Wet N Wild Navy SEALs

by Tawny Weber

  He stepped into the room and shut the door. As always, he was the picture-perfect gentleman. Tall, handsome, with just the right touch of gray at his temples, and still wearing the tux he’d worn to whatever function he’d been attending. “The police tell me you broke into my house,” he said.

  Jessie stood for a moment, unable to answer, a bit taken back by his unexpected appearance. She glanced at Cooper, who’d turned away from the window, but he offered no help. He met her gaze with that infuriating look of cool indifference in his eyes.

  Quickly, she shifted her attention back to her brother-in-law. “I’m sorry, Robert,” she said. “This has all been a terrible mistake. I tried to tell the police that, but they wouldn’t listen.”

  He closed the distance between them and slipped an arm around her shoulders. “It must have been dreadful for you.”

  Jessie just managed to stop herself from pulling away. “It wasn’t an experience I’d like to repeat.”

  “Well, the charges have been dropped.” He smiled broadly, first at her and then at Cooper. “And this is?”

  Cooper crossed the room and extended his hand. “Sam Cooper. It’s an honor to meet you, sir.”

  “Cooper’s a friend,” Jessie added, looking up at him, daring him to call her a liar. “When I couldn’t get hold of you . . .”

  “I understand,” Robert said, tightening his grip on her and again donning that magnanimous smile that turned her stomach. She wondered who he thought he was kidding. Certainly not her. Maybe Cooper. Or maybe the room had hidden cameras. Either way, it was a good act.

  “Am I free to leave now?” she asked, moving out from under Robert’s arm. “It’s been quite a night, and I’m exhausted.”

  “Yes, I’ve taken care of everything except for some paperwork you’ll need to fill out.”

  Turning to Cooper, she asked, “Would you mind taking me back to my hotel?”

  Cooper cocked an eyebrow and folded his arms. “I thought you’d want to go with your brother-in-law to get your car.”

  She could have strangled him. The last thing she wanted was to leave here with Robert, and she figured Cooper probably knew that. So she gave him her sweetest smile and said, “I’m really tired, and Robert and Nicole’s house is in the other direction. I thought it would be easier for you to drop me off. I’ll get the car in the morning.”

  “In that case . . .” He dipped his head in acquiescence, and she thought she detected amusement in those insufferable blue eyes of his. Damn the man. He was toying with her.

  “Well, I guess you don’t need me anymore.” Robert placed a hand on Jessie’s shoulder and nodded toward Cooper.

  “Thank you, Robert,” she said, forcing the words. If he could play this game, so could she.

  “No problem.” He gave her shoulder a final squeeze, started toward the door, and then stopped, turning back around. “By the way, Jessie, what were you doing at the house?”

  She didn’t miss a beat. She’d had plenty of time in the last few hours to come up with a viable story. “I was lonely and needed to talk to someone about Nicole.” She’d decided to keep it simple. And Robert, with his loving-brother-in-law act, had played right into her hands. “So I stopped by. When you weren’t home, I considered waiting in my car, but Nicole had given me a key . . .”

  “But not the alarm code?”

  “I thought I had the code. But I must have done something wrong, because before I knew what was happening, there were police everywhere.”

  Again he smiled, though she knew he didn’t believe her. That was all right. She didn’t believe him, either. He was responsible for her sister’s disappearance, and Jessie planned to prove it.

  It took nearly forty-five minutes to get through the release process. But once all the forms were completed, Cooper escorted her out into the warm South Florida night. Jessie paused for a moment on the steps of the police station, breathing deeply of the thick, balmy air. She inhaled the fragrance of night-blooming jasmine and the tangy scent of the ocean, not more than a couple of miles to the east. Nothing had ever smelled quite so sweet.

  “You coming?” Cooper asked from the step below her.

  Jessie nodded and followed him across the nearly empty parking lot, where he unlocked the door of a shiny black Porsche. She climbed in, thinking the car suited him. Low and sporty, it seemed the perfect vehicle for a man with the initials P.I. tacked behind his name.

  The moment Cooper slid into the driver’s seat, however, she realized her mistake. He dominated the small space, making her instantly aware of him—of his long legs and broad shoulders, of his powerful, sun-kissed arms and big hands, and of the underlying danger of the man himself.

  She didn’t need this, she told herself as she pressed against the door. Not now when all her thoughts should be focused on Nicole. But it was impossible to ignore him in such close quarters. He was large and alarmingly male, and the fear he instilled in her went much deeper than the simple anxiety she’d felt around Robert.

  Cooper drove out of the parking lot, heading east toward the beach and her hotel. Then, without preamble, he asked, “What were you doing at your sister’s house?”

  Jessie didn’t care for his tone of voice. Still, she kept her response civil. “You heard what I told Robert. I wanted—”

  “Don’t give me that,” he said, cutting her off abruptly and surprising her with a show of anger. “Whitlock didn’t believe a word of it. And neither do I.”

  “Why, Mr. Cooper.” Jessie turned sideways in her seat to look at him. “I believe you just called me a liar.”

  “If the shoe fits.”

  “Tsk, tsk.”

  “Look, after dragging me down here in the middle of the night, you owe me an explanation.” He threw a quick glance at her. “Now what were you doing?”

  He was right. She did owe him. He’d come to bail her out, and here she was goading him, picking an argument. Turning to stare out the side window, she said, “I was looking for clues.”

  “Clues?”

  “I was desperate. Nicole is missing. And since no one else seems to give a damn, I guess I’m on my own.”

  “What about the two names I gave you?”

  Jessie let out a short laugh of disgust. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “They’re both reliable.”

  “No doubt.” Jessie frowned, remembering her afternoon interviews. “Mr. Jennings, at least, was a perfect gentleman. He listened to everything I had to say and then politely escorted me out of his office. As for Mr. Harden, he wasn’t quite so courteous.”

  “So you decided to break into your sister’s house?”

  “No one knows Nicole as well as I do. I thought if I could just look through her things, I might find a clue to her disappearance. I might see something that someone else—even her husband—might miss.”

  “You’re crazy, you know that?” He threw another quick glance her way before turning his attention back to the road. “What if Whitlock hadn’t let you off the hook?”

  “But he did.”

  “You were lucky.”

  “I can just see the headlines now, ‘Respected Judge Has Sister-In-Law Arrested’ right below ‘Respected Judge’s Wife Disappears.’” Jessie shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  He considered that for a moment and then nodded. “Okay. So he probably had no choice but to let you off. Was it worth it? Did you find anything?”

  Jessie sank lower in the seat. “No, I didn’t have time. I wasn’t in the house more than five minutes.” She felt like a total idiot and figured Cooper was about to confirm it. “I don’t know what happened. I thought I turned the alarm off correctly. Then I went into Robert’s office, and the next thing I knew, the police were everywhere.”

  “Silent alarm.”

  “But I’ve heard the alarm go off before. It makes a lot of racket.”

  “Whitlock probably has his office separately zoned.”

  “I didn’t even know you could do that
.” Jessie shook her head. She was out of her depth. “And I walked right into it.”

  To her surprise, he didn’t say anything. She’d at least expected an I-told-you-so-smile or a shake of his head. But he let it go.

  After a few minutes, traffic began to pick up as they neared Las Olas Boulevard, a Fort Lauderdale hot spot.

  “Know anyone who drives a late-model Camaro?” Cooper asked suddenly.

  “No.” Besides her sister, brother-in-law, and Cooper, Jessie didn’t know anyone in Florida. Cooper knew that. “Why?”

  “We’ve got one following us.”

  Jessie turned and looked out the rear window at the crowded street behind them. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.” Cooper glanced in the rearview mirror. “They’ve been with us for several miles. Either the driver doesn’t know what he’s doing, or he’s purposely letting me know he’s back there.”

  “But why?”

  “Either they’re keeping tabs on you, or . . .”—and this idea rang truer—“the tail is someone’s version of a warning.”

  “Warning?”

  “Yeah, like No Trespassing.” He glanced in the rearview mirror again and then focused his eyes on the road ahead. “Hang on. I’m going to lose them.”

  Chapter 3

  He’s good, Cooper thought—which reinforced his idea that this was a warning.

  As he wove through the Saturday-night traffic, the other car stayed with him, always a discreet distance, just a few cars behind. He tried a couple of quick maneuvers, an illegal turn, and then an acceleration through a yellow light. Both times he lost the other car briefly, but both times it reappeared again in his rearview mirror.

  Cooper smiled. He always did enjoy a challenge, but it really was time to lose this guy. All he needed was a few minutes, just enough time to ditch the Porsche and pick up something less conspicuous. “So let’s see just how good you are.”

  “I don’t see anyone,” Jessie said, her voice tinged with apprehension.

  “White. A few cars back, fits right in with the traffic.”

  Just then, a light turned yellow a few cars in front of them.

  “Here we go.” Cooper downshifted, punched the accelerator, and swung into oncoming traffic, barely avoiding a collision as he spun into a U-turn and sped back in the opposite direction. He took a left a couple of blocks down, cutting across traffic, and again stepped on the gas, slowing only enough to make several more seemingly random turns.

  “Is he still back there?” Jessie had turned in her seat to stare out the rear window.

  “We’ve lost them for now, but keep your eyes open.”

  He headed west, back toward the downtown area, keeping to minor roads, his eyes scanning the dark streets for the other car. It seemed like luck was with him, though Cooper had never trusted the lady. Nor did he believe in underestimating an opponent. So once back in the more deserted downtown streets, he turned into an underground parking garage.

  “We need to get rid of this car.” He circled the lot down to the third level and pulled into a parking space well away from the lights. “Move it,” he said, climbing out. “Before your friends find us.”

  “They’re not my friends,” she snapped, though she followed his lead and got out of the car. “Besides, I thought you said we’d lost them.”

  “Come on.” He grabbed her arm and led her two rows over to a silver Nissan Rogue.

  “Whose is this?” she asked, as he unlocked the passenger door and unceremoniously shoved her inside.

  “Mine.”

  “Yours?”

  He slid into the driver’s seat. “Got a problem with that?”

  “It’s just . . . not what I would have expected.”

  “Exactly.” He backed out of the parking space and headed for the exit. “Scoot down so no one can see you.”

  Jessie stared at him wide-eyed for a moment and then did as he said. Within minutes, they were back on the road, this time heading west toward I-95.

  “Okay,” Cooper said as he pulled onto the northbound lane of the highway. “You can get up now.”

  Jessie straightened and looked around. “Are they really gone this time?”

  He again glanced in his rearview mirror. “Looks that way.”

  Evidently not trusting him, Jessie scanned the highway in all directions. Finally, she seemed satisfied and settled into her seat to stare out the side window.

  After several minutes of silence, she asked, “Do you really think that was a warning?”

  If he knew the answer to that, he’d be way ahead of the game. At the moment, though, all he had were guesses. “I’m guessing that someone was trying to scare you into staying away from this.” He hesitated a moment, gathering his thoughts. “Either that, or they really were tailing us—although not very effectively—to see where we’d lead them.”

  “But you don’t think so.”

  “It doesn’t make sense.” Shifting in his seat, he rolled one shoulder and then the other in an attempt to ease the tense muscles. “The driver was too good. He wanted to be seen.” A diversion maybe? “Next time, he’ll be more careful, and I won’t be able to lose him as easily.”

  “Next time?”

  “Since I suspect you’re not going to back off, they’re going to want to know what you know.”

  “But that’s ridiculous. I don’t know anything.”

  He glanced over at her. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure. Don’t you think if I had anything concrete, I’d go to the police?”

  Cooper shrugged. “Maybe they think you’ll eventually lead them to her.”

  “That means she’s alive.”

  He heard the hope in her voice and hated to crush it. “Not necessarily.”

  “But you just said—”

  “I’m guessing, Jessie. There could be any number of other reasons why they were following us.”

  He felt her gaze on him for a few moments longer, hard and accusing. It was as if she blamed him for her sister’s disappearance and for the car that had tailed them earlier. He’d been here before and didn’t like it. It had been a different time and place, a different woman with a different missing loved one. But it was the same. And he knew, just as before, that if Nicole Whitlock turned up dead, Jessie would hold him responsible.

  That was the main reason he hadn’t wanted to become involved. The reason he needed to keep distance between this woman and himself. Yet even as he told himself as much, he suspected it was already too late.

  Suddenly, she seemed to notice they weren’t heading in the direction of her hotel. “Where are we going?”

  “Somewhere safe.”

  “Are we in danger?”

  “Don’t know.” He again glanced in his rearview mirror. “But I’m not willing to risk it. Are you?”

  She slumped in her seat, and Cooper wished he’d gone a little easier on her. After all, she wasn’t used to half of what she’d been through today. Hell, even he wasn’t used to it. Locating missing people very seldom involved cloak-and-dagger games.

  “Look,” he said. “I’ve got a place where you’ll be safe for the night. And tomorrow . . . well, we’ll worry about that then.”

  “Not the boat.”

  Cooper laughed softly. At least she hadn’t lost all of her spunk. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  Fifteen minutes later, he unlocked the door of an oceanfront condominium in Pompano Beach. Inside, he shut off the alarm and motioned for Jessie to enter. She stepped into the dimly lit foyer, and he closed and locked the door behind them.

  “Make yourself at home,” he said, nodding toward the wide-open living area.

  She walked slowly into the room without turning on any more lights, while he headed straight for the wet bar. Retrieving two snifters and a bottle of brandy, he watched as she moved around the room. She ended up in front of the windows, fifteen feet of glass that, in the daylight, opened the apartment to the Atlantic Ocean. But on a ni
ght like this, with the moon hovering somewhere behind them near the western horizon, it resembled a gigantic black hole.

  She stood silhouetted against the darkness, her arms clasped tightly around her waist, looking suddenly very frail. Cooper had an unexpected urge to go to her, to wrap his own arms around her and add his strength to hers.

  He squashed the thought immediately.

  He’d already gotten more involved with this woman than he cared to. He wasn’t about to let it go any further.

  “You live here?” she asked softly, her voice a husky lure in the near darkness.

  He looked away from her and concentrated on pouring the brandy. “I live on the boat.”

  “And this place?”

  “I keep it for emergencies.” He moved up behind her, holding the snifters. “Like now.”

  She turned then, her eyes two turbulent pools, liquid, dark, and rimmed with fatigue. Again, he wanted to pull her into his arms, but he doubted she’d allow it. She looked as if she would shatter in a million pieces at the slightest touch.

  “It’s quite a place,” she said, “just for emergencies.”

  “It can’t be traced back to me, Jessie. You’re safe here.” Again he fought the urge to comfort her with more than words and handed her one of the snifters instead. “Here, this will help.”

  Nodding, she took the glass and stepped away from him to settle onto the nearby couch. But she didn’t relax. Leaning forward, she rested her arms on her legs while holding the snifter of brandy with both hands. “I wasn’t sure you’d come for me.”

  “I almost didn’t.” He sat across from her in an armchair and sipped at the brandy.

  “So, why did you?”

  Cooper shrugged, uncomfortable with the question. And the answer. “Does it really matter?”

  “It matters if it means you’re going to help me.”

  He didn’t have a response for her. Every instinct he possessed told him to walk out the door. Yet he was still here, and he didn’t want to examine his reasons too closely. “I asked a few questions this evening,” he said instead.

  “And?”