Paradise Point

by Dana Volney

  Ken snapped his mouth shut, his face skeptical of Adam’s ability to follow through. If only he knew—the grown man would wet himself.

  Adam held up his phone and, showing the man the snazzy program Willamina had created for fast intel gathering, read, “‘Ken Novak. Born October eighteenth, nineteen seventy-eight, to a Mr. and Mrs. Paul Novak. Lives at five sixty-two Chester Lane.’ Not impressed?” Adam scrolled down. “Oh, here’s the good stuff.” He turned the smartphone screen toward Ken and watched as the color drained from his face.

  Turned out Ken had dealings the IRS would like to know about.

  “How’d you get—that’s private. I’ll report you to the…” Ken’s voice trailed off.

  Adam pocketed his phone. “Remember my directions of what you’re never supposed to do again?” Adam brought his head in to whisper in Ken’s ear. “I will fuck your shit up faster than you can say Patriot Act. Don’t ever speak to, touch, look at, or threaten Liv again. I’m everywhere. I’ll know. Now, do you remember all of the promises I just made to you?” Ken nodded. Obviously, judging by his slack jaw, this time he believed.

  “And do you remember how you’ll incur them?”

  Ken nodded again.

  “Then we have no more business.” Adam waggled his eyebrows. “I’m pretty good at this, huh?” He chuckled and stepped back, allowing Ken to close the car door. The asshole didn’t take his eyes off of Adam until he had to focus on the road.

  Adam saluted him with two fingers and inspected the marina grounds. I miss that. I need an assignment.

  • • •

  “That should do it.” Willamina pushed a couple of keys on his laptop. “All I need now is her body heat signature and we’re good to go. Let me see your phone.”

  Adam handed over his encrypted smartphone. “Good.”

  Willamina shot him a look of speculation. He knew that look. “Don’t start with me,” he said.

  “This is mighty stalkerish of you.”

  “You didn’t see that guy. He’s got creep written all over him, and I don’t know if he’ll try something again. I’d rather not wonder.” Adam hated taking chances. He liked to control the situation, just like he did on a mission. Besides, it was in his best interest to keep his business partner alive. This wasn’t personal.

  “Even so. The cameras, the heat signature, and sensors…” Her voice trailed off.

  Admittedly, he lived in a paranoid world. But he’d seen its evils. He had reason to be cautious.

  “The cameras are on my boat,” he rationalized.

  “But you have them monitoring Liv’s,” she countered.

  “For safety. We share a dock.”

  “Uh-huh. And I suppose the cameras at the marina are for business? You never put them up when Vam ran the place. This gal must’ve really gotten under your skin,” she said.

  “How long do you need her to stand still?” Adam knew he’d never win with Willamina.

  “About thirty seconds should do it.” She handed him back his phone and he perused the program, which mirrored the one on his laptop. He could scroll through all of the real-time footage and find Liv with a press of a button if he was within a mile.

  “The footage will record?” he asked as he played around with the cameras positioning from the controls on his phone.

  “On your laptop’s hard drive. Do you want all of it stored or erased every week?”

  “Keep it all for now.”

  He had the tools to protect his business partner so he was damn sure going to use them. If something happened to her and he knew he could’ve prevented it, he’d never forgive himself.

  He glanced at his watch. Liv should be getting home soon. As he peered out the windows that lined the wall between his main patio and cabin, it occurred to him he’d been paying close attention to Liv’s schedule. Only because she’s my business partner and I need to know if she scammed Vam. It had nothing to do with her green eyes, or the smile that quickened his pulse, or her wit that kept him on his toes. It had to do with his training he couldn’t shut off and the marina.

  “Here she comes.” Adam glanced back at Willamina, who got to work on his laptop.

  “All righty, Romeo. Thirty seconds.”

  He should’ve thought of a plan. Liv didn’t stand still very much. She always fidgeted with her hair or clothes or whatever was in her hands.

  He walked out onto the dock into Liv’s path.

  “Hi.” He gave her his best smile.

  “Hey. Don’t tell me—more errands?”

  “I wanted to check on you.”

  She rubbed her lips together; her gloss shimmered in the sun. Adam watched her lips come back to their full plumpness before he remembered he had a task to complete. He planted his feet in front of her and resisted the urge to cross his arms.

  Liv’s squinted her pretty eyes and he bit back a laugh. There was just about nothing this woman could do that wouldn’t be sexy. How annoying.

  “I thought you had green and blue eyes.” His statement came out of nowhere, even to him.

  She shuffled her feet. “They change.”

  “Change?”

  “Yeah, green to green and half blue.”

  “Ever full blue?”

  “Nope.” She tucked a stray piece of blond hair behind her ear. Adam studied her face down to her bare, kissable neck. What is my problem? He didn’t like her and now all of a sudden his head was full of thoughts about her hotness. Helping her this afternoon had really gone to his head. He felt responsible for her and therefore—attracted? That was some fucked-up psychology right there. He placed his hands on her shoulders in order to keep her still. He started the countdown. “Are you okay?” he asked slowly and seriously.

  Her muscles tensed under his grip and he squeezed lightly to comfort her—and to keep her from moving.

  She raised her eyes to the sky before answering. “Yes. I’m fine.”

  “Really?” Adam searched her eyes, looking for distress, angst, or trauma. By all appearances she seemed intact. Intuition told him otherwise; she was shaken, but she hid it well. “He won’t be bothering you again.”

  “How do you know?” Her eyes narrowed. “What did you do when you went after him?”

  “I took care of it.”

  “Yeah. Okay.” Liv laid the sarcasm on thick.

  He gently glided his hands over her smooth shoulders, up her soft neck to her plump cheeks. “You’re safe.”

  Adam needed to reassure her. He wanted Liv to know she was safe as long as he was around. She’d probably call him crazy and a whole slew of other names if she found out what he’d spent his afternoon doing, but she’d be protected. And he’d sleep at night not worrying.

  She searched his eyes, not moving a muscle. He softened his eyes and jaw, nodding slowly. His world wouldn’t crash down if he let her see he cared—even if it was only a little.

  She blinked and the moment ended. He brought his hands down by his sides.

  She glanced at his boat and furrowed her brows. “I’ll let you get back to your guest.”

  He turned and saw Willamina standing at the window, watching. She just couldn’t resist, could she? The good news was if Willamina had time to spy, then she’d gotten what they needed. He blew out a long sigh and rubbed the back of his neck as he turned to start explaining to Liv. But she had already escaped to her cabin, closing the door behind her. Well … ain’t this some shit?

  He walked back into his living room and Willamina’s scrutinizing sight.

  “She means nothing to me.”

  “Nothing, huh?” Willamina shook her head. “As a bonus, you can find her in a crowd.” She reached over and hit the blue button. “This will recognize her wherever. You don’t have to use the cameras.”

  “Now that seems like a stalkerish function you installed all on your own.”

  “If you’re going to do it, do it right.” She shrugged and he reminded himself he was glad things ended amicably between them. This little vixen co
uld do some damage if she really wanted.

  • • •

  Liv woke with the sun. She dropped in a pod of hazelnut coffee and pressed the button on her one-cup machine for instant brew. She walked in her pajamas and robe to the end of her patio, sat in her lone deck chair, and propped her feet up on the railing. After taking a deliciously hot sip she closed her eyes into the morning light. It was already warm with no breeze—a perfect morning. Birds chirped and she set her sights on the horizon. Splashes from the distance caught her attention. Sunlight glistened on the skin of a dark-haired man with touchable shoulders. Mmm. Good morning to me. She snuggled into her chair and decided to try being a morning person more often. The man dove back down into the water and Liv tried to hold her breath. Time lapsed and she gave up. Swimming wasn’t so much her thing as the sand and the sun were. A dark head of hair popped above the water near the back of her houseboat and nearly startled her. She focused on the man, trying to think of a witty remark when his face came into full view. Hot damn. Adam Lark is a swimmer. And a sexy one to boot. All of her fun one-liners vanished and she was left staring into bright, brown eyes surrounded by water and attached to very well-defined muscles. Her lips parted but words didn’t leave them.

  “Good morning.” Adam brushed water from his face and ran his hand through his thick hair.

  “Morning.” She moved her coffee cup to her lips, paused, and sipped. I wish I had my sunglasses on. She balanced her cup back on her legs and licked her lips. Her body warmed and she knew it wasn’t from the morning sun. “Nice time for a swim.”

  “The best.” He climbed the ladder on their shared dock and she resisted the urge to look over her shoulder.

  “Don’t tell me that’s all you’re having for breakfast.”

  She happily swiveled her body to face Adam as he toweled off. Her smile froze on her face as she tried to remember what he’d asked. “People usually appreciate that I have my coffee first thing. I’m not pleasant before.”

  “Only before?” He ran the towel over his smooth, defined chest as he chuckled. “The bay is nice for a swim.”

  “I’ll think about it.” The thought of him seeing her in a bikini sent shivers down her spine. Another time, another place, Lark. For now she’d stick to her morning coffee.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Liv put the finishing touches of icing on the cake that afternoon and licked her finger. Beautiful. Now for a taste. She sipped the cup of sweet red wine next to her finished product and stepped back in admiration. Adam had done her a favor, to her chagrin, the other day with Ken. She wanted to say thank you, in not so many words. It had taken some wine, but she’d reasoned away Ken’s misuse of her personal space. Besides, something about the way Adam told her he took care of her former coworker put her at ease. She believed him lock, stock, and barrel, God help her.

  She hadn’t said thank you when he checked on her. Was that the right way to put it? She wasn’t his charge to babysit. She frowned. I hope that’s not what he thinks. I can take care of myself.

  She had no idea if he’d been consoling her with his actions on the dock last night, actually worried about her, or showing off for the little brunette in his house. She frowned at the memory. The woman had dark chestnut hair, nice face, and probably not an ounce of fat on her tiny little body. And here Liv stood, licking her icing spoon like she’d never tasted sugar before. His glistening, hard body from their morning encounter popped into her mind. She should’ve jumped in the water with him.

  “Whatcha got there?” Adam sauntered into Paradise Point’s kitchen.

  His voice brought her back to the present tense, which was fine; the past sucked anyway. What will my future bring? At this rate, probably ten cats. That would be fitting—she was allergic to cats, too.

  “I baked a cake.” She smiled proudly.

  Vam had left her recipes and Liv had decided to try them. She already knew cooking wasn’t her thing; she tended to fare better with sweets.

  “Smells good.” He raised an eyebrow. “Can you bake?”

  “Let’s find out,” she said, her tone daring. She grabbed two forks out of the drawer and handed him one.

  Adam eyed the bunt cake, his fork, and the absence of plates on the counter. “Straight from the source, huh?”

  “Yup. Picnic style.” Her syllables were extra pronounced.

  They jabbed their forks into the blueberry lemon bunt cake generously covered in cream cheese frosting and shoveled it into their mouths. A low moan hummed off Liv’s fork perched in her mouth. She stole a glance at Adam to see his reaction. He had a far-off stare in his brown eyes. His hand and empty fork rested on the counter as he chewed.

  “Whatdaya think?” Liv went in for another bite.

  “You made this?” His eyes narrowed. “You?”

  “Sure did.”

  “Where’d you get the recipe?”

  Liv swallowed her piece of cake and drank from her nearby wine glass. She didn’t think to warn him the cake might trigger memories. “Vam.” Regret washed her face.

  “How? She never left her recipes here. She didn’t used to, anyway.”

  “She gave ’em to me.”

  “When?”

  “They were sort of in the will.” She was vague on purpose. She didn’t feel like discussing the sweet letter Vam had written to her to go with the recipes.

  “She must’ve really liked you. She never gave away her secrets.”

  “Not even to you?”

  “Well, yeah, to me. But not to anyone who wasn’t family.” Adam raked his hair with the hand not holding a fork.

  “So was that your girlfriend?”

  “My what?”

  “In your house the other day, when you were being weird about Ken. What was that all about, by the way?”

  She drove her fork into the cake, hoping her comment would rile him. Anything was better than this middle-of-the-don’t-give-a-crap-road they were on. For a man, he was sure girly about his silent treatments. Her world felt more comfortable when she surrounded herself with people who not just tolerated her, as she suspected Adam did, but also liked her. She needed to make headway with this guy or give him her fifty percent—and that didn’t sound appealing at all. Plus, she really wanted to know if he had a girlfriend.

  She met Adam’s eyes again; they hadn’t seemed to move off her. She watched them shift and she shuffled her legs. His intense stare unnerved her.

  “Not my girlfriend.”

  She watched the sides of Adam’s lips tip up ever so slightly. Her usual failings that made him laugh were irritating; this time she liked making him smile.

  “Can I ask you something?” she asked.

  “Have you not been?”

  “What do you do? For a living?”

  His eyes averted to the cake. She’d clearly stepped out of bounds—again.

  “Just doing my part to make this world a better place.” He stabbed at the cake.

  “Vam said that, too. But I call bullshit. You’re covering up something.” Pieces of her interactions with Adam started to fit together—he had to be a military man. His authoritative nature, the way he always seemed to be surveying his surroundings, and the Ken ordeal and how he’d been so sure he’d taken care of the problem—all spoke to training.

  • • •

  Adam didn’t hide what he did for a living. He had more pride than he could ever express for his chosen profession. However, telling people his job made them act differently. When he first joined the Army Rangers he noticed the woman swooned more when Ranger followed Army. Then, when he became a Special Forces combat diver, the swooning morphed into near worship. He couldn’t stand that type of affection; they didn’t like him, they liked what he did. Their heads would probably explode if they knew the type of team he commanded and ops he controlled. Vagueness had its place in his life.

  “Would you be satisfied if I said private military contractor?”

  “No.”

  “Team leader?”


  “Of?” Her eyes expected a full answer.

  He took a deep breath. They were business partners, for now, and on the off chance he kept his fifty percent, she should probably know why he sometimes might disappear for long periods of time.

  “I work at Wingfield Intelligence Agency. Ever heard of them?”

  “Huh. Really?”

  He studied her face. Is that a hint of smugness? So Liv knew about WIG. Or did she? Dammit, now he wanted to know.

  A side smile sparked her eyes. “Don’t seem so shocked.”

  He moved his face back to neutral; he didn’t realize he’d showed his surprise.

  “Should I even ask?” He wanted to ask.

  “My dad was Navy. I’m familiar with a lot of military stuff in the area. And, you do know we’re on Coronado, right? It’s like a military playground. Geesh.”

  “All right, my bad. I underestimated you.”

  “Tsk. Tsk. It’s never smart to underestimate a woman … especially me. I’m glad you see the error of your ways.” She winked.

  “Funny.” Adam felt his heart rate kick up as a tingle crept up his spine.

  “What do you do for them?” Liv asked.

  “I run a team. We focus on counterterrorism mostly. Sometimes smuggling and pirate threats. All depends who we’re contracted by and for what. My team is mostly a dive team. All specifically trained.”

  She nodded as she listened. Should I tell him who my dad is?

  She watched him chatter on about his team. His face lit up as soon as he started explaining. Who could blame him? He had a very cool job. The fact that he was telling her about it? Even better. She knew they were a tight-lipped group. A twirl of lightness started at her toes and flitted to her cheeks. He must trust me. She knew this was a special moment. Commander Wingfield, or sir, as she’d had to call him in the office, started WIG when she’d finished college. He’d retired from the Navy but saw the need for contracted military personnel. Usually when men and women retired from different branches of the government they were still seeking work in their specialty fields. Her dad had been savvy enough to see the need for a bridge to combine two and recruit the best of the best. She’d tried her hand as his assistant for a while before deciding that type of work didn’t fuel her fire.