Read Online The Devil's Game by Alex Strong - Free Book Online Page B

helped her lay it out on the large flat area at the bow of the boat. She kneeled on the blanket as he handed her a glass from the basket and then pulled a small bottle of white wine from it. Just enough for the two of them.
    “You weren’t planning on sailing alone today, were you?” she asked as he filled her glass.
    “I’m pretty sure you know the answer to that,” he said, pouring into his glass before raising it. “ Salut ?”
    “ Salut ,” she said, tapping her glass to his.
    She took a sip and Damien laid out on his side next to her, leaning on his elbow.
    A strand of hair had escaped her ponytail, and she pushed it out of her face. “Is it always this gorgeous here? Year-round, I mean.”
    He took a long swig before answering. “It gets pretty hot in the summer—well into the hundreds. And it’s even more humid.”
    “That’s hard to believe,” she said.
    “But yes, the weather is pretty nice twelve months out of the year.”
    She looked out over the horizon to where the sparkling water met the bright blue sky. “Doesn’t it ever rain?” she asked.
    “It rains pretty often, mostly in summer,” he said, placing his empty glass into the basket. “It usually only lasts an hour or so. And even that is warm.”
    “What about hurricanes?” she asked. “I know you get those.”
    “Are we really so boring that we’re sitting in the middle of the ocean on a beautiful day discussing the weather?”
    Karina finished the last drop of her wine and put her glass in with Damien’s before lying so that she was facing him, resting her head in her palm. “What would you rather talk about then?”
    “How about,” he pushed the wild strand back behind her ear, “we discuss why you won’t come to my bed?”
    She felt the heat rising to her cheeks. “Probably for the same reason you won’t come to mine,” she said.
    He traced a finger along the length of her arm right down to the hand resting on her leg. “And what reason is that?” he asked.
    She moved her hand, planting it in front of her, but the plan backfired—his palm simply remained on her thigh with only the thin sarong between it and her flesh.
    “Because we’re both stubborn,” she said.
    “Hmm. So you’re saying we’re at a stalemate then?”
    “Afraid so.”
    He scooted an inch closer. “But what if,” his hand slid down to the off-centered knot at her waist, “we were on neutral ground?” His fingers started to work at the knot. “Say, on a boat in the middle of the ocean.”
    He leaned forward and kissed her neck. She closed her eyes just as the knot came undone. He leaned back and glided the sarong down her leg, leaving goosebumps in its wake.
    “Are you surrendering then?” she asked, opening her eyes to see that hungry look again. When did it become such a turn-on?
    “I didn’t say that. But I don’t think you want me to stop.”
    “Perhaps I do.”
    He leaned into her again, moving his hand to the top of her thigh, his thumb resting on the front of her bikini bottom. “We both know I can tell when you’re lying,” he whispered into her ear, and she placed a hand on his chest, sinking her nails into him. He was right. She no longer cared about winning this game.
    And then a phone started ringing and Damien pulled back, frowning.
    “Tom was only supposed to call in an emergency,” he said, standing up.
    Karina rolled onto her back, cursing Tom. Couldn’t he have waited another twenty minutes? She closed her eyes, imagining his hands on her again. Okay, maybe an hour.
    It was too windy to hear his words from the back of the boat as she lay there, but he definitely sounded agitated.
    A couple minutes later, Damien was raising the sails.
    “Is everything all right?” she asked, sitting up.
    “We have to head back.” His tone was curt, and it was hard to tell if he was mad at her or whatever Tom had said.
    She folded the blanket and tucked it away before taking the basket down below. By the time she came back up,