CHAPTER ELEVEN
Calliope rubbed sunscreen on her arms, chest, shoulders, and face, then ran a brush through her long hair—she’d chosen to leave it down today. She was dressed in a knee-length, white sundress with spaghetti straps and bright pink flowers bordering the hemline. It was lightweight, flowy, and even had pockets. Most importantly, it was easy to move in. She’d added a pair of her own form-fitting workout shorts underneath. A girl never knew when she might have to kick a little butt.
The dress had been hanging in the closet of the team’s rental house when they arrived yesterday. There’d also been a pair of totally impractical flip-flops with a pink, silk flower attached to each one and a white sun hat with a wide brim.
Upon seeing it, she’d protested to Cole, asking why she couldn’t just wear her own clothes.
“Just in case someone’s watching Lucas,” he’d said.
The entire getup was the girliest thing she’d worn since … well … forever, and it would take some getting used to .
Lucas must’ve put them there. Who else could it have been? She tried to imagine him dress shopping and picking out cutesy sandals, and the image just did not compute. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who had his finger on the pulse of women’s fashion.
Actually, that sent her on a thought tangent. Maybe he had a girlfriend who picked out the clothes for him. Nah, he didn’t put off the vibe that he had a special someone. Maybe he was a man-whore.
She veered away from the unpleasant visuals that thought created. Her stomach hurt to think about him sleeping around with random women. Or any woman.
“Geez, get over yourself,” she muttered at her reflection.
Not like she had any kind of claim on Lucas. If given the chance, she wasn’t even certain she’d want to be involved with him. Okay, sure, he was super easy on the eyes— super easy—but she knew nothing about him. All of that said, she’d be willing to bet he knew his way around a woman’s body.
“Oh my God.” She glared at herself in the mirror and slapped her brush down on the counter. “Enough already.”
She really needed to stop thinking about him naked.
Calliope stroked some SPF lip balm on her lips and gave herself a last once-over .
“It is what it is.” Satisfied she looked like a woman ready to do some sightseeing with her new husband, she tossed her brush in her duffle bag and walked into the bedroom.
She knelt down next to the bed, reached under, and pulled out the small, biometric gun lockbox. She placed her thumb on the touch pad, the top popped open, and she removed her Glock. With a press of a button, she popped out the magazine and checked to ensure it was full, then slammed it back into place with her palm. After racking the slide to load a round in the chamber, she tucked the weapon into the pink, leather, crossbody bag that had been left for her. At least he’d thought to get something with enough room for her weapon.
If Calliope didn’t know better, she’d almost think Lucas picked out this ridiculous ensemble just to aggravate her.
She looped the strap over her head so it hung across her body, grabbed the hat, and headed out to the great room area of the house the team had rented for this op. Male voices could be heard down the hallway, and she rounded the corner into the large open space where the guys were already hanging out.
Eddie sat in a chair on the far side of the room eating a bagel loaded up with cream cheese. She was jealous of the T-shirt and shorts he had on. He glanced up and let out an annoying whistle, which had everyone else turning to look at her .
“Who are you and what have you done with Calliope?” Eddie was always the first to bust her chops about stuff.
“Don’t let the dress fool you. I can still kick your ass.” Probably not, but she’d never admit that to him or anyone else.
“I think you look really nice, Calliope.” Viking was his typical polite, choirboy self.
“Thanks, Vike.”
“Don’t listen to numb-nuts over there.” Hawk tilted his head toward Eddie. “You look great.”
“Ah, she knows I’m just messin’ with her.” Eddie strolled over and bumped his shoulder against hers. “Right, wifey?”
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes and chuckled.
The guy was such a goofball. Deadly, but still a goofball.
Cole walked in from the kitchen. He spotted her, and his coffee cup stopped halfway to his mouth. He nodded his approval.
“Lucas chose well,” he said. “You’ll fit right in with the other tourists.”
“If you say so,” she mumbled and moved into the kitchen. She pulled a soda from the fridge and popped the top. Like most civilized people, Calliope needed a little caffeine kick in the morning. Coffee tasted nasty, so she chose to get her kick from soda.
She took a few sips, walked to the couch, lifted her bag over her head and carefully set it on the glass-topped coffee table. She was proud of herself for remembering to tuck the dress against the back of her thighs before dropping down on the end of the couch next to Hawk.
“Let’s go over today’s plan.” Cole remained standing, glanced at his watch, then looked at Eddie and Calliope. “Lucas should be here any minute to pick you two up.” He took a swallow of coffee, and the oversize mug looked small in his hand. “While you’re in the air looking for where they’re holding the girls, the rest of us are going to take a Zodiac up the river and check out the area near where Sammy lost sight of them.” The small inflatable boat could easily navigate the shallow sections of the river and be pulled up to pretty much any spot along the water’s edge. “The goal is to find where they docked the boat.”
There were a couple of knocks on the front door before it opened and they heard Lucas’s voice.
“Knock knock.” He strolled into the great room. “Morning, all.” He walked over and stood next to Cole, which put him within arm’s reach of her.
There was a round of good mornings and coffee cups lifted in acknowledgement.
Lucas smiled down at her and winked, and it felt like all of the air was instantly sucked from the room.
He’d trimmed his whiskers, and his hair was still wet and curled where it fell against his neck, and he was close enough she could smell the soap he used. Oh, great, now she was imagining him naked again, the water spraying down over his body, warming his skin.
Gah! What the hell was the matter with her? It was like the guy’s mere presence supercharged her libido or something. But why? She spent her entire damn life around guys. Why did it have to be this particular annoying male who affected her differently?
Today, he wore a pair of tactical shorts that hugged his ass in the yummiest, most tempting way, boat shoes that had seen better days, and a T-shirt with a circular logo for his company—Blue Skies Helicopter Tours—on the left chest pocket. The fabric strained over his wide shoulders and around his impressive biceps, then fluttered loosely at his narrow waist. She’d bet a hundred bucks there was a set of washboard abs hidden beneath that shirt, too. A pair of expensive aviator sunglasses dangled from the front of the collar.
If you looked up easygoing in the dictionary, you might see a picture of Lucas O’Halleran. Then she remembered the embrace with Jonathan and how his face changed when he thought no one was looking.
“Would you like some coffee?” Cole asked.
“Nah, I’m good.” He looked around the group. “Where’s Jonathan?”
“He’s in the other room, getting an update from Sammy.” Cole finished his coffee and headed into the kitchen with the mug, then returned a moment later. “Let’s go ahead and load up.”
Everyone stood, started grabbing their gear bags, and headed out to the vehicles to load up. She shoved up off the couch, picked up her stupid pink purse, and hung it across her body.
The guys were all busy doing their own thing, and Lucas sidled up to her.
“Mornin’, Sunshine.” He checked that no one was listening. “You look great in that dress. You should wear them more often.”
“Thanks, but frilly stuff just isn’t practical.” She asked the question burning a hole in her brain. “Did your girlfriend help you shop?” She adjusted the strap on her bag and kept her voice light, as if she didn’t really care.
“Is that jealousy I detect, Sunshine?” One corner of his mouth lifted.
Calliope snorted.
“Yeah, right. I could care less who you date.” She hissed in a low whisper. “And stop calling me that.”
She was torn between punching him in the face or jumping his bones. She wanted to be annoyed by him—had every right to be—but couldn’t seem to muster enough legitimate outrage to pull it off.
Calliope’s feelings were all scrambled up, and she didn’t like it. Not one bit.
“Why? It’s what I think of when I see you.” One big shoulder lifted and fell. “But if you don’t like it—”
“Call me whatever you want.” She waved him away with an indifferent flick of her wrist. “Doesn’t matter to me.”
“Good to know.” The guy was charming, but no way would she end up being another notch on his bedpost.
“Good morning.” Jonathan walked over and clapped his cousin on the back of his shoulder.
“You got any OJ in the fridge?” Lucas asked.
“Yeah, help yourself.” Jonathan waited until he walked away, then turned and looked Calliope up and down. “Can you fight in that getup?”
If any man understood women who felt more comfortable in tactical gear than in girly clothes, it was Jonathan. His wife, Andi, kept her dark hair cropped short, and her typical attire consisted of black skinny jeans tucked into a pair of tactical boots and a black shirt of some sort. She was almost six feet of lean muscle and innate badassness, so no one dared give her a hard time.
“Yeah, it’s fine, and my weapon fits in this absurd purse.” She patted the bag.
“Yeah, Lucas asked me what size you wear and what your carry weapon was.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Of course, I knew all about your weapon, but Dulce helped with the clothing and shoe sizes.”
“I knew Lucas wouldn’t have a clue what to buy,” she scoffed.
“Dulce just gave him the sizes; he picked out the clothes and shoes and stuff,” he said.
“He did?” She looked down at her outfit. “I just figured a girlfriend picked them out or something.”
“Lucas hasn’t been with anyone since … It’s been a while since he’s dated anyone.” Since who? “He’s been focused on other things the past few years.”
Perhaps she was sensing something that wasn’t there, but Jonathan sounded almost sad.
“Like taking out Triano’s people?” She could appreciate wanting to destroy those scumbags, but it seemed personal to Lucas. “I’m sure they deserved whatever he did to them.”
“You’ll get no argument from me on that.” He seemed to cast off whatever had upset him.
Her level of curiosity about Lucas O’Halleran grew with every new piece of information she gained about him.
Lucas strolled into the room holding an almost empty half-gallon carton of orange juice.
“What are you kids talking about?” He finished off the juice and licked his lips as he screwed the cap back on.
Her eyes tracked his tongue like she was dialing in on a target downrange. Then her gaze slowly lifted to his face, where his eyes locked on hers. And, boy howdy, her insides reacted like jumping beans in a glass jar.
Jonathan spoke. Lucas blinked, breaking their connection, then quickly looked away. In those few silent seconds, something passed between them. Whatever it was, he didn’t seem too happy about it.
Damn frustrating man. One minute he was boldly flirting with her, and the next, he was shutting himself off.
“I was just telling Calliope that you picked out her ensemble,” Jonathan said.
“Sure did. I picked it up in one of the hotel shops.” He looked at her. “I had a feeling pink was your color.”
“Camo is my color,” she grumbled, then realized she was behaving like a petulant child. “But thank you, though.”
He lowered his mouth close to her ear and quietly said, “That hurt, didn’t it?”
His warm breath across her ear sent an involuntary shiver raking through her entire body.
“A little bit, yeah.” An unintentional smile began to sneak across her face, and she quickly squelched it. “We going flying or what?”
Cole shouted from the front door, “Let’s load up.”
They secured the rental house, and Calliope, Eddie, and Lucas piled into the front of his truck. Once again, she was wedged between two large men. In this instance, only one of them made her blood heat to the point of near combustion.
As they drove the few miles to the airfield, the two men talked about their favorite guns and gear, but she couldn’t focus enough to join the conversation .
Calliope squirmed on the bench seat, much too aware of Lucas next to her.
The windows were down, and his hair blew around his face. His blue eyes were hidden behind sunglasses. The weather, as usual, was steamy, and heat radiated off of him. The hair on his thigh tickled against her own whenever he took his foot off the gas pedal to shift gears, turning her innards into a whirling mass of nerves. Thanks to the ridiculous, pothole-laden road leading to the small airstrip where he kept his helicopters, she’d almost been pitched into his lap a few times.
Relief swamped her when, finally, they rounded a tight curve and a wide chain-link fence with a sign bearing the same logo as his shirt appeared in front of them. The tires crunched over the gravel, and the brakes let out a grating squeak when he rolled to a stop.
“I’ll open the gate.” He put the gearshift into neutral , wiggled it to make sure, and pulled out the emergency brake. “Calliope, why don’t you slide over and drive the truck through? Once you’re in, I’ll secure the gate.”
Lucas climbed out and shut the door, and she hurriedly scooched over until she was behind the wheel. The seat was so far back to accommodate his long legs that her feet couldn’t reach the pedals. Not an uncommon occurrence for someone her size. She slid her butt to the front of the seat and waited .
She had a flash of déjà vu from when her father was teaching her how to drive his old truck. He’d put a pillow behind her back and under her butt. Not once did he lose his patience or shout at her. Even when she almost drove right into a ditch by their house.
Calliope had a video call with her dad and granddad last night. Her dad looked good and only coughed once or twice. The test results still hadn’t come back, and when she’d expressed her frustration about that, her dad gently reminded her that it could take several days. He’d told her not to worry and to trust him to handle it. Her granddad had gone a step further and said she owed it to her teammates to focus on their mission. Such a wise man—he’d known exactly what she’d needed to hear to keep her head in the game.
Lucas walked over, jammed a key into a padlock, released the chain and let it hang from the metal fence. He rolled the gate aside and waved her through.
She put the truck in gear and pulled through until she cleared the gate, then wrestled the gearshift into neutral, set the parking brake, and slid back to the center of the bench seat.
He shut the gate behind them, locked it up, then climbed behind the wheel and headed toward a large, well-maintained metal building.
“Does this all belong to you?” Eddie looked around the area .
“Sure does.” He nodded. “I bought it about five years ago, when we … I first moved to Palomino.”
We?
“Why didn’t Mason land here?” she asked.
“The Santa Marta Airport has a longer runway.” Lucas glanced at her, then back at the narrow road.
A large building with a carport on one side appeared ahead of them, and he downshifted. His arm brushed hers as he reached up to press a garage door opener clipped to the visor. One of the two large doors on the front of the building began to roll up. He pulled the truck beneath the carport and parked it next to a new-looking, white van with the logo on the front doors.
The engine cut off, and they piled out of the truck.
He noticed her checking out the van. “I use that to pick up customers and bring them here.”
“Nice touch.” She followed him and Eddie to the open hangar doorway.
“We’ll be taking that one.” He pointed at a gold and white helicopter with large windows. “Let’s head into my office where it’s cooler, and we’ll go over the terrain map one more time.”
He has an office? Don’t be stupid, Calliope, of course he has an office. The man owned what was obviously a successful business.
Her opinion of Lucas continued to shift, and she was starting to think she might have misjudged him. Pretty shitty thing to do, considering she despised when people did that to her.
They strolled through the large, high-ceilinged open space, passing four completely different models of helicopters on their way to his office. One she recognized from their previous op.
He unlocked the door, and they entered a space where one long wall was lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves that held binders and books of all kinds. If she had time to peruse the titles, she was certain to learn even more about this perplexing man.
At one end of the rectangular space, a large map was spread out on a table that had six chairs around it. A standard-issue metal desk like you’d find at a military base sat at the opposite end, facing a large window that looked out over the airstrip.
She walked over to the window, looked right, then left, and saw no other buildings or aircraft anywhere.
“Does anyone else use this place?” She turned back to him.
“When I first bought this land, my plan was to lease out space to other people with small planes.” He walked over to the conference table. “But things changed, and I decided to keep it private.”
She couldn’t believe how badly she wanted to ask what had changed, but it really wasn’t any of her business. Despite the mounting tidbits of information she was gaining, she was no closer to solving the puzzle that was Lucas O’Halleran.
“Have a seat.” He pulled out a chair at the table and dropped into it.
He rolled out the chair next to him, and she sat.
Eddie sat across from them.
For the next ten minutes or so, they reviewed the area they would be flying over.
“Okay, let’s get in the air.” Lucas pushed up from the table, and they followed him back into the hangar. “Give me a few minutes to get her ready.”
He used a wheel dolly to move the sleek helicopter out of the hangar. His demeanor was serious as he did a walk-around inspection of everything from the front windshield to the tail rotor and everything in between. Eddie checked his camera gear to ensure it was working properly before they headed to the helo.
Calliope basically stood there with nothing to do but check her weapon. Being idle was not something she was used to or comfortable with.
“Don’t worry, Sunshine, you’ll have plenty to do once we’re in the air.” Lucas wiped down the windshield with a white cloth, then tossed it onto a nearby shelf. “Time to go.”
Curse the man for being so damn observant.
He turned a latch to open the front passenger side door .
“Ladies first.” Lucas made a sweeping motion with his hand.
“Eddie can sit in front,” she said.
“Thanks, but I’ll sit in the back.” Eddie climbed in behind the pilot’s seat. “I need to be able to move around to take photos, and I don’t want to worry about bumping something up there that might send us into a tailspin.” He swung the door shut.
Before she could react, Lucas wrapped his hands around her waist, lifted her up, and set her on the seat.
“What are you—”
“Put this on.” He lifted a headset from where it sat on the console and handed it to her. He started to reach for her harness.
“What are you doing?” She slapped his hands away.
“I’m clipping you in.” He ignored her and continued right on with what he was doing.
“I can fasten my own harness, thank you very much.” She was not some helpless female who needed a big strong man to look out for her. And she wasn’t sure having his hands that close to her boobs was good for her heart rate. “This isn’t my first ride in a helo, ya know.”
“I know. And you should learn how to accept a little help sometimes.” Before she could respond, he swung the door shut and secured the latch.
Eddie leaned forward and tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey. ”
“What’s up?”
“There’s nothing wrong with admitting you’re hung up on the guy.” Eddie gave her shoulder a little shake. “Would that be so bad?”
She opened her mouth, but the denial she wanted to throw out just wouldn’t form. “Oh … shut up.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He shifted back to his seat.
Lucas locked up the hangar building, then hurried over and climbed into the pilot’s seat.
“Headsets.” He pulled his on over his head, flipped a few switches. The engine began to hum, and the large blades began to turn. “Test. Test.”
Eddie and Calliope gave him a thumbs-up and tested theirs as well. Once they were sure they could hear each other, Lucas slowly lifted a lever next to his left hip and moved the pedals beneath his feet while holding the stick between his knees steady. The helo gradually lifted off the ground and then pitched forward and headed off toward their destination.
Calliope chewed her lip and stared out the side window, praying they’d be able to find where the girls were being held. Because the longer they were in the hands of those monsters, the more awful it would become for them.
Lucas’s warm hand wrapped over her forearm, and she looked over at him .
“Don’t worry, Sunshine. We’ll find them.” He gave her a light squeeze, then returned his attention to operating the helo.