Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
D emarco dropped her off at the main entrance of the hotel with some cash and one of his credit cards.
She needed to stock up on a few things, starting with a change of clothes to take with her to Virginia. She had to replace everything anyway, so she may as well get started. She had money. She’d pay him back when she could safely access her accounts. Or she could borrow it from her mom in a pinch.
She headed down to the boutiques beneath the hotel and picked up a couple of nice shirts and T-shirts, black pants, jeans, plus a pair of black work shoes. She hesitated over a dark navy wool blazer and then decided what the hell. She was going to Virginia, hopefully to begin work on an FBI task force. She needed to look like a professional.
She added a roll neck sweater, socks, panties, bras from another boutique and saw a cute grass-green sundress with a ruffled neckline and deep V at the front.
Screw it.
She tried it on and wore it out, along with a new, broad sun hat. Not even her own mother would recognize the blonde woman Delilah had become. Certainly, she didn’t look like her usual over-serious FBI self .
She dropped her purchases back in the room and then headed outside through the hotel complex and found the footpath that ran along the beach, heading south. She felt naked without her weapon, but there was nowhere to hide it in this girly ensemble, and her greatest chance of success was living the disguise—the way she’d inhabited Lacey Reed.
And look how that had turned out.
Her mood dropped.
But, damn, she’d been convincing. Scanlon had certainly believed she was just some stupid girl.
He’d underestimated her then. She wouldn’t make the same mistake with him.
Gradually, the sound of the waves crashing along the beach filled her with a deep sense of peace and soothed the agitation within her. This was her happy place. The day was overcast, and there was a slight chill on the breeze, but the sun still buzzed her cheeks.
Head high, she threaded her way through milling tourists and locals, people walking dogs and pushing strollers. The red flags were out to stop people swimming in the dangerous riptide, but it didn’t stop the surfers who queued up to ride the breakers.
In the distance, she could see small Mexican islands that dotted the horizon. She kept walking. It was high tide, so the wreck of the SS Monte Carlo was hidden by the surf.
Last time she’d walked this path, she’d been holding hands with Cas Demarco, and her heart had been whole, her future almost as bright as the glare off the ocean.
Seagulls squawked overhead, and birds she couldn’t identify bobbed just beyond the violent surf. A massive tanker sat offshore.
She kept going, watching the crashing waves swirl around the storm drains and splash up against the rocks, spraying everyone with salt water. She dashed through a gap in the onslaught and narrowly avoided getting soaked.
She reached the Naval Base. The sun’s reflection off the argent sand made her eyes smart. She stared thoughtfully at the fortified base that turned men into SEALs.
How could one program produce men as diverse as Cas Demarco and Joseph Scanlon? Both were skilled warriors, and the ability to kill was presumably a plus for anyone going to war. But one was a cold-blooded psychopath and the other was the most passionate man she’d ever met.
After a few moments, she turned her gaze back to the ocean, not wanting to get on anyone’s radar for being overly interested in this small slice of a sand barrier island that produced some of the world’s toughest Special Forces.
Abruptly, she turned and headed back to the hotel, detouring to the taco shack for some food.
Hunger had finally hit her, along with the feeling of exhaustion from everything that had happened yesterday. She grabbed a table and stared out at the ocean. Sipped a Coke and ate fish tacos while trying and failing to ignore memories of the man who’d once shared every moment of these experiences with her.
She’d fallen so hard, so fast.
Had the constant danger heightened her response to him? Had danger been the alchemy that had transformed lust into something deeper, something cosmic? She’d never been in love before, and she’d felt like such a fool when it had ended. Special Agent Delilah Quinn who’d spent her life proving to her father and coworkers that she was competent at the job and not just a nepo-baby, completely suckered by the person she’d trusted the most.
And then even that pain had been eclipsed by what had come after, and Val had held her hand through it all.
Poor Val.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, but there was no one close enough to notice, and she was adept at hiding her misery beneath a neutral expression.
She couldn’t afford to drop her guard.
It had nothing to do with Scanlon .
Cas Demarco was the real threat to her, and she couldn’t forget it. Last time, he’d almost destroyed her. She refused to go through that again.
Next time, she might not survive.