Chapter 25 Locke
LOCKE
The Knot On Your Life had gone from a prison to an oasis.
For the next month we checked in with Stone and Leo’s team every few days. They’d picked up on a few new leads, but things were very quiet.
Too quiet.
It was like both of us knew that we were a moment away from life getting far too real. We’d slowly made our way down the coast, stopping only for fuel and food.
The night before, we’d anchored near Nantucket. Cilla had been tickled by all the sailboats coming in for Nantucket Race Week. It was one of the larger regattas in the area. The boats were impressive, but the number of people around us made my skin tight and left a headache brewing.
But I couldn’t deny her.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to tell her no, which was almost as concerning as our situation.
What the hell did I have to offer this woman?
Life on a boat? Or if I actually went back to The Kendrick Group, I was forever on the move with security.
She didn’t deserve that.
“I’m pretty sure the concentration of money right around the island could make up a country’s GDP,” she said as she wound her arms around my waist and kissed the skin between my shoulder blades.
I laughed and turned in her arms. My tongue stalled on the roof of my mouth at the barely there white bikini top and bottoms she wore. A filmy cherry red sarong was tied at her waist, covering her left leg, and her hair was full of sea-tinged curls.
At my slack jaw, she grinned up at me and cupped my face. “What?”
“I don’t know whether to drop on my knees and worship you or hide you in my room.”
She laughed. “I couldn’t resist that shop in Ocean City. I swear I have more bikinis than work outfits at this point.” She reached around me for one of the strawberries I was slicing.
“And I’ll keep you in them because I sure as hell love taking them off you.” I tucked my finger under the string between her breasts and lifted it enough to lower my mouth to taste her.
She arched her back and hummed as I bit down on her nipple. “That never gets old.” She straightened and pushed me back a few steps. “However, I have something to show you.”
“I was enjoying the view.” I laughed and popped a few blueberries in my mouth. Then they scattered around my feet as I dropped them when she launched herself at me.
I grunted and caught her, my dick immediately getting hard as she wrapped her long legs around my waist and held onto my shoulders, leaving those perfect breasts right at eye level.
“Warn a guy.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
I gripped her ass, dragging her over my very happy cock. “All that Pilates you’ve been killing me with every morning, I presume?”
“What, like you didn’t enjoy watching me improve the strength of my pelvic wall?”
“I don’t know what that means, but goddamn do I enjoy it.”
“It was the first time it didn’t hurt today.” She lowered her mouth to mine. “While I appreciate all the surfaces you find to bend me over.”
I growled and nipped her lower lip. “Best view on the sea.” I clapped my hand on her firm ass.
She yelped and ended on a laugh. “I need you to fuck me. Like we both want.”
“Oh believe me, I have been.” I ground her against me.
“Not enough. Not until my teeth rattle.”
I dragged in a sharp breath. “I don’t need to.”
“You do. I see it.” She cupped my face. “I see you holding back.”
I shook my head even though it was true. The need for her was steadily rising instead of easing off. It matched the tension that had already started infiltrating the last few days together.
Like we were in a holding pattern that could blow apart any minute.
She gripped my shoulders, her nails digging into the muscles. “I know because I feel it too.” She ground down on me. “I need you not to be careful with me.”
I pressed my forehead to hers. “That’s like asking me to be another person.”
“Just for a little bit,” she whispered against my mouth. “Just let go for a minute.”
The boat rocked and she grabbed the railing, lifting her breast right to my mouth. She used her thigh muscles to turn me toward the couch of the living section. I sat down, dragging her on top of me.
My hands raced down her back, pushing off the bit of fluff around her waist to palm her ass. I rocked her against my straining cock and the world went a little fuzzy. Then I realized it was a ringing.
“Fuck.”
“Don’t answer it,” she said against my mouth.
The SAT phone was ringing in the drawer beside us.
She reached around and untied her top, distracting me enough that when the ringing stopped I roughly cupped her breasts together and feasted on both. She was panting out my name when the phone went off again.
I sagged against the window behind us, then noticed another boat was a little too close for comfort. “You have got to be kidding me.”
I grabbed the phone and the light blanket rolled up in the small cubby and tossed it to her.
She frowned, then looked out the window and quickly wrapped it around her. “Where did he come from?”
“I don’t know.” I set her on the couch and handed her the bikini top that had fallen to the ground. I answered the phone with a, “what?”
“Locke?”
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Sorry, Bastian. We were in the middle of something.”
The silence on the other end of the line had me checking the screen to make sure the call didn’t drop. Bastian cleared his throat. “Sorry about that, but it was important.”
The dread I’d been trying to ignore came back full force. “What happened?”
“Are you guys still in Provincetown?”
“No, we’re in Nantucket, why?”
“How fast can you be back in Boston?”
“Again, why?” I glanced at Cilla who was wrapping herself in the blanket. Her brown eyes now narrowed with worry.
“There was another killing.”
I gripped the phone. “Where?”
“Fucker is bold. Where Priscilla was attacked.”
My stomach bottomed out and I dragged her close.
“What?” she asked, her eyes glassy with tears. “You’re scaring me.”
“Locke, the woman could have been Priscilla’s twin.”
“I’m taking her out of here.” I started to get up, but Cilla held me tighter, holding me down.
The need to get away from Massachusetts—away from the whole goddamn United States burned through me like an oil spill on the ocean. I’d take her down to the Keys. Then we could hop around the islands.
It would be a bitch to gas up with the regatta starting up in a few days, but then I’d make sure she was safe.
“Stone finally convinced his captain to call in the feds. They want to talk to Cilla.”
“Fuck that. They can read the reports. She doesn’t remember anything more than that.”
“Locke—what is happening?” Cilla rolled onto her knees beside me.
“They want to put her in protective custody.”
“She’s safer with me.” When Bastian didn’t say anything. “If you fucking tell them where we are, I’ll disappear. You’ll never fucking find me. And you know I can do it.”
“Just think about it. We need to find this guy or you’ll be running forever.”
I looked at her wounded eyes full of fear then I hung up.
I didn’t want to hear anymore.
I got up and she followed me across the living area to where my radio was. I’d checked in with the port for a slip, but we weren’t going to dock and refill for a few more days.
“Locke, what is happening?” She grabbed my arm, taking the mic out of my hand and setting it back on the hook. “Tell me.”
The need to protect her overrode everything else.
You can’t keep her in the dark.
Milligan’s voice was sharp and hot in my head.
Not like Alyssa.
I squeezed my eyes shut. I gripped the counter where my radio was and pushed back the memories.
“Locke.”
I turned away from her and tried to claw back my emotions.
“Hey.” She gripped my shoulders, then wrapped her arms around my middle, pressing her cheek to my back. “Please talk to me.”
“You don’t need to worry about it.”
“Don’t do that,” she whispered.
I broke her hold on me and picked up the mic. “Base, do you have any spots today?”
It took a minute, but the radio crackled to life. “Turn to channel seven please.”
I flipped the channel. “Knot On Your Life requesting to come in for refueling.”
“It’s a tight day, captain.”
“I don’t care.”
The voice came through again. “11:15 at slip 27-E.”
I repeated it back and dropped the mic. That didn’t give me much time.
“Locke, you can’t just—”
I whirled around. “You’re here with me to stay safe. I’m keeping you safe.”
The worried tears dried instantly as anger flashed. “I don’t get a say.”
“Nope.” I pushed by her and went down to our room to change out of my bathing suit. I grabbed my wallet and checked my cash. Fuck, I’d need to find an ATM too.
She thundered down the stairs after me. “I can call Stone and ask what’s happening.”
I pulled on cargoes and a T-shirt. “Don’t, Cil. You don’t want to know.”
“I have a really good imagination. Don’t you think that’s worse?”
I grabbed my docking papers for the boat and went back topside. I needed to figure out where the slip was and maneuver through the ridiculous number of boats already on the sea.
She didn’t follow right away, but showed up with a pair of sensible shorts and a tank with tennis shoes a few minutes later.
“You aren’t coming this time.”
“The hell I’m not. You can’t leave me alone on the boat and you know it.”
I fisted my hands at my sides and strode out on the lower deck.
“You can’t leave me in the dark.” She grabbed my arm. “You can’t,” she said again on a broken whisper.
Annoyed at myself, I hauled her in and wrapped my arms around her. I laid my cheek against her hair and breathed in her beachy citrus scent. It calmed me down a fraction. “You have to stick close. No excuses.”
She blew out of a breath. “All right.”
“I’ll tell you when we’re on the open water.”
“Oh, you will.” She turned away, pulling a ball cap over her wavy hair.
Knowing I had to face reality sooner or later, I pushed it away. The terror was far too close to me, I couldn’t make her carry it as well.