My lips were about to find hers again when I heard a low voice say, "Beth?"

Beth moved her hands toward my pants, so I ignored the voice.

"Beth, is that you?"

Growling, I pulled back to yell but stopped when Beth's face visibly paled. "B-Brett?"

"Hey!" He waded through the pool and pulled her in for a hug. "How are you? It's been so long!" He released her.

I tugged Beth closer to me and shielded her; I would have peed on her to mark my territory if my body would have allowed it. Seriously, the guy needed to back the hell off before my fist ran into his face.

"I'm good." Beth gripped my arm tight. "And you?"

"Awesome! Just on vacation for a few days." He held up his hand. "Hold on, you have to meet my fiancee."

He left. Beth's grip tightened. She looked like she'd just seen a ghost — and not a friendly one like Casper — one that feeds on the souls of small children.

"Make a run for it?" I whispered, tugging her away from the man with too much chest hair. Did he get implants? Did guys do that? To look more masculine?

"They'll see us," she said through a fake smile.

Brett reappeared with a plastic Barbie doll look-alike in nothing but a string bikini and smile.

Wonders never cease.

"This is Paris."

"Of course it is," I said under my breath. Beth elbowed me and held out her hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Paris. I'm Beth."

Paris shook her hand, but passed Beth over as if she were a tiny little bug. Instead her eyes were glued to me and my naked chest. Of course they were. I'd be looking at me too if I had to date someone who used the same comb for his hair that he did his chest.

"Senator Jace Brevik?" A predatory smile made its presence known on her Botox-infused face.

I gave her points that she could still manage to move her mouth, let alone bust out a smile with all that swollen puffy skin.

"Yes. Yes, I am."

Brett laughed. "I knew you looked familiar! What are you doing here? Beth, holy shit, that's so cool you work for a senator?"

"Work?" Beth repeated. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you know." Brett waved her off. "You always were so smart. I just figured you were here to offer support to the senator and his wife or lover or whatever. Say, where's your significant other?" Brett looked around. "I would really love to meet her. Honestly, it would be an honor."

"My Brett's in politics too." Paris kissed Brett's neck and sighed. "He's the mayor of our town."

How nice. Brett thinks being a mayor means he's in politics. I should punch him in the balls and get it over with.

"Oh yeah?" Beth's lower lip trembled.

Why the hell did she look like she was going to cry?

"Yeah, Mayor of Bellingham, but I have aspirations for more." He puffed out his chest.

Bellingham, Washington? Right. Good for him. If he kept at it, he could run against me for president, said no person ever.

"Anyway, we won't take any more of your time, but if your better half or whatever shows up while we're all at the pool, it would be cool to do a photo op."

"Why not now?" I found myself saying.

"But your girlfriend—"

I should have stopped talking. Instead, words were coming out of my mouth without my permission, and my arm wrapped protectively around Beth's shoulders. "She's right here."

Paris's mouth dropped open, and Brett turned bright red. Take that, sucker.

To add insult to injury, Beth chose that exact moment to grab my face and kiss me so hard that my mouth almost went numb from pleasure. When she pulled back, I tried to kiss her again, but she laughed and hugged me instead. The Viagra was still in full effect, and my body didn't understand that this wasn't the most appropriate of times to attack her.

I shot a look to Brett that basically said, That's right, bastard. She's mine. Be an asshole elsewhere. We're full up here.

"Wow." Brett smirked. "I, uh, I wouldn't have guessed."

"Why not?" I said smoothly. "Beth's one of the leading chemists in the field of research and development for GreenCom, she graduated with honors from Yale, and has more schooling than both of you combined. I'd say it makes sense." I pinched her ass.

She stomped my foot.

"Besides, she's sexy as hell."

"Well." Brett cleared his throat. "I guess we should take that picture then?"

Beth elbowed me again.

I glared.

She pointed down.

I cursed.

"Something wrong?" Paris purred, her talons resting on Brett's hairy chest.

Wasn't she afraid her fingers were going to get trapped? She scratched a bit, some of the hair covered her pink nails. I puked a bit in my mouth. And problem? Gone. Wow, and to think all I needed was a Botoxed woman touching another man's chest hair.

"Actually," Beth gripped my arm, "we were just on our way back to the hut for a nap, but we'll be here all week. I'm sure we'll see you later."

"Dinner," Brett said.

Would he never give up?

"Uh…" Beth looked to me for help.

"Sure," I answered without looking at Brett. "But just so you don't think we're flaky, we haven't been eating much. This trip is all about proper hydration so we can spend all day and night in bed. This is the first daylight I've seen in hours. And I intend on keeping this one…" I swept Beth up into my arms and kissed her hard on the mouth, "…very, very busy."

"Geez, get a room," Brett said under his breath.

"Oh, we have one." I smirked. "With a California king and a plunge pool. See you later, Rhett."

"It's Brett!" he called.

"Okay, Rhett!" I ignored him and walked with Beth in my arms all the way back to the edge of the pool. "Now we make a run for it."

"Now?" Beth winked.

"Don't make me chase you."

"If you catch me, you get a prize," she teased, lifting herself out of the pool and crooking her finger at me.

"I like prizes." I lunged after her.

"Let's go over this again. Besides the drugs, did you do anything else to harm the senator?"

Grandma rubbed her hands together as her eyes darted around the room.

"Ma'am?"

"Oh, alright!" Grandma let out a heavy sigh. "I may have helped them along in their relationship."

"Helped?"

"Lavender in the hut, fertility beads under the mattress, a dreamcatcher by the plunge pool, oyster appetizers every afternoon, and a Michael Bolton love mix."

"Michael Bolton?" the agent repeated.

"Don't knock it until you try it." Grandma smirked.

Beth

I ran to our hut, thrust my body against the door, and let myself in with the dangling key.

Jace was hot on my heels.

And I was out of breath.

But I wasn't sure if it was from excitement or embarrassment.

My past was coming back to haunt me. But it's not that it was a hard past where I'd done drugs or suffered from anorexia or anything like that. It had everything to do with insecurities, ones I'd never faced. And that was the crappy thing about insecurities: they never actually went away until you dealt with them. And I'd never dealt with mine. Ever.