Teasing Trinity

  A Total-E-Bound Publication

  www.total-e-bound.com

  Teasing Trinity

  ISBN # 978-0-85715-521-4

  ©Copyright Allie Standifer 2011

  Cover Art by April Martinez ©Copyright April 2011

  Edited by S.F. Swift

  Total-E-Bound Publishing

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

  Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

  The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

  Published in 2011 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.

  Warning: This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has been rated Total-e-melting.

  Club Botticelli

  TEASING TRINITY

  Allie Standifer

  Dedication

  For those of you who dare to be uniquely you. Thanks to you the world is a more interesting and entertaining place to be. I, for one, am grateful J

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Kool-Aid: Kraft Foods Inc.

  Doctors Without Borders: Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) USA, Inc.

  Prologue

  Somewhere in her brain Trinity Mailer knew something was wrong or at least not very right, but the comforting sound of her friends’ voices kept her from worrying. She floated around in her own head, not able to open her eyes or move her limbs, but her ears worked perfectly.

  “She’s almost drooling,” Olivia whispered right near her ear.

  “Well, shit. How much of that stuff did you give her, Recee?” Sweet Emma’s concerned tone almost made Trinity worry, but even that temporary feeling faded away.

  Drifting in a cloud of medicated bliss she moved along, barely conscious of the strong male arms that carried her protectively pressed to his chest.

  “Hell will have a new location once she wakes up, Hunt. I, for one, plan on being far far away. Like someplace in the rain forest or maybe Siberia. She’ll do very bad things to my body, soul and checking account when she gets back.” This was Briley’s voice and Trinity wanted to pat her friend for having such good sense. Of course she’d come back and ruin all their lives…or she would once she got over feeling so damn good.

  “Oh come on,” Ethan said. Olivia’s love-monkey fiancé’s deep tones were sceptical. “You slipped a roofie in her drink, Recee. This is the plan all four of you dreamt up and perfected. Don’t tell us you’re having second thoughts.”

  “Friends do not let friends drug friends,” Emma’s soft whisper brushed Trinity’s ear. “This is so wrong on so many levels.”

  “You’re telling me. I hear the North Pole is nice this time of year.” Briley had an eager note in her voice. “I can always use it as an opportunity to expand my travel business.”

  “You go nowhere without me.” This came from the new man to their group, Carter Moore. Mr. Sensitive and Reliable, all around geek king. The man so in love with Briley Evans that he had faced Recee—knives and all—without flinching. Love made fools of the best of them.

  But still, while she mentally twirled in her happy place, Trinity did feel general good will to her friends and the men they’d found to love them. Only Recee and Trinity remained the hold-outs to love, but Trinity knew sooner or later a man would come along to sweep her smart-mouthed friend off her feet and into his bed. Well, this perfect man would have to tunnel his way through Recee’s fetish for knives and other deadly sharp objects. Trinity wondered if Recee’s obsession went hand-in-hand with her other focus in life, designing curvy women’s accessories. Making all those necklaces, earrings and what-not had a tendency to keep her friend armed. What with working, cutting and shaping all the metals Recee used, sharp objects were always within her reach.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it, baby.” Briley’s sugar-sweet tone broke into Trinity’s thoughts. “But we’ll need to start packing right away. I don’t want to be around when she gets back.”

  A male snort followed Briley’s declaration. “Trinity’s not all-powerful. She’ll be pissed then get over it. There’s no reason to be afraid.”

  Everyone went silent around her. Trinity could picture her friends’ amazed stares directed at Brock, Emma’s hunka-hunka-burnin’-ex-military-love. Yeah, Brock might be all big and bad, but the solider played by the rules. Well, most of them. If she didn’t count the time he kidnapped Emma, but still he couldn’t even enter Trin’s playing field. Trinity believed in winning at all cost, no matter who stepped onto the pitch.

  “Be afraid,” Olivia whispered,” be very afraid.”

  “This is ridiculous,” a man growled.

  Hunt.

  Trinity knew that snarl, and knew Hunt all too well. Even in her fogged confusion he presented a danger she had no ability to fight.

  “I’ll take care of her,” he said. “She’ll take whatever revenge she wants out on me. The rest of you will be safe.”

  “Safe, my ass,” Olivia said.

  “I’ll protect your ass and everything else.” Ethan had a smile in his voice.

  The sound of kissing drifted to Trinity before she felt the cold wind of Avalon’s winter brush over her uncovered cheeks.

  Her body shifted as Hunt pulled her closer to his warm chest. “This is my last chance. Thanks to the private plane and island I’ll have plenty of time and privacy to convince her I’m here for good. She doesn’t stand a chance of running away from me with no way off the island but boat. Plus, Briley assured me there’s no phone, Internet, cable or anything resembling modern communications. Trinity will have to deal with me if she ever wants to leave.”

  Chapter One

  Butcher’s knife, ice pick, pronged fork, hedge clippers…Trinity paused her list of deadly weapons to gaze at the blue green sea. Everything here was perfect, the food, the water, the drinks, the weather…but where was a hardware store?

  “Hey, gorgeous, want to go for a swim?” a deep male voice asked from behind her. Since he couldn’t see Trinity allowed a sensual shiver to trail down her body.

  And that’s where everything stopped being perfect.

  The company sucked thanks to the frenemies on her to-kill list. Briley had set Trinity up with her travel agency connections and sheer gall. She’d be the first Trinity went after. Some friend to leave her alone, no phone, no Internet and no way to get off this hunk of paradise in the Atlantic Ocean for two very long weeks.

  On top of Briley’s treachery, Emma, Recee and Olivia had helped. All four of Trinity’s traitorous friends had encouraged this madness. Going so far as to drug her ass and shove it on a private plane so when she woke she’d have no choice, but to accept the circumstances.

  Like hell she would!

  Avalon, her hometown, might be miles away from this island paradise, but it wouldn’t stop Trinity from plotting the demise of her nearest and dearest. Club Botticelli, Olivia’s nightclub for people above
a size six persuasion, would run red with their blood. Or so Trinity wished. Unfortunately, she gagged at the sight of the thick body fluid.

  Maybe she could mix a little bleaching solution with their shampoo.

  The tropical sun warmed her shoulders as she sat up, the perfect idea for revenge scattering all other petty thoughts out of existence. Once her dainty size nine feet landed on American soil, Trin would set each of those traitorous bitches up with Gunner the Brazilian waxer from hell. He’d rip them a new one…literally.

  The sweet sounds of their imagined pain and horror teased her mind like a forgotten ballad. Oh yeah, those four would pay for this humiliation.

  Trinity Mailer didn’t lie down for anyone, much less her nemesis. She hadn’t reached her level of success in the fashion industry without a firm backbone, razor-sharp brain and knife-edged tongue. Clothing design was a dog-eat-dog business and if you wanted to remain number one it took more than out-of-this-world designs. It took guts, sweat and blood.

  Especially if you designed clothes for real people without stick-figure bodies. She’d worked hard to make Trinity’s Togs a worldwide name. If a person happened to wear something other than a single digit, hers were the clothes everyone—men and women alike—craved.

  A healthy size sixteen herself, Trinity knew and understood her market. She designed clothes to make real people feel beautiful, sexy and successful. Thin people weren’t the only ones who needed or deserved to look good.

  Too bad none of this made a damn bit of difference to the man who’d trapped her in paradise.

  She turned her head to glare at him. “I’ve told you, Hunt, I don’t want to see you, speak to or be anywhere in the same sphere as you.”

  Her insults seemed to bounce off his rock-hard chest as he looked around the private beach. His trim, muscular body made her mouth water and her fingers clench in the sand as she shot him a dark look over her shoulder.

  “Trin, you’ve got to get over this obsession you have with me. I may be a god in the sack, but I’m almost mortal every place out of it. Stop feeling inferior. I promise to wipe the drool off your chin as you stare at my manly perfection.”

  “I loathe you.”

  He grinned, showing off perfect white teeth. “Talk like that’s just going to get me turned on.”

  “A cold breeze could get you turned on.” She made sure to keep her eyes away from his buff, tanned body. Only danger and regret lay in that direction.

  One time, one freaking time she let her guard drop and slept with the man. A night she’d never forget for many reasons. The man truly was a god in the sack, against the wall, in the shower and several other places that all blurred together in one sensuous haze.

  But his morning-after routine left a lot to be desired. She’d woken up sore, sleepy and very much alone. As she did her first and last walk of shame home, Trinity swore on everything she held dear she’d never risk herself again. No way were the results worth the possible pain. So what if she ended up alone with a thousand cats and talking to herself? At least she’d never wonder if the felines would be there when she woke every morning.

  After she committed the mass murder of her four friends she really would be left alone. The thought depressed her enough to reconsider killing off her nearest and dearest with whatever sharp object came to hand.

  Hunt plopped his gorgeous, tanned body next to her with a bright smile. “Come on, Trinity. Bri arranged this for us. The least we can do is enjoy it.” He shot her a cute little boy grin filled with mischief and fun.

  “Go hold your breath in the deep end of the ocean. I’m not in the mood to play.” In a dismissive gesture she flipped onto her stomach, determined to ignore the hundred-ninety-eight pound golden retriever disguised as a doctor pouting beside her.

  “Since you won’t swim, drink or cavort naked with me, why don’t I rub sunscreen on your lovely skin before you get burned? Doctor’s orders.”

  “In order to swim with you I’d have to trust you. Same goes for options two and three. I don’t trust you, Hunt. I made that mistake once…never again.” Grateful her sunglasses hid burgeoning tears in her eyes, she kept her body still and relaxed as she watched Hunt’s face go from teasing to dead serious in a heartbeat.

  His hand reached out to hover over her shoulder, then drew away. It was relief she felt, Trinity assured herself, not sadness because she missed his touch. Why had she opened her mouth in the first place? The past was best left there…in the past. It had nothing to do with her present, here and now.

  “I screwed everything up, didn’t I?”

  In one quick motion she sat up, draped the towel around her swimsuit-clad body and faced her handsome nemesis. “Don’t,” she warned in a low mean tone. “Do not bring up the night that is never to be discussed. It was a mistake, but it’s over. We will not speak of it, think of it, or even dream of it. You got that, Dr. Windslow?”

  He shook his shaggy mane and just stared at her. Could those amazing green eyes read through the protection of her glasses? “If I can’t talk about it, how can I apologise or make amends?”

  A hiss of irritation slipped out before she caught it. Tugging the over-size beach towel tighter, she hastily grasped for her control. Something she kept with ease around anyone, but this man. “Since there is nothing to discuss no amends or anything else are needed.”

  Shit, leave it to the Ivy League doctor to want to make amends. How much more snotty could he sound?

  He expelled a long slow breath. Sheer stubbornness, she guessed. Not getting his own way irked him.

  “That night meant something to me. I damn well won’t forget it, or you.” He stood in one smooth motion, towering over her. His long lean body was showcased perfectly in a pair of knee-length swim trunks dotted with various marine animals. What would have looked weird or creepy on any other man simply looked right on Hunt.

  Damn him and damn her nosy interfering friends, too. If it hadn’t been for their meddling she wouldn’t be alone on an island in the middle of nowhere for two weeks. Fourteen days alone with the one man on the planet capable of sending her body into sexual meltdowns with only a look.

  “Hunt, we’re not doing this. We’ve got a couple of weeks here. I’ll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine. Deal?”

  Please, please, please, she mentally begged him, take the deal. The less I see you, the less I’ll want you. Her inner self laughed at the outrageous lie, but Trinity mentally smacked and duct-taped her mouth for good measure. No reason to drag common sense into the mix so late in the game.

  She watched from her seat on the blanket as he ran frustrated fingers through his silky hair. He kicked the sand, stomped away, muttered a few words Trinity knew she was better off not hearing then stalked back.

  He pointed a finger at her. “You haven’t got the sense God gave a goldfish.”

  Insulted and hurt she jumped to her feet, tucking the towel firmly between her breasts. “Great. Then you shouldn’t have a problem avoiding someone as clueless as I am.”

  Two steps closed the distance between them until she could feel the heat of his words on her face. “Avoid you? Hell, I’ll swim off the island my—”

  He stopped abruptly, swore, then clasped her shoulders in a firm grip. “Oh, no. You’re not doing it to me again, Trinity.”

  She would have pulled away, but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her struggle. “Get your hands off me, Windslow.”

  The idiot shook his head, a small cocky smile curving his full lips. “It’s not going to work this time, Mailer.”

  A small group of butterflies took flight in her stomach at his calm tone. “What’s not going to work? Telling you you’re an idiot?”

  “Trying to start a fight with me.” He shook his head while keeping fingers firmly but gently on her shoulders. “I try and talk to you like a calm, rational adult. The next thing I know insults are flying and one of us is storming away. Not going to happen this time, Trinity. We’re here. Alone f
or the next two weeks. No way to avoid me.”

  With a quick jerk she freed herself enough to take two small steps back. “I don’t try to fight with you. It’s my natural instinct to insult morons and assholes.”

  He calmly crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “See, you’re trying to do it again, but it won’t work. I’m onto you now. Insult me all you want. I’m not taking the bait.”

  Frustration and fear drove her to lash out before she could censor her words. “Screw you, Hunt, and the shark you rode in on. You mean nothing to me, but a one night mistake I’ve already forgotten about.”

  “If you’ve forgotten about it why does it bother you when I bring it up?”

  She shoved her fingers through her messy brown curls. “What, Hunt? What will it take to stop this train wreck before we both crash?” She tried to keep her voice level. There was really no reason for her to be so angry with him. Anger was too heavy an emotion to carry around for a guy who might have a perfectly good explanation: emergency at work, was on-call, mother into the hospital, and so on…but she knew better.

  Hunt had used her like he did all the other women in his life. A night of heart-breaking sex followed by a morning “regrets and what-if’s” note left at a single place setting. That night Trinity had dropped all her barriers with him. Hunt had seen everything she had been and everything she hoped to be. Never before had she let a man behind her carefully crafted walls. Emotions she couldn’t deny had risen to the surface, and she’d felt happiness with Hunt almost foreign to her nature. When she’d woken up to find the spot beside her cold, she’d realised that she hadn’t been any different than his other women. He didn’t share the new feelings growing inside her.