Exhale (36 page)

Zoe practically ran through the Sydney airport toward baggage claim where Gavin had said he’d pick her up. People stood in lines, waiting for their arrivals. She scanned the crowd a couple of times, but he wasn’t there. If he forgot or got called away again—

“Dr. Morgan?”

She spun around. Gavin stood behind her, wearing a pair of dark sunglasses and a hoodie pulled over his black hair. He took the carry-on bag from her, dropped it to the floor, and kissed her hard. Her face heated, probably turned red as a beet, but she didn’t pull away.

He broke the kiss, grasped her hand, and started toward the exit at a near-sprint. Zoe jogged behind, unable to keep up with his long strides.

“What’s the big hurry?” She stopped, and he did too when she didn’t let go of his hand.

He grinned. “Trying to keep a low profile.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Kissing someone like you just did in the middle of the airport is
not
keeping a low profile. And take these things off.” She snatched the sunglasses off his nose. “I don’t like not being able to see your eyes.”

He dropped his head and shot his gaze to the people nearby. “Suit yourself. But a girl at four o’clock is heading over here. She’s gonna ask for my autograph. And then she’ll look at you funny. She probably won’t say anything, because that would be rude, but she’ll wonder who you are and why you’re with me. She already took a picture with her camera phone.”

Zoe turned. Sure enough, a cute young girl holding a phone walked cautiously toward them.

“What’s the verdict? If I talk to her, it’ll draw more attention, and we’ll never get out of here. There’s another one at seven o’clock.” He scratched his ear and screwed up his mouth for a second.

What the hell? He was right. People came to life, like little roaches scurrying for food in the dark. Several women faced their direction, chatting excitedly to their friends.

She grabbed him by the back of the arm. “Okay. You win. Let’s get out of here.”

She took off for the exit, and he brought up the rear. They jogged across the parking lot to his rental car. He opened the door, ushered her into the passenger seat, and threw the overnight bag in the back.

“Are the vultures always that hungry?” Zoe asked once he paid the parking ticket and left the lot.

“Pretty much. It’s easier to hide in the open in Hervey Bay than in Sydney. This is my hometown, and the band plays here all the time. People know us.”

“Sydney’s a big city.” God, if this many people at the airport knew him…She shifted her legs and crossed them.

He dropped a hand to her thigh and squeezed. “Don’t be intimidated, Pancake.”

“What makes you think I’m intimidated, Flapjack?” She folded arms over her chest and tucked balled fists under her armpits.

“The blue in your aura just shifted.”

She rubbed her forehead. What next? First Iri invading her thoughts, and now Gavin seeing patterns in her ‘aura’ that gave her away? “I rarely questioned my sanity before we met, but now I seem to do it three or four times a day. What is it with you?”

“I have that effect on people.” He leaned over and dropped a kiss on her shoulder through her CRN tee shirt.

She smiled. “Keep your eyes on the road, Romeo.”

“You love pushing me away. Ever since the beginning.”

“Not true.” She felt his stare at the side of her head, but refused to acknowledge it. “At least not anymore. Right now, I just want to get to the harbor, check out this calf, and spend a long, quiet night alone with you.”

He grinned.

“What’s funny?”

“Your aura.”

Great. What the hell was she telling him without telling him?
Hey, hot, young rock star. I’d like to be the first to shag your brains out without a condom, even though it’s adolescent and reckless and potentially damaging to my career as a semi-respected whale biologist
.

She slid the back of her hand across her mouth. Much as their budding ‘relationship’ freaked her out sometimes, she had to admit she secretly loved everything that was wrong about it. Maybe a little too much.

Best to keep her mind on business for the moment. There would be plenty of time for romance later. Well, assuming no more Sentinel emergencies crept up.

“I got a ‘call’ last night from
her
,” she said.

He shot her a surprised look. “Is she safe? What did she say?”

“It’s what she didn’t say that worries me. She and her baby are heading our way. She mentioned something about ‘Waterwalking’ to nurse the calf in the harbor here, but then we got cut off. She said, ‘Everything will be all right,’ and I lost her.”

The whole episode had left an awful taste in her mouth when she woke up this morning.

Gavin frowned. “Did you get a sense something bad happened?”

“It certainly didn’t feel like everything was hunky dory.” She shook her head. “I don’t know, but the calf at the harbor will tell me whether she got to him. That should give us an idea about what to do next.”

Gavin pulled into the Central Business District. Apparently, the whale calf had attracted a lot of attention. Parking near the harbor was a nightmare, thanks to the media circus.

After driving around for ten minutes, Gavin lucked out and found a parking space close to the harbor. Zoe grabbed her bag from the back and stood before him. With the dark sunglasses and black hoodie, he looked disgustingly hot. She licked her lips.

“Well, I’m here, safe and sound. Why don’t I call you when I get finished, and then you can pick me up?”

“I’ll walk you,” he said, laying a hand on her lower back.

Last thing she needed was for Gavin to run into Randy. “That’s okay. I know where to go.”

“You’re not going to introduce me to your scientist friends?” The lip ring wiggled, and his brows hopped.

She wanted to bite his snarky mouth and teach it a lesson. Instead, she awkwardly brushed his sleeve. “Uh, no. You can go now.”

“Zoe?”

Shit. She closed her eyes for two seconds, then faced her approaching boss. Gavin’s hand dropped from her back.

“Hi.” She drew the word out and tossed him a wide, fake smile. He wore a blue CRN shirt identical to hers, a cap, dark glasses, khaki shorts, and brown boat shoes.

Gavin shifted balance between his feet. He crossed his arms over his chest, biceps bulging a little more than necessary under the tight black hoodie.

He didn’t know anything about Randy or the fact that he’d been her lover for years, so if she played this cool, there would be no problems. Zoe held out a hand toward her ex and caught Gavin’s gaze through the glasses.

“This is my boss from Cetacean Research Network, Dr. Randy Heller. Randy, meet Gavin. He’s in a…rock band here in Sydney, and he came out to see if he could help spread the word about the orphaned calf.” She swallowed hard and dropped her gaze to the pavement between her sandals. Worst liar ever.

When silence followed the introductions, she looked up.

A muscle in Randy’s cheek ticked as he scrutinized Gavin for a second, then he held out his right hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Gavin unwound his arms and shook. “Dr. Morgan was just telling me how important it is to find the whale’s mother. Wouldn’t want any distractions when a baby’s life is at stake, right?” Lots of tension in his voice.

What the hell was that about?

She shifted focus from Gavin to Randy and back. The heat between them practically crackled. Gavin stared him down, but Randy wasn’t one to be intimidated.

“Rock band, huh? Interesting.” Randy turned to Zoe and laid a palm on her shoulder. Gavin stiffened.

“We have a lot of work to do. Let’s get to the boat so we can discuss our options.” He started toward the dock without another word.

Gavin growled.

Zoe shoulder-bumped his arm. “Don’t be rude. That’s my boss. What’s the matter?”

Lip barely curled, he stared over the top of his sunglasses after Randy. “I don’t like the way he looks at you.”

She shook her head. “He doesn’t look at me any
way
. You’re being paranoid.” Okay, maybe not.

“He has strong feelings for you, Zed.” Jaw rippling, Gavin continued to track Randy’s progress through the crowd.

Gavin was jealous? She hid her pleased smile under the guise of rubbing her nose. “We’ve known each other for years, okay? Now, I have to go. What are you going to do while I’m working?”

“Try to arrange for some Aer Elementals to take Whetu. Do me a favor?”

“What?”

“Don’t let that dickhead touch you again.”

Her heart swelled to twice its normal size. After seeing the girls at the airport fawning over Gavin, she thought
she
should be worried. But his bunching muscles, stiff posture, and intense expression smacked of testosterone-fueled rivalry.

She smiled again. He
was
jealous. “Okay.”

He leaned in as if to kiss her, then stopped himself. “Good luck.” One foot stepped backward, followed by the other, and he half-waved goodbye.

Help.
The baby beckoned from across the water behind her.

Zoe whipped her head around. The sad, weak voice chilled her blood. Banning Gavin and Randy from her thoughts, she clutched her bag tightly and jogged toward the crowded slip where a Zodiac waited.

She sighed. This was going to be hard.

Chapter Thirty-seven

“Whale killer!” an odd-smelling woman with smoker’s breath yelled in Zoe’s face as she pushed her way through the throng of bodies. The lady shook her fist and tugged on Zoe’s arm. “Don’t let them kill that baby. He belongs with his own kind.”

Refusing to feed the animals, Zoe nodded, clutched her purse and dry bag tighter, and continued onward against the tide of people. The harbor was more crowded than a zoo on a Sunday. And far wilder too.

Protesters waving bloody-looking signs. News crews. Tourists with cameras around their necks. The swell of humanity, mixed with the worry coursing through her veins, was stifling.

“Excuse me,” she said, edging past an elderly Aboriginal man in full traditional dress.

“Let me speak to the whale,” he said. “I can help it.”

She shook her head and made for the docked Zodiac bobbing behind Randy. A policeman stepped forward with an outstretched hand and blocked her way. A couple of other cops stood around, holding back the crowd.

“It’s all right,” Randy said to the officer. “She’s one of our researchers.”

The guy backed up and let Zoe pass.

“Where are we? What can I do?” Much as he irritated her, at least Randy was a familiar face in this sea of insanity.

The humpback called again, like a human baby crying out for its mother. Heart halfway up her throat, Zoe scanned the marina. No whale. God, how hungry the calf must be. Starvation would be a horrible way to die.

“I’m going to take you out past the breakers to where the calf is.” Randy was all business. Good. Business would keep her focused. “We’d like you to get in the water with the animal and assess its general health and responsiveness. You brought your suit, right?”

“Yeah, I just need a place to change.”

He pointed her to some tents the Wildlife Service had set up. She went over, showed the officials her Cetacean Research Network ID, and changed into her scuba suit quickly. She hustled back to Randy.

The two of them got into the Zodiac, he cranked it up, and off they went across the calm water. Zoe’s heart raced the entire way.

“So, who’s the airhead musician?” Randy asked.

Zoe snapped her head up. She couldn’t see his eyes through the dark glasses, but his knuckles were white against the steering wheel. “Gavin? Oh, just someone I met in my travels.” There she went with the lying again. “Nobody, really.”

Randy nodded once. After a long moment of silence, he said, “About the job...”

Oh, here it came. Her feet twitched, and the skin on her hands suddenly felt too tight.

“I’m recommending you for the Vice Presidency. I think you’ll be perfect in the role. Providing—” he paused and shook a finger at her, “you don’t pull any more stunts like you did in Antarctica with the whaling fleet.”

She started to protest his talking down to her, but the words caught up and blindsided her with the force of an iron skillet smack to the cranium. “What stunt in Antarctica?”

He flipped his glasses up and turned away from her, eyes casting a wide net over the horizon. “You lie about as well as you spell, Zoe. Don’t play dumb.”

Oh, God.

Her jaw quivered, and her hands shook. She sat on them. “Who told you?”

He chucked out a humorless laugh. “How the hell did you think you got off so easy? Nobody gets away with stuff like that. Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to cover for you? If it weren’t for me, you’d probably still be in a Japanese jail.”

Her eyes misted, throat tightened to a narrow, unyielding column of ice. No. Randy couldn’t have done that.

Could he?

Of course he could, idiot
.

Cetacean Research Network was a global, multimillion-dollar organization. How much had he paid to conceal her misdeeds? Blood money, it was. Money that should have gone to fund education programs and research for the whales, not bribe someone to get her off the hook for acting like a moron.

She stood up, ignoring the bumps from the oncoming swells. “You shouldn’t have done that, Randy. God, you should have just let me take what I had coming…” Her voice cracked.

How
could
he?

And worse, she never said a word. Never questioned any of it.

She sliced the air with her hand. “I should’ve taken responsibility and owned up to it. But you
lied
for me…Why?” Her brows pulled together under her cap, and tears welled.

Randy turned on her. “Why do you think?”

She shrugged. Literally no clue.

“Because you’re the best goddamn whale researcher I have. Because I care about you. Because I need you.” His expression softened by a hair, and he reached for her hand.

She pulled away. The nerve of that cheating bastard.

“So, let me get this straight. Either I take the job I’ve always wanted and work for you the rest of my career, all happily-ever-after, like nothing ever happened, or I turn you down, you blab to the scientific community about the fact I’m an eco-terrorist, and we
both
lose our credibility.”