by Katie Knight
Red flags popped up for Maria. “Had he pushed you like that before? On other missions?”
“No.” Trevor put the chopped celery into a bowl, then tossed the remains in the trash. “That’s what made it so weird. My instincts told me something wasn’t right.” He washed his hands and the knife, then set the bowl next to Maria on the counter. “It wasn’t even like the data we had was unusual or anything. Just standard intel on the terrain of the area and the underground political factions active amongst the tribes there. But I don’t like taking chances with the uploads and told him so. He didn’t care, or didn’t listen, and kept pushing. Like I said, that’s when I drew my gun.”
“Huh.” She tossed the veggies into the wok with the chicken, added soy sauce, then stirred it all together before putting the lid on to let it simmer. “What could he want with that information?”
“Not sure.” Trevor crossed his arms and narrowed his gaze on her. “Hopefully that flash drive will shed more light on it all.”
“Yeah, hopefully.”
Silence descended again as she continued to cook. The weight of Trevor’s gaze tingled on her skin and made her want to fidget. She resisted, barely.
At last, he said, “So, are you dating anyone?”
“What? Why?” She’d not been expecting that question and it knocked her off-kilter. Truthfully, she’d not been with anyone since Trevor. The canceled date the night he’d arrived at her door had been the closest she’d come. Not that she planned to tell Trevor that. The weight of his stare tingled on her spine as she walked over to the fridge. “Thirsty? I’ve got Camellia Ale in here for you. I remembered it used to be your favorite. I can’t drink it, with the breastfeeding, but help yourself.”
She pulled out a bottled water, then glanced back at him over her shoulder. He was watching her with that soul-searching look that never failed to make her knees wobble and her pulse race. Damn. Twelve months apart hadn’t lessened his effect on her at all. All it took was one look, one glance, and she was right back to that first night in his arms, breathless and wanton and ready to give him whatever he asked for. Maria swallowed hard and closed the fridge, turning away to crack open her water bottle.
Before she knew what was happening, Trevor was beside her, taking the bottle from her hands to open it for her, his skin warm and soft against hers. She swayed slightly toward him before she could catch herself and placed her hand on his chest to steady her balance. Huge mistake. Beneath her palm, she felt his heart race in time with her own, heard his breath catch. Slowly, she raised her eyes to his and saw his pupils blown wide, all but obscuring the blue of his irises. His full lips were parted, and his gaze flicked from hers to her mouth before returning. Time seemed to slow as they drew closer, closer to each other. She rose on tiptoe. Maria’s lips tingled from the kiss that she knew was coming. Her eyes drifted shut as his warm breath fanned her cheeks. Any second now, she’d know if he still tasted like mint and spice and that unique flavor that was all Trevor. Any second and…
“Wah!”
Camille’s wail had them moving apart fast. Trevor retreated fast for the living room, with what sounded like a murmured curse.
Flustered, Maria sank down to flat feet, blinking fast while avoiding Trevor’s gaze. That was a close call. Too close. She had no business kissing him again. He was here to clear his name, nothing more. Once the case was closed, he’d move on and she’d be back to her normal, boring, busy life. She rushed over to check on her daughter and pick up the dropped giraffe toy that had sparked her discontent, before going back to check on the food.
No matter how perfect things seemed right now, no matter how perfect Trevor seemed, he was not a good bet for a long-term relationship. He was too independent, too devoted to his career. She’d known that from the start. That’s why he’d made such an ideal candidate to father her baby.
She didn’t need a man in her life, didn’t need Trevor.
And the sooner Maria remembered that, the better.
Now if someone could just clue her stupid heart in, she’d be all set.
Ten
After another restless night, Trevor was up before dawn again. There wasn’t anything left to clean in his general vicinity, so instead, he found himself showered and dressed, sitting in the gloom and stewing over that almost kiss last night in the kitchen.
It had been a mistake. Obviously. No matter how right it might’ve felt in that moment. He’d signed a contract, agreed to the deal that Maria had put forth to stay out of their lives. No going back now. He was a man of his word and he intended to keep his promise. She didn’t want him in her life or her daughter’s, so as soon as his name was cleared, he’d leave them alone.
With a sigh, he crossed his arms and forced himself to focus on other pressing matters. He closed his eyes and remembered that last debriefing session on base, before his suspension. He’d been trained for almost every scenario as a SEAL—water rescues and landings, negotiating both natural and concrete jungles with stealth and ease, assembling and dismantling weapons in less than a minute. Even hostage and torture situations. None of that had prepared him for what he’d faced in that interrogation room.
God, he’d been so naïve walking in there.
The bad coffee and worse conversation had seemed normal enough. But he’d felt on edge since stepping foot on the base that morning, the same prickling sense of being scrutinized that he got during sniper situations. Not totally unexpected, since his captain was dead. Still, it wasn’t like he’d been responsible. And yes, he’d pulled his weapon on his captain, but that was only because the guy wouldn’t let up on him about uploading those damned files through unsecure channels. SEALs could control a lot of things, but the weather wasn’t one of them. Only bits and pieces of the data had uploaded to the military’s secure cloud storage, the smallest files first. Not his fault. They had protocols and he had intended to follow them. Period. Amen.
Trevor sighed and shook his head. When he’d first arrived home and been called to the base, he’d figured it was to ask him about the missing data. At least he’d had the presence of mind to take the backup flash drive and stow it in his pocket, so that the copy wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands. His intention originally had been to turn that flash drive over to his superiors that day of the debrief, but once the Navy investigators had started to question him about the captain’s death and their suspicions about Trevor became clear, he’d wisely kept the backup drive a secret.
Now, he’d use it clear his own name. Hopefully.
After the initial questioning, things had gotten dicier. What should’ve been a quick in and out meeting had turned into an all-day affair. They’d kept Trevor locked in that interrogation room for hours, returning periodically to question him again. His story had never changed. Trevor had been doing a sweep outside the base for the enemy, as was his assignment. While he was out on his last perimeter check, he’d discovered the captain’s body. He’d figured that alone proved his innocence. He might not be a MENSA candidate, but he sure as hell wasn’t stupid enough to kill a fellow soldier while on duty.
His interrogators, though, weren’t buying it. The longer the debriefing went on, the more it became clear that they thought Trevor had taken the opportunity of using his sweep of the area to cover his attack. At that point, Trevor had asked for an attorney, specifically, his brother, Tim.
Not long afterward, they’d let him go, telling Trevor he was suspended, pending completion of the investigation into the death of the captain. At first, Trevor had been relieved that they’d let him go, apparently without even calling his brother. Those feelings had quickly morphed into anger and frustration as the reality of it all set in. How dare they think him such a traitor and coward to do something like that? Then came the fear. His career, his future, his life could be ruined because of this. The press hadn’t gotten wind of what was happening yet, but he had no doubt they would and then they’d descend on Little Creek and his family and loved ones like vultures.
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Maybe that was why the military was so keen to pin this all on him. Clean things up fast. Make him the murderer, the scapegoat. End of story. End of investigation.
Except Trevor had no intention of being a scapegoat. He had too much at stake, too much love for his country, too many people he loved and cared for to just lay down and die for a crime he didn’t commit—not when the real killer was still on the loose.
So the minute he’d arrived back in his hometown, he’d rented a car and headed here, to Maria’s.
He’d signed a contract and had no right to contact her, but even before those few heated nights a year prior, they’d been friends. It was why she’d trusted him enough to ask him to father her child. It was why he’d trusted her enough to ask for her help.
If Maria couldn’t help him discover the truth of what had happened that night his mission went to shit, then no one could. Trevor felt that conviction straight to his bones. They might be dancing around each other, cautious and wary of the sparks of attraction still lingering between them, but she wouldn’t back down from an investigation and she wouldn’t run away from him, same as he wouldn’t run from her or Camille.
Not again.
Following dinner last night and giving Camille her bath before putting her to bed, he and Maria had gotten some more work done, but ultimately, they’d ended their night without much to show for their efforts. Maria wanted to try and track that video again today, she’d said. She was going to get a freelance hacker she used at her office sometimes to try and find out who’d sent it. Meanwhile, Trevor was chomping at the bit. Inaction didn’t suit him well. He was used to getting into the thick of things, rooting around, taking down his foes. All this hurry up and wait was driving him bonkers. Of course, his lack of sleep didn’t help either.
Restless, he began planning out his next steps in the investigation for the day. While Maria was at work and Camille was at daycare, he planned to sneak onto base and grab his duffel bags from the gym locker where he’d stowed them after his mission. Of course, he’d not mentioned any of this to Maria, sensing in his gut that she’d not approve. With her ex-cop mentality and the threat of losing her PI license for collusion, she had a right to be wary.
Not that he was looking forward to going back to the base under his fog of suspicion either. There wasn’t another choice though. He needed that flash drive. So, he’d wait until Maria and Camille left, then head to the base and do what needed to be done.
Sounded like a plan.
“Good morning,” Maria said, yawning. “You’re up early again.”
“Always,” he said, watching her go into the nursey to get Camille up.
Maria walked into the kitchen to heat the baby’s bottle, but instead of feeding their daughter herself, she handed both infant and bottle to Trevor. “Can you give this to her while I finish getting ready?”
“Uh, okay.” He nestled Camille into the crook of his arm, then held the bottle to her lips, smiling as she fastened on and began sucking. He glanced up at Maria and noticed the dark circles under her eyes. She wasn’t sleeping well either, apparently. Sure, she was up every four hours or so to feed the baby, but she’d seemed to have adjusted to that pretty well until Trevor showed up. He could only assume that her current insomnia was tied to him somehow. That made him feel even worse. Still, he forced a grin he didn’t quite feel and shooed her away. “Go on. I got this. Get all dolled up.”
She snorted. “More like brush my teeth and hair and maybe put on a bit of lip gloss. I can’t remember the last time I got truly dolled up. Oh, wait. Yeah, I can. The night you appeared on my doorstep. I had to cancel my date—my babysitter got sick.”
Trevor was careful not to react. It wasn’t any of his business if she dated. And he certainly had no right to be pleased about the poor babysitter getting sick, stopping the date before it could start.
She headed back to her bedroom while Trevor watched his tiny girl eat her breakfast. So sweet his chest ached, for mom and baby.
Camille had just about finished when the phone rang. Trevor adjusted his hold on his daughter and stood, calling down the hall, “I got it.”
It was the woman who ran the daycare. She was sick and couldn’t watch Camille that day.
Well, damn.
“Thanks,” Maria said, coming back into the kitchen. “Who was it?”
Trevor hung up, then glanced at her as he put the receiver back on its charger base. “The daycare lady. She’s sick, so the business is closed for the day.”
“Crap.” She poured a cup of coffee, frowning. “What are you doing today?”
Much as he loved spending time with Camille, he knew where this was headed. “Uh, I’ve got plans.”
“What kind of plans?” Maria wandered into the living room to take the empty bottle from him while he burped Camille. “Investigation-related plans?”
He didn’t want to lie to her, but he couldn’t tell her the truth either. “Just checking out a few things.”
“Huh. Well, my receptionist is back today, so maybe I’ll just take the day off and join you.” Maria smiled as his eyes widened. “Two brains are better than one in these situations, right? Plus, it’ll save me from having to find another sitter for Camille—we can just take her with us.”
“Oh, I don’t think—”
“What?” Her gaze narrowed on him. “You think having a baby where you’re planning to go is a problem? Hmm. I wonder where exactly this mystery location is then. No secrets remember?”
Her tone was teasing, but the look in her eyes was dead serious.
Exhaling slow, Trevor came clean. “Fine. I was planning to go to the naval base to get back the bags in my gym locker.”
For a moment, she just blinked at him. “And you think this isn’t a horrible idea why?”
“There could be important information on that flash drive. I need it back. Horrible idea or not, I don’t have a choice.”
“You realize that someone on the base could be trying to frame you for this murder, right? If you go skulking around in there, you could find yourself walking right into a trap.”
“I won’t get caught.”
“Because you’re invisible?”
“Because I’m that good.”
He wasn’t usually cocky, but he was confident in his abilities. Stealth and surveillance were his specialties. If anyone could get on and off that base without detection, it was him.
“I’m coming with you,” she said, dumping out the rest of her coffee.
“No, you’re not. You’re staying here with Camille.”
“Camille’s coming too,” Maria said, brushing past him on her way back down the hall to the bedroom. She emerged a few minutes later in jeans and a sweatshirt, having changed out of her business clothes. She took the baby from him and put her in her carrier, buckling her in. “We’re ready. Let’s do this.”
“Which part of ‘no’ didn’t you understand?” Trevor raked a hand through his hair. This morning was not going to plan at all. He could deal with snipers and landmines and irate Navy brass screaming in his face at the crack of dawn. He could not deal with the mother of his child seemingly ignoring his wishes and putting herself and their child in harm’s way. “You can’t come. If I get caught, it’s too dangerous.”
“But you said you won’t get caught,” she gave him a fuck-you smile over her shoulder before returning to playing with Camille. “Your daddy’s so silly. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about, does he? No, he doesn’t.”
“I do know what I’m talking about and I need to go alone.”
“Tough.” Maria picked up the carrier then walked to the door, slinging the diaper bag over her arm as she went. “Now are you driving, or am I?”
Eleven
“Turn here,” Maria said, pointing toward the street where Trevor’s parents lived. She hadn’t really thought through the whole bringing a baby onto a military base thing, especially if there really was the potential for danger. She needed a sitter
and fast. But the only ones she knew were kids who were currently in school, so that left….
“What? Why?” Trevor frowned over at her. “What’s going on?”
“Pull over,” Maria said as they approached his parents’ house. “Is your mom home?”
“I don’t know. Probably.” He gave her a look. “She volunteers a lot these days, but her car’s in the driveway, so….”
“Good.” Maria opened her door and got out, then proceeded to start getting Camille’s car seat out of the back. “I haven’t seen your mom in a while.”
Trevor cut the engine and got out too, his scowl darkening by the second. “What is happening here?”
“I’m going to introduce your mom to Camille.” Maria forced a sunny smile she didn’t quite feel, then dropped a kiss on her daughter’s tiny head, inhaling her good baby scent for courage before lifting the car seat out of the vehicle and slinging the diaper bag over her shoulder. “Then I’m going to ask her if she can watch the baby for a bit.”
“Whoa.” He held up his hands, coming around the car to block her path. “Hold up a sec. What about our contract?”
“What about it?” Maria said. “Look, I know our original agreement was no contact at all, but that’s obviously blown all to hell now anyway, given the fact you’re living in my house at present. We need a sitter for Camille and your mom’s the best prospect right now.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and met his gaze directly. “I trust her. I don’t trust many people.”
“Me included?” Trevor asked, brow raised.
“Your request is still under review,” she answered, sidling around him to the curb. She waited for traffic to pass, then started across the street toward his parents’ two-story Cape Cod-style home. “You can wait in the car if you want. I’ll be back shortly.”
“Like hell,” Trevor said, catching up to her quickly, his long legs eating up the distance between them. “My mom’s going to have a cow when she sees you.”
