Chapter 9 #2
Noah glanced over at her, his green eyes flashing with amusement as he realized she was joking for the first time since they’d been out here “Aww, it’s not that bad, sunshine.
I’ve been stuck treading water in the freezing cold under a dock in the middle of the night before.
Jumped out of a helo into dark waters. The rain wasn’t fun, but now that the sun’s out?
Just pretend it’s part of the vacation. An adventure”
“Part of the vacation, right. I was promised freshly grilled fish and relaxing on a boat. Not treading water in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.”
“I’ll tell you what, sunshine. When we get to dry land, I’ll let you get first pick of the MREs.”
“All tempting options, I’m sure. And I’m not sure if I’m quite as adventurous as you, to be honest. Going on a spur of the moment fishing trip was adventurous to me. But this?” She wrinkled her nose, causing him to chuckle.
“It’s cute as hell when you do that,” he said with a smirk.
“It’s not cute.”
“Disagree,” he said matter-of-factly, his gaze scanning over her face. “Hopefully the fish won’t see your eyebrow ring and think it’s food.”
“What?” she shrieked, smacking at the water.
“I’m just teasing you.”
“That is so not funny,” she warned.
“It’s a little funny.” He looked back at her, his lips quirking.
“I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to go on this trip,” she grumbled.
Noah chuckled, wrapping his arm around her waist to pull her close. “You’re doing amazing, sunshine. Hell, fit for SEAL duty after this.”
“No thanks.”
“Yeah, I can see how you wouldn’t want to be stuck with me and the guys longer than necessary. We’re like brothers though—we train together, fight together.”
“Vacation together,” she quipped.
“I think this’ll be the last vacation I take with Mason for a while,” he said with a low chuckle. “He hasn’t had good luck with R&R recently.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, taking position behind him again. She was cold and tired of being wet. Not to mention hungry. Noah was doing more work than her though. She’d just have to suck it up, she thought as she grabbed onto the back of his swim trunks.
“A while back Mason and Hunter were on R&R in London. We were on our way back from an op, but those two took some time off”
“Oh, that’s how Hunter meant Emma, isn’t it? I met them a few weeks ago at that beach bonfire. I think she mentioned meeting him in London.”
“Right, she would’ve been there. I didn’t make it to that one, because I definitely would’ve remembered you.”
Bailey felt warmth rising within her. It was flattering to know he’d have remembered her. Not that it mattered. She’d have flirted with him then, maybe. But she wouldn’t have dated him. Just like she wouldn’t now.
They were friends.
Closer than they were before having been stranded in the ocean together. But still friends and nothing more.
“Flattery will get you nowhere,” she teased.
“So anyway, they were in London when they ran into Emma in a pub. They were just supposed to be enjoying a few days of time off. It ended up that she had terrorists chasing after her. She’d gotten some papers on an archeological dig that belonged to them.
They’d tracked her back to her flat in London. ”
“Holy crap. And Hunter and Mason helped rescue her?”
“Yep. It wasn’t exactly a relaxing vacation. They were on the run and then came back to the States.”
“And Taylor was just kidnapped last month,” Bailey said, thinking of her own best friend’s ordeal. “How about the rest of the guys on your team? Did they have any strange situations with their girlfriends?”
“Colton met Camila down in Bogota. Her father was a cartel leader.”
“Oh my God. Really? I mean, I knew she was from Colombia because of her accent, but wow. I can’t say I expected that.”
“Yep. She was kidnapped by a rival cartel. After we rescued her, she ended up moving to the States to be with Colton. And now you’ll have your own adventure to tell—being tossed overboard on a fishing trip, stranded with me in the middle of the ocean.”
“I would’ve been happy with no story, to be honest.” She glanced at the island, which still seemed so far away. “Do you think we’re any closer?”
“Getting there,” he assured her. “It’s got to be just over a half mile now.”
“And we still haven’t seen anyone,” she lamented. “No boats, no helicopters. No sign of Mason and Taylor.”
“They’ll start at our last known location and then spread out.
Typically they’d use a grid approach to thoroughly search the entire area.
The good news is that when we’re on land, we’ll be able to signal them more easily.
Hopefully we can light a big bonfire if we can find enough dry wood or materials.
And we still have the flares in my bag. The second we see a helicopter, we’ll shoot one off. ”
“I’m scared, Noah.”
“I know,” he said, looking back over his shoulder. “But you don’t need to be. I have supplies for us to get through a few days.”
“A few days?” she asked in shock.
“They should find us long before then,” he assured her. “But if they don’t for whatever reason, we’ll be okay. I’ll take care of you, sunshine.”
She nodded, swallowing. None of this adventure was what she’d signed up for.