Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
Raven’s Cliff, a year later…
“Hey Foster. Looks like Zain’s been getting some private boating lessons from our resident ex-Coast Guard officer, because I thought for sure he’d have us capsized within the first mile.”
Zain Everett chuckled, flipping off Chase Remington as he piloted Foster’s boat across the choppy waves.
The sun edged toward the horizon, the thickening clouds promising more rain.
Not that the inbound system would impact their trip home.
Just a stark reminder how turbulent the Pacific Ocean was at any given time.
Even at the tail end of winter, storms raged across the water, laying siege to any unsuspecting vessel.
Zain glanced at Chase over his shoulder. “If you want a turn, brother, just say.”
Chase waved him off as he tipped his beer at him.
“Got all I need right here. Besides, I’m not sure how you can see straight.
After a full shift yesterday, then getting called to that multi-car pileup last night…
” Chase sighed as he leaned back, the last rays of light catching the left side of his face. “I’m bagged.”
Kash Sinclair, resident dog handler, snorted. “That’s because you’ve gone soft, buddy.”
Chase tossed an empty beer can at Kash. “Says the guys who slept the entire way out.”
Kash smiled. “I wasn’t the only one.”
“Nyx doesn’t count. She’s always sleeping.”
Kash gave Nyx a scratch behind the ears when the German Shepherd raised her head as her name sounded around them. “Don’t listen to him. He’s just sore because the ladies are doing a prisoner transfer to Providence and couldn’t come.”
Chase smiled, nudging Foster. “Did Mac text you, yet? She should have landed at the hospital, by now.”
Foster Beckett held up his cell. “She’s waiting on Greer and Jordan to hand that asshole over to the feds as we speak.
With any luck, we’ll all get back around the same time…
” Foster nodded at Zain. “Assuming Zain doesn’t try any of Saylor’s tricks and decides to weave us through rocks and shoals for the fun of it. ”
Zain groaned. “She only did that when it was life and death.”
“Which I’m betting is just about every trip for her.” Foster chuckled. “Face it, she’s like the rest of us. Always seeing danger whether it’s there or not. Guess the lifestyle rubs off.”
Zain merely nodded, hoping his silence steered the conversation in another direction.
Preferably one that didn’t involve Saylor O’Conner — ex-Coast Guard officer and the woman haunting Zain’s dreams. Especially after their botched attempt at a date last night.
While getting called away on an emergency before their food had even arrived hadn’t been his fault, he couldn’t stop the voice in his head from wondering if it had been the universe stepping in.
An attempt to stop them from ruining the easy friendship they’d carved out over the past few months.
If he was better off alone.
Foster sighed, then took the captain seat beside him, staring at the water as they headed northeast. “You know we’re all crazy about Saylor, right? That we already see her as one of the team.”
Zain groaned inwardly. This definitely wasn’t the direction he’d hoped for. “She’s Mac’s best friend. Of course, she’s one of the team.”
“That’s not what we mean, and you know it.”
Zain stretched his neck from side to side.
While he could listen to Foster and Kash talk about Mackenzie and Jordan — tease Chase about pining over Greer instead of asking her out — having them all focus on him…
It made his eye twitch. Got those voices in his head shouting at him about how he wasn’t boyfriend material.
That he’d already failed his brothers once.
He couldn’t afford to fail anyone else, let alone Saylor.
He gave Foster a quick side-eye. “If this is some kind of brotherly matchmaking intervention, I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed.”
Kash huffed, sitting up a bit straighter. “For a guy who’s all about the bigger picture, you can’t be this blind.”
Zain offered the helm back to Foster, taking his buddy’s chair as he stared at Kash. “I’m not blind. I’m saying that maybe you’ve got it wrong.”
Chase snorted. “Please, the sexual tension between you two is off the charts. And I’d know. I’ve already had to live through this with Foster and Kash.” Chase leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “You and Saylor might be even more explosive.”
“You mean, like you and Greer?” Zain crossed his arms when Chase glared at him. “Maybe you should focus on your own love life.”
“Thankfully, that’s not the current topic of conversation.
Besides, ever since that bomb incident with her car, since old Sheriff Thompson turned out to be a freaking drug dealer…
” Chase raked a hand through his hair. “Greer’s hyper-focused on work.
I swear she doesn’t sleep more than four or five hours at a time.
She’s gonna get herself seriously hurt if she’s not careful. ”
“All the more reason to help her learn how to relax.”
Kash reached over and gave Zain a swat. “We’re not falling for this ploy, so just quit, now.”
“What ploy?”
“Where you redirect the question onto one of us. Your go-to strategy when we bring up a topic you want to actively avoid.”
“Great. Then, take the hint.”
“Not this time, Zain.” Kash crossed his arms over his chest. “How many times did you tell me to just grow a set and ask Jordan out?” Kash motioned at him. “Time to take your own damn medicine.”
“Who says I haven’t?”
“Look around.” Kash spread his arms, waving at the ocean.
“It doesn’t get much better than this. Yet, even sitting behind the wheel, your shoulders were all bunched as you scoured the horizon.
You don’t get like that unless you’re either hunkered down in a sniper’s nest or brooding about something. Pretty sure you’re not in a nest.”
Chase grabbed the railing, then stood, using the back of Foster’s seat to maintain his balance as he moved in beside Foster. “Tell us we’re wrong — that you have no feelings for Saylor and would be fine if she started dating someone else — and we’ll drop it.”
The thought had Zain’s eye twitching, again, his hands fisting at his side.
Chase slapped him on the back. “That’s what I thought.”
His buddy crossed his arms, holding his ground as Kash moved to the seat behind him, still under the hardtop but more of a unified front with Foster being the anchor off to the right.
Still cruising them along the water, but somehow equally invested on the outcome of the conversation.
Not unlike how he was inside his helicopter. Always in control.
Which was largely the issue. Zain didn’t just like being in control, he needed it. Needed to always see that bigger picture, like Kash had claimed. To be the one who kept his brothers safe. To make the ultimate sacrifice. After that screwed up mission …
He’d been floundering. Treading water, exactly the way Kash had mentioned a couple weeks ago.
Unable to move forward but no way to change the past. To find redemption for that night.
That op. Which was probably why Zain hadn’t told them he’d asked Saylor out.
That they’d made it all the way into the restaurant before they’d been interrupted.
That a part of him couldn’t shake the idea she’d been relieved.
He groaned, stabbing his fingers through his hair. He really needed to grow it longer — give himself something to yank when shit inevitably went sideways.
Or at least, give Saylor something to anchor her fingers in when he ravaged her mouth.
He let his head tip back. He needed to get a grip before he lost his focus — got someone else hurt, or worse.
Kash sighed. “Zain…”
Zain blew out an exasperated breath. “I asked her out.”
Kash glanced at Foster, then Chase before circling back to him. “And…”
“We went to coffee a couple times, then dinner.”
Kash stood there, looking as if he was trying to Jedi-mind trick the answers he wanted out of Zain. “And?”
“It didn’t go exactly as planned.”
Foster huffed as he eased back on the throttle — allowed the boat to simply glide for a bit. “Hand to God, Zain, if you keep answering in this cryptic speak, I’ll personally toss your ass overboard. When did you go out to dinner? What didn’t go as planned? ”
Zain leaned against the main console as the boat rose and fell with each swell. “Last night.”
Kash coughed, pounding on his chest a few times before chuckling. “Last night? As in the one night we got called into work for a massive emergency?”
“And that’s why it didn’t go as planned.”
“Why didn’t you just text us? We would have understood.”
“Right, because Saylor’s the first person to blow off an emergency. The woman’s as intense as everyone else. She got one look at that text and had the check paid and us out the door before I could get any details.”
Kash grinned, then sobered when Zain glared at him. “I wondered why you were both waiting for us at the hangar. So, you didn’t want to pick things back up once we were finished? Maybe grab a piece of pie at that all-night diner?”
“We didn’t finish the final sweep until nearly four. I’d intended on offering to make her some coffee — maybe heat up a poor excuse of a pizza at my place, but then…”
Chase scrubbed a hand down his face. “The doctor from Raven’s View manor called about Rhett, and we jumped down a rabbit hole.”
Zain shook his head. Ever since Rhett had been medically discharged with honors shortly after they’d moved to Raven’s Cliff, Zain and his buddies had gotten him transferred to the private, long-term care facility in town, making weekly visits.
Hoping their presence might shift the tides in Rhett’s favor.
“I can muscle through with the best of them, but how was I supposed to pretend everything was okay with the doctor saying Rhett was either showing signs of waking or, more likely…”