Chapter Twenty-Eight Seraphina
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Seraphina
We didn’t sit together like a family at a dinner table eating. Instead, the guys devoured their food while working in the office, barely taking time to breathe between bites.
Ryder had been in a shit mood ever since he hauled ass from the kitchen after I’d pressed him on hockey.
Aside from a few thank you s for the food, he hadn’t said a word to me.
I did my best not to take it personally, and once everyone had finished up seconds, I took away their empty plates, refilled their glasses to keep them hydrated, then busied myself by cleaning the kitchen.
Without anything else to do after that, I went back into the office and let them know, “I’m going to explore the house. Find something to do.” I waited for Ryder’s attention, surprised to find all three of them giving it to me. “Unless you want my help?”
“Stay in the house,” was all Ryder said, in a low, detached voice that I bet he had to work hard to use.
Alex gave me a one-shoulder shrug next, letting me know he was unsure why there was a new stick up Ryder’s ass. Alex probably blamed me for placing it there. Maybe I unintentionally had.
“Okay.” I gave a little nod to the allegedly antisocial one, who ironically was the only one to smile at me.
I took my phone from where Ryder had left it, sent a quick text to Martín to check in, then hightailed it from the office, searching for a distraction.
A tour of the villa wasn’t needed, since I’d done that before dinner, but I did it anyway. The place was beautiful, with Bali vibes. I made a mental note to add Visit Bali on my new bucket list, were I to ever make one again.
After meandering around the place, I wound up back at the center of the home at the indoor rectangular lap pool.
Remembering the closet in my room and the dresser full of clothes, I made a beeline there, deciding I’d swim.
I wasn’t sure how our hostess had known my size, but she’d nailed it.
She’d even thought to buy a swimsuit, so I quickly changed into the Baywatch -red one-piece and went to the pool. It was heated, the perfect temperature.
After completing twelve laps, I broke the surface, my breath catching in surprise at the pair of black boots in my direct line of sight.
With one hand, I held the side of the pool to keep myself afloat in the deep end and pushed my hair away from my face. I dragged my eyes up his jeaned legs right to the scowl waiting for me.
“What are you doing?” He crouched, becoming a statue of hard muscles at eye level.
His gaze briefly dipped to the swell of my breasts as I answered, “I’m doing exactly what it looks like. I’m trying to kill time.” And tension. “You hate swimming as much as hockey?”
He grimaced, shook his head, then stood tall and backed away from the pool, bumping into the lounger, which had my towel on it. “Ezra’s on the move and in the air.”
Oh, shit. That news required me to get out of the pool. I hoisted myself up and out, and Ryder had my towel waiting for me, dangling from his hand.
His eyes weren’t on me but on the tile pavers as I wrapped myself up in the plush towel. “Is he coming here? Did the plan work?”
“By ‘plan,’ if you mean dangling yourself as bait, then yeah, looks like it worked. He’s not set to arrive until zero two hundred.”
I blinked. “Wait, what? That’s good, right?”
He worked his jaw left, then right. “Yeah, he gets in ninety minutes after we’re supposed to meet with ángel. Decent window of time for a clean exfil before his arrival. We were also able to confirm ángel’s family is still in Mexico, but ángel’s at a resort in Santa Ana fifteen minutes from here.”
“How do you know that?” This was all good, and I was desperate for good news.
“Carter’s cyber expert, Gwen, hacked the CCTV footage in and around San José, then used facial-recognition software to get a hit.
She was also able to confirm the whereabouts of ángel’s family the same way.
Unfortunately, no sign of Nina, but that could mean she hasn’t been anywhere in public in a couple days. ”
“So, have you decided it’s safe to meet with him?”
“I don’t know about ‘safe,’ but based on what we could determine, he’s only traveling with two guys.
I recognized them from the club the other night.
Nothing we can’t handle.” He added, “That doesn’t mean Ezra, or the Moraleses, didn’t send other people we can’t identify here ahead of time and we’ll get ambushed. ”
Shit. That last line poked a hole in my hope that he was ready to agree to the meeting. “But we’re going anyway, right?” I tightened my hold of the towel, starting to shiver from the contrast of the cooler air and being out of the water.
“For now, shower and change. Once you’re back in the office, I have more news to share with you as well.”
I’d take his lack of an answer as an optimistic maybe . “Can’t tell me the news here?”
He zeroed in on where I clutched the towel at my chest. “Office.” He scrubbed a hand along his jawline as if in a daze. “And I’ll give you an answer about the meeting after ángel reaches out.”
“Alex, you mean? He’ll decide, not you.” I raised my brows.
“Or are you back to calling the shots?” Who am I kidding, when were you ever truly not calling them?
Title of Delta One or not, this man was in charge.
Clearly of me, too, and part of me hated how much I was okay with that.
The other part of me wanted to argue. Talk about a tug-of-war of emotions.
“The decision will be made once we know the location of the meeting,” was all he said before gesturing in the direction of the bedroom. “Now, please change out of that red bathing suit.”
“Does red have you feeling like a bull wanting to charge?” I was playing with fire. Starting to wonder if I was born to do exactly that.
He rotated his neck, taking a moment to pause, then murmured, “If you want me to follow your orders, then you need to go change. You need to walk away from me.”
My orders? Right. The decision for us to keep our hands off each other had originally been meant to help us focus on the mission. But he wasn’t team leader now, and he did take me to Costa Rica like I wanted, so there was that to consider.
“You’re not currently Delta One.” What was I doing? Saying? He had news to share with me, and there I was ... provoking him? Not walking away like he asked me to do?
And yet I couldn’t seem to stop myself from engaging. I wasn’t ready to face reality or the news he had to share, so when he shook his head no in response, I dropped the towel.
He’d get the message loud and clear what I wanted. Right or wrong, shitty timing or not, I didn’t care. He slowly allowed his eyes to roam over my body, taking all of me in this time.
“Since neither of us are in charge of what happens now, well ...” I moved my wet hair to my back just to be crystal clear that I wanted him to look at me. “... that changes things, then, doesn’t it?”