Chapter 19
NINETEEN
Handsome.
Who even used that word anymore, especially in their speech? It was so old-fashioned.
But somehow from Maddy it seemed just right.
He’d felt the sincerity of the compliment. The gravity of it. Because he knew she only said the truth, and didn’t say things like that often.
If she’d been any other woman, he would already be kissing her. But Maddy was different. The quiet yearning he saw in her eyes was mixed with an uncertainty that tugged at all his heartstrings.
She’d been hurt before. He knew it as surely as he knew that kissing her once would never be enough.
He brushed a lock of hair from her cheek with the edge of his hand, trying to read her. She stood perfectly still, almost holding her breath. As if she might bolt if he moved too fast.
He took her face in his hands, her skin soft and smooth against his palms. “Maddy.”
“Yes?” she whispered.
Damn, he could drown in those deep blue eyes. “I really want to kiss you.”
Her cheeks flushed darker, and her pupils dilated. “Okay.” Her voice held a breathless edge.
If he’d felt more casual about her, he might have grinned at her response because it was so uniquely her. But the way he felt about her was anything but casual. And the way she was staring up at him with a blend of wonder and longing made him ache in places he’d never known existed until now.
He leaned in to cover her lips with his. Absorbed the little jolt that ran through her, the soft gasp. He kept it light while a tide of desire rushed through him. Infused it with all the tenderness she brought out of him while he learned the shape of her lips. She tasted like peppermint tea.
The kiss was pure innocence, yet it knocked the air from his lungs. The brutal punch of need it unleashed took him off guard.
He slid his fingers into her hair. Reined in a wave of hunger while his heart pounded out of control.
Maddy laid her hands on his chest. That same light, tentative pressure as last night’s hug. He bit back a groan at the contact, shifted a hand to cup the back of her head and deepened the kiss slightly. Conscious of not pushing her too hard too fast.
Her fingers flexed on his chest. As if testing his strength. The soft sound of pleasure she made hit straight between his legs.
He wanted more. Deeper. Harder. To pull her tight to him and explore all the sexy curves he couldn’t stop thinking about.
He did none of that.
Instead, he kissed her one last time, gently sucked at her lower lip for a moment because he couldn’t help himself, and lifted his head. Maddy blinked slowly and focused on him with heavy-lidded eyes, her face aglow in the deep pink rays of the autumn sunset.
Jesus, this was crazy. One chaste kiss and he was strung taut as a wire, blood pumping hard and fast, fueling the kind of need he never thought he’d feel again.
He drank her in as he skimmed his thumb across her cheekbone. Couldn’t help pressing a kiss to that spot, then her forehead as he drew her close and enfolded her in his arms.
She snuggled into him with a sigh that felt like a major victory. He closed his eyes and exhaled, holding her while a foreign—or at least long forgotten—sensation flowed through him.
Peace.
When he eased his hold, her soft smile turned him inside out. “Thank you,” she murmured.
“For what? Kissing you?” He wanted to laugh. Because he wanted to do a hell of a lot more than kiss her, and she’d all but shredded his control without trying. She had no idea what she did to him. The power she wielded.
“Well, that too. But no, I meant thank you for the most perfect day ever.”
Hell. She was making it damned near impossible to stop here for now. What was he going to do with this woman he barely knew and everything she made him feel?
His phone chirped in his hip pocket. He ignored it. Just as he’d ignored the three times it had buzzed prior to that.
“Should you check that?” Maddy asked.
“No.” He didn’t give a shit who it was.
Until a familiar ringtone broke the quiet. He groaned.
“Something wrong?”
“No.” Maybe. “It’s a SAR call,” he said as he dug it out to answer. “McCaffrey.”
He listened while dispatch relayed the situation.
A small vessel taking on water seven miles away with two passengers aboard.
The Coast Guard had been alerted, but it would be an hour or more before they arrived on scene.
Grey and another member of the team were enroute to the marina to meet up with him.
“Roger that,” he said. “Standing by.”
“You need to go?” Maddy asked when he ended the call.
He nodded. Couldn’t resist cupping the side of her neck and running his thumb over the edge of her jaw. There were so many other places he wanted to kiss her. “When can I see you again?”
She blinked as if surprised, then gave a slow smile that cinched the band tighter around his chest. “I dunno. When do you want to see me again?”
“As soon as I’m done with this mission.”
“I’m at a special girls’ night get together at Willow’s tonight. It’ll probably go until late.”
“Tomorrow night then.”
“Okay. Tomorrow it is.”
It seemed like an eternity from now.
He kissed the bridge of her nose, then grasped her hand and helped her onto the dock.
She turned back to him, flashed a grin and surprised him by dropping a fleeting kiss on his mouth. “See you tomorrow.”
He stared after her as she walked away, admiring the shape of her silhouette and trying to understand how she’d gotten under his skin so far so fast.
Three quarters of the way down the dock, she passed Grey and Emma. They were both dressed in team gear and carrying equipment as they hurried toward him.
Lachlan had suits ready for them when they climbed aboard. “Two passengers aboard a small boat taking on water. Coast Guard is on alert but not launching yet. Any other intel?”
“Not that we’ve heard,” Grey said, bending to secure the lines while Emma tugged on her flotation pants.
Lachlan eased them away from the dock and sailed for the mouth of the harbor. The last bit of the sun had dropped into the ocean a few minutes ago. They only had another half an hour of daylight to work with, if that. Water ops were always tougher in the dark.
Emma rode up front, ready to handle the searchlight mounted at the bow. Grey stood next to him at the wheel, talking with dispatch and the Coast Guard while Lachlan steered them west out of the harbor and into the rougher water of the strait.
The light was almost gone by the time the stricken vessel came into view off the port bow. A small pleasure craft listing heavily to its starboard side.
Lachlan slowed when they got close, angling the zodiac to come up alongside the other vessel. Both passengers were standing near the higher portside railing wearing life jackets.
Grey moved to the starboard side tube, braced his hands on it as he leaned over to shout to them. “We’re with Skeleton Island Search and Rescue. You both okay?”
“Yeah, we’re good. You guys didn’t have to come out, our friends are already on the way to pick us up.”
“You’re gonna be in the water by the time they get here,” Grey said, stating the facts. They were already up to their knees in it.
“No, they’re only a few minutes… There they are now.”
Grey, Emma and Lachlan all looked to the west in time to see a speedboat cutting around the point of a neighboring island. The stranded passengers raised their arms over their heads and waved up and down to signal it.
The speedboat had been headed straight toward them. But suddenly it cut hard left and did a tight turn before speeding back in the direction it had come.
Grey glanced over at him with a WTF look before turning back to the passengers. Their expressions were priceless as they stared after the retreating boat. Like someone had let the air out of them both.
“Oh. Guess they decided to let the pros handle the rescue,” one of them said in a deflated tone.
Yeah. Guess so. And that maneuver hadn’t been suspicious at all.
Lachlan kept the boat steady and moved in closer, watching the passengers intently. As one of them reached for Grey’s outstretched hand, Lachlan glimpsed the unmistakable outline of a pistol under the man’s lifejacket.
A split second later, something hit the water with a small splash.
“What was that?” Grey said.
“Damn. I think it was my phone,” the man said.
Not a chance. He’d tossed the weapon overboard to get rid of it.
Behind him, the second passenger was hurriedly shrugging into a backpack. Or trying to. Whatever was in it was heavy, given the way he was struggling.
“Leave it,” Emma told him, aiming the searchlight at them so she, Grey, and Lachlan could all see clearly.
“No way,” the man argued. He clumsily scrambled aboard, nearly falling between the vessels in the attempt.
Grey caught the man, steadied him and looked over at Lachlan. Lachlan inclined his head to tell him he knew something was up. They’d clearly caught these guys in the middle of something illegal.
Grey leaned in close to Emma for a moment, said something for her ears only, and she quickly made her way to the pilothouse. “One of them was carrying a nine-millimeter,” she said to him.
“I saw. Did you get a look at what’s in his bag?”
“No. But I think we can all guess well enough.”
Yep. Drugs or cash, or both. It was more common than people around here realized. But considering the recent crime spree on the island and all the weapons and ammo being moved around, this could be the tip of the iceberg.
“I’ll call Rafe. You can stay in here with me on the trip back.”
“No thanks. I’m gonna go hang with Grey on deck. And if either of these assholes so much as twitches in a way I don’t like, they’ll get a throat punch before they even realize what hit them.”
Lachlan smiled, never taking his eyes off the rescued men seated up front. Emma was a former ER charge nurse and a martial arts black belt. She could handle herself. Although Grey would never let it come to that. If either of these guys tried something, Grey would take them down.
He got on the radio to update the Coast Guard about the vessel’s location, kept watch over everyone on board as he turned them back toward Skelly, and called Rafe.
“Hey, man. We just picked up two men from a sinking vessel seven nautical miles west of Cedar Point. Mid to late twenties, one Caucasian, the other Asian. They refused rescue at first, saying they had friends coming to get them. But the instant the boat appeared and saw us, they did a one-eighty and bugged out. The Caucasian guy dropped a nine mil overboard. His buddy refused to leave his backpack behind.” He wanted Grey to search it, but neither of them were law enforcement anymore.
“Well, that’s interesting. What’s your ETA in Whalebone Cove?” Rafe asked.
“Twenty-five minutes, give or take.”
“I’ll meet you at the dock, and we’ll find out what we’re dealing with.”