Ill Met by Moonlight

Feb 19, 2025
19 min read

Updated: Feb 1

A Short Story by Lacy Aurora

This story contains: her and him, contemporary romance, lovers reunited, enemies to lovers, exhibitionism/voyeurism, quickie, forbidden, cunnilingus

Jessica had been staking out the hotel pool for almost an hour when Damien emerged from the lobby. His gaze swept past her, over the swimmers and sunbathers, before landing on the tiki bar.

Damien swaggered across the pool deck. Jessica hadn’t seen him since she left the FBI, yet here he was—still slim, fit, and sexy as hell. Two hours sitting poolside had left her numb and bored, but at the sight of Damien her pulse quickened, heat rushing to her cheeks that had nothing to do with the Caribbean sun. She knew she should be watching the hotel doors for the man she was being paid to pursue, but she couldn't take her eyes off the one standing at the bar.

With a deep, steadying breath, she turned away and called her partner. “Has Stanton checked in?” she murmured.

“No, but his reservation hasn’t been cancelled.” Donna’s voice on the Bluetooth was clear, despite the noise from the pool.

“Has he landed in Turks & Caicos?” Out of the corner of her eye, Jessica watched Damien smile at the woman tending bar. She felt an unwanted stab of jealousy.

“You know we don’t have the same access to airline systems as we did when we worked for the Bureau.”

“But you’re in the hotel system.”

Donna snorted derisively. “Much different security.”

“This makes no sense,” Jessica said, and sighed. “Lionel Beaumont and the other executives from Prion Software are here. Stanton should be with them. He’s giving the keynote this afternoon.” She reconfirmed the conference schedule on her phone. “Too bad you can’t just hack into his laptop.”

“Not with their network security,” Donna responded. “The only way we’re getting the files Sasha needs is if you physically plug the war drive into Stanton’s computer.”

Sasha Rodrigues, the first big client for Jessica’s nascent firm, had dated Stanton for two years before he dumped her and stole her game. Stanton worked for Beaumont and Prion Software, but he also had his own firm, and now it was set to cash in big time on Sasha’s work. Proving that the coding was stolen could establish Jessica’s reputation in corporate intelligence. If only Stanton would show up.

“Can you at least make sure he’s not still in Chicago?”

“I’ll take a look and get back to you,” Donna said. “What’s the resort like?”

Jessica glanced over to where Damien was chatting up the woman behind the bar. An ocean-scented breeze caressed her skin, its cool touch contrasting with the warmth of the early afternoon sun. “Lousy,” she said.

“Liar,” Donna shot back. “I’ll call you.”

Jessica took a sip from her drink, savoring the tangy juice, and tried to relax. He might be late, but Stanton had to show eventually.

She tried to keep her eyes off of Damien while she waited. His presence unnerved her, but there was a slim chance he was just here on vacation.