Pier Lights by Ella M. Kaye Page A

grinned. Damn, he had a beautiful
grin.
    “Why did you put the mask on?”
    “I never date coworkers.”
    Date? And how did that answer her
question?
    “Or do anything else with them, either.”
    “Ah. Then why did you ask me to your
boat?”
    “To talk. Why are you stripping when you’re
more trained than that?”
    Caroline faltered. She had started asking
questions. It was her own fault. “How do you know I am?”
    “It shows.”
    “I’m glad.”
    “I am in awe of you.” He held her gaze.
Still, he didn’t move.
    “Why?”
    “I have no idea.”
    She laughed. “Well, I have to love the
honesty.”
    “And you? Why are you here on the beach so
often at night?”
    “You mean why am I watching you here on the
beach so often at night?”
    “Yes.”
    “I am in awe of you. Of your skill.”
    “With the sword.”
    “Yes.” She leaned forward. “And I enjoy
looking at your body.”
    His chest expanded, his shoulders pulled
back. “Mind if I row farther out again? I won’t go farther than you
want. Tell me to stop.”
    “Dio. I want you to go farther out. Away
from sight of anyone on the beach. And I want like all hell for you
to break your do nothing with coworkers rule. And no, I have no
idea why I want that.”
    “Lina. This mask always stays on when I’m
with a woman. It’s part of the act. Don’t expect otherwise.”
    She grinned and reached back to untie the
top of her bikini at her neck. “That’s not the part of you I’m
interested in.” She let it drop half way, holding it up just far
enough her nipples were still covered.
    Dio reached down for the oars without
removing his gaze from her breasts and rowed them out into the
ocean.
    When he slowed his urgent rowing, Lina
released the strings, let the material fall. When he stopped, she
untied the bottom of it and dropped the top half of her bikini to
the side.
    “You never go that far at work.”
    “No. Not yet.”
    “Yet?”
    “I’m only paid as a beginner so far. That’s
all they get until Hayes wants to pony up better.”
    “Careful with him. Most of the girls only
get as far as they do because...”
    “I know. Not me.”
    “You haven’t...”
    “With Hayes? Not a chance in hell. Or the
others, including patrons. It’s not going to happen. Not this
time.”
    Dio scanned her slowly. “They said you were
new to performing. You’re not.”
    “Never said I was. They can say what they
want. Doesn’t make it true.”
    He pulled in the oars and lay them along the
sides of the small boat which wasn’t as small as it looked from the
outside. “One condition.”
    “Okay.”
    “No one at work finds out.”
    “Of course not. I don’t want that any more
than you do.”
    “Why?”
    “Easy. When you give yourself that
reputation, you’re taken less seriously. I expect to be taken
seriously. And I don’t want the jerk wads who work there to expect
I’ll do it with them just because I did it with you.”
    “Understood.”
    “Why don’t you do it with coworkers?”
    “I don’t want them to think I’m one of
them.”
    “Aren’t you?”
    “No. Did you think I was?”
    “No. I’m not either. But then, they all
probably think the same thing about the rest of us. Don’t you
expect?”
    “Maybe. Can you stand up in a boat without
throwing us overboard?”
    “I’m a dancer, Dio. I’m good at
balance.”
    “Right. Come here.” He stood. The boat
swayed.
    Lina made him wait. She would obey the
order, but she would make him wait first. A show of power. When she
stood, she stood slowly and ran fingers up from his calf to his
thigh, over the thin small black shorts to his waist, stomach, up
to his smooth chest and to his shoulder. Dio stood still, very
still, and allowed it. His eyes followed her movement. The rest of
him remained statue still, statuesque, powerful, controlled.
    She was at nearly an arm’s distance and
could barely see him under the moon’s glow assisted by the little
lantern. Still, he was beautiful.