Chapter 27
“Did you get what you needed?” Mac asked the next morning. They had gotten so preoccupied with making up for lost time, she had forgotten about the purpose of his dinner with Annabelle and had promptly fallen asleep. Now it was a new day, and she was wide awake.
Barry was too, though his eyes were closed. He stroked his fingers down the side of her arm. Neither were in a rush to get up. It was earlier than she normally got up, so she wasn’t motivated to move yet.
“I did. I’ll go through the data later today.”
“Hopefully the answers we need are on it.”
“I hope so too.” Barry opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her. “Did you learn anything from Miles?”
“Other than he’s an egotistical prick? No.” Last night’s conversation came back to her. “Though I may have ruined our spying a bit.”
“You both looked angry. What did you say to him?”
Mac sat up, propping her head on her hand. “Why do you think I said something? Couldn’t it have been him saying something?”
Barry raised an eyebrow. Mac winced and laid back down on his chest.
“I accused him of being responsible for the disappearance of the sharks.”
“Mac,” he said in a chiding tone.
Mac sat up fully. “He provoked me,” she defended. “He was talking about how rich he was and how he wanted to make this a metropolis city. I asked about the cove, and he went on about potential in that area for something other than the sharks, and I snapped.”
Mac wouldn’t meet Barry’s gaze. She knew she’d messed up. She should have just walked away from Miles instead of engaging him with conversation. “Don’t say I told you so; I already know. I’m sorry I probably blew the mission.”
Barry reached up and pulled her back to his chest. He planted a soft kiss on the top of her head. Not the reaction she’d expected. “Are you mad at me?” she asked for clarification.
“No, a little disappointed, but you’re a passionate woman who will defend sharks until your last breath.” It was true. “I’d expect nothing less from you for standing up to the bully.”
Mac lifted her head to look up at him. “But he’s going to be even more guarded now.”
Barry leaned forward and kissed her forehead again. “We’ll figure it out. I’ll go through the data and see if we can catch him before he comes after you.”
Mac shifted to her stomach to look at him. “You’re not going to suggest I hide here?”
Barry raised an eyebrow at her suggestion. “Would you if I did?”
“No.”
“So why waste my breath?”
Mac leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his lips. “Smart man.”
“Hmm,” Barry murmured, pulling her in for a deeper kiss.
Mac started to sink into the kiss before pulling back and scrambling out of the bed.
“Where are you going?” Barry reached for her, but she stayed out his long reach.
“I have to get ready for work.”
“Are you ever going to take me out on your boat?” Barry asked, lying back on the bed.
She hadn’t planned on it. “Why?”
“I want to see what you do.”
“You can watch shark week on TV, it’s the same thing.
” She ran out the room to start the shower and let the water warm up.
Mac heard soft feet treading behind, then Barry was standing gloriously naked in the doorway with his forearm resting on the frame.
Her brain stalled out for a moment as she stared at him.
The man was just so damn edible. She blinked herself out of her sex fog and darted under his arm to head for the kitchen and start the coffee.
Barry was hot on her trail. “It’s not the same as being on the actual boat, bringing a shark to you and tagging it or getting samples.
” He really had been doing some research if he knew they did that much when before he didn’t know the first thing about what a shark biologist was.
“You won’t even know I’m on the boat.” She doubted that greatly.
Mac was very aware of the man. Her female students, and perhaps even a few males, would become distracted by him. “Or I can help you.”
She had plenty of hands helping her already; Barry didn’t know his way around her boat. He’d probably get in the way. Or be a distraction, and she’d get her hand bitten by accident because she was more focused on him than the shark. “Another time. How about after Miles is in jail?”
Barry gripped her shoulders and pulled her in for a quick peck. “It’s a date. Are you going to tell your team about your investigation and our partnership?”
Mac shrugged off his touch and headed into the shower. “The less they know, the better.”
“Burt obviously seems to know if he warned Jacques you were going to the coast.” Barry followed her into the shower.
Mac shook her head. “I don’t want to risk my team.” She washed quickly, avoiding eye contact.
“I get that, but forewarned is forearmed.”
Mac turned off the shower and grabbed a towel as she headed back to her room.
“And it might get them more curious to try to help. It’s the old saying ‘too many cooks in the kitchen.’ The less everyone knows, the better.
Besides, Julie is only on her second year of research.
She’s still in school. I don’t want to jeopardize her future career if Miles gets wind we’re all looking into him. ”
Barry looked away thoughtfully as if he hadn’t considered that. As much as Mac wanted to take Miles down, she wasn’t going to do so at the risk of her team and their careers. “You’re right. I’m just used to working in a team. I’ve always had the philosophy that more heads are better than one.”
“But you have to remember, those are combat-trained people, and we are shark biologists. How many times have you had to correct me on proper tailing technique and other things? They’ll cause more harm than good. Ask the wrong person questions and raise alarm.”
“Fine, we won’t tell them,” he relented. “But you should still let me come with you today.”
“And how would I explain your presence?” She had no intention of bringing him, but she was curious to know how he thought they could explain him.
Mac could see the wheels turning in his head. She had to bite her lip so she didn’t laugh out loud at his perplexed expression. “A new deck hand?” he suggested, looking proud of himself for coming up with the idea.
“Do you even know how to be a deck hand?” she asked instead of outright refusing. She was eager to see if he knew anything. That still didn’t mean she’d let him come.
“No.” He looked crestfallen. “How about a potential donor?” he continued, still not willing to give up on this.
Mac had to hand it to him; he was relentless in his quest to join her today. She wondered why he was pressing so hard. “One, you don’t look like a donor. Two, they don’t come out on the boat with us.”
“How about a bodyguard then?” He shrugged as if it were a last-ditch option.
What would she need a bodyguard for, unless…? “Do you think he might come after me since I mentioned bottom trawling?”
Barry’s eyes widened, and Mac immediately realized she’d made another mistake. “Is there anything you didn’t mention to him last night?” He threw his hands up in exasperation after pulling his shirt down.
“Your involvement.” It was something, right? She hadn’t been thinking clearly last night, gotten emotional, and just blurted things out. She shouldn’t have let Miles egg her on like that, but it was too late to take it back now.
“Well, there is that at least.”
“Though he might suspect. He did see you with Annabelle last night and said you were my boyfriend. So, he knows there is a connection there.”
“But he doesn’t know me.”
“He could ask Annabelle,” she pointed out. Miles had glanced over at the couple more than a few times last night.
“And she has a fake name. I think as long as you stay away from him, he’ll leave you be,” Barry said assuredly.
“If you think so.” He was the expert.
“I do.” He nodded confidently.
“Well, if that’s the case, I don’t need a bodyguard.” Barry opened his mouth, no doubt to protest. “I have to go, and you have data to go through from her phone. I’ll check in on you when I get back.”
Mac headed to the kitchen to get her coffee and lunch. Barry was hot on her heels. “Can I at least walk you to the dock?”
She should say no. Her team would ask questions about Barry she couldn’t answer, but she enjoyed spending time with him. “Very well.”
Barry planted a quick kiss on her forehead and headed for the door holding it open for her. Mac followed behind him, and they walked hand in hand toward the docks.
“So, what are you going to do with the intel you find?”
“Hopefully find a clue as to what Miles is doing. Why he’s building on this side of the island. Maybe information on his meeting partner from the other night.”
“You think the secretary has all of that on her phone?” Mac didn’t want to say the woman’s name. Just thinking about her made Mac see red. Though she knew she had nothing to be jealous of. Barry had chosen her, not that woman.
“I won’t know until I go through it, but secretaries have more information than most people give them credit for. There might be documents saved on her phone or in her apps. Almost everything is digital now, so tracking documents is even easier.”
Huh, she’d never really thought about that. “So, if you wanted to, you could scan my phone and get all of my shark data?”
“If you share the same information with your phone as you do your computer, yes.”
That was scary. Not that she’d ever worried someone would steal her information. It was more for comparison data and adding new sharks.
“If you want, I can put a block on your phone so no one ever could,” Barry offered.
At the risk of repeating herself asking if he could do that, she shook her head. “It’s never been a concern before. I’m good.”
They reached the dock, and Mac’s team was already loading gear. Monte was the first to notice them as he stood on the dock and handed things over the side of the boat to a deck hand named Carl who had been with them a few seasons.
“Morning, Mac,” Monte greeted with a wide grin.