by Zoe York
“I need you,” he murmured against her skin. “God, you don’t know how much I need you.”
Somewhere on the other side of the boat, he could hear the faint sounds of Toshi doing his laps. Overhead, a pair of seagulls cried as they circled the vessel, waiting for the chance to grab some crumbs. But he was aware of nothing the way he was aware of Charlie. She was trembling slightly, and he wanted to hold her closer, but their legs were already tangling with each other down below. Any closer and they’d probably go under.
And what a sweet, glorious death that would be.
He wanted to show her exactly what she was doing to him—and he wanted her to experience the same. His fingers dropped lower, sliding down her belly to her soaked panties, pressing against the cotton until she gave a gasp of pleasure.
Encouraged, he continued to touch her, letting his hand slip between her legs and then back again, stroking her in exactly the way he’d once discovered she liked to be stroked. The effect was just the same. She writhed against him, letting out soft, delicate whimpers in time with the movements of his fingers. Her head fell back against his shoulder, her body molding more completely against his, and her hair wrapped around his arms and neck. His lips attacked her everywhere he could reach. His teeth nipped at the delicate skin at the side of her throat.
He’d never get enough of her. He was a madman, driven by pent up lust, his mind already working out how they might be able to join out here in open water. He wanted to make love to her. To come together with her in a perfect storm of hunger and need and helpless surrender.
“Fuck, you have no idea how much I’ve wanted this,” he rasped into her ear. “I never stopped wanting this. Never.”
She went rigid in his arms. At first he thought he’d found the perfect spot, that she was about to come, but then she jerked away from him.
He tried to grab her, to pull her back into his arms, but she evaded him. Finally, she spun around to face him in the water, and her chest heaved as her arms worked to keep her afloat. Her eyes were hard.
“You’re not allowed to say that you never stopped wanting me. You left me,” she said, and the pain was as thick as the anger in her voice.
His whole body ached, and not just in response to his unresolved desire. “I know,” he said. “I know. And I’m sorry, Goose.” Any other time, he would have been ashamed by how raw his voice sounded, but between his raging cock and the emotions that had suddenly boiled up in him, he was surprised he could speak at all.
He reached for her through the water—slowly, though he was not sure where he found the restraint.
“Charlie,” he said gently, and he saw her eyes soften slightly in response.
But then she shook her head. “I can’t do this. I can’t.” Her voice broke on the final word. “Please, Jackson.”
He was going to argue. Going to point out that there was no “doing” or “not doing” this, and they were both stupid to have ever pretended anything different.
But at that moment, a call came from overhead. “Time to go, guys!” Leo leaned over the side of the boat above them. “Just got a call from Roth. We’ve got trouble. Sloane didn’t show and he can’t seem to reach her.”
Jackson cursed. A teammate going incommunicado was never good, and on this particular mission, it could mean big fucking trouble. But he also wasn’t ready to drop this conversation with Charlie. There were things she needed to hear. Things they needed to stop denying themselves.
Charlie was already swimming toward the end of the boat, where Toshi had pulled the ladder down into the water. His cock still screamed with need, but there wasn’t much he could do about that now—or, it seemed, anytime in the near future. Not with his teammates around. And not with a mission like this one. They had a job to do, and that meant he had to put his personal needs aside for the time being.
If it doesn’t kill me first, he thought, watching Charlie climb up the ladder, water pouring down her skin. He cursed as his dick throbbed again. No doubt about it—one way or another, he was fucked.
— FIVE —
Charlotte knew she needed to be more careful.
Back in the bay, she’d almost let herself forget how much Jackson had hurt her. She’d fallen right into his arms, let him touch her and kiss her neck and chase away all of the pain he’d caused for a few heart-pounding moments. That couldn’t happen again. What kind of idiotic girl trusted a guy who’d already broken her heart once?
Fortunately, Jackson was occupied for most of the day. When they got back to the port town of Vis, Roth had sent the men out in two-man teams across the island to look for their missing teammate. Apparently, the teammate in question was the sole female member of this crew, and Charlotte wondered why the hell they’d ever send her off on her own—until she realized that any woman who willingly joined this group was probably tough enough to handle herself. Not every girl out there was as inexperienced or as afraid as she was.
Roth and the big Russian guy stayed on the boat while the others were searching. The two men spent most of the time below, flipping through the atlas and a stack of what she assumed were Vincent Rinaldi’s old journals. Once she’d gone down there, wondering if she could help—after all, she’d spent more hours looking through that atlas than any of the men here—but Roth had shot her such a terrifying, withering look that she’d retreated to the deck again immediately. Now she sat on one of the boat’s benches, staring out across the scene in front of her. She’d been ordered to stay here, told it was too dangerous to go off on her own.
Vis appeared to be quite a charming, quiet little town. The white-stoned, orange-roofed buildings were built right along the curve of the port, and a large green slope of land rose up to the sky behind them. Behind their ship, back toward the mouth of the bay, there was a little promontory with a church jutting out into the blue water. There weren’t many boats here, but there was a fair amount of activity going on—people fishing off the concrete edge of the wharf, a handful of tourists whizzing by on scooters, locals sitting behind stalls of fruit, fish, and other commodities. She wanted to go out and explore, to experience the town and island for herself, but even if she knew it was safe—which she didn’t—it was a stupid idea. They had to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice, and Roth would, no doubt, have no problem leaving her behind.
One day, she thought. One day she’d come back and explore. But no matter how many times she told herself she was making the right decision by being responsible, she still wanted to kick herself. Here she was, finally on her adventure, and she was just sitting on the boat.
Maybe I can just go down to that little shop on the corner, she told herself. She’d be able to keep an eye on the boat from there. And it wasn’t like anyone would attack her in the middle of the afternoon in front of all these people.
But just when she’d worked up the courage to try, Leo and Jackson returned. Leo flashed her a grin as he ran across the gangplank, but Jackson had a grim look on his face.
“What is it?” she asked. “Did you find anything?”
Leo gave a little shake of his head. Jackson looked tense, like he was just waiting for the excuse to punch something. When his eyes met hers, she felt a shock move through her—but she wasn’t sure whether that was because of the intensity of his gaze or of everything they’d left unresolved between them.
But there wasn’t a chance to resolve those things, not here. Even now the remaining two team members were coming toward the boat, and Roth had just emerged from below.
“Anything?” their leader asked as everyone joined them.
Leo shook his head again, but the blond member of the team—Xavier—gave a little nod.
“Nothing from Sloane,” he said, “but a shopkeeper in the old town saw a couple of men who might have been Nash’s guys.” He glanced around the group. “And there was a guy with them who matched Tav’s description.”
The entire team reacted visibly to that news, but none more than Jackson.
; “I knew it,” he said. “I fucking knew it.”
“We still don’t know anything,” Leo countered. “We didn’t see the guy ourselves.”
“You know I’m right,” Jackson said. “All of you do. And Roth agrees, which is enough for me.”
At that, the men erupted into an argument. Roth remained silent and stoic through all of this, but Charlotte could tell that his steely eyes didn’t miss a thing as his team argued before him. He seemed content to let them continue this heated discussion, and his face remained perfectly impassive.
Until suddenly, he raised his hand in the air. “Enough.”
Immediately, the others fell silent.
“We can discuss Tavish at a later time,” he said. “Right now we have more immediate concerns. Sloane is missing. Unless we have any reason to doubt her loyalty as well, we need to figure out what happened. Additionally, it’s clear that we have a leak. Whether or not that leak is Tav remains to be seen. But right now, that means we’re only a step ahead of Nash’s men if we want to find Rinaldi’s fortune. They know about the atlas and they know we’re focusing on these islands. That doesn’t give us much of an advantage.”
“Have you found anything in the atlas yet?” asked Leo.
Roth shook his head. “Nothing that gives us anything specific. Rinaldi’s written all over the damn thing, but the only thing on the map of the Adriatic is a scribble of some stars. They form no constellation that Alexei or I have ever seen, and if they’re some sort of code, they’re nothing we’ve been able to break so far.”
“We’ll keep working,” said the big Russian. His voice was a deep rumble. “Rinaldi doesn’t think like a cryptographer, so it’s possible we’re missing something right on the surface.”
“In the meantime, I think our best chance is to head to Hvar,” Roth said. “Rinaldi mentions the island a lot in his journals, and it’s a popular destination for tourists. It makes sense that Rinaldi and Alyssa might have met each other there.”
“Hvar’s a big island,” Leo said, rubbing his neck.
“And it’s all we have right now,” Roth countered. “Here’s what I propose. Xavier, Toshi—you stay here on Vis and see if you can get any word of Sloane. It’s possible she was just delayed, and I want someone here.”
The two men nodded in response.
“The rest of us will go on to Hvar,” he continued. “We’ll continue to study the journals and atlas, but in the meantime, we need to be prepared to make the next step on our own. And we must be prepared for an encounter with Nash’s men at any time.”
The others voiced their agreement.
The next half hour was a blur for Charlotte. She still felt like she understood very little of what was going on—it was hard enough keeping everyone’s names straight, and it sounded like she still had a lot to learn about the inner politics of this group—and all she could do was stay out of the way while the men prepared to leave. Before she knew it, they’d set sail again—minus the two members who’d stayed behind in Vis.
Charlotte stayed up on the deck as the boat cut across the water. The wind had died, so they were running on the boat’s motor instead of the sails, but the view was still spectacular. She crossed her legs beneath her and looked out across the water, only occasionally throwing looks back toward Jackson.
He stood at the end of the boat, watching the water behind them. He hadn’t been himself since he and Leo had returned from their search—or at least, he hadn’t been the Jackson she knew. This Jackson had problems she knew she could never even imagine.
But her skin grew hot as she remembered what he’d said to her in the water: I never stopped wanting this. Never. He’d been gone for nine months without a word. He wasn’t allowed to feel those things.
The scuff of a shoe on the deck behind her made her look up. Leo was grinning down at her.
“Mind if I sit down, mi bella?” he asked.
She shook her head and moved slightly so he had a place to sit.
“He’ll come around, don’t worry,” Leo said as he settled himself next to her. “He’s just taking this situation a little hard, that’s all.”
She hated that her thoughts were so plain on her face. “I’m not even sure I understand the situation,” she said. “You’re afraid there’s a leak in your group?”
Leo’s grin faded. “Unfortunately, that appears to be the case. One of our members has been unhappy for some time, and we have reason to believe he might be selling some of our information to other parties.”
“Why?”
Leo ran a hand through his dark hair. “Tavish is whip smart. But he was mostly just in this for the hauls. Not that I blame him—that’s why most of us are here. For the money. This shit can be dangerous, and most people wouldn’t risk what we risk just for sport.” He looked sidelong at her. “Tav wasn’t happy when Roth made Jackson a full member. He complained that the shares would be smaller. Roth ignored him. Said we needed the fresh blood. And Tav apparently decided to make up the difference in his income elsewhere. Someone who’s motivated by money is easily bribed.”
Charlotte’s eyes drifted back to Jackson’s rigid form. “And Jackson blames himself for this? Because he sees himself as the reason for this Tav guy’s betrayal?”
“Naturally.” Leo leaned back on his elbows. “But he’s missing the point. If Tav’s betraying us now, he would have done so eventually anyway. You don’t run off and sell information just because you’re a little pissed. We in the Set need to have each other’s backs no matter what.”
She pushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. “You guys keep calling yourselves that—the Set. What does that mean?”
Her question brought Leo’s smile back. “That’s our unofficial name for ourselves—short for ‘the Devil’s Set.’ Because Roth is the devil, obviously. And we’re his willing followers.”
In spite of herself, she laughed. “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. You can thank Toshi for that bit of brilliance,” Leo said. “It was a joke that stuck. When you’re out here facing certain injury and regularly breaking international laws and all that fun stuff, sometimes you need something to lighten the mood a little. And to remind you that you’re all in this together.”
“You said there were ten of you?”
He nodded. “Nine without Tav. You’ve met six of us, plus there’s Sloane and Cruz and Donovan. And don’t worry, my dear—there won’t be a quiz on this later.”
She let out a tired little laugh. “I just feel like I have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into.” She threw a look down the boat. “Or who Jackson is anymore.”
“Does that change anything?”
“Hm?”
“Knowing what you know now—and what you don’t know—does that change how you feel?”
The question was more direct than she expected, and she didn’t have an answer. Was she stupid to have come here, knowing so little about this expedition—or the man who’d suddenly appeared in her life again? If she’d stayed, she might still have her job. How was she going to pay off her debt now? She’d thought she was being brave for once. Instead, maybe she was just being impulsive and irresponsible.
“There, now,” Leo said, apparently reading her negative thoughts in her expression. “It’ll all work out. You’ll see.”
Easy for him to say. He belonged here. She didn’t. And the more time she spent with Jackson, the more she realized it.
By the time they’d reached the island of Hvar a few hours later, she’d just about convinced herself that she should be on the first flight back to Atlanta. But as the lively port came into view—much larger and busier than the one at Vis—she felt her energy rising again. Levels of white stone buildings rose above the docks, most of them sporting the same welcoming orange roofs she’d seen all over this country. The sun was creeping ever lower on the horizon behind them, and its red-gold rays lit up the crowds of people in the streets. She felt excitement buzz through her veins. Maybe she wasn’t rea
dy to go after all. She’d come all this way and hadn’t even had a chance to explore anything yet.
But as soon as they docked, she learned that once again Roth had other plans.
“Alexei and I will go make some inquiries,” he said, then glanced at Leo and Jackson. “You two guard the boat. We don’t want anyone poking around where they shouldn’t.”
Jackson leaped up immediately. “You’re making me stay here?”
“I think it’s for the best,” Roth said.
“Bullshit! If you run into any of Nash’s guys, you want me there with you. I’m the fastest.”
“And you’re also the most worked up,” said Roth. “I need men who can keep their heads. Right now, you’re a liability.”
“That’s shit and you know it!”
“That’s still my order.” Roth’s eyes shifted past Jackson to where Charlotte stood. “Besides, we need someone here to babysit your girlfriend. So unless you feel like letting her fend for herself, I expect you to do as I say.”
That shut Jackson up. And it made Charlotte feel even worse.
A short time later, she, Leo, and Jackson were alone on the boat. Jackson hadn’t said a word since Roth and the big Russian had gone off, though he looked like he was ready to punch something at any second. He paced back and forth along the deck as the last light of the sun disappeared.
“Well,” said Leo finally, turning to Charlotte. “It looks like it’s going to be a long night. How about something to eat?”
They’d been snacking all day on the boat, but she suddenly realized how starved she was.
“Why don’t I run down there and grab us a little something?” he said. He pointed to the edge of the wharf, where a woman had set up a grill on the street and was cooking up some fish. “It doesn’t get any fresher than that.”