Read Online Make Her Pay by Roxanne St. Claire - Free Book Online

a look, don’t you think?”
    “I don’t know.” He pulled out a stool from the center table and offered it to her, taking the one next to it. “Haven’t tasted it yet.”
    She slowly ran one finger over the icing, gathering a clump on the tip, then lifted it to his mouth with a look of pure sex. “Then have some.”
    He took the lick she offered and managed not to make a face. He didn’t like sweets, and he didn’t like pushy women. But he’d play her game, because his job wasn’t quite done here.
    “Very good.”
    She smiled as if he’d paid her the compliment, and not the cake. “So, I hear you were a Navy SEAL.”
    He’d told Kenny, who’d been in the Navy. “Word travels fast.”
    “On a boat with a dozen people in each other’s face 24/7? You bet it does. How long have you been diving?”
    “A while. How about you?”
    “A few years.”
    He took a small bite of cake, avoiding the frosting. “What’s your background?” He knew, of course. Dropped out of the University of Miami from a marine biology program, married a boat captain and started diving, divorced him a year later, kept diving.
    “I’m a marine biologist.”
    And a liar. “Who dives for treasure.”
    “Hey, someone around here has to understand the environment. I know, I don’t look like a marine biologist. But you do look like a Navy SEAL.”
    “I wasn’t one for very long,” he said, never comfortable with the idea that people thought he had some long and illustrious career as a SEAL. “How’d you get into diving?”
    “The way all women get into a lifestyle change.”
    “A guy?”
    She shrugged. “Of course. But he’s gone.”
    “And you’re still diving.”
    “It’s an addiction, as you know.” She tapped the tabletop with her nail. “So let me see it. It’s not against the rules for me to look at it.”
    He pushed off the stool to unlock the cabinet. “Lot of rules on this boat, aren’t there?”
    “When Judd Paxton’s signing the paychecks, we follow the rules.” She came up next to him, letting her body brush his, her smile flirtatious. “Most of them, anyway.”
    He opened the steel-encased door and took out the medallion that had spent the afternoon soaking in a vinegar solution and under the ministrations of Charlotte Gorman’s well-trained hands. The coral was gone from the gold, which gleamed, and the jewels were almost perfect.
    “Charlotte thinks it needs some more cleaning, but…” He angled it for her to see. “It is a beauty.”
    She nodded, her eyes widening appreciatively. “And worth a ton.”
    “Have you seen anything like it before?” he asked.
    “Nope.” She ran her finger over the crucifix. “Makes you wonder just what we’re searching for here.”
    “Doesn’t it, though? What do you think?”
    She shrugged, still studying the artifact. “We’re too far out for the 1715 or 1733 fleets, so something independent, probably. Something that didn’t go down in a hurricane, or it would be closer to shore.”
    “Any ideas?” he asked, holding her gaze, knowing the eye contact might open her up to talk.
    “Not a one. I’m just here for the money.”
    He inched away. “I thought it was an addiction.”
    “I’m addicted to money.” She laughed, leaning into the space he’d left between them. “Is that something you find unattractive?”
    “Not passing opinion on it.” He returned the medallion to the cloth bedding Charlotte had made for it and reached to close the cabinet door, but Alita put her hand in his arm, stopping him.
    “You need to see it again?” he asked.
    “I just…” She leaned over and let her shoulder press into his arm. “I kind of want a picture of it.”
    Another one with pictures? “No can do, sweetheart. That would be against Mr. Paxton’s rules.”
    “Screw Mr. Paxton.”
    “I suppose you could try that and see if he lets you take pictures.”
    She put a hand on his bicep and squeezed. “Is that your price?”
    Con spun at the sound of a