by Elle James
When they were both dry, Creed tossed the towels to the floor, reached down and grabbed her thighs, lifting her and wrapping her legs around his waist. Then he was striding through the bathroom door and into the bedroom across the hallway.
He laid her on the bed, her legs still locked around his waist, and he reached into the drawer beside the bed, fumbling until his fingers curled around a foil packet.
She took it from him and tore it open with her teeth, sliding the condom down over his engorged erection.
When she was done, she lay back against the comforter, her heels digging into his buttocks, urging him to take her.
“Not yet,” he said, unlocking her ankles from behind him and dropping to his knees beside the bed. He draped her legs over his shoulders and tongued a path from the inside of her thighs to her center. There, he parted her folds and flicked the flesh, swirling, stroking and sucking on her until her body arched off the bed and stiffened, her fingers digging into the comforter as she cried out.
He strummed her a moment longer, then rose to his feet and entered her wet, slick channel, sliding all the way in.
Her muscles contracted around him, drawing him deeper. She locked her legs around his middle as he pumped in and out of her. With his hands gripping her hips, he settled into a smooth, steady rhythm that built the tension to the edge, and catapulted him into ecstasy.
He held tight, buried deep inside her, his fingers digging into the fleshy part of her buttocks, his manhood throbbing, encased in her warmth. When Creed returned to reality, he slipped free and dropped onto the mattress beside her, his own legs draping over the edge.
“Do we have to go to the café?” Emma yawned and curled into his side.
“I have a feeling that if we don’t show up soon, the chief will come looking for us.”
“I could sleep for a week.” Her hand slipped across his chest, toying with his nipple.
“We need food to keep up our strength.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Emma curled her leg over his thigh, then rose up to straddle his hips, guiding his still-stiff member into her. “But maybe we can wait a little longer.”
He didn’t know where he found the strength to go again. But with Emma riding him, he revived and ended up flipping her over onto the mattress and driving deep inside her again and again until she clutched his shoulders, her face pinched as her body contracted around him.
When they were completely satiated, Creed carried Emma back to the shower and they rinsed off, touching and feeling every inch of the other’s body as they dried off.
Emma dressed in a bright red bikini, slipping a flirty sundress over it that showed off her well-defined calves, while Creed slipped into swim trunks and a T-shirt with a fisherman on the front and the Cape Churn logo across the bottom.
“Are you going to tell the chief what you told me?” she asked.
Creed nodded. “I think it’s time.”
The smart phone he kept zipped in his duffel buzzed, reminding him that he hadn’t checked for messages in a day. While it rang, he dug to find it, locating the device on the fifth ring.
“Thomas here.”
“It’s Tazer. About time you answered.” Nicole Steele, aka Tazer, spoke in a smooth, sexy tone that filled Creed’s ear. “I’ve been trying to reach you since last night.”
He chuckled. “My phone was out of reach, and I was out of the coverage area.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re back. I’m in Seattle with Casanova. The storm delayed us. We should be in Cape Churn in a couple hours. Have you located Macias and his cargo?”
“Negative on both counts.”
“Did you think you were on vacation?” Tazer harrumphed. “Guess you can’t send a man in to do a woman’s job.”
“I’ve been a little distracted.” He pressed a kiss to Emma’s temple and slid his empty hand around her waist, bringing her close against his side.
“I’d say. Well, we’re on our way and, between the three of us, we ought to be able to bring down one badass.”
“The badass has minions,” Creed informed her.
“That’s why we’re bringing the big guns. See ya in a few.” Tazer clicked off, and Creed pocketed the phone.
“Your team?” Emma asked.
“On their way.” With both hands around her back, he leaned down, closing the distance between his lips and hers.
“Good,” she whispered against his mouth. “We could use a bit of backup.”
“‘We’?” Creed frowned down at Emma. “As of now, you’re officially off the case.”
“Not if you want to get to that yacht before Macias’s men do. Is the rest of your team trained in scuba diving?”
Creed thought about it. “I really don’t know. But I’ll check with the boss.”
“In the meantime, your team is on their way and Macias could be out there on that yacht, retrieving his cargo.”
Creed didn’t like where she was going with this. “I’m not putting you or Dave at risk again.”
“You don’t have to put Dave and his dive boat at risk.” She smiled.
“Damn right I don’t. I’ll go out on my own.”
“You can’t go on the surface. They’ll try to run you down again. If you want to get to the yacht without being seen, you have to go underwater from the shore.”
“It’s too far out to go from the marina,” he noted.
She touched a finger to his lips. “Remember I told you my father and I used to go out to the cave by kayak?”
He kissed the finger. “Yes.”
“There’s a road out to the farthest point. It’s dirt, but it’ll get us there and we can use the DPVs Dave rents out to recreational divers.”
“Dave has diver propulsion vehicles?”
“He does. And if we use them from shore, we can avoid detection by the folks on the yacht.”
He was already shaking his head. “There you go with that ‘we’ again.”
“We have to get out there before Macias. If we wait for the rest of your team, Macias could retrieve the cargo and disappear.”
“First things first. We need to clue in the chief.”
“Yeah. Chief Taggart and Gabe.”
“Taggart and McGregor. But that’s it.”
“Deal. Let’s get some food in our bellies while we’re at it. And we can have Dave prep the DPVs and keep an eye on the yacht while we meet with the chief.”
“You’re starting to sound like a spy. What kind of nurse did you say you were?”
She grinned. “A damned good one.”
“Let’s hope folks don’t end up needing your services anytime soon. I have a feeling things are going to get a whole lot stickier.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly. “I never should have brought you into this.”
“Well, I’m in it now.” She tipped her chin upward. “Don’t think you can cut me out.”
“What about your Spanish galleon treasure hunt?”
“It can wait.”
“And the children’s addition to the hospital?”
She bit down on her lip. “It’ll have to wait, as well. We have a special cargo to locate.”
“Why are you so interested?”
“Other than saving millions of people?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s already tried to kill me once. All that did was piss me off.” She grabbed Creed’s hand and headed for her Jeep. “We have a terrorist plot to thwart before my vacation is over.”
“Some vacation.”
Emma snorted. “You’re telling me.”
Chapter 9
Emma placed a call to Dave while they were driving to the café. He promised to service the DPVs and meet them at the point in an hour.
&
nbsp; As they pulled into the café parking lot, Emma cringed at the number of vehicles parked around the restaurant. It was a normal, busy morning in Cape Churn. Life managed to go on despite the underlying threat of a terrorist attack. What these people didn’t know surely wouldn’t hurt them, if she had her way.
There were a lot of people crowding the tables and booths. If they wanted a private conversation with the chief, it wouldn’t be in the main dining area. They’d have to go to the private dining area in the rear of the building. Fortunately, the private dining section had a good view of the cape.
Emma climbed down from her Jeep and rounded the hood to Creed’s side. “Did you bring your binoculars?”
“I did.” He reached into his duffel bag and handed her the set.
“In case the chief needs convincing,” she explained.
Nora greeted Emma with a hug. “Emma, honey, I’m so glad you’re okay. You had us all worried. I barely slept a wink.”
“Thank you, Nora. I’m sorry to have kept you up all night.” Emma patted the older woman’s shoulder. “Where’s that husband of yours?”
“I set him and Gabe up in the private dining room. They said they had to discuss business.”
“Good.”
“What can I get you two? You must be starving.”
“You have no idea.” Emma’s stomach rumbled as she gave Nora her order for two eggs over easy, a side of bacon and wheat toast, hold the butter.
Creed ordered the same and a stack of pancakes. “I could gnaw on a bone, I’m so hungry.”
“I can do better than a bone.” Nora’s chest swelled proudly.
“Nora cooks up a great breakfast, sans the bones.” Emma led the way to the private dining room Nora reserved for parties and special occasions.
Chief Taggart and Gabe sat across from each other, plates of half-eaten pancakes soaked in syrup in front of them.
Emma’s stomach rumbled louder. “Nothing like a night in the ocean to work up an appetite.”
The chief and Gabe rose as she approached. Gabe pulled out a chair beside him. Creed sat across from her, beside the chief.
“Did you order?” Taggart asked.
“We did.”
“Good,” Taggart said, his jaw set. “Then we can get right down to business.”
“Please,” Emma concurred. Before they could get started, Nora entered with two mugs and a carafe of steaming coffee. She poured a cup for Emma and Creed and left.
Emma wrapped her fingers around the hot mug, appreciating the warmth after the cold night she’d spent in a cave.
The chief dove in to the discussion. “We found the jet boat that was used in the attack against you two and Dave yesterday.”
“You did?” Emma leaned her elbows on the table and sipped the fragrant brew. “Where?”
“On a fairly isolated, rocky beach south of town.”
“I don’t suppose you found the driver of that boat?” Creed asked.
“No.”
Creed’s lips thinned. “Were you able to lift prints?”
The chief shook his head. “It was wiped clean. We got nothing but the boat. It’s owned by a doctor from Portland. He had it in a slip at the marina. Someone stole it early yesterday morning, before the Olanders opened for business. With over two hundred rented slips to keep track of, they hadn’t noticed it missing.”
“What we couldn’t figure out is why he’d attack,” Gabe started.
“When Dave came hauling back into the marina, he radioed ahead and we met him on the dock. The man was shaken and his boat damaged, but it’s still usable.”
“I’m just glad Dave’s all right.”
Gabe grinned. “He is, too.”
“He also said that you told him to scuttle if anyone bothered him.” The chief turned to Creed. “Seems to me you were expecting trouble.”
Creed nodded.
The chief leaned back in his chair. “Care to tell us why?”
Nora entered the back room, bearing two large plates full of steaming food. She set one in front of Emma and the other before Creed. “Anything else?”
“No, thank you.” Emma barely waited for Nora to leave before she dug into the eggs. Never had food tasted so very good.
The chief grinned. “Go ahead, eat. We’ll talk soon enough.”
“No, we don’t have much time.” Creed gave the chief and Gabe the digest version of what had really brought him to Cape Churn.
“Wish you’d let us in on that little secret from the beginning.” Chief Taggart sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “Could have arrested Macias from the get-go.”
“It’s all rumors and speculation at this point. We have no evidence.”
“An attack on Dave’s boat and two divers is no longer speculation,” Gabe pointed out.
“We couldn’t see who was driving the boat from where we were in the water.” Creed took a bite, chewed, swallowed and added, “Again, no evidence unless they’d left a trail of fingerprints or were spotted on security camera stealing the boat.”
“Would help if we had a photo of this Macias fella,” the chief said.
Creed nodded. “I’ll get one for you.”
Gabe leaned his elbows on the table and interlocked his fingers. “You say your team is arriving this afternoon?”
“Yes.”
“Then we’ll have to come up with a good reason to board the yacht out in the cape.”
“You might let my team handle that. Macias’s men will be fully armed and ready to shoot anyone who threatens them.”
“Then they’d have the coastguard and everyone else down on them so fast—”
“Not fast enough. You’d lose men, and they’d get away. He’s a master at slipping through the fingers of every agency—foreign or domestic—that has ever attempted to capture him. For all we know, he’s not even on that yacht, but calling the shots from here on shore.”
“Must have help from someone stateside, then.”
“Probably the person he was supposed to meet up with. The one supplying him with the necessary materials to build his bomb, if not the bomb itself.”
“It would take a pretty hefty amount of uranium to build a bomb big enough to knock L.A. or Seattle into the ocean.”
“It doesn’t take much. The amount of highly enriched uranium that supposedly went missing from Iran in 2012 could be used to set off an explosion that could kill a whole lot of people.”
“I assume you have a plan,” the chief said.
“I’m going back out to the sunken yacht to find whatever it is Macias is after.”
“I’m going with him,” Emma said.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Gabe asked, his gaze on Emma.
“I’m going. I’m the best diver around, and Creed needs help searching that yacht.”
“Since he’s probably figured out that we didn’t find his cargo, he’ll be sending his own people down to find the cache of whatever’s got him uptight and willing to kill.”
“You can’t just go boating out there without any backup. They’ll know what you’re up to and send their thugs out to steal whatever you find, or kill you before you find it. I could get the coastguard to run interference. But I don’t know how long it would take for them to show up.”
“No, thank you.” Creed shook his head. “We’re going in with DPVs.”
Taggart’s eyes narrowed. “From the marina?”
“No,” Creed said. “From the point.”
“It’s pretty rocky there,” Gabe pointed out.
“I’m familiar with it, and if we get out there early enough we can avoid afternoon heating and hopefully get there before Macias sends his divers in.” Emma pulled out the set of binoculars she’d insisted on bringing in with he
r. “Check out that yacht. Are they deploying any boats?”
Gabe took the binoculars and strode to the huge picture windows. “I don’t see any. That doesn’t mean they won’t. Heck, they might already be out among the rocks looking for the yacht.”
“Then we have to get out there before they find it.” Creed took another bite and chewed quickly.
“Let me send one of the police boats with you,” Taggart offered.
“No, thank you,” Creed said. “It’s better if Macias thinks he’s scared us off.”
“What can we do to help?” the chief asked.
“Keep an eye on the yacht. If they send a boat out to the point, call Game and Fish on them and have them stall their men from diving. Anything to give us time to get in and find what we’re looking for.”
Emma set her fork aside, her belly full of good food. “It would help if we knew what we’re looking for.”
“It’ll be one of those we’ll-know-it-when-we-see-it things.” Creed pushed back from the table and stood. “Ready to get started?”
“Ready.”
“I’ll run interference on your Jeep in case he has someone following you,” Gabe said. “Good luck out there.”
“Thanks.” Emma hugged Gabe. “Kiss the baby for me, will ya.”
He grinned. “Kayla would be very disappointed if you didn’t do it yourself.” His smile faded. “Take care out there.”
“I will.” She climbed into the driver’s seat and waited for Creed to slide in next to her. What had started as a vacation of redemption was turning into something altogether different. Hopefully it would have a happy ending. One in which she and Creed weren’t killed and the entire west coast remained where it was.
* * *
Creed jumped out of the Jeep as soon as Emma parked beside a truck on the dirt track leading out to what looked like a cliff overlooking the rocky point of Cape Churn.
The truck had faded lettering of Dave’s Diving Adventures on the side, but Dave was nowhere to be seen.
“Dave will be waiting below on the beach with everything we’ll need.”
“There’s a beach?” Creed stepped closer to the edge of the cliff before he saw the narrow, steep path winding downward toward a rocky shoreline. He lifted his binoculars and gazed out at the yacht in the bay. Too far away to see the people on board, all he could tell was there wasn’t another boat leaving it or floating around the site they’d put in near the rocks.
