Off the coast
La Rochelle, France
“W
e’re here!”
Laura groaned from down below, Acton smiling as he recognized her morning stretch. “Give me a minute.”
It had been a long, uneventful night, made easier by the fact they were thieves with impeccable taste. The boat was more than that word implied. It was, in fact, a yacht, a luxury yacht. Fully stocked with food, liquor, toiletries, and clothing of all manner, most of which fit them.
He was already prepared for their trip to the shore, Laura having insisted on taking the first shift on watch last night. She had let him sleep far too long, almost six hours, though their mid-morning arrival had still given her five hours to rest.
His shift had him showered, coifed, and sporting swimwear, the decision to swim ashore forced upon them by the fact they were in a stolen vessel. He had laid out a skimpy two-piece thong outfit he had found as a joke, and every part of him that made him a man took notice when Laura slinked up the stairs in it.
“Umm…holy shit?”
She grinned, did a twirl, then planted a kiss on him that had all the fires stoked. Then she gently slapped him. “Funny guy.”
He grinned. “Oh, how I wish I had my phone. There’d be pictures! Sooo many pictures!”
“Over my dead body.”
“Drop dead gorgeous body.”
She patted his cheek. “Thanks, love, but the show’s over.” She returned below then emerged a few minutes later in a sensible one-piece, another outfit folded in her arms. “Did you find something to put our clothes in?”
He pointed toward a nearby shelf, his clothes already sealed in a waterproof bag, another containing the Bible. She stuffed her clothes and a pair of sandals in an empty bag, neither of them having found shoes that fit, the owners of the boat evidently blessed or cursed with small feet.
She peered through the window at the shore in the distance. “That’s going to be quite the swim.”
“We’ll take floatation devices. There’s no way I can swim with that thing”—he gestured at the Bible—“tied to me.”
“Won’t it float?”
He shrugged. “It should, but I don’t want to be in the water and discover it doesn’t, then have to come up with a Plan B.”
She nodded. “True.” She looked about. “Are we ready?”
“In a minute. First, we eat. God only knows when we’ll get another chance.”
