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 accommodate 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. Padded 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.”
Heat flooded Annie’s cheeks as she realized she’d fled across the country and out into international waters, dragging Drew along with her, because she was running from the press. “Oh god,” she moaned. “What a mess!” She turned to Rik and shook her head. “I’m so sorry that I got you involved in all of this...we’ll leave tomorrow, and I’ll find a way to reimburse you for the
expense of all of this.”
Somehow
. She had her inheritance. Just how much did a private jet ride from New Orleans to Miami cost, anyway?
“Don’t think of that right now, Ms. Martin.” She didn’t bother to correct him. Maybe formalities were a good thing when so much effort had been put on the line for...for...for...
— —
Drew felt her start ever so slightly before she turned white and her
eyes rolled back in her head. He braced his arm around her back as she crumpled in a dead faint. His arm snapped tight around her waist, his other hand holding her head close to his chest. “Jesus,” he spit out, then scooped her up and carried her to one of the benches.
“Not enough food or sleep, and far too much excitement,” Rik muttered, and Drew waved him back. He needed a minute to think.
Wanted a minute alone with Annie, even if she wasn’t conscious, to process what they’d just heard and figure out their next step.
What’s this “we” business, asshole?
Kevin’s voice rocketed through his brain. He made a good point. Drew was no basic bodyguard. If he wanted that life, he’d retire and let Rik pay him handsomely for doing shit fuck all. He should probably think hard about getting
back to San Diego before the end of the weekend. One sick day he could get away with. If he wasn’t there on Monday, there’d be hell to pay. And not just because he didn’t file a memo.
You can’t ignore me. Mitts off my sister.
Non-issue, dick-head.
It was over before it had even started, and the realization slid into his gut like a trickle of ice water.
Before he could move away, let Calli or
someone else take over, Annie moaned and blinked twice. “Whaaa--”
“Don’t get up,” he admonished, pressing her back against the bench when she tried to push up on her elbows. “You fainted.”
“Great.” She groaned under breath. “Could this night get any worse?”
“This is worse than when we thought your life was in danger?”
“More embarrassing, anyway.” She lifted a shaking hand to her forehead.
“Everything is spinning.”
“Give yourself a minute to get your bearings.” In his peripheral vision he saw Calli slip into the room carrying a tray. “And then you
need
to eat something.”