Rough Waters

by Maggie Toussaint

  “I’m fine.”

  “I’ve had paramedic training. I know the signs. Please sit.”

  Not wanting to embarrass herself further by fainting, she complied. After a few deep breaths, she braced for the bad news. “I’m all right. Tell me the whole story.”

  He seemed to be holding onto the tall back of a chair. “Avery worked at Bayside Marina where I docked my charter boat. He asked a lot of questions about my charters.”

  “He liked being in the know.”

  The harsh planes of Rock’s beard-stubbled face tightened at that. The pink scar on his left cheek darkened. This really was about Avery.

  “What happened to you?”

  “My boat exploded.”

  “Your boating accident? Where you got hurt?”

  “I wasn’t the only one on the boat. The bomb killed my partner. I was lucky enough to be thrown free.”

  Her jaw dropped. “You’re saying Avery murdered someone?”

  Chapter 12

  Air whistled in through Rock’s teeth. The fluorescent light hummed louder than ever. Jeanie’s intense stare branded him with her disbelief. Holding the back of the kitchen chair, he glanced over her head to the window pane dividers. Of all the dumb things for him to say.

  Way to be low profile.

  Way to scare her to death.

  What choice did he have? Munro had to be involved. The flower shop burglary made no sense unless the missing coins were at stake.

  Rock’s gut told him Jeanie didn’t have a crooked bone in her body. She worked hard, supported her family, and enjoyed the respect of her community.

  Despite his intention to keep his feelings neutral, he liked Jeanie. Her pink hair, the defiant tilt of her chin, her blazing hazel eyes—those weren’t the attributes of a quitter. She was scrappy. A fighter. And those kids of hers. She’d do anything for them.

  This would be much easier if he didn’t respect her. Jeanie’s vulnerabilities made him vulnerable. Those kids. His hands coiled into fists. They shouldn’t be part of this.

  Jeanie clapped her hands loudly, startling him. “You can’t drop the M word on me and stop talking. Who are you? What trouble followed you to Mossy Bog? Why did you come here?”

  He glanced down at her, wishing he had different answers for her. The suspicion in her eyes matched the suspicion in his gut. As well as a certain amount of guilt. Had he endangered her family?

  The movie reel of the accident replayed in his mind. “I’m not saying it was murder. Or intended to be. But it could have been sabotage gone wrong. The explosion came out of nowhere. One minute my partner and I were taking depth readings, and the next it all went to blue hell. A bright flash. A terrible roar. Pieces of boat in the air.” He looked into her eyes. “It’s not something you’d ever want to experience.”

  Her guarded expression softened. She stood. “But you survived.”

  “I did, but Drake Tarpley wasn’t so lucky. He slammed into the center console. Blood. So much blood.”

  “How’d you make it?”

  “My left side struck the engine housing as I went airborne. I searched for Tarp. I shouted his name until I couldn’t anymore. But we were in the middle of Pamlico Sound, far from shore. My left arm was broken. My ribs were cracked, too. Survival mode kicked in. I found a life jacket and struck out for shore.” He rubbed the back of his neck, the agony fresh in his mind. “The ebb tide was strong, pulling me out to sea like a rip current. It tested my will to survive.”

  “I had no idea. How awful for you.”

  He’d drunk enough seawater to pickle a sailor. Thanks to his SEAL training, he’d known he could swim for a very long time. He did what he did best, just kept going. Like Jeanie, he wasn’t a quitter.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to unload on you.”

  Daylight brightened the yard, chasing the shadows of night away, but the memory of his fateful swim brought an ache to his wounds.

  “I’m truly sorry for your ordeal,” she said after a while. “And forgive me if I sound crass, but I need to ask. Your accident was in North Carolina, months ago. What does that have to do with my burglary?”

  What indeed?

  “What aren’t you telling me?” Her voice inched higher. “Why won’t you be straight with me?”

  He could tell her everything, but the less she knew about the stolen gold sovereigns and the wooden chest, the better off she’d be. “Your burglary might not be related to my accident, but I’m cautious now. I didn’t think my boat would blow up either. The accident changed my perspective. I came here to regroup. If what happened to you is because of me, I’m sorry about that.”

  “Why would someone try to kill you?”

  “I keep asking myself that question.”

  “How is Avery involved in this?”

  He held her gaze. “I have no proof he is involved.”

  “So then why did you come to Mossy Bog?”

  He shrugged. “From Avery’s description, Mossy Bog sounded like the perfect place to regroup. I’d never heard of the place before, so I thought I’d be anonymous here.”

  “Why would someone who’s after you trash my shop? We barely know each other.”

  He prayed she wouldn’t put it together. He needed more time to search for the stolen treasure. Time for a diversion.

  “My accident doesn’t make any sense,” he said, catching her hand and drawing her close. “But you have my word, if your break-in is on me, I’ll make this right.”

  “You don’t need to do that,” she said, pulling away. “I can take care of myself.”

  He gave her a moment to feel comfortable again, then leaned in, giving her room to escape, but she didn’t. She didn’t move a muscle as her warm coffee-laced breath feathered his face. The urge to kiss her fogged his brain.

  “I just bet you can,” he whispered, then closed the distance between them and nuzzled her neck. Her startled gasp of delight added fuel to his fire. He edged the rest of his body closer until they stood toe to toe, hip to hip. Her fingers gripped his, and her head dropped back. Oh, yeah. Her scent pulsed though him like a freighter bound for the coast.

  “Damn,” she breathed. “Is this going to be about sex?”

  His lips brushed hers. Liquid gold sluiced through his veins. “I sure hope so.”

  Chapter 13

  Jeanie leaned into the kiss, swayed by the headlong tug of passion. From the moment she’d laid eyes on this man, she wondered how they would be together. Avery had always just taken what he wanted from her. Sometimes he’d satisfied her. Most times, he didn’t.

  After Avery left, Buzz Buchanan and Tiny Walters had asked her out, but she wasn’t interested. She’d known them forever. No spark there.

  Plenty of sparks from Rock Mackenzie.

  His tongue danced with hers, and she melted a bit more inside. She drew him close, opening to him, craving his taste. Her breasts ached for his touch. How long since she’d felt like this? Female. Sexy. Needy. His fingers curved around the nape of her neck, caressing her. She trembled. This was where she wanted to be.

  Music played in the distance. Classical music.

  Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Perfect. Dreamy. Powerful. Climactic. She floated effortlessly on the haunting refrain.

  “Jeanie,” Rock whispered. “Music is coming out of your jeans.”

  That wasn’t the only place. It poured out of her entire body. She fought the confusion of gravity. Of being close to him but not being his. Of being such a big fat basket case that she’d thrown herself at the first handsome stranger to come along.

  God, she was such a dweeb.

  He sighed deeply, but the cinch of his right arm around her waist held firm. “Answer it.”

  Her face flashed hot then cold. His hard angles jutted into her curves as if they’d been carved from the same hunk of clay.

  “It might be your kids.”

  Her breath steadied. Her legs once again felt solid. Mindful of his injured arm, she pushed awa
y from him and walked to the other end of the counter. Her jumbled thoughts weren’t helping matters.

  She’d never made love in the kitchen before, but she was pretty darn sure if he hadn’t broken off the kiss, things would have evolved to their natural conclusion. What must he think of her? One kiss and she’d lost control. That darned adventurous streak. What a time for it to surface. She risked a glance at him over by the table. His face showed only concern.

  She’d jumped him. Not the other way around. Her cheeks flamed from the inside out. Granny’s frequent criticism when Jeanie was a child echoed in her head. Your conduct is unbecoming, young lady. And he’d been the one to remind her she was a mother.

  One with responsibilities.

  “Well?” he asked.

  His mild tone irritated the crap out of her. How could he stand there and be unaffected by that kiss? Ugly words boiled up and out of her throat. “Well, what? Are you expecting a grade?”

  His eyes crinkled at the corners. “Your phone rang, remember? Was it your kids?”

  She scrubbed her face with her hands. It wasn’t fair that she was so disoriented. He seemed calm and collected while gale force winds had her all spun up.

  Focus. The phone. She checked missed calls. Melody Clark. Her bride-to-be. A voice mail chirp sounded. Great. Melody left her a message. At dawn. If this bride stayed true to form, this would be the first of many changes to her wedding plans.

  The refrigerator hummed as she pocketed the phone. “Not the kids. A customer. I should go.”

  “You don’t have to go.” Rock glided across the floor, his eyes deepening to iris blue, her favorite flower. “You could stay.”

  If she stayed, they’d make love. But she wasn’t a carefree person. Sure, she had pink hair, but that was about girl power. Ever since the kids were born, she’d shed her carefree nature and assumed the guise of maturity. She had responsibilities to her kids and to her business, both of which needed her this morning.

  “The kids will be up soon, and I need to relieve Donna.” She retreated and stumbled over a German shepherd.

  Rock steadied her shoulder. Electricity snapped between them at the casual contact. “Stay.”

  Her emotions spun like a whirling teacup ride. Stay. Go. Stay. Go. Everything blurred until one thread emerged. She needed to get the hell away from here.

  From him.

  From temptation.

  “You don’t understand,” she said, preparing to bolt. “I already blew my chance.”

  Chapter 14

  Rock’s pulse hammered as he stepped into the cold shower, the sweet ache of passion ebbing beneath a strong tide of masculine irritation. What didn’t he understand? Why did he even care? He needed to find those damned coins. If he didn’t find them, he’d have to give up the family journal. Rock had no intention of parting with that journal. He intended to keep looking for the Clarissa.

  He’d borrowed the money to finance his search because he’d spent his savings providing for his mother’s last days. In her family papers, he’d found his great-great grandfather’s journal; that was when he’d known he had an inside track to realizing his boyhood dream of finding sunken treasure. Only, he’d had nothing at that point. No savings. No boat. He’d even sold his dive gear to pay his mother’s funeral expenses.

  Neither did he count on the treasure bug biting him so hard. Together, he and Tarp had planned and schemed until they had a list of materials needed for the project. Problem was, Drake Tarpley had no assets, no collateral, and had spent time in jail for a bar fight gone wrong.

  Rock had tried banks, but they’d turned him down flat because of the debt load he carried as his mother’s executor. If he wanted to locate the Clarissa and her gold, alternate funding had been his only option.

  No one would front him the money he needed.

  Except Wendell Huntley Lyle, III.

  Rumors swirled about how the venture capitalist crushed his enemies financially. But Tarp had kept bugging Rock to do the deal. Kept saying they had the inside track on one of the biggest finds of the century.

  With the clarity of hindsight, Rock realized Lyle’s loan had been a mistake from day one.

  He shut off the shower, toweled dry, and shrugged into jeans and a T-shirt. He wandered back into the kitchen to feed the dogs, but his thoughts weren’t on routine tasks. After he helped Jeanie set her shop to rights this morning, he’d check out nearby dive shops and fishing places. He couldn’t afford to get off track. In more ways than one.

  If not for his mending arm and the insurance company’s delay in paying out his boat claim, he would have already re-outfitted and searched for more of the sunken spoils. But the delay was just as well. He didn’t want to become some dive fatality statistic from trusting the wrong person.

  Chapter 15

  “Turn on the Disney channel, Mom.” Jeanie cradled the phone between shoulder and ear as she tossed another dustpan full of flower petals and broken stems into the trash. Across the room, Rock sorted her scattered greeting cards. She was so lucky to have her mom provide daycare for her kids. “It’s okay with me.”

  Jeanie glanced around the flower shop. It looked better already. But she’d have expenses in replacing the damaged items. Would her insurance cover it all?

  “Kids these days watch entirely too much television,” her mother said. “Nathaniel should be content to eat without the TV on. In my day, we had to earn the privilege of watching TV, and he’s been spiteful to his sister this morning.”

  “Sable’s teething. She’s having a tough time.”

  “He needs to be more tolerant. Sable can’t help her fussiness.”

  Her mom was in the middle of getting dental implants, so she sympathized with Sable’s plight. Nothing like shared tooth pain for a bond.

  “Did you take your pain reliever this morning?” Jeanie asked, noticing Rock was listening to her conversation. She’d thought being with him after that scorching kiss a few hours ago might be awkward, but he hadn’t brought it up when he arrived an hour ago to help set her shop to rights.

  Neither had she.

  Instead, she’d enjoyed his warm gazes and undivided attention. She could get used to this. Easy.

  “Why, no, I didn’t,” her mom was saying. “I got busy with the kids and didn’t notice the time. I’ll take the pill right now.”

  Was the stress of helping out getting to her mom? “I can take the kids this afternoon. Why don’t you plan a visit to your friend Bessie?”

  “Land sakes, I couldn’t abandon you and the kids to go to St. Augustine. I wouldn’t dream of being ywo hours away when you need me.”

  “I can keep the kids here in the shop. We can manage a few days without you, and the change of pace would do you good.”

  “I’ll think about it, dear.”

  Jeanie sighed. Her mom was as stubborn as they came. But she couldn’t complain too loudly. She was made of the same fabric.

  “Trouble at home?” Rock asked when she ended the call.

  She shot him a sheepish glance, not wanting the realities of childcare to enter into whatever was developing between them. “Mom’s sensitive to the kids’ moods, and when they have an off day, she needs to vent. Her friend Bessie in Florida wants her to come for a visit, but she won’t go.”

  “Moms are tricky.”

  Jeanie tucked the broom in the closet. “Are you close to your mom?”

  “My mother passed away a year ago, but, yes, we were close.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  The center support for her damaged freestanding display wavered in Rock’s good hand. “Lung cancer. By the time they found the problem, the damn stuff was everywhere. The doctors said she had days, but Mom fought for months.”

  The bittersweet catch in his voice touched her heart. For all his strength and tough guy demeanor, the man had cared deeply for his mother. “I know the type. My mom would make a strong stand. She’d have all the doctors running for cover.”

  “Doctors
, nurses, hospice workers. Mom gave them a piece of her mind. Regularly. But they respected her courage. She wouldn’t take any pain medication until the end.”

  “The experience must have been hard on you. I don’t remember Grandpop dying of pneumonia, but Granny had a heart attack in her sleep. I want to go quick like she did.”

  Jeanie stared at her sneaker-clad feet, amazed at what she was telling Rock. Not once in her marriage to Avery had they talked about death or dying. Avery had been all about living life to the fullest. He wasn’t one to look back over his shoulder. Or further down the road.

  Enough. She shook her head to clear her ex from her mind. “Gosh, how’d we get off on this? I didn’t mean to bore you with my family history. Tell me more about yourself. Tell me about the fishing business you hope to open.”

  “For the record, I’m not bored. I like getting to know you, and I hope you and the kids will have dinner with me tomorrow evening.”

  “Dinner?” The edgy awareness she’d been feeling blossomed into a full-fledged hot flash.

  “Nothing fancy, maybe burgers on the grill. I’d like to see you again.”

  “It will be chaos at best.”

  “I’m okay with chaos.”

  Jeanie chewed on her lip. She wanted to see him again. The kids—oh, who was she fooling? The kids would be fine.

  “I accept. Thanks for the invitation.” She flashed him a smile. “You ducked my earlier question about your fishing business. What are your plans?”

  “For my charter service to reopen, the planets have to align first.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The insurance company is withholding the payout. Because of the suspicious nature of the accident. I could never figure insurance companies out when I was dealing with my mother’s bills. The claims process is set up to delay or deny payment.”

  “The accident wasn’t your fault.”

  “I’ll be surprised if this company will cover me again.” One-handed, he wedged the support piece in and tested it. The display stand held. “What else can I help you with?”