Pirate's Pleasure (Sentinels of Savannah)

by Lisa Kessler

  Keegan took the sack and shook his head. “But he didn’t use it, mate. He had friends to save him from himself. Let him be that friend to you.”

  “I don’t make friends with pirates. You walk away now, and we’re finished,” David growled. “There won’t be another assignment for the Sea Dog crew from Department 13.”

  John shrugged, his true accent coloring his words. “Then I guess we’ll be partin’ ways. Good luck finding another crew to do yer biddin’.”

  “That cup isn’t the answer, David.” Heather’s tone was gentle but firm. “You have a higher calling.”

  David glanced at her, her bright eyes pleading with him, reminding him of his oath to his country. His gut twisted, pain lancing through his heart.

  She was right. The Holy Grail wasn’t the answer. And the rune wasn’t healing Chris because it only healed allies.

  Despite their shared bloodline, the crystal judged Chris an enemy.

  And it was killing him.

  Shit. The rune. David jerked it free from his nephew’s hand, but the bleeding still didn’t stop.

  Chris’s breathing was shallow, almost panting. His eyes narrowed, full of hate, his voice like a serpent’s hiss. “This isn’t finished.”

  Now that Chris wasn’t touching the magic rune, David tried another pinch of the healing herbs from his pouch, reciting the incantation under his breath. But despite his efforts, the wound still didn’t close.

  Chris’s eyes went distant. And then—he was gone.

  …

  John scooped Harmony into his arms and lifted her from the ground. He’d never met the new agent on the scene or the woman Drake seemed inclined to step in front of a bullet for, but his gut insisted he get the hell out of here. And he’d been alive long enough to trust his instincts.

  He stopped next to Drake, his voice a low rumble. “We’re finished here.”

  Drake turned to the medium. “Will you be all right?”

  “Yes.” She looked up at him. “David and I go way back.” Her light eyes locked on John. “Get that cup far away from here.”

  “We will.” John nodded.

  When John got back to the car, he lowered Harmony’s feet to the ground. “Can you stand?”

  “I think so.”

  He kept one arm around her waist just in case while he opened the door. Once she was inside, he walked around to the driver’s side.

  Keegan met him at the door before he could get in. “I’m taking the Grail back to Bob’s.”

  “Good.” John stared up at the stars, unable to meet Keegan’s eyes. “Thank you for—keeping me from making a big mistake. I’m not usually so impetuous. I can’t figure her out, and if I’d lost her tonight, I’d never find out the truth.”

  “Bullshit.” Keegan clasped his shoulder. “You don’t give a damn about the truth. We’re pirates.” He glanced inside the car and back to John’s face. “She’s the bull in your well-ordered china shop. And maybe one day you’ll admit that you enjoy the chaos she brings.”

  John rolled his eyes. “I do enjoy her company, chaos included, but my course is set, and it doesn’t include a mortal woman who steals from me.”

  Keegan released his shoulder. “Back in that tomb, I wasn’t telling you to keep the cup from her lips forever, mate. Just didn’t think you should make that choice for her.” He walked to his truck, calling over his shoulder, “You once told me you have to be willing to change. Turned out to be good advice.”

  John chuckled under his breath, shaking his head. Leave it to Keegan to throw John’s own words back in his face. John got in the car and started the engine before looking her way. “Should I take you to the hospital?”

  “No.” Her color looked much better, and her dark eyes were clear and bright. “I’m fine.”

  “Good.” He broke eye contact, steeling his will. When she was recovered, he’d confront her about the stolen money. Then they could go their separate ways.

  Her warm hand rested on top of his on the gearshift. “Thank you for saving my life.”

  He nodded without sparing her a glance. “Now that Trumain is dead, maybe I can recover the money you swindled from me.”

  Or he’d confront her now. Shit. He ground his teeth and pulled onto the street, his Porsche hugging the narrow two-lane road.

  “I swear I didn’t know anything about Chris paying Trumain to open that box.” She cursed under her breath. “I thought the money was going toward software.”

  That was exactly what he’d been hoping to hear, yet it didn’t ease the pain brewing in his chest. Maybe finding her near death had brought his defenses up, but clinging to the financial betrayal gave him a reason to walk away. And walking away now would be much easier than loving her and eventually being forced to witness her death.

  “With your Digi Robins partner and Trumain both dead, it makes it simple to lay the blame at their feet and claim your innocence.”

  She shook her head, glancing his way. “Why are you being such a dick? Some part of you must’ve believed I wasn’t in on this plot, or you wouldn’t have come rushing in with the Holy Grail in hand to save me.” She looked out the passenger window again. “I’m well aware I lied to you before, but since we became partners for this operation, I’ve held up my half of the bargain.”

  Rarely did anyone in his world stand up to him the way she did. But right now, he didn’t want to admire her—he wanted to tell her off. Admiring her intelligence and pluck wasn’t getting him closer to his goal.

  Which was to sail his heart back into safer waters. Back to meaningless hookups. No more emotional entanglements with mortals. He glanced at her profile as she stared straight ahead, avoiding eye contact. He wished things could be different.

  “I’m no hero in this, either.” He focused forward again, gripping the wheel tighter. “You’d be immortal if Keegan hadn’t stepped in when he did.”

  He tightened his grip on the wheel, bracing himself for her reaction.

  “Is being immortal that bad?”

  That wasn’t the reaction he’d been expecting. He shrugged without turning her way. “It can be difficult to keep up with the world as it changes, and we don’t. Smartphones have been the bane of the entire crew.” His lips twitched as he remembered Drake’s refusal to use one. They’d finally gotten the ship’s carpenter on board, but autocorrect almost ruined their progress.

  John sobered, his mouth going dry. “But the worst part of living forever is being faced with watching others die, knowing we’ll never be reunited.”

  She worried her lower lip, staring out the front windshield. “That would suck, to watch my baby brother grow into an old man and fade away.”

  John nodded. “Aye.”

  “So where does this leave us? You said before that you didn’t want our partnership to end after the transaction. Is that off the table now that money didn’t go to new software?”

  “I’m still grappling with that question.”

  She raised a brow. “Do I get a say in it?”

  “Aye.” He shrugged. “Tonight, we’re still partners.”

  She reached over and rested her hand on his thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze. Her touch had his entire body alert. “Before the exchange today, you convinced me to take a risk on you, on us. Nothing has changed for me. I’m still willing, but I have no way to prove I wasn’t involved in Chris’s con, so I guess the ball is in your court.”

  “It doesn’t bother you that you’ll age and I won’t? That I’ll never agree to having children?”

  “Since I’ve never managed to hold a relationship together for longer than six months, I figure it’ll never be a problem.” She chuckled, but sadness lined her eyes.

  He fought the urge to try to make her smile. It would be better for both of them to part ways now, before it was too late. Because if he surrendered to the emotions she inspired in him, one lifetime together would never be enough.

  The rest of the drive passed by in silence. He pulled into a parking spot
at her apartment building and turned off the engine. Taking a deep breath, he finally turned her way. “When I got the video from Trumain and I saw you hanging in that crypt, I was willing to move heaven and earth to see you safe again. It made me realize that as long as you’re mortal, I won’t be able to save you from the passage of time. Bringing the Grail with me tonight was stupid and selfish. I wanted you to drink, even though I didn’t know what you wanted or the wishes of my crew.”

  He faced forward again. “Don’t worry about the money. I won’t miss it.” He clenched his jaw. “But I will miss you.”

  She nodded in his peripheral vision. “I guess that’s my answer, then.” She got out of the car and leaned down to peer back inside. “Thanks for saving my life. I’ll send someone over to the office for my stuff. I quit.”

  The door slammed before he could respond. He watched her walk away, struggling to keep from running after her. This was for the best.

  But he’d never felt fucking worse.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Harmony sipped her chai on the sofa. “Thanks for the tea, Max.”

  “You’re welcome.” He set an empty file box on his coffee table. “I can’t believe you quit. You loved working there.”

  “Yeah, but things got…complicated.” The memory of sex with John in the claw-footed tub filled her head, all at once flushing her body with heat and squeezing her bruised heart until it ached. She cleared her throat. “I’m ready for a new adventure.”

  “Quitting your job before you find another one is pretty risky.”

  She nodded as a smile crept up on her. “I’m a fan of taking risks, you know that.”

  Max chuckled. “I’ll remind you of that when you lose your fancy apartment and have to camp out on my couch.”

  “Ouch!” She snatched one of his balled-up drawing papers from the table and beaned him in the forehead with it. “I’ll be fine.”

  “I know. You always are.” He grinned. “Have you told Mom?”

  “I’m not sure she even knows I worked there. She’s the center of her universe, we’re just tiny planets on the outskirts, remember?”

  He nodded with a smirk. “I know, but she’s the only mom we’ve got.”

  “True.” She glanced at the box. “So, you know what to do?”

  “Using my stealth ninja skills, I enter the building without talking to anyone and go directly to your office.” He jiggled the empty box. “Then I fill this with all your pictures and knickknacks from your desk, and like the wind, I’m out.”

  “And don’t forget my lucky Troll doll,” she added.

  “Trixie will be safely in the box with the rest of your things.”

  Harmony chuckled. “You’re the best.”

  “I try.” He finished his chai, his smile fading. “You sure you’re all right?”

  He wouldn’t believe how far from “all right” she was, but she forced a nod. “Yep. This is what I want.”

  He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t pester her about it. Once Max was out the door with the box, she let out a pent-up breath. She needed to tell her brother the truth soon, or at least as much of the truth as she could. She’d have to leave out the part about her boss being immortal, and that under those tailored suits was a badass pirate who saved her life. Twice.

  In her defense, she’d been busy. Walking away from John and all the paranormal that came with him had left her with an inability to concentrate. In the week since she quit her job, instead of finding another one, she’d sold her stocks and emptied her savings account to buy a used sailboat.

  She christened it Pandora. It seemed fitting. If she hadn’t stolen that box, John never would have taken her out on the Sea Dog and reawakened her love of the ocean. She calculated she had enough financial resources to spend a couple months sailing up the Atlantic coast, and who knew, maybe she’d find a new job up in Boston, far away from the pirates and underground tombs of Savannah. A fresh start.

  But leaving Max behind was going to suck. They’d still be able to Skype and text, but it wasn’t the same. Oh well, he was leaving for Pixar in California soon anyway. She’d just be rushing the timetable on their separation.

  Without realizing it, she’d started scrolling through the photos they transferred onto her new phone. She stopped on the selfie she’d taken with John outside of Leopold’s ice cream parlor. Seeing his smile and the spark in his dark eyes stung. She hadn’t heard from him since they ended their partnership.

  Not that she really expected to.

  What surprised her was how much it hurt. This wasn’t her first break up by a long shot, but this was the first time she’d ever curled in a ball and cried. It didn’t make sense. He hadn’t even said “I love you,” not in words, anyway.

  But somehow when he said he wouldn’t change anything about her, that meant more than those three little words. She’d heard I love you before, but no one had made her feel like she was just right the way she was, embraced all of her.

  Too bad it was a lie.

  As long as death was still an option, caring about her was apparently too much risk for John. And maybe he was right?

  Through the ups and downs of the past week, her emotions had swung from pissed to heartbroken, and from determined to so sad and lonely she forgot to eat. One thing was certain—since John had opened her eyes to paranormal phenomena she’d never dreamed could be real, it dimmed the mundane world around her.

  How could she go back to working in an investment firm? The rush she used to get from running numbers and calculating risk factors was nothing compared to racing up ratlines with pirates who’d been sailing since the 1700s. They’d welcomed her with open arms into their world.

  And John slammed that door shut.

  Yeah, it was definitely time to sail away.

  …

  John glanced up from his paperwork as a tall young man entered the building with a box under his arm. He was slender with dark skin, black hair, and Harmony’s eyes. John left his desk, following the man. When he turned into Harmony’s office, John knew this must be her brother, the one she saved through her involvement with the Digi Robins.

  He should’ve turned around and walked away, but the devil himself wouldn’t have been able to move him. John leaned against the doorframe and cleared his throat.

  Harmony’s brother looked up with a surprised gasp before adjusting his jacket. “Oh, hey. I’m just here to clean out my sister’s desk.”

  Truth be told, John had spent more hours in the office this past week than he had in months, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of Harmony. But it was better this way. Eventually she’d be out of his system.

  But not anytime soon. He’d written and deleted countless text messages to her, but what could he say?

  “How is Harmony?” John asked.

  “She’s good, I guess.” Her brother shrugged, putting a framed picture into the box. “Did you work with her?”

  “Aye.” He came forward and offered his hand. “I’m John Smyth.”

  His eyes widened as he took John’s hand in a tight grip. “You’re the boss.” He cleared his throat. “I’m Max Andrews, Harmony’s brother.”

  John smiled. “I’ve heard a lot about you. She’s very proud of you.”

  “Thanks.” He chuckled, placing a couple air plants and Harmony’s lucky Troll doll into the box.

  Seeing her trinkets vanish from her desk hurt. Like Max was physically erasing her from his life. John bit back his emotions. “I’m sorry to see your sister go. She’s one in a million.”

  Max stopped packing and met John’s eyes with a quiet confidence. “She loved working here, and you think she’s good at her job.” He shook his head. “I guess I don’t understand why she’s leaving.”

  “Maybe she has another job.” John didn’t know what she’d told Max, and while he shouldn’t care, he still didn’t want to blow her cover, whatever it might be. Damn, he missed being her partner.

  “No. She hasn’t even looked y
et. She told me things here got complicated.” Max narrowed his eyes. “Were you harassing her?”

  John kept his expression neutral. “No.”

  Again, the dynamics of this office danced into the mix of their relationship. John had been concerned she’d been playing him for the money for the Digi Robins, and here was her brother, worried he’d been abusing his position as her boss.

  But he couldn’t reveal the truth of what really caused Harmony to quit without outing himself and his crew as immortals.

  John cleared his throat. “Harmony is intelligent, driven, and stubborn as a mule. And if I ever found out someone was harassing her, I’d rip him apart.”

  Max raised a brow. “Pretty strong words from a guy who was only her boss.”

  “I suppose.” This kid was every bit as intuitive as his sister. John shrugged. “But I meant every damned word. Can you pass a message to her?”

  “Sure.”

  “Tell her—if she ever needs me, I’ll be there.” John walked away before his heart could spill out the words that had been eating him up for the past week. I love her.

  …

  David scanned the staff seated around the table. Unlike other branches of the government, Department 13 didn’t have a human resources manual for disciplining employees. A written warning, or docked pay, or a demotion of their senior agent with the most field experience certainly wouldn’t make the world a safer place.

  But he’d crossed a line, and something needed to be done. This time David wouldn’t be the one deciding on what that “something” should be.

  On the rare occasion when someone left the department, their memories of protecting Americans from paranormal threats were wiped clean by one of the mystics on staff. She specialized in memory castle techniques and could remove certain aspects of your life while leaving the rest perfectly untouched and intact, like she’d simply remodeled a small portion of your past.

  And right now, David’s fate rested in the hands of his assistant, Agent Brenda Quinn, his shamanic computer programmer, Kingsley Pratt, Agent Aura Henderson, and Agent Hector Garcia.

  King seemed to be enjoying busting David’s balls. He looked down his nose at David. “Agent Bale, as I recall, it’s illegal to remove relics without the proper paperwork. The Norse rune would fall into that category, would you agree?”