CHAPTERFOURTEEN
DANA
Rux remained stoic as they drove up to the marina to meet with Griffin. His private island could only be accessed through a water taxi, but the man was meeting Dana and Rux to personally escort them.
Rux was a businessman, a smart businessman, so he knew that he had to look engaged when he was around his clients. He forced a smile onto his face like applying a mask, and it made Dana even sadder.
They climbed out of the car and met with Griffin wearing a red top again, almost completely open and flapping in the wind. The man wasn’t in terrible shape, but Dana knew that his casual look was an indication of the go-with-the-flow attitude expected upon his special bit of land.
Orgies and alcohol, good times.
Griffin held out his hands and clapped Rux on the back. His smile looked forced again, the way Dana had noticed when she first met him in the restaurant.
She gave him an identical phony smile too. She was a woman, after all, who had to master the art of the forced, polite smile to stay alive.
“And this is your decadent beauty,” Griffin said, looking Dana up and down.
Rux turned to face her and gave her a smile that could have been genuine. It made her knees weak, and she breathed deeply.
It also helped her ignore the fact that Griffin was leering at her unabashedly.
“This is Dana,” Rux said, grinning.
Dana stepped forward and held out her hand. Griffin took it aggressively like a man dipping into the lake for a particularly slippery fish.
“My goodness,” Griffin said. “Aren’t you a delicious meal?”
Griffin could have been charming if Dana didn’t already know some terrible things about him. Hell, she probably would have detected something grimy with that keen intuition of hers.
He brought her hand to his mouth and planted a sloppy kiss there. Dana felt herself freeze, the opposite of the feeling she had when Rux had done the same thing.
“Pleasure,” he whispered.
Dana continued smiling, forcing it until her cheeks became sore.
“I’m honored,” Dana said.
He quickly let her hand go, and Dana had to avoid the deep-seated urge to rub it on her dress.
They all hopped onto the boat, with Dana making sure she got a spot next to Rux. He was still not being himself, but she wanted to make sure Griffin didn’t pick up any tension and possibly use it against them.
She sat close to Rux and crossed her legs. One elegant leg peeked out, running up her thigh and revealing a delectable patch of skin near her hip. She caught Rux looking briefly, which settled her anxiety a little.
The boat set out to sea, blasting through the hot tropical air.
It was only the three of them on the boat, so Griffin sat opposite them, leaning on his hand and continuing to ogle her without a care.
“Aren’t you an enchanting couple,” Griffin yelled over the boat’s engine.
Dana sat up straight, making sure her posture was flawless, then slithered her hand onto Rux’s leg. He looked up at her, fluttering his eyes the way he would whenever he caught his breath in his throat.
She couldn’t believe that she was able to do that to him. The thrill of it shot through her, battering at her defenses, trying to let Rux back in.
“We do our best,” Dana yelled back.
Griffin finally diverted his gaze back to the water, the final button on his shirt losing its grip. She held onto Rux’s leg and felt a confidence surge through her as he brought his hand to hers, stroking it as normal.
Dana turned to Griffin, ready to zero in on their mission.