Calli looked over at Drew, who’d procured sunglasses from a pocket in his backpack, and was leaning lazily against the opposite railing. But his attention seemed trained on them, reflective mask notwithstanding. “He doesn’t look like he wants to be anywhere else.”
“I guess.” Annie rubbed a fresh crop of goose bumps off her arms. This adventure was entirely his idea. She didn’t need to worry about his motivation to help her. And the sooner they got to the bottom of the call, the quicker she’d be out of his hair. A yawn took her by surprise, then another, and before Calli noticed, Drew was standing.
“Come on,” he said quietly, his hand outstretched.
Her head ached, heavy with fatigue just now catching up to her. They’d been on the move all day and she hadn’t rested at all on the plane. Too tired to resist, she took his hand and let him lead her back into the cabin.
“It’ll probably be a couple of hours before we get there and Rik can give us his full attention.” His voice filled the small space even though he spoke quietly. A gruff edge caught her attention, but the need to sleep pushed that observation to the side. “Are you hungry, or would you rather have a nap?”
“Nap,” she whispered.
He pulled her toward the bunk, and for a second she thought he was going to lie down with her. Her heart leapt into her throat as he cupped her chin in his hand, but he just brushed a soft kiss to her forehead. “Lie down.”
Stay with me, she wanted to say. Keep me warm and safe. A terrible, wonderful idea that she knew better than to voice. Asking opened the door to rejection, and she wanted him too much to hear he didn’t want her. She closed her eyes as he draped a soft blanket over her body, and gave in to the muzzy weakness, letting a dreamless sleep carry her away before he even left the cabin.
He couldn’t bring himself to leave her alone. He should head up top and talk to Rik, but instead he sat on the tiny bench in the kitchenette, watching Annie sleep. Worried she’d have another nightmare, he told himself, but it felt like something more base. Something selfish.
He waited for Kevin’s voice to interject, but his buddy wasn’t going to cut him off this time.
Because he didn’t need to be cock-blocked. He could do that all by himself.
He wasn’t noble. Fuck, no. He wanted to strip Annie down to her birthday suit and feast on her body. It wouldn’t be one-sided and he’d feed her soul in the only way he knew how. But making it good in the moment wouldn’t be worth anything in the cold light of morning.
And after a few nights? It would be too damn easy to pretend their connection wasn’t a cruel combination of chemistry and adrenaline and nostalgia.
For a few minutes on the plane, Drew had lost sight of that reality.
But he just didn’t have the capacity to love inside him. To serve? Absolutely. To protect? With his life. To love? He didn’t even know what that would look like. But he was pretty sure it wasn’t possible with a guy who could get on a plane and disappear for six months without a backward glance.
He knew what it was like to be abandoned. He’d never want to do that to someone he cared about. And since leaving wasn’t optional—that was his life—attachment couldn’t happen.
He’d keep her safe until she could return to her life of innocent scholarship. And until then…it was time for some distance. Polite boundaries. And a cold shower or three. Because he couldn’t—wouldn’t—be this mopey guy.
Not even if being with Annie made him feel bigger, stronger than he had in months. He wouldn’t use her like that, and he couldn’t risk the flip side of that attachment. Emotional entanglement and Drew Castle didn’t mix.
Twenty minutes passed by the time he joined Rik, who wisely kept the conversation focused on the threat.
“While you were in the air, I transferred what I’d already discovered this morning to our secure servers. I have a guy—”
“Rik, I trust you. I don’t know your guys.”
“I’d trust Trent McTavish with my life. With Calli’s life. He was SAS for ten years. Has a younger brother with significant medical expenses, so he went private. But he’s one of the good guys. He and Jackson Sutter make up the—” He raised his voice to grab his wife’s attention. “Calli! What do you call Jackson and Trent?”
A trill of laughter carried toward them. Instead of yelling back, the dark haired beauty stood and sashayed over. Drew watched as she wound her limbs around her husband. She was warm and gracious toward Drew, but her voice took on a unique huskiness when she answered Rik. “The dynamic duo. They’re like oil and water, a Scotsman and a Texan, but they’ve bonded like brothers.”
Drew couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice. “You know them, too?”
“Sure do. My living room is command central.” She stroked Rik’s jaw. “I’m the chief sandwich-maker.”
“And she mediates disagreements about sporting events and whiskey superiority.” Drew watched with increasing discomfort as Rik patted his wife on the ass, their casual and open intimacy making him unexpectedly uncomfortable. These people need a room. “As I was saying, Trent will have a full portfolio on Rob Harris when we arrive, and Jackson and my brother Mats will have started to work up some action plans.”
“Whoa there, Rik. We’re not taking action against an American senator.”
“The nice thing about working with me, Drew, is that I’m happy to take all the glory. Or blame, as needed. But in this case your patriotism is not misplaced. My initial research suggests Annie’s being used by an international force as a pawn to somehow hurt Harris. Would his campaign really be derailed by a paternity scandal?”
Drew shrugged. Probably. Not his area of concern.
Rik shook his head and made a disappointed sound. “How ridiculous. In my country—in most countries—it would be a non-issue.”
On that point they were in agreement. “I don’t care about any of that. We just need to neutralize however this involves Annie.”
“Then that is what we shall do.”
Chapter Six
‡
The sun was setting as Rik changed direction, steering toward a small island like many they’d already passed. He maneuvered the Donzi into a covered boat house at the edge of a protected bay. From the landmarks they’d passed and Drew’s estimation of their speed, he was pretty sure they were somewhere in the Exuma island chain. A canopy of dark green, a mix of leafy trees and scrub brush, masked the space between the beach and the buildings in the near distance, but the raw beauty of Camo Cay still made itself evident. White sand, a craggy bluff to the south, and a quiet stillness that promised the small island was in fact a private paradise.
Annie had woken thirty minutes earlier, but after a glance in his direction as she stepped into the open, she’d taken a seat next to Calli. Drew had resisted the urge to join them. Now he leapt onto the walkway and helped secure the craft before extending a hand to the women, helping them out.
Calli first, then Annie, who maintained the innocent contact as she joined him on the wooden decking.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her simple words digging into his chest.
“Nothing to thank me for yet.”
She smiled slightly. “No? First class travel to the tropics is pretty sweet.”
“Rumor has it other people come here on vacation. You’ve got low standards if a hideaway with Rik and his gang does it for you.”
“There’s a gang?”
“Apparently so. You ready for this?”
She laced her fingers into his and squeezed. “We still in this together?”
Fuckity fuck. “As long as you need me, sugar.”
So much for boundaries. He wanted to lean into her, needed to feel the rub of her bare arm against his. A hot, fizzy awareness tingled all of his nerve endings like his own private Annie alarm system. Warning, too close. But also, warning, too far away when she stepped back to let Rik pass.
As they followed a long, winding boardwalk path with occasional stairs to accommo
date slight changes in elevation, dusk now rapidly descending on them, he could feel her glancing at him in the dark shadows thrown by the surrounding greenery. Each look thrilled and terrified him, and he found himself wrapped in a nervous energy vaguely reminiscent of his first high school dance. Ahead of them, Rik and Calli led the way. Dim solar lights lit the path every few feet, but they just underlined the private moment they were sharing as they slowed in tandem at the edge of the overgrowth.
Annie swallowed hard as she looked up at the three-story main villa rising in front of them. A combination of modern glass and traditional Colonial architecture, it was gorgeous. And imposing. Obviously not a vacation resort, but a private space renovated with serious purpose. If there was any doubt about that, an armed guard stood in front of the main doors.
“Hey, I’m with you every step of the way.” As if watching himself have an out of body experience, Drew felt the tug toward her at the same moment as he tried to tell himself to keep moving forward. But her lower lip trembled, and she needed to be comforted. He dropped his backpack to the ground and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, just meaning to pull her close enough to kiss her temple.
But when she tipped her head at the last minute, and looked him straight in the eye, lips parted and eyes shiny…he was lost. He swept her into his arms, one hand around her tiny waist, the other at the top of her spine. Covering her mouth with his, he swallowed her gentle moan as she opened to his probing tongue.
This didn’t feel like high school. It was an adult kiss, unhesitant and hungry, but there was something else. A chemical bond, a desperate transfer of need and promise, and when they broke apart, Drew knew he was in a world of trouble, because attachment? No longer optional or avoidable. A done deal he hadn’t seen coming. So much for protecting her and walking away.
“Wow,” she said, and he laughed weakly, still holding her against his body. “You really know how to distract a girl. All that practice, huh? Whew! Good thing I know the real Drew.”
Ice water wouldn’t have been as effective. “Sure do,” he muttered. “Come on, let’s get this thing resolved.”
He really needed to stop turning her on and then changing his mind.
Annie chased after Drew as he stalked toward the main entrance, her previous shock and awe at the scale of the structure forgotten. “Hey!” she hissed, yanking on his arm. “What the hell was that?”
It wasn’t in her nature to lash out, but she’d been pushed too far. Not by Drew, but the situation, and even as she tugged him toward her, she knew she was about to unfairly unload twenty-four hours of stress onto his massive shoulders. All because she said something stupid and he stopped kissing her.
He spun around, the garden lights bouncing off the hard planes of his face. “This really something you want to do in front of an audience?”
“Apparently privacy is just a myth anyway, so sure, why the hell not.” She ducked around his brick wall of a body and waved at Rik and the similarly gorilla-sized man standing next to him. She’d never cheekily flipped off a man with a machine gun before, but this trip was proving to be all about firsts. Her first international spy adventure. Her first ill-advised infatuation. How had she managed to go twenty-five years without acting like a giggling school girl? And why, oh why, did it have to be over Drew Castle?
“I shouldn’t have kissed you. I apologize.”
“Shut up about that! If you don’t want to kiss me, just don’t do it. I’ll survive, you big ape. You’ve got a talented tongue, but it’s not made of stardust. That guard over there probably has just as much international tonsil hockey experience as you do and if I need distraction—”
“You can’t kiss him.” Drew crossed his arms and scowled.
A gleeful tremor rippled through her lower belly at his possessive stance. Not that it would do her any good if he didn’t get over his hang-ups about her. That annoyed her enough to needle him again. “Let me get this straight. I can’t kiss you—not that I want to anymore—and you think you get to decide I can’t kiss him…how about Calli? She’s cute.”
From behind them, Rik cleared his throat. “We’ll head inside, you’ll join us soon?”
Drew ground his teeth together. “Yep, in a minute.”
She waited, mostly because she wasn’t really sure what they were fighting about. He laid a zero-to-sixty kiss on her then dropped her like a hot potato because she made light of it. Drew Castle, it appeared, had some issues. Totally not her problem.
Except for the nagging desire to sooth his stupid warrior soul. A misguided urge she should know better than to entertain. He was practically her brother’s long-lost twin, which should be reason enough to dislodge her interest, even before the itemized list of reasons he couldn’t be anything more than a fantasy. Unavailable in every sense of the word. Uninterested in politics or nuance. Unrelentingly boyish. But also unbelievably kind and generous. Unable to turn his back on someone in need. And most importantly, unlike anyone she’d ever met before.
Including Kevin.
But Drew wasn’t Kevin’s twin. He was his own person, flawed and wonderful, and for however long they had together on this island, she wasn’t letting him run hot and cold anymore. She wanted to get to know the real Drew better, and there was only one way to do that.
“Listen, Annie…” The temptation to interrupt him was almost irresistible, but she bit back a snarky retort and let him finish. “I’ve found myself tipped sideways. Over you, about Kevin, all of this…this isn’t how I normally do my job. But you aren’t a mission, and I’m having trouble figuring out if I need to keep you at arm’s length because it’s the right thing to do for you, or if I need to do it for me.”
Oh, Drew…her heart melted a smidge for him. “But you’re sure you need to keep me at arm’s length, huh?”
“Nothing good can come of this getting complicated.”
She twisted her lips, trying to remain soft and understanding, but the laughter burbled out. “Oh, I think something good can come of it…”
He genuinely looked confused, and she wondered if his twelve-year-old boy tendencies had transferred to her on the boat, like some Freaky Friday scenario.
“Sex, you big oaf!” Understanding dawned on his face, and one eyebrow notched in response. “You need to let go of this idea that satisfying this attraction between us would be a bad thing. I don’t think you’ve ever had that concern in the past.”
He squirmed as she made a direct hit. “This isn’t about my history. You can’t tell me it’s not going to be weird between us if we get involved.”
“I don’t care.” She surprised them both with the truth of that statement. “First of all, I haven’t seen you in a year. I’m pretty sure the opportunities for total awkwardness will be few and far between. And second…life is short, right? I don’t want any regrets.”
“I walk away, sugar. That’s my life.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and cleared his throat, pushing away the hoarse edge that made her insides squish happily. “You might not regret that, but I sure as fuck will.”
He didn’t want to leave her? That was both heavy and sweet at the same time. God, there was so much there to unpack, but they didn’t have time. Behind him, the door thunked open. “We need to get inside, but this isn’t over, Drew Castle.”
She brushed past him, her arm glancing off his brick wall midsection, and for a second she thought he was going to grab her and kiss her again, but he shuttered the wild look in his eyes and stepped in behind her. First they would figure out the mystery of the creepy message. Then they both needed more sleep. But tomorrow? She wasn’t sure what her next move would be, but it might need to include borrowing a bikini from Calli.
Inside, they found a large and empty tiled foyer. Annie blinked hard at the larger-than-life double staircase that rose in front of them, veering at the midpoint left and right to the balcony running the length of the second floor. Rik led them down the hallway to the left that opened onto a sunken living space. Padd
ed benches and modern couches delineated a seating area, and behind that, three men were standing in a large empty space featuring only an oversized dining table that would easily accommodate twenty people. To the right was an archway to what looked like a kitchen, and from the clanging and banging, that might be where Calli had disappeared.
Drew squeezed her shoulder, and she took a deep, fortifying breath before striding across the room to join the group. Rik made quick introductions. His younger clone was Mats, the guard from the front door turned out to be a friendly Texan named Jackson, and the shorter, wiry man with the serious face and rusty colored hair was Trent, who proceeded to lead them through a lightning fast briefing in his clipped Scottish accent.
“It seems an effort was made to trick Annie into contacting Senator Harris, possibly to get Harris to reveal the true paternity of his son. If the voice mail hadn’t been garbled, it might have been a more successful endeavor.”
“No, it wouldn’t.” Annie sighed. “I wish I could speak to my brother again, of course, but I knew from the first second that it was a prank. Or something more sinister.”
“To be honest, we think prank is a good characterization. I need a bit more time to run the data, but I think the call originated locally to you.”
“Someone I know?” Shock rippled through her. Her circle was small and tight-knit. High school girlfriends and some academic colleagues.
“No. You share a zip code with a large population of paparazzi. Tabloid TV shows would have a field day with a Republican politician hiding a paternity scandal. Particularly one that involved a member of the special forces.”
She could feel Drew drawing himself up to the full extent of his height and weight. “How could they have figured that out? Annie didn’t even know who the parents were.”
“But they did. And ten years is a long time to keep a secret. Who knows who they told?”
“So why involve her?”
Trent shrugged. “Maybe she seemed like an easy mark? Accessible, unguarded, unaware of the scandal potential. They probably just wanted to get her to lure out Harris. Or write something in an email…anything that could be flashed beneath a headline as proof.”
SEALs of Summer: Military Romance Superbundle - Navy SEAL Style Page 55