neither am I, but I trust you. I'll just be glad when all this is over. Did you find anything new yet?"
"Not really..."
"And what are you hedging around?"
Jaime paused briefly. "Steve, I'm starting to wonder if maybe Alex is innocent. Maybe intel was wrong and he's got no part in this."
"You're...falling for him already?" Steve asked in a flat, empty voice.
"Of course not, but my gut is hardly ever wrong, and it's telling me we don't have all the facts. And he's just so nice. He's gentle, sweet; sorta reminds me of you."
"Just be careful, Sweetheart," Steve told her. "Like you said, we don't have all the facts yet. Once we do, I have a feeling you might not like them."
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