“We can’t,” said Baron. “Brody went straight for the border. He’ll beat us by at least ten minutes, even if we hustle. Ten minutes could be a life or death difference for us.”
Nessa studied him, trying to peer past those gorgeous brown eyes. “Did you put your kid gloves back on? Are you only doing this because your partner is weak and can’t take care of herself.”
Baron dropped his bags into the sand and took her face in both his hands. Nessa suppressed a moan of pleasure, but she did lean in to the strength of his hands and close her eyes momentarily. It was a dream moment—his comforting hands, the ocean smell, sound of crashing waves, and the fast success she’d found in her first real world assignment.
“You are strong, intelligent, and capable,” said Baron. “And don’t even get me started on how beautiful you are.”
She smiled, tempted to get him started.
“You knocked it out of the park today, Nessa. And we can’t get careless.”
“I know,” she muttered. “If something happened to Brody today, any eyes would be on us.”
“You’re exactly right. And an operation as professional as this one is likely to have eyes everywhere. Maybe even in the Border Patrol itself.”
It was still hard to let it go, especially after she’d gotten them both down there and discovered something fishy in the surf shop.
“Look on the bright side, Nessa. We are stuck here in Mexico at least overnight. And we have to go surfing. And spend lots of time kissing.” He came forward, pulling her face toward him. Their lips met and she went weak in the knees. Her toes were grounded in sand and her head was flying into the heavens.
“Lots of time?” she managed to say.
“Lots,” he said, kissing her again, lingering a little longer, allowing her to savor his soft, thick lips.
Against his lips, she muttered, “You can’t distract me with your delicious lips, you know?”
“That wasn’t even my plan,” he said, smiling his crooked smile. “I just couldn’t resist you. I know this whole acting like we’re in love thing is supposed to be an act, but I’ve never been a very good actor.”
Love? Wow, she liked the sound of it, even if she wasn’t bold enough to say it herself.
Baron picked up the bags, relieving her of the pressure of returning his declaration and started back toward the hotel. There were quite a few people out on the beach, but in this area between the hotel and the water there were no ears to overhear. They had a quarter mile or so left to walk over the soft sand before they reached the ten-story hotel. The sun felt wonderful on her skin, but not nearly as good as Baron’s touch in her hand.
“What’s your concern?” he asked. “We’re partners, so I want to be on the same page.”
“We know they aren’t transporting something mild like marijuana. Not in such small packages.”
“That’s true,” said Baron.
“So how do I live with myself? I know we did good today, and in the long run, it might keep some drugs off the streets. But how do I not think about another Samantha happening this weekend that we could have stopped?”
For a while Baron didn’t speak and she could feel him working it through.
“No words?” she teased. “I’ve finally tongue tied my verbose fake boyfriend.”
“You’re on a roll today,” he said lightly. Then in a more serious tone, “You touched on things I couldn’t put into words.” That was all.
Nessa didn’t want to push. Baron had never held back on her and when he had something in his mind, he would say it to her.
She spoke up. “Okay, so we don’t have to stop Brody at the border, but is there a way to keep the drugs out of circulation some other way?”
“Like what?”
“Have Mr. Thompson impound the truck, no, all the trucks in his fleet so that it’s not suspicious.”
“Until …?”
“Until Monday when they can bust him at the border.” Nessa saw the flaws in that plan. “But how will Brody even come to Mexico if his truck is impounded? And Mr. Thompson can’t bring his whole operation to a stop over something so small. And Brody will just carry the bottles of Coke away anyway, unless they specifically restrict him, which would be super suspicious.”
“You’re right,” agreed Baron. “I love that analytical brain of yours.”
Nessa felt all warm, and it wasn’t from the sun. “Stop distracting me. What if someone were to waylay Brody’s truck after it crosses the border, swap out the mule Coke with real bottles of Coke and let him go on his way?”
Baron simply said, “What if?”
“Well, then Brody takes the clean Coke to his contacts, who go to open it to extract the drugs and find soda instead of smack, and they realize something is up, and they never use Brody again.”
“More like they kill Brody, assuming he swapped out the drugs,” said Baron.
“Oh …” Nessa looked sick.
“Now, about smack? How is that in your vocabulary?” said Baron, winking at her.
“I watch Law and Order,” she said, starting to smile, but catching herself again. “It’s killing me, Baron. Don’t you, like, have a SEAL buddy who can just blow up the truck? I know one of your friends has a rocket launcher and is itching to use it.”
Baron chuckled. “Logan Steele.”
“No,” growled Nessa. “That would derail the operation again.” She wanted to hit something. So much for her grand dreams of being a hero and saving a life today.
“The day we were captured in Syria,” said Baron.
Nessa’s ears perked up like a startled horse.
“We had a decision to make.” He paused for a minute and they walked without speaking. Emotion poured off of him in waves and she was scared he was going to decide to not tell her. “We had to choose to take out a little fish before he hurt one person, a woman, or let him hurt and maybe kill her so that we could stay in our cover and have a shot at the big fish.”
“You took out the little fish,” said Nessa, tears threatening her eyes again. “You jeopardized the mission to save one person.”
Baron nodded solemnly.
“And you all had to suffer in prison for your choice.”
“It wasn’t about us,” said Baron, then continued slowly. “The big fish was ten times worse. Maybe a hundred times worse. It took eight months for another Team to finally take that piece of garbage out. I think about that a lot, still. How much bad he did in the world in those eight months.”
Nessa put her head on his shoulder, understanding where his wisdom and maturity came from. As painful as it was for her to process, it came from suffering. Oh, how she hated the thought of that. She was determined to not make this a pity party, so she just rested her head on him for a while until she was able to speak without any pity in her voice.
“Brody’s a little fish,” she said.
“Brody is now bait,” said Baron. “Because of your mad data skills, we are not only going to stop this flow of drugs into the U.S., but we have the opportunity to make life miserable for a lot of bad guys.”
“What do you mean?”
“We can see everywhere Brody goes,” said Baron.
Nessa hadn’t remembered that. “Our tracker. He goes straight back to the plant.”
“Which means either he is carrying the drugs out himself, or he has a partner. Someone inside Thompson’s Operation.”
“That could be hit or miss for us,” said Nessa. “If the change happens at the plant, we’ll catch it on camera.”
“That’s right,” agreed Baron. “No one will even try to hide it. He’s just bringing some Mexican Coca Cola back for a buddy.”
“But what if he takes it out of the plant himself?”
“I’ll have someone tail him today. I’ll make the call as soon as we get to the hotel.”
Nessa did the math. That should work. “What if he loses him?”
“He’ll be thorough,” said Baron. “Tracker on his car and tail him.”
“Ok,” said Nessa.
“One way or another, he’ll lead us to someone who is a bigger problem than our little fish.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “And it’s all because of you.”
“Not all,” said Nessa. “I could never have pulled off that trip to the surf shop without you.”
“Oh please,” said Baron. “You’re like the female James Bond. You were amazing.”
“Ha! Okay, now I know you’re patronizing me.”
Baron put his hands up defensively. “That’s just the start of it. I can’t say what the DEA will do, or what the federales will do on this side of the border, but I would bet my shiny new Escalade that Brody isn’t the only one hauling smack out of the surf shop. A little surveillance on that place could shut down even more streams of smuggling. And once they get all the surveillance they need, they move in and bust people in a concerted effort. There’s no saying how high in the ranks it could go.”
As Baron talked, Nessa got more and more excited. She hadn’t dreamed this one surveillance mission could ever be so far reaching.
“Nessa Dimmick will have made her mark on the world,” he added. “You can retire with a perfect record.”
She laughed. “I was thinking more along the lines of securing a more permanent spot on a team that continued making a difference in the world. Maybe even partnering up on a more permanent basis with an associate who can’t keep his mouth shut.”
“A guy like that sounds like a blast to be around,” said Baron. “I’m pulling for you.”
They had reached the sidewalk near the hotel and took a second to shake the sand from their flip flops.
In a quiet voice, probably since there were people not too far away, Baron repeated, “I’m going to book one room. Two rooms would be suspicious. I’ll make sure it has two beds. Cool?”
It was impressive how thorough he was with their safety, even though it seemed almost impossible to her that anyone would be watching. She nodded. “Thanks.”
She didn’t know how to express her relief and gratitude that her first real boyfriend wasn’t trying to take advantage of a tight situation. She loved being close to him without having to worry about going too fast. His kisses were the perfect pace for her. Well, she wouldn’t mind a few more actually, but if she had to choose between going too slow and too fast, she’d take a guy who over-respected her boundaries any day.
They walked into the gorgeous lobby, hand in hand and once again Nessa was glad the charade wasn’t over. Tall ceilings, huge arches, and tons of light made her feel like she was in a resort and the guy next to her made her feel like she must be dreaming.
Please don’t let me wake up anytime soon.
As they approached the front desk, a man behind a computer said, “Welcome to the Rosarito Beach Hotel. How may I help you?”
“Could you speak Spanish please?” she said quickly, earning a questioning look from Baron.
“Sí, señorita,” said the man. Then he continued in Spanish.
Nessa shrugged and told him, “Oh, I don’t understand it, I just love hearing my boyfriend speak it.”
Baron’s eyebrows shot up and Spanish words started rolling off his tongue. Nessa put a finger to his lips to stop him before she melted right then and there.
“I asked for that, but you better save it for later.” She made a suggestive glance upstairs and winked.
A blush crept up Baron’s face. That was a whole new win for her.
He said, “Como tu lo quieres, mi amor.”
Nessa knew what those last two words meant and they set her pulse racing all over again.
In Spanish, Baron and the man made arrangements. At one point, Baron told her, “We got a walk-out room. Straight down to the beach.”
A month ago, Nessa was a permanent resident of her comfy desk chair. And now Baron had transported her to beach chairs.
The man at the desk handed Baron a keycard and pointed to a hallway. When Baron put a hand gently on her back to guide her, she slowed just to get more of the feel of his hand on her back.
At the door, she put a hand over his as he reached with the key card for the door. “Wait.”
He was listening.
“Before we go in …” She reached a hand up around his neck and he picked up on what she wanted, coming forward to meet her lips. He had promised her more kissing, and she was determined to hold him to it.
The kiss was exotic and fresh, like the hotel and beach around them. She could practically taste the salt from the sea on his lips.
“Con permiso.” The tender, Mexican voice brought Nessa back to the real world quickly. A maid was pushing a cleaning cart around them and gave Nessa a wink. Never before had she felt that special kinship with all the women in the world who had ever been in love. She had dreamed about someday experiencing what all those women in movies and books felt; she hadn’t expected the far reaching collateral experiences like sharing a wink with a stranger. It only made the experience better.
“I am for real in love with you,” breathed out Baron as he caught his breath.
Nessa smiled. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of you telling me that.”
“Smart to get that kiss out of the way before we go into the room,” he said. “Once again, my partner is a super genius.”
He got her, knew exactly where she was coming from. All Nessa wanted to do was get changed and hurry out to the beach, where they could get close again without worrying if too much would happen behind closed doors.
Within seconds, Baron had the door open for her.
“I’m gonna change,” said Nessa, claiming one of the bags.
“I’ll arrange a tail for our little fish,” said Baron, already working on his phone as he moved toward the chair and small table.
Nessa went into the bathroom, closed the door, then leaned back against it to catch her breath. For hours she’d been running on adrenaline and borrowed courage, ever since she’d stormed out of Sutton Smith’s control room hoping that Baron would follow her.
Lo and behold, he’d followed her and together they had pulled off the mission, and there was no saying how far-reaching the results would be. All she had to do for the next day or two was hang out with her real boyfriend on the beach. And this was her job! Never in a million years did she imagine anything like this as she sat behind a computer for hundreds and hundreds of hours in school.
“Enough stalling,” she told herself. “Go live this life instead of sitting in here heart-throbbing about it.” She dug in to the bag and found the swim shorts and tank top. It still blew her mind that Baron hadn’t pushed her to go super skimpy with the bikinis in the shop. Wasn’t that a boyfriend’s job? As if everything else right now wasn’t enough, she had found the perfect man. On a day of roller-coaster ups and downs, she had launched into the sky, no longer even held to the ground on a track.
Nessa shimmied out of the shorts she’d bought earlier that day. As she folded them and laid them on the counter, she felt a tiny bulge in the side seam. Had it been there all along? She tried to think back to the last time she had sat down. The Uber. That was the only time she’d sat since putting the shorts on. The bulge was on the side where she wouldn’t feel it unless she happened to sit on her side somehow. It had been placed in a spot where it wouldn’t be noticed.
With trepidation, she slid one hand up the shorts’ leg and felt a cylindrical disk, about the size of a Lifesaver candy. It took some effort, but when she yanked on it, it dislodged.
What in the …
It looked like a bug. A tracking device. What else could it possibly be?
Nessa’s heart dropped into her gut. Someone was on to them. Someone knew exactly where she was right now. They could be circling in, closer and closer, ready to bust the door down.
She reached for the door handle, scared of what she’d see on the other side of it, and wondering how long it would take to be located. Baron would know all about this device and what kind of info the bad guys had o
n them. Baron had—
Baron had … what?
For one thing, he had tons of experience with this type of spy activity.
He also had professed ample concern about Nessa’s safety on this side of the border. Baron had also been very close to her on multiple occasions throughout the day.
But most of all, he had promised to respect her and keep her in the loop when it came to stuff like this.
“Baron!” The roller coaster was no longer up and down, it had crashed and was burning. The fire fueled Nessa’s outrage.
How dare he! And what in the world made him think she wouldn’t find it? For all his talk about respecting her and treating her like a partner, this was unforgivable and she was about to let him know that.
“Nessa! Are you okay?” He sounded worried. Or maybe that was guilt she heard in his voice, knowing that she must have discovered what he’d done. He was going to make an argument about worrying about her and wanting to keep her safe.
It would be a load of placating talk meant to calm her down and distract her from his broken promises. Again and again she would try to prove herself only to have him pull something like this.
Yelling at him and hearing his justification wasn’t good enough. Nessa needed to show him, to prove herself.
“Nessa? What’s wrong?” He knocked on the door.
“I … no, I’m fine.” How could she get rid of him? “I need a towel. I don’t know if these ones are clean.”
“I’ll call the front desk,” Baron stated instantly.
“No, can you just grab a couple? I need it before we head to the beach.” Let him wonder what was so urgent.
“Okay.” He didn’t sound as confident anymore. “We bought some at the surf shop.”
“No,” said Nessa, slipping the shorts back on, followed by her flip flops. “I always wash towels before I use them.”
“Oh. I …”
“I guess it’s a girl thing. I’ll be safe in here without you,” she assured him. “It’ll only take you a second.”
“I’m taking a key,” he said. “You don’t need to open the door if anyone comes knocking.”
The Honest Warrior: Navy SEALs Romances 2.0 Page 8
