Chapter Fourteen
"Gosh that was fun, wasn't it?" Carolyn asked skipping along beside him as they started up the dock.
Christian grunted what could have been taken for agreement to Carolyn's cheerful words, but wasn't. It hadn't been fun at all for him. Having to stand at the back of the boat watching as Captain Jack had pushed drink after drink on Carolyn "to relax her" while taking every opportunity to touch her had been nothing but torture.
He knew what the man had been doing. Christian hadn't missed how she'd stiffened up and looked uncomfortable every time Jack had touched her. The man had obviously set out to get her used to his touching her by doing so in a nonsexual and nonthreatening way as much as possible.
It had been bad enough on the boat, but when they'd stopped at Anse Cochon to swim it had been ten times worse. Everyone had stripped down to swimsuits then, including Carolyn. She'd slid off her shorts, revealing the bottoms that went with the deep purple bikini top Christian had mistaken for a bra under her T-shirt.
It had also revealed her curvy figure and shapely legs to the captain's interested eyes.
Jack had immediately insisted she needed more suntan lotion and proceeded to "help" apply it despite her embarrassment and obvious discomfort. Then the man had set out to relax her by playing with her onshore, splashing her and teasing her before grabbing her by the waist and threatening to throw her into the water as he held her almost na**d back to his bare chest.
Christian had watched grimly from the boat, resisting the urge to leap overboard, swim to the man and rip his heart out for daring to touch her. Only the flashes of discomfort on Carolyn's face, and the way she continued to tense at Jack's touch had kept him from doing so.
She hadn't reacted like that to him on the bus. And she hadn't been half-tanked at the time. The guy didn't stand a chance.
"I can't believe I won the 'shake-your-booty' contest," she giggled.
Christian grunted again, his jaw now clenching and his teeth grinding together. That was a ten minutes he wouldn't soon forget. By the time the "contests" had started, the drink had begun to have its effect and Carolyn had gaily joined in when the crew had pulled out a boom box and lined up the dozen or so women on the boat tour, informing them that they had to shake their booty and that the men would pick the winner by applause. Having seen her dance the night before, Christian hadn't been at all surprised to see her close her eyes, let the music flow through her and begin to bump and grind like a pro. The woman was pure sensuality when music played, and he hadn't been the only one to notice. She had won easily.
Many of the other women, not having drunk as much as she had, hadn't been as comfortable doing it and had bowed out quickly or been too stiff and were voted off.
Three women had been removed each round, until there had only been Carolyn and two other women left. Then they had voted for first, second, and third place. Carolyn had beat out a twenty-something young bride and a woman in her thirties to take the prize; the lei she'd been wearing all day, and still had on.
"You should have joined in when the guys did it. I bet you can shake your booty too," she said with a laugh, skipping along beside him as they entered the main building.
Christian grunted again. As soon as Carolyn had been named the winner, the men had been lined up for the same contest with the women voting. Christian hadn't joined in. Neither had he bothered to watch the other men gyrating lamely on the boat. His eyes had been locked on Carolyn as the captain congratulated her, dropped the lei over her head, and gave her a quick congratulatory kiss that had made her blush and duck her head. The man had then slung his arm around her shoulder possessively to watch the men do their thing and Carolyn had stood biting her lip and looking uncomfortable but determined.
It was the determined look that bothered him the most.
The woman was apparently firmly fixed on having an affair with Captain Jack, whether she really wanted to or not, since her reactions hardly indicated any eagerness on her part. And it was all to take care of what she thought was premenopausal horniness and to preserve their friendship by "saving" him from her "unwanted attentions."
Good lord! He hadn't missed the irony in that.
"So, are we having dinner tonight?" she asked as they boarded a van for the ride up the hill.
Christian blinked as they settled on the front bench seat together, realizing that with Bethany sick again Carolyn would be free to have dinner with him tonight.
"Because if not, I should run back down to the boat after I change. Jack is taking people out on a night cruise and invited me along, but I said no because I promised to play date for you-"
"Yes, we're having dinner," Christian growled at once.
There was no damned way he was letting her anywhere near Jack again. He'd made up his mind. Her determination to sleep with Jack for his sake was madness... and he wasn't allowing it. Perhaps he couldn't risk telling her what he was and about his people yet, but he was going to tell her he wasn't really gay. He would then kiss her silly, strip her na**d, seek out every inch of skin the captain had touched and place his own hands there to wipe away the memory of the man before making love to her until she couldn't breathe.
By the time the sun rose in the morning, Carolyn would never again be foolish enough to imagine another man could stir her as he could. Hell, he should really just drag her up to the villa now and put his plans into action.
And he would if it weren't for the fact that his need for blood had hit the critical point again: his emotions were all over the place and his control almost nonexistent. He didn't even dare risk holding her hand until he'd had a couple of bags of blood.
"Okay, I'll meet you down in the lounge," she said cheerfully.
"No. I'll pick you up," Christian said at once. It was going to be a proper date for a change. He was not meeting her anywhere. He would collect her, and take her down to dinner, then-"
Oh, but-," she began.
"I'm picking you up," he said firmly as the van slowed in front of her villa, then quickly opened the door and ushered her out.
"But-," Carolyn tried again as he leaped back into the van.