SeaChange (5 page)

“Uh-huh?” What did that have to do with anything.

“How much do you charge?” she continued.

He shrugged. “Usually ten percent of the item’s value. Why?”

“How much to help me find the men who wrecked my home and
killed my friend?”

Jake was not in a good mood by the time he got Heidi back to
his boat. It took an hour to talk to the cops, then another three hours to
finish going through Heidi’s apartment. Whoever had ransacked the place had
done a thorough job of it, leaving virtually nothing intact. It was an even
bigger mess after the cops dusted for prints, and poor Heidi was even more
messed up after the various agencies each took another round of statements.

The SDPD detective was openly hostile, but the lab crew was
polite, and the presence of Marinucci helped keep things from turning too ugly.
Finally, the rest were gone and Marinucci stood on the stairs, chain-smoking
his unfiltered cigarettes. Heidi carried a grocery sack with a few books and
mementos that had escaped destruction, while Jake carried another with some
bits of jewelry and toiletries. No clothing had been salvageable.

“All my dishes, most of the furniture, all toast.” She
clutched a photo album to her chest as she leaned on the railing of the
walkway, looked out at the small courtyard pool. She’d wept when she’d seen
that though the cover was damaged, most of the pictures of her family were
intact. There were deep purple circles under her eyes, and the scrape at her
temple looked red and angry. Jake felt a powerful urge to flatten somebody.
Starting with the SDPD. “Good thing I have renter’s insurance. But I think I
can kiss my security deposit goodbye.”

“You going to a hotel?” Marinucci asked. He followed them
out the door and taped it off after he was out. “Or you staying on Wonder-boy’s
boat?”

“Wonder-boy?” She raised one pale eyebrow, and the corner of
her lip quirked upward.

Jake cringed, but was willing to take the jab if it made
Heidi smile.

“I, umm, may have helped out the DEA a time or two,” he
admitted sheepishly. “Diving and stuff.”

She still looked confused, so he tried again. “I’m a good
swimmer. In the old cartoons, the male Wonder-twin can turn into water.”

“He dives without equipment,” the agent added, with a laugh.
“Managed to do a hostage rescue in the middle of the night without anybody
hearing or seeing a thing. We all figured he must have just turned into water
and slipped on board.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Anyway, the name sort of stuck with a
few of the Feds.”

“Mostly because it pisses you off,” Marinucci admitted with
a grin, before turning to Heidi with a more serious expression. “You could do
worse than stick with him ‘til we’ve got whoever did this behind bars. Unless
they found what they were looking for here, whoever it is may well try again.”

Jake squirmed, even though he’d been going to suggest the
same thing. He didn’t like the idea of Heidi being alone at some cheap hotel
and he didn’t think she could afford much else, but he wasn’t sure that
throwing the two of them into forced proximity was a good idea. Not with the
combustive attraction they’d discovered that morning.

“Thanks for the recommendation,” Heidi replied. “And I have
no idea what they could possibly have been looking for, so I don’t know if they
found it or not. But I’ve already hired Mr. Delos to help me sort this out.”

“You did not!” Affronted, Jake drew up to his full height
and glared down at her. “I told you I didn’t charge friends.”

“And I told you, I don’t take charity. I may be making
monthly payments for the next twenty fucking years, but if you’re going to play
bodyguard, I’m damn sure going to pay for it. And I’m staying at a hotel.”

Marinucci laughed and stubbed out his cigarette. “And on
that note, I’m outta here. Have fun, kids. I’ll see you at the boat at noon.”

Neither of them paid a bit of attention as he left.

“No hotel.” His voice had risen, but he couldn’t seem to
help it. “Boat’s way safer. Nobody gets on or off that I don’t know about.”

“Fine. But you’ll bill me.” She poked her finger into his
chest as she bellowed back at him.

“Bullshit.” Why were they standing on the stairs yelling at
each other? Jake didn’t have a clue, but they were definitely drawing an
audience. Not that that bothered him. He grabbed her waist, pulled her close
and gave her a hard, deep kiss. Then he stepped back, and watched the shock on
her face evolve into a smile.

“That’s why you want me on the boat?”

“Uh-huh.” She had to ask? He must be slipping. But his
attraction to her, oddly enough, wasn’t the important part. “
And
because
it’s safer.”

“I cover expenses. Food, gas, whatever.” She was the most
stubbornly independent woman he’d ever met. Well, after his mother, perhaps.
But the queen of the merfolk was independent on a whole different scale.

“Halvsies on the food. We’ll negotiate the rest as it comes
up.”

“Okay.” She went up on her tiptoes, planted a quick buss on
his cheek. “Deal. Now can we please go eat? The tacos went cold and slimy,
like, hours ago.”

They walked to the trolley and took that to the mall. No
point running up cab bills if they didn’t have to, she reminded him. He tried
to argue but lost. Hell, he’d buy a freaking car and not blink at the cost if
it meant easing the fatigue on her face, but she wouldn’t even let him catch a
cab. No fancy food for Heidi, either. They fortified themselves on gyros and
fresh lemonade, before ducking into a cheap clothing store, where she stocked
up on T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops, adding some sports bras and briefs, a
one-piece swimsuit and a fleece hoodie. Not a single ruffle or scrap of lace in
the pile. Damn. She was the lowest-maintenance woman he’d ever met, but she was
still drop-dead gorgeous. Where had she been all his life?

Then they stopped for groceries. While Heidi picked out
rice, fruit, and fresh seafood, Jake stocked up on several bottles of white
wine. He had one little problem with Heidi staying on his boat. For the next few
nights, he was going to have to sneak off for his midnight swim. So his plan
was feed her, pour a good bit of wine into her, and send her to bed before
midnight. It was a good, solid plan, he told himself, ignoring the niggling
little voice that was probably his residual excuse for a conscience.

Of course that plan went straight to hell the minute they
got back to the boat.

“You mind if I take a nap?” She was yawning as they climbed
aboard the
Siren
. “I’ll cook dinner later, but right now I am absolutely
beat.”

Shit. If she slept now she might well be wide-awake at
midnight. Then he looked closely, saw she was swaying slightly as she walked,
and his gut constricted. Hell, with the day she’d had it was a wonder she was
still on her feet at all.

“No problem. I’ll wake you up in an hour or so. That’s the
drill with concussions, right?”

She yawned again. “That’s fine.” Then she squeezed her eyes
shut and leaned heavily against the wall of the pilothouse. “Shit. I need to
make some phone calls first, and I forgot to pick up a pay-as-you-go phone.”

“You can use mine.”

“That’s more that I owe you. Jesus, Jake, you saved my life.
Now you’re stuck with me on your boat. I really feel like a leech here.”

“Here we go again.”

“Huh?” She looked up at him through narrowed eyes.

He closed the gap between them, taking both her elbows in
his hands. “Haven’t we already had this argument?”

She shook her head, eyes unfocused. “Probably.”

“Then let’s skip to the end.”

He kissed her gently this time, coaxing and nibbling with
his lips until she was kissing him back. Her shopping bags fell to the deck
with a muffled thump as she launched herself into his arms, nearly knocking him
back over the rail. Her long, strong arms went around his neck and she
plastered her body to his, allowing him to feel every luscious inch.

“I thought you were tired,” he murmured.

“I am,” she replied in a breathy whisper. “But I need to
feel alive, Jake.”

He wanted desperately to take her up on her offer, but he
discovered, somewhat to his surprise, that he had a trace of decency left in
his soul. Gently he eased her away from him.

“Later, sweetheart. When you’re not wobbling on your feet.
Right now you need to sleep.” He made sure she could see the desire in his eyes
so she’d know he wasn’t rejecting her. With a small nod, she allowed him to
lead her down the stairs to the boat’s cabin.

“Stay with me,” she asked. “Just for a while.”

“You got it.” He pulled back the covers and tucked her in,
then lay down on top of the blanket beside her. He propped himself up on one
arm and gently stroked the hair back from her face with his other hand. “Go to
sleep, Heidi. I’m right here.”

* * * * *

Heidi woke in Jake’s bed, feeling far better than she had
any right to feel.

Oh sure, she was still tired, and sore in a dozen places,
but she was alive and in one piece and safe, and she hadn’t completely fallen
apart. On top of all of it, she was starving.

First things first. After opening her shopping bags and
sorting out a pair of shorts, a T-shirt and some clean underwear, she left them
on the bed while she went to the head to take a quick shower.

Several minutes later, and a lot more awake, she returned to
the bedroom wrapped in an oversized beach towel to find Jake standing in the
doorway.

His dark eyes raked over, reminding her of a hungry shark.

Immediately Heidi froze and felt her skin heat with a flush
that probably went all the way down to her toes.

Jake took a tentative step toward her, then stopped. “Dinner,”
he said thickly. “I just came down to wake you for dinner.”

She smiled. “Time to go prove I can cook, huh?”

“No. It’s ready. I wanted you to get some sleep.”

She shot him a dirty look before edging toward the bed and
her clothing. “Fine. Don’t let me feel useful.”

He shook his head. “Tomorrow’s another day. You can be on KP
then. Even Viking goddesses deserve a day off now and then.”

There he went, calling her a goddess again. He’d done it
before, when she was crying on his shoulder. Even if she knew it was silly, it
still made her insides feel all squishy and warm.

Dinner was a pleasant interlude, the most normal part of a
long, horrible day. They sat on the deck, eating stir-fried ahi and vegetables
with a fruit salad on the side, watching the sun set over the ocean. For the
first time, they had a chance to really talk, about books and music and the
places they’d sailed. She told him about her research with the Pacific
white-sided dolphins, and he seemed genuinely interested.

“So what kind of name is Delos?” she asked him. He was so
dark that she’d assumed he was Hispanic, with maybe a bit of Asian or Native
American thrown in to account for the almond-shaped eyes,

“Greek,” he replied, surprising her. “Though it’s been
pretty much diluted by now. My father was born in Argentina. In fact, Jake is a
corruption. It was originally Che. I’m pretty much pan-Pacific in heritage. A
little Filipino, a little Russian, some Polynesian, I think. How about you? Is
everyone in Minnesota descended from the Vikings?”

He was teasing of course, but she replied. “A lot of us are.
My mom’s family was German and Scottish, though. I got the name Heidi from my
German great-grandmother, and it has been the bane of my existence for twenty-nine
years.”

“What’s wrong with Heidi?”

“Are you kidding? Between the name and the blonde hair, most
people assume my IQ is in single digits. Heidi is fine for a little girl, but
it’s way too cutesy for a scientist.”

“Ah. Well then, Freya, since I cooked, you can do the
dishes.”

Freya. The queen of the Norse gods. She smiled at the
nickname, suppressing a shudder of desire. “I don’t know where anything goes,”
she returned, helping him clear the plates from the table. The fish had been
seared to perfection, the rice was light and fluffy and the fruit salad fresh
and tart. He could cook for her anytime he wanted, and she’d gladly do dishes
for weeks if that was the price he demanded for sharing perfection. Aside from
the headiness caused just by being close to Jake, she’d had three—or was it
four?—glasses of wine and she was feeling positively flirty.

“You’re a scientist, you’ll figure it out.” The sun was
setting over the skyline, painting the sky in luscious sherbet tones of
tangerine and raspberry. She took a second just to enjoy it, then felt a wave
of guilt crash over her as she remembered that Brad would never see another
sunset.

Jake caught the plate before she could drop it, then he set
the dishes back on the table and caught Heidi by the shoulders.

“Heidi? What is it? Did I say something wrong?”

She shook her head as the tears began to flow in earnest. “No.
It’s just…everything.” She grabbed his T-shirt and pulled him close before
burying her face in his chest.

“It all just caught up with you, didn’t it?” His arms came
around her and he stroked her back, lips muttering softly against her hair.

She nodded against him, sobbing harder.

He shifted them, sitting down and drawing her into his lap.
Big as she was, it wasn’t a position she was used to, but that didn’t register
until later. “Poor thing. I’m so sorry about your friend, sweetheart. I know
how much it sucks to lose someone you care about, believe me.”

She did. She also trusted him, more than she would have ever
thought possible. So she clung to him and sobbed out her terror and anger and
loss.

* * * * *

It was ten minutes to midnight by the time Jake slipped out
of bed and up on deck. His skin was already tingling, that electrical current
under his skin that warned him when the change was near, but he’d had to wait until
Heidi was sleeping. After her meltdown earlier, he’d been reluctant to leave
her alone. After tucking her into bed, he’d spent another few hours holding her
and trying to keep his libido in check.