Chapter 14
Adalyn sat in the main cabin of the Kha Shing Monte Fino yacht with Rowan and Ezra as Rowan set up one of the drones they’d be using. It had taken them a few hours to get everything set up and to find a yacht—or big cruiser in her opinion—they could use that wouldn’t be missed. So they’d “borrowed” one from someone who Jesse knew for a fact was out of the country.
The waters were rough today but because of the size of the boat, the small swells barely registered. Because of that, they were one of only three boats out on the water in the near vicinity, which made them stand out if someone from Ali’s place was keeping watch on the water. The forty-six-foot yacht was large enough to make them stand out anyway.
Often guards didn’t patrol the water as much as the land of a fortified area and that was always a mistake.
“I just want to take an RPG to the guy and be done with it,” Adalyn muttered as she stretched back on the cushioned seat. The yacht was for cruising and entertaining and only a few years old so everything was sleek, shiny and European in style.
“I can’t tell if you’re joking.” Rowan didn’t look up from the drone as Ezra opened the fridge, peered inside.
“Oh, she’s definitely not,” Ezra murmured as he pulled out a bottle of champagne. “Look at this shit. We should definitely take this when we leave.”
“We’re not stealing champagne.” Rowan still didn’t look up, but let out a sound of pleasure as he finished what he was doing. “Okay, I’m ready to go on my end.”
Tiago stepped back into the main cabin then. “Anchor’s set, we’re good to go. I’m going to set up the fishing poles in a minute.”
“Hold off on that. Let’s see if they take notice of our boat,” Adalyn said.
Rowan nodded in agreement, so Tiago plopped down next to her, stretched his long legs out. “So your sister is—”
“Oh, my man, don’t finish that.” Ezra shook his head even as he shut the refrigerator door.
“I’d kinda like you to finish it.” Adalyn gave him her full attention.
Tiago cleared his throat. “I was just going to say…is she single?”
“Why don’t you ask her yourself?”
“I can’t ask her now when she’s grieving.” He looked almost affronted.
“But you can ask me?”
His face scrunched up. “Yeah, fair point. Fine. But she’s still really funny and sweet and I wanted to say it out loud for the record.”
“You wanted to tell me my sister is funny and sweet? Things that I already know?”
“Well, maybe I’m not telling you in particular.” He shot Ezra a steely-eyed glare, his dark eyes flinty. It was clear Ezra wasn’t into Fleur, but just messing with Tiago. “But basically just making a statement.”
“Oh sweet baby Jesus.” Adalyn stood, gave both men her back because she wasn’t dealing with their nonsense.
Rowan looked up at her and rolled his eyes, and for a brief moment it felt like old times. “Still worse than children,” he muttered.
“No kidding. And she did say something about one of you…” Adalyn trailed off, grinning at Rowan now.
“Which one of us?” Tiago asked.
Ignoring the question, Adalyn held on to the gleaming countertop when the boat shifted under a large swell. Definitely not a good day for relaxing on the water. “You ready?”
Rowan nodded. “Tiago, take this out to the deck, make sure you’re not seen and I’ll launch it quickly. Ezra, head to the bottom floor with the binoculars. Stay out of sight.”
Both men nodded and stepped out onto the back deck. Thankfully they had enough cover to hide them for their intended jobs. Ezra should be able to duck down to the lower level and Tiago could use the top deck to launch. She wanted to be out there, and could step out since she was wearing a wig and had sunglasses, but it just made sense to stay as hidden as possible if she was a target.
Holding on to the remote control, Rowan looked pleased as he maneuvered the drone up into the air, quick as lightning.
“Jeez,” she murmured as she watched the screen. “These new ones are fast.”
“I know. I should be able to get it high enough to get a good aerial view without being seen. Just depends on what kind of security measures they’ve got.”
“Hopefully you can get a lot closer than just an aerial view.”
“Here’s hoping,” he murmured.
She watched on-screen as the drone slowed, panned over the top of the house in a slow sweep. There was a huge pool, hot tub, a lot of foliage and a big entertaining space.
“Might have trouble,” Ezra called out. “I see one of the guards on his radio. He’s looking out at the water, right at us. He can’t see us without binoculars but I’d bet anything he’s calling for backup.”
“Tiago, Ezra, get in here,” Adalyn ordered as she moved to the fridge, pulled out the bottle of champagne.
“What are you doing?” Tiago asked when she slipped off her shoes then started unbuttoning her pants.
“Me and one of you are going to do a little role-playing out on the far back deck seating, give them a little show.”
Rowan stood, shoved the remote control at Tiago. “I’ll do it with you.”
Adalyn soooo wasn’t going to think about the fact that he was taking over like this. Nope. Definitely not. “Fine. Take off your shirt, walk out there with the champagne, then pop the bottle and drink straight from it. You can give the house your back in case they’ve got cameras, but do it.”
Rowan only paused for a moment, but nodded.
She continued stripping down to her bra and panties, which were all black and could pass for a bathing suit. Tiago and Ezra were both studiously ignoring her, which made her feel a little better. She moved up next to the computer, watched on-screen as two guys were monitoring their boat, and one now had binoculars. Just great—these guards actually took their job seriously.
She looked out onto the deck, saw Rowan was standing with his back to the house, champagne bottle in hand. “Be prepared to get out of here if this doesn’t work,” she murmured, knowing either one of them could maneuver the yacht. The steering was ridiculously easy and the point would be to get away, not be subtle.
The others would have to send a boat after them, but for all they knew, Ali had a speedboat to use. And that would be a real problem. Adalyn and the others were armed, sure, but Ali was a gunrunner. Who knew what he had access to?
“I’m moving in behind you. Don’t act startled,” Adalyn murmured as she stepped out on deck. She pressed her body to his back, wrapped her arms around him from behind and had to control her own reaction. Because wow, she felt the skin-to-skin contact alllll the way to her core. Holding him like this, so close, with so little clothing on was sending her senses into overdrive. And with the wind whipping, he was the perfect warm anchor she wanted to melt against.
It didn’t matter that this was part of their cover or that others were watching, she liked touching him. And hated herself a teeny bit because of it. She also hated the scrap of clothing in between them. “They’re definitely watching so let’s give them a quick show before we move things inside.”
“Okay.” Rowan’s voice was tight but he smoothly turned and sat on one of the built-in benches near the back, pulled her into his lap.
She straddled him, ignoring how weird—and kind of not weird—it felt to be on top of him like this. But this was a job, nothing more. Sure, keep telling yourself that, she snarked to herself as the boat rocked again, sending her toppling forward.
And pushing her breasts right up in his face. “Oh shit, sorry.”
“No need to be sorry.” His voice was pitched low and steady and had the exact effect she needed to ground her.
An icy wind whipped over them as he wrapped his arms around her, slid his hands down her spine, over her ass. Shivers that had nothing to do with the cold—or maybe only a little—sliced through her as he held her close. Everything about him was big and comforting and she really hated how much she loved that.
Because it was an obscene amount.
She’d been taking care of herself for a long time, but it meant something that she could count on him as a partner. Even if she had some resentment for the way he’d treated her before. And she wasn’t sure he didn’t actually feel that way anymore. He could just be acting for this job. Though deep down, she didn’t actually believe that. He was here because he wanted to be. And now he was holding her close while she had her legs spread, was basically riding him.
“Oh, they’re both watching now,” Tiago called out from the cabin, laughter in his voice.
“Great,” she murmured, her breath skating over Rowan’s neck as she buried her face against his neck and started moving against him. “Sorry if this is weird.” Because it felt weird to be grinding on him—probably because she liked the feel of him between her legs.
“It was a good idea,” he growled. “But yeah, it’s weird.”
She wasn’t sure how to take that. She began rolling her hips against him, very aware of how their bodies were moving against each other, stroking and…oh god. Nope. No. No. No. “Is this okay?” Her voice was all raspy and unsteady.
“Yep.” The one word was tight, controlled and…oh. She could feel his very clear reaction to her. Ooooh.
And she’d be lying if she said this wasn’t affecting her because heat had already coiled low in her core as she rolled her hips against him again. It was impossible not to imagine what it would be like if they had zero clothing between them and she was open for him. Riding him, letting him fill her completely. Letting him thrust deep. Oh god. Noooo. Little alarm bells went off in her head because that was never, ever happening.
“They’re watching you two but not because they’re worried,” Tiago called out again, still laughing. “They think it’s hilarious and are clearly giant perverts because they called a third guy over to watch. One of them is even smoking a cigarette. Yeah, they’re not worried about us anymore.”
“That’s enough of that, then.” Rowan moved quickly before she could respond and tossed her over his shoulder with ease. And that…okay, that was sort of hot in a way she hadn’t expected to like. Then, to her surprise, he slapped her butt once before carrying her into the cabin.
“Oh man, they loved that smack and look kinda disappointed that you’ve gone inside. But they’re not watching anymore.” Tiago was still giving them a play by play.
To Adalyn’s surprise, Rowan didn’t stop in the main cabin but kept going past the other two until they were in the private room down below.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he set her on the bed, her wig askew and her heart rate wild and out of control.
“Figured you’d want a minute,” he murmured as he turned away from her.
Yeah, maybe he needed a minute too, she realized. “At least it worked,” she managed to get out. Then realized that her clothes were still in the galley area. Great.
But then suddenly a ball of her clothes came flying through the bedroom cabin doorway.
Rowan snorted softly even as he caught her T-shirt and pants, passed them back to her without turning to look at her. “I’m going to head up. You good?”
Uh, no.But she kept that to herself, wishing he’d at least look at her.
She cleared her throat, found her voice. “Of course.” She tugged her long-sleeved T-shirt on over her head, then had to adjust the blonde wig before pulling her pants on. Instead of heading right back up, she took a few deep breaths to steady her heart rate.
Because she absolutely needed a minute to process what they’d just done—what she’d actually wanted to happen.