Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
Lachlan dropped his gear at the door, phone to his ear as he entered the code into the keypad below the door handle.
“Hey, I just got home,” he said when Maddy answered. “You doing okay?” He’d been gone a lot longer than he’d anticipated.
“I’m fine. How was your day?”
“Long. Picked up a stray kayaker on the way back.” Twice as long because he’d been away from her. It was good to hear her voice. He couldn’t wait to see her. “I’m gonna grab a shower, then I can come get you—”
“That’s not necessary.”
He stopped, deflated by the unexpected rejection. She didn’t want him to go there. She wanted to stay with Blaine. “Okay,” he said slowly, trying to ignore the sting of rejection.
“No, I meant it’s not necessary because I’m already here.”
“What?” He pushed open the door. Maddy stood ten feet away with her phone in hand, a little grin on her face.
He lowered his phone, relief washing over him. Damn, Grey was right. He was in so deep with her and falling more each day.
She cocked her head, that impish smile fading. “What? You thought I wouldn’t want to see you?”
Yeah, that’s exactly what he’d thought. “It’s just been a long day.” The wind had picked up mid-afternoon, pushing up large swells. His back was sore as hell from the constant impact of the hull against the waves, and he was tired after getting only a couple hours’ sleep last night.
“Come here,” he said, opening his arms.
Maddy walked into the hug and wrapped her arms around his back. He winced when she hit a tender spot.
She tilted her head back to frown at him. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m alright. Took a bit of a tumble last night so my back’s a little sore, that’s all.” The rough water for the past couple hours hadn’t done his knotted muscles any favors.
She let go. “Maybe a hot shower will help? I didn’t eat yet because I wanted to wait for you. There’s lots of leftovers.”
“What if we soaked in the hot tub for a while instead?”
“I don’t have a bathing suit.”
She had a birthday suit he was highly interested in but understood why she would feel shy or uncomfortable. All of this was brand new to her. He was honored to be able to introduce her to each new experience.
It was also insanely hot that he got to be the first. “You can wear another of my T-shirts.”
“Okay.” She lifted up on her toes to place a fleeting kiss on his mouth before hurrying off to the kitchen. By the time he’d put his stuff away and washed his face, she had warmed the casserole and made fresh bowls of salad for them.
He tried not to wolf the food down, but he’d gone all day on just a protein bar and was starving. Also, he wanted to get in the hot tub with her as soon as possible. “What did you get up to today?”
“Did more digging with Blaine.” She told him about their investigation as to who might be behind the break-in and unit patch left at Willow’s place.
He set down his fork when she finished. “The person involved in targeting you was or is on the CIA payroll?” Shit, that wasn’t good. It was way worse than he’d thought. “And you think this person’s in Turkey?”
“As far as we know. That’s their last known location anyway.”
“What about this hacker Blaine contacted? Who is she?”
“He wouldn’t say.” She shrugged like it was no big deal. “He knows a lot of people in the intelligence world. Sometimes he has to keep their identities secret to protect them.”
So some asshole overseas who had been involved with Maddy’s capture in Syria was still targeting her? It made no sense. Any intel she’d had at the time would be useless now. “What’s this mean for you? What kind of threat level are we talking about?”
“We’re not sure yet. Maybe whoever is behind this hired someone here to plant the patch and scare me.
We’re not sure yet. As of right now, there’s no evidence to suggest anything more, but as a precaution I’m not going back to Willow’s place until this is over.
I’m staying out of sight here until we figure out exactly what’s going on. ”
Her tone was calm, matter of fact, but she had to be worried. He sure as hell was. “You feel safe here?”
“Yes. Especially when you’re with me.”
His chest squeezed at her admission. “I’m glad.” He would protect her from anything that threatened her. But that would mean canceling any booked trips and taking time off with no certainty as to when the threat would be over. “Maybe you should be with Blaine until this is over.”
“We talked about that. He’s going to the mainland for a couple days with Xanthe. I might go stay at his place. Would you come with me?”
“Yeah, of course. I can start clearing my schedule.”
“No, don’t do that. I don’t want your business or your income to suffer because of me.”
“Your safety is the only thing that—”
“If you’re done, I’ll rinse the dishes, and you can get in the hot tub to soak your muscles.”
It was sweet that she was concerned about him, and though he wanted to keep pushing, he could tell she was stressed and decided to let it drop for now. “I’ll get the dishes. You go change into one of my shirts.”
He tidied up and put on some swim trunks before heading out onto the deck and taking the cover off the hot tub. Wisps of steam curled into the dark night air, the lights around the marina glowing in the late October chill.
His neighbors on either side of him had carved pumpkins out on their decks, and half the houseboats had Halloween decorations up.
They got a dedicated group of trick-or-treaters every year.
If he wasn’t home to give out candy, he left a big bowl of it by the door and left it up to an honor system. So far, no one had abused it.
He turned when the sliding door opened behind him. Maddy came out wearing one of his old rescue swimmer shirts that hit her at mid-thigh with two folded towels under her arm. She stopped. “You’ve got a huge bruise across the middle of your back.”
Yep, felt like it. “Do I?”
“It’s purple.”
“I’m okay, promise. It’s just soft tissue damage. Nothing a hot tub soak won’t fix.” He got in first, took her hand, and guided her slowly into one of the molded seats. She grimaced as the hot water hit her skin, hesitated part way in.
Had she never been in a hot tub before? “Feels too hot at first, but it’ll be fine in a minute,” he told her, sliding over to make room for her. He hid a wince as the most tender spot on his back made contact with the hard fiberglass wall.
“Okay, that’s better.” Maddy sighed and eased down beside him until her chin touched the water.
He reached back and pushed the button for the jets. In seconds, they were surrounded by streams of frothing water. “Okay?”
Maddy nodded. “Are we in a relationship or just seeing each other?”
The out-of-nowhere question took him off guard, but he was glad she’d brought it up because he’d intended to talk about it later. “What do you want?”
She shook her head. “I’ve never done this before. I’m not sure I’d be any good at a relationship. And for all I know, you don’t want anything serious. You might want to see other women and bring them here—”
“You’re the only woman who’s been in my bed.”
“I…really?”
“Yes.” From anyone else, he would have taken her other statement as a polite but firm no, thank you. But he understood her well enough now that she was simply expressing what was going on in her head. “I think you’re selling yourself short, and you won’t know until you try.”
She watched him intently. “Does that mean you want this to be a relationship?”
He wanted it more than he’d wanted anything in a long time. “That depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether you’re planning to stay on Skelly.”