Chapter 2
*EMERSON*
This guy had to be a joke. Right?
He turned away from me to talk to Calder, the cranky old guy who ran a security firm on the docks and continued to mess up our operations.
You couldn’t save sea life when you had boatloads of beefy guys coming in and out all day.
One of them was going to take out a manatee one day, and then they’d have a real problem on their hands.
Me.
The two men chatted, their heads tucked together as if they were sharing secrets. I didn’t like it.
“What’s this all about, Calder?” I asked, storming up to the two men with my hands on my hips.
Just because they were taller than me, older, and had more muscles didn’t mean they got to stand around talking and leave me out of the conversation.
I didn’t have time for problems. We had to prepare for the possible storm and get my data uploaded.
Calder ran his hand through his slightly graying hair and shook his head. “I probably should have warned you…”
“You think?” I cut him off. “Calder, I don’t know this guy. I don’t like this guy. And I certainly don’t need anyone protecting me.”
The man in question turned toward me with his mouth slightly ajar. “You don’t even know me. How can you not like me?”
“I know your type,” I answered quickly.
He scoffed. “What type is that?”
Did he really need me to answer?
He stared at me, blinking twice as he waited.
Apparently, yes.
“Bossy.”
Calder laughed a quick but loud snort. “She’s got your number, Knox.”
Knox? I let my gaze slide over him from head to toe?
Yeah, it fit.
From the way he closed his mouth, he agreed that bossy fit his description perfectly.
I’d been around enough of Calder’s people to recognize the type. Mainly because they were all of that type.
“Emerson runs the South Carolina Manatee Safety Operation. Her headquarters are also here at the dock.”
“I was here first,” I reminded him, putting my hands back on my hips.
Calder laughed again, ruffling more of my feathers. “Yes, that’s true.”
“You brought me here to watch sea mammals?” Knox asked.
I tilted my head to the side. “You know manatees are mammals?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, doesn’t everyone?”
“No.”
Most people knew nothing about manatees except that they might have been confused for mermaids at one time. And I think they only knew that because of a popular movie or something. I’d never gotten a straight answer from anyone.
“Emerson had a few small run-ins with a couple of my men,” Calder said, completely downplaying the entire situation.
I popped my hip out further. “One of his dumbasses almost hit a manatee as they were bringing in a boat. Then had the balls to tell me I couldn’t use a grenade on his little boat.”
“A grenade?” Knox asked in horror. “Who gave her access to a grenade?”
Calder shrugged, but we both knew he just had it sitting on top of his desk. He was horrible at weapons storage. Another concern for the manatees. What if one of his death bombs rolled out into the water?
“The real concern is when she told off Rex Thorton last week,” Calder said, and I rolled my eyes.
How did he take anyone seriously when their name was Rex Thorton? He acted as if I’d gotten into an argument with Lex Luther.
By the way, Knox’s eyes widened, he knew the guy and agreed with Calder. “I thought he’d gone underground after Peru?”
Calder let out a deep sigh. “So did we, but he showed up here looking to make a deal. Then he ran into Emerson before anyone tracked him.”
“You didn’t make a deal. Did you?” Knox asked.
What kind of deal did Rex want? He hadn’t seemed friendly enough for deal-making that day.
“Fuck no,” Calder said. “Money can’t change all hearts.”
“Damn straight. Glad to see life on the mainland hasn’t changed you. But I’m still not sure why you called me. Emerson seems to be able to handle herself.”
“Thank you,” I said. I still didn’t like the guy, but he’d won a single brownie point with that comment.
Calder laughed. I guess he wasn’t taking Knox seriously. “He took a special liking to Emerson, if you get my meaning?”
“No,” I said.
Knox spoke louder. “Yes.”
What did that mean? Why did it seem like they were having a secondary conversation that I wasn’t completely aware of?
“I’ve got James on it, but I’d like to keep eyes on Emerson until we can guarantee Rex is out of the area.”
Knox nodded. “Good choice.”
“No.” I threw my hands in the air again. Weren’t they listening at all? “I do not need ‘eyes on me.’ I’m fine and perfectly capable of holding my own against the wannabe dinosaur.”
“Now you see why I need your help?” Calder asked.
I stomped my foot but not enough for either of them to notice. “The only thing you need to help here are the manatees. We’ve already discussed that.”
It’d taken me yelling at him and throwing his life jackets over the dock, but Calder had agreed to bring his boats in by another route and slow their speed to monitor for slow-moving manatees.
Calder grinned. “You’ll need to keep Emerson and the manatees safe until further notice.”
“As long as ‘further notice’ is one week,” Knox said, doing that eyes-widening thing again. That was getting extra annoying.
But also kind of hot. The longer we stood on the dock with the humid air hitting me in the face, the more I found myself questioning exactly how much muscle he had under his stretchy black T-shirt. Could he lift me up and carry me down the walkway?
Why the hell did I care?
I didn’t like big, beefy dudes. So far there hadn’t been a Mr. Right for me, but I was sure when I found him, he’d be someone academic, an animal lover, and he’d have to like sushi.
“Do you like sushi?” I asked Knox.
He scrunched up his nose. “No. Who likes raw fish?”
“Normal people.”
See? Definitely not Mr. Right, so it didn’t matter if he had glorious muscles or not.
“I don’t need someone to watch me. Even for a week. I’m perfectly safe, Calder. The only people who have put anyone at risk around here are your guys if they don’t learn proper boating rules.”
Calder sighed. He did that a lot when I was around. Maybe he had a breathing problem. I was too nice to ask.
The air changed. I stopped the tirade I was about to launch into and twisted my head to the side.
Muscles in Knox’s arm twitched as time slowed down.
Light erupted from the ocean.
Then everything sped up again as what felt like a giant hand punched right through us.
Calder swore. Knox jumped in front of me as a violent flash of orange light slammed into my side, burning me up as it knocked us to the ground.
Windows in Calder’s shop exploded as I hit the hard wooden planks of the dock, Knox coming down with me.
Glass shards dropped onto the dock, pinging off the wood like heavy rain.
Next came chunks of splintered wood as the dock rolled like a wave coming in off the ocean. Knox moved himself to cover me completely as pieces smacked against his back. My legs got the worst of it, as small pieces flicked off my bare skin.
The orange cloud rolled over us, but no one moved.
Thirty seconds passed, which is actually a long time to stay calm on a wooden deck with a hot guy on top of you.
“Get off me,” I said when most of the debris had finished pelting us.
Knox moved, letting me stand.
I brushed off my shorts and checked my camera. The lens looked okay, but I’d have to test it. A column of smoke spiraled into the sky, thick and black against the bright blue sky.
“What happened?” I asked, not expecting an answer since we all had the same amount of information.
Calder coughed. “Rex blew up the Maribel at the end of the marina.”
“What?”