Operation Honey Trap vs The Emperor of the Apocalypse-Chapter 183: Alton Discovers Operation Honey Trap!

Delphi came out of the ensuite wrapped in a fresh towel; her wet hair wrapped on top of her head.

She was feeling more human than she had in months, having indulged in an array of pretty products she had purchased at the markets; raspberry vanilla body scrub, honey and argan oil shampoo, a rosewater hair mask, jasmine body lotion.

She brought her arm to her face and sniffed it appreciatively, smiling happily at the delicious scents.

"Oh!" she jumped, giving a little cry of fright.

Alton lay stretched out on the bed in his tradesman’s outfit, looking at her with menacing intent. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"It’s only me. You must have a guilty conscience to be so frightened when you saw me, hm?"

"Not at all. What would I have to be feeling guilty about? I was just startled by your outfit. You look like a stranger at first glance. I’m not used to seeing you in a builder’s uniform."

"Would you prefer to see my without it? I’m happy to oblige if that’s your preference."

She blushed. "Why would I want to see you without it?" she sniffed.

"Oh, I don’t know," he drawled. "Maybe something to do with ’OHT’, whatever that stands for. Are you going to tell me? Actually, scratch that, you are going to tell me," he raised a single lazy eyebrow at her.

"What are you talking about, Alton? You’d better enlighten me because I have no idea. I don’t know what OHT stands for either. Where did you see it?"

"Hmm. Let me think... Where did I see it?" he said facetiously. "Oh, I remember! It was in your notebook."

He looked at her through hooded eyes, filled with lust.

"What notebook are you talking about? The one for recording the guards’ movements? Maybe it’s shorthand someone was using? It could mean ’one hour’s time’."

"One hour’s time," he mused. "No, I don’t think so, because it’s the heading for a list of action items that would take a lot longer than one hour," he said mysteriously. "It’s your own shorthand, Delphine. How could you forget it so soon? Or are you pretending not to remember because you’re trying to wriggle out of it?"

"You’re going to have to help me out here. I really have zero idea what you’re referring to," she tilted her head at him questioningly.

Alton threw one lazy arm backwards and tapped at some pages of notepaper he had taped to the head of the bed.

"These might jog your memory, babydoll?" he took a sip from a beer he had open on the bedside table.

She inched over nervously, standing well back from him, and leaning forward, trying to read the pages of handwritten notes.

Her eyes flew wide open when she recognised her own handwriting!

She moved closer to see what the pages were. Dammit! That was her personal notepad! And those pages were Operation Honey Trap!

"Alton!" she cried. "How could you! You read my personal notebook?"

"Do you think that’s going to get you out of this?" he firmly tapped the pages behind his head again. "You think you can come out punching to try and avoid being punished?" He shook his head, "wrong!" He gave her a pretend pout of sadness for her predicament.

"Let me refresh your memory on some of your Machiavellian little plans, shall I?" he asked.

"No, don’t bother. I remember what I wrote," she said quickly, trying to close him down.

"Just indulge me a little, would you? I think I’ve more than earned the right to a little indulgence." He took another swig from his bottle. "Let’s see, number one... Wear your bikini around him on the boat," he looked up at her lazily, his lips curled in a small smile.

"Alright, that’s enough Alton! I see where you’re going with this. You’ve had your fun."

"No, no, no. I haven’t had my fun yet at all! We’re just getting started. It’s far from enough..." he wagged his finger at her.

"That one’s been scratched out actually, but I can still read it. I take it that means the mission was completed?" he asked her.

"If I turn my mind to it," he pretended to be thinking hard, "I have a vague memory of someone asking me to teach the female soldiers about sword footwork, but strangely, when I arrived on the foredeck to impart my wisdom, my fellow General was hardly dressed for sword training. In fact, she was wearing the smallest gold bikini one could wear without being completely naked," he nodded and pressed his lips together, as though that had been a hardship for him. "It had a tiny little strip of fabric that disappeared into her ass..."

"Alton! I get it. You want to pay me back. Okay, you’ve had your fun. Can we move on now?"

"Absolutely not," he said flatly. "You had your fun over many days and weeks. So at the very least you can allow me this recreational trip down memory lane. Item number two in the OHT list: exercise in front of him in your bikini... Also scratched out as though the item’s been completed," he raised his eyebrows at her.

She glared at him, though it was hard to be taken seriously when you were wearing nothing but a towel and your own childish plan was being read back to you.

"I remember this one well actually. When I innocently arrived on the foredeck of the boat for footwork training, expecting to find my team clad in, oh, I don’t know, maybe army training uniforms and sneakers? Instead, I found them clad in teeny, little bikinis. I also found that they were engaged in yoga stretches that went on for much longer than any warm-up I’ve ever seen before.

In fact, I recall that you, Delphine, were leading the women in the downward dog pose, with your back to me, giving me a, shall we say, X-rated view of your derrière. But wait there’s more!" he held up a finger to silence her before she could interrupt.

"And then, the yoga warm-up strangely progressed to star jumps, a highly unusual combination not seen in the history of mankind. Especially for a bunch of women wearing no support for their bosoms. Most unusual, most unusual... I did think that at the time."

Alton tapped his mouth with finger as though he was solving a puzzle.

The infuriating man took another long sip of his beer.

"Item three," he read, before pausing. "I think we’ll come back to that one."

What was three? What was three again? she thought with growing alarm.