by Elle James
Creed stood beside the bed, staring down at Emma. He’d been with SEAL teammates caught in the line of enemy fire and had them die in his arms. That helpless feeling of not being able to do anything made his knees weak and his heart ache.
He lifted her hand and threaded her fingers through his. She had long, supple fingers that nurtured the sick, swam in the ocean and cared for those she loved. The woman was amazing, and he’d be lucky to have her in his life. If she’d have him.
After an hour hovering over her bedside, the steady beat of the heart monitor calmed Creed enough to pull a chair up beside her bed and lean his head against her hand. After all that had happened and being awake for two whole days, exhaustion tugged at him. He fought it, wracking his brain for what he could do to convince Emma to give him a chance to win her heart. When the idea came to him, he let go of consciousness and slept, knowing he had a tough task ahead of him and he needed to be rested to accomplish it.
Chapter 16
When Emma woke, her chest hurt, her tongue was dry and she was hungry.
Kayla McGregor sat beside her. “About time you woke up. We thought you were going to sleep through the rest of your twenties.”
“What happened?”
Kayla’s brows wrinkled. “What do you remember?”
“Creed shot Randy, and then he kissed me. It’s all a blur after that.”
“Must have been a heck of a kiss.” Kayla counted off on her fingers. “Let’s see. That Macias guy shot you last night. You almost died. The doctor patched you up, and you’re going to be fine.” Kayla took Emma’s hand and pressed it to her cheek, blinking back tears. “And promise me you won’t scare me like that ever again.”
“I promise.” Emma squeezed Kayla’s hand and asked, “How’s Moby?”
“The vet kept him overnight. He’s probably driving the vet techs at the clinic nuts by now.”
A heavy weight lifted from Emma’s heart. Moby would be okay. “How long have I been out?”
“It’s almost seven o’clock now. That’s p.m., for those of us who slept for almost two days. And they are more than ready to move you to a room of your own and out of ICU. I had to twist a lot of arms to get in to see you here, and there are a lot of others who want their turn.”
“You shouldn’t have come. But I’m glad you did.” Emma’s eyes widened. “Who’s watching the baby?”
“Gabe’s at home with her while I’m visiting.”
“He can change a diaper?”
“He’s actually pretty good at it.” Kayla squeezed her hand. “Anything I can get you?”
“Water and breakfast.”
Kayla smiled. “You’re hungry. I take that as a good sign. You had me worried for a while there. Thought I almost lost Tonya’s godmother.”
“No way. I plan on sticking around for her wedding.” Emma stared around the room, disappointment bringing ready tears to her eyes. She’d been out of it for two entire days. With Randy dead and the plot to destroy the west coast foiled, had Creed moved on? Without saying goodbye?
“If you’re looking for Creed, he had to leave around noon yesterday to, as he put it, take care of business.”
“Oh. He was here?”
“All night long for the past two nights. He had the nurses in ICU checking on your every blip.”
Warmth stole over her, filling her with hope. “Did he say whether or not he’d be back?”
“No, but the rest of his crew cleared out of town today.”
“Oh.” Which meant if he hadn’t gone with them, he’d be following soon enough.
“I’ll get that water and see if I can get them to scrounge up some food for you.”
“Thanks, Kayla. You’re a good friend.” Emma’s eyelids drifted closed, the sedatives dragging her back to sleep. The next time she woke, Kayla had gone and Jenna was there with another nurse to help her onto a gurney. “We’re moving you to a room of your own, out of ICU. Dr. Matthews said you’re doing better than expected. He thinks you should be released soon.”
Emma made the move, checking the hallway as they went for any sign of Creed. Nothing. Jenna administered more pain meds before Emma could protest, and she was out again, her sleep filled with dreams of Creed there beside her, holding her hand and kissing her lips. She wanted to wake up to look into his eyes and tell him she was falling in love with him, but her eyelids were too heavy. She contented herself with holding his hand in her dreams, wishing she could do a whole lot more.
When she woke the next morning, she was alone in the room. Kayla wasn’t there to cheer her up, Jenna had gone off duty and the day shift was probably busy distributing morning meds and helping other patients. Emma had grown up in Cape Churn and had always felt a sense of family there, even after her parents had died. Maybe it was a side effect of the pain meds, but despite this being her home, she’d never felt as lonely or depressed as she did at that moment.
What did she have? A house, a dog, a good job and great friends. A lot more than many people. But she didn’t have what she wanted most. What Kayla had. Someone to love, to come home to and build a family with. All the years that she’d told herself she was fine and happy with the way things were, she’d been lying to herself. She wanted what her parents had. Love.
Right then she’d have been happy to have that date Creed had promised her. One lousy date. But she hadn’t seen him since the abandoned fish warehouse. He might be regretting that promise.
The day dragged on, filled with visitors, everyone including Gabe, Sal and Olie, the chief of police and his wife, all congratulating her on helping stop a terrorist plot. After they all left, Emma was allowed a shower, where it was all she could do to wash her hair. She was tired, ready to be home and ready to have Moby by her side. She took one look at her black-and-blue face, and she could see why any man would run away.
Emma returned to her hospital bed, having brushed her hair, leaving it to dry around her shoulders. The sun was setting, melting into the ocean like molten fire. Her week of vacation had turned out a lot different from what she’d planned, and she’d never gotten back to the wreck of the Anna Maria to search for Spanish gold to give to the hospital expansion fund. So basically, she was back to square one, and she’d used up her vacation. She sighed.
“Great view, huh?” came a voice from behind her.
Her heart bumped hard in her chest, and she turned slowly to find Creed standing in the doorway.
Emma raised a hand to her face, wanting to cover the ugly bruises. “I thought you’d be gone by now.”
Creed crossed to where she stood and gripped her wrist, pulling her hand away from her face. “I couldn’t leave yet. I’d made plans.”
His warm hand around her wrist spread electric jolts all through her body. “Plans?” she whispered.
“We have a date.”
She dipped her chin. “I can’t go out on a date looking like this.”
“Well, you’ll have to get well enough to leave the hospital gown behind so that you don’t offend the prudes. Other than that—” he tipped her face up “—you’re the most beautiful woman in this hospital.”
“With a swollen eye, cut cheek and a scar across my chest.”
He gathered her into his arms, treating her as if she was delicate china to be handled with care.
Her heart filled and spilled over, pushing tears from her eyes. “Don’t be so nice to me.”
“Why?”
She wanted to say, Because it’ll hurt too much when you leave. Instead she said, “Just because.”
He pressed his lips to her forehead. “I have another surprise for you.”
“Surprise?” She shook her head. “I don’t like surprises.”
He grinned. “You’re gonna like this one.” Creed turned toward the door. “Bring him in.”
Moby jerked Gabe through the door and bounded toward the bed where Emma lay.
“Oh, baby.” Emma leaned over the side, ignoring the pain as she stretched the stitches over her incision. She draped her hand over the side of the bed and petted Moby’s head with the tips of her fingers.
Apparently it wasn’t enough for the golden retriever. He jumped up, planted his front paws on the side of the bed and woofed.
Emma laughed, her chest hurting, but loving every minute of seeing her dog, with the big white swath of bandages wrapped around his middle. “He’s okay?” she asked.
“The vet fixed him right up, and he’s staying with me and Kayla until you can come home.”
“Thank you.”
Gabe faced Creed. “Did you tell her?”
Creed shook his head. “Not yet.”
Tired, but too delighted to see Gabe and Creed to send them away, Emma asked, “Tell me what?”
Creed turned to her. “I haven’t been here during the day because I’ve been out exploring the shipwreck we’d found before.”
Emma leaned forward, her pulse speeding. “And?”
“I’m sad to report that we didn’t find a coffer of Spanish gold or anything else of value.”
“Oh.” Emma laid back against the pillows, her eyes closing to the disappointment. The children’s wing project might never be completed. Maybe when she was up and running again, she’d think of something.
“That was the bad news,” Creed continued. “The good news is that since you found the diamonds on board the Pelageya, you get to keep them.”
“What?” Emma’s eyes opened wide, her mouth falling open, her pulse slamming against her veins. “The diamonds? I get to keep them?”
“Well, after the government takes their share.” Creed held up the velvet bag they’d rescued from the yacht. “They are all yours to do whatever you want with.”
“But half of them should go to you. You were there, too.”
“Then I will donate my half to Cape Churn Memorial Hospital.”
Emma felt as if her face would split, she was grinning so broadly. “They’ll get that children’s unit. Oh, Creed. That is good news.”
Gabe cleared his throat. “I’d better take Moby back to the house before he wears out his welcome.”
“Thanks for bringing him by, Gabe. Give Kayla a hug for me.”
“We want to see you up and moving soon. Kayla misses your coffees at the marina.”
“I’ll be back soon.” Emma scratched Moby’s ears and watched as Gabe led the dog out the door, making her more determined to get out of bed and back to life.
She took a deep breath and asked the question that had been eating at her since she woke. “Now that your case is solved, when are you leaving?”
Creed took her hand in his. “I haven’t decided. I kind of like it here at Cape Churn. The people are friendly, the cape is beautiful when it’s not fogged in, and I haven’t had my date with the best nurse in town.”
Emma’s cheeks burned. “We’re still on?”
He carried her hand to his lips and kissed her fingertips. “As soon as you’re up to it.”
“Umm,” she moaned, her insides heating all the way to her core. “I’m feeling better already.”
He gathered her into his arms and held her gently. “Good, because I can’t hardly wait for that date and many more to come. Ms. Emma Jenkins, you’ve helped me to discover something about myself.”
She could barely think when he was so close, his lips brushing across her eyelids. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
“I didn’t think I was, but now I know—I’m a staying kind of guy, and I have a thing for white picket fences and a woman who loves scuba diving and dogs.”
“Good thing.” Her heart soaring, Emma placed her hands on either side of his face and stared into Creed’s eyes. “Now kiss me like you mean it, frogman.”
* * * * *
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Chapter 1
The ICE Agency office was decidedly free of gadgets. Avery had known that in advance of accepting the secretarial position six years ago, but in her enthusiasm over the job offer, she’d overlooked the details that didn’t sync up with her lifelong dream to work in national security. Besides, no covert ops agency displayed their gadgets in plain sight. Everyone knew gadgets belonged in the basement.
She still adored her job even though she had yet to stumble upon a secret basement, but she could’ve seriously used a gadget tonight, some sort of mechanical arm or miniature grappling hook or the like. The problem was that she wasn’t flexible enough, nor were her fingers long enough, to grasp the zipper of her party dress.
In the office restroom, she spun in a circle, her body torqued at an odd angle, reaching for the zipper that was stuck in the middle of her back. Then it hit her that she was acting more like a dog chasing its tail than a single girl ready to dance her way into the New Year.
After giving up, she marched to her desk and flounced into her chair, chewing the lip gloss off her bottom lip in irritation. She should’ve taken Kristen up on her offer to primp at her house. Granted, that would’ve been awkward now that Kristen and Charlie were newlyweds, but at least she would’ve saved herself from engaging in a wrestling match with the slinky pink dress she’d spent half her paycheck on.
Rendezvousing at Kristen’s house also would’ve saved her from indulging her overactive work ethic. Here it was nearly ten o’clock on New Year’s Eve and she’d put in another thirteen-hour day at the office, leaving herself only twenty measly minutes to change clothes and walk four blocks to the downtown San Diego club where she was meeting her six friends.
“Oh, well. I bet Moneypenny works New Year’s Eve, too.”
Actually, the true reason she’d worked longer than any sane, healthy person would on a holiday night had nothing to do with her work ethic. The project she’d been helping several of the office’s agents with was bringing her the closest she’d ever come to assisting in the capture of an international criminal mastermind, which happened to sit at the top of her bucket list.
It didn’t hurt that the man in charge was none other than the office’s newest tall, dark and droolworthy agent, Ryan Reitano.
With a little smile, she glanced at his desk across the room. He’d transferred from a different branch of the department six months ago, and while the two female agents on staff hadn’t shown much interest in him, Avery sure had. Even if the man barely seemed to notice her presence, much less that she was female—and recently available.
She’d stayed late tonight composing a memo for Agent Lucey while stealing furtive glances at Agent Reitano as he got organized for his surveillance detail at the Mira Hotel in preparation for the big sting operation later that week. She’d just about worked up the courage to give him a genial “Happy New Year’s” hug on his way
out when she heard his hasty exit as she was in the back hall making copies, off to do his supersecret spy thing while Avery couldn’t manage to zip up a stinkin’ dress.
She smoothed the creased fabric over her thighs with a frown. Six hundred bucks and the dress wasn’t even wrinkle resistant. Between the wrinkles and the obnoxious zipper, the dress was way too high maintenance for her taste.
When she’d seen it hanging in the window of an uptown boutique, she’d thought it a perfect symbol of her New Year’s resolution to move on with her life after her disastrous breakup with Zach in October. Plus it was exactly the sort of curve-hugging dress Pepper Potts might wear to a Tony Stark cocktail reception, which made it a must-have in Avery’s book.
Well, Pepper Potts would never let a high-maintenance dress get the best of her. She spun the chair toward her desk and grabbed a box of paper clips. She might not be Pepper Potts or have access to secret agent gadgets, but Avery was nothing if not resourceful.
In two minutes flat she’d fashioned a paper clip chain and shimmied out of the dress. Though the office had been crawling with agents all day, Agent Reitano had been the last to leave, so she didn’t have to worry about someone catching a glimpse of her Spanx or beige ultra-support bra.
With only a few minutes to spare until she was supposed to meet her friends, she didn’t have time to wallow in the irony of lingerie that made a woman look sexy in clothing but did exactly the opposite once her clothes came off. But given how clingy and revealing this particular dress was, a teensy lace thong wasn’t going to cut it. Avery’s figure required high-performance undergarments.
Once she’d secured the end paper clip to the zipper, she donned the dress once more and raised the chain over her shoulder, pulling up. The zipper began to close.
“Ha! Take that, sucker.”
