Shelter in the Tropics

by Cara Lockwood

  For a second, her will wavered. Her arms already itched to be around the back of his neck, her body pressed to his. No matter what had happened between them, she had to believe the spark between them was real.

  But were his words real? Could they really make this happen? Could she live with blood on her hands? Adeeb’s blood? His young daughter’s? She didn’t know.

  Yet she wasn’t sure. Might never be sure he was telling her the truth.

  She took another step back, the boat beneath her feet rocking gently in the waves as the autopilot took them into the night.

  “I don’t know, Tack. I just...” She badly wished she could erase the last twenty-four hours, go back to the simpler time when he was just a sexy tourist who’d taken an interest in her.

  I should’ve known then something was wrong. Why would someone so amazingly sexy be interested in me? It’s just like Rick said. I was a nobody.

  She hated that Rick’s criticisms still rang true after all this time. Her insecurities welled up, and she started to feel the wave of worthlessness that always washed over her anytime she let her ex into her head.

  “We both know you wouldn’t have taken a second look at me if I wasn’t your assignment.” Cate hugged herself as she spoke, bracing herself for the inevitable confirmation in his eyes.

  Tack shook his head. “That’s not true,” he said. “You’re a stunningly beautiful woman, Cate. You turn heads everywhere you go.”

  “No. That’s not true. I’m plain.” Rick told her that. Cate’s father, too, back when she was a lanky, awkward teen.

  “Who thinks you’re plain? Whoever said that needs their eyes checked.” Tack gently laid his hands around her arms and squeezed. “You’re gorgeous, Cate. I fell for you nearly the moment I laid eyes on you, despite all the reasons I shouldn’t have.”

  He moved closer to her, and once again she felt his magnetic pull, the charisma that she found nearly irresistible. This close, she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to resist him. All she wanted to do was feel his mouth on hers once more. What did that make her? Desperate?

  It was all a lie.

  “You were assigned to follow me. Take an interest.”

  He sighed heavily. “Yes, you were my mark,” he admitted, nodding. “I was supposed to keep a level head, but I never could. Not with you.”

  “That night...in your hotel room...” Cate almost couldn’t get the words out, her humiliation burning in her throat. She remembered his hands on her, how he’d taken her to places she hadn’t been in years. How he’d made her feel completely out of control.

  “Everything I did, I did because I wanted to. It wasn’t a ploy.”

  “But you...you didn’t want to...” Have sex.

  Understanding finally dawned on Tack. “I didn’t want to take advantage of you. Not without you knowing the truth. I thought if I did, you’d never forgive me, and frankly, I might not have forgiven myself. I wanted...”

  “If I came, it would be less of a betrayal?” She thought about how vulnerable she’d felt in his bed. Would she have let him touch her if she’d known the truth? No.

  “I’m sorry, Cate. I’ll keep saying it as long as I need to.” He lifted his hand and stroked the side of her face. “You’re so gorgeous,” he murmured. “And you’re even more beautiful when you come.”

  No man had ever told her that before. She wanted to believe it. She desperately did. Cate felt herself once more hesitating, once more wanting to put down her doubts, give him a second chance.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. But we can find a way forward. You and I.”

  “How? I just don’t see how.”

  Cate turned to examine the autopilot controls, checking their bearing and their coordinates. Tomorrow they’d arrive in Aruba. Then it would be up to her to figure out how to lose Tack. She couldn’t let him make this sacrifice for her. But then again, could she run knowing that doing so would take another’s life? She didn’t know. It had been her and Avery for so long, she couldn’t imagine fighting for anyone else.

  “Running won’t do much except buy you a little bit of time.” The deck beneath their feet rocked a bit as Cate studied the controls.

  “A little bit of time is a little bit of time. You said it yourself, he’s dying. If I outlast him, then I’ll have all the time I want.”

  Tack put his hand on her shoulder and she felt the weight of it, the power. “You’d risk going to jail? Being pursued by authorities long after he’s gone?”

  “That’s better than going to jail now.”

  “Let me talk to Allen. Let me reason with him. I can be very persuasive.”

  Looking up at Tack’s broad shoulders and his intimidating physique, Cate had no doubt he could be. But this wasn’t a normal man, and Rick had never been intimidated by muscle. He was a man who spent his life perfecting the art of being a bully. He also let his money do all the talking for him. There was always bigger and badder muscle he could buy. Cate knew this for a fact.

  Tack wouldn’t be able to negotiate with him. No one could.

  “Maybe he’ll drop the charges,” Tack pressed. “And even if he doesn’t, you can argue to a judge it was self-preservation. He was going to kill you. Maybe we can still somehow free Adeeb and you at the same time.”

  Cate shook her head. “Rick won’t let that happen. No judge would believe us,” she said, remembering how quickly the local police had turned on her when she’d asked them for help. They’d probably even testify that she was a crazy woman, or that he was an upstanding citizen, or that they’d never heard of any trouble before. The police chief would happily sit on the witness stand and praise Rick’s character. The thought made her stomach turn.

  “Cate, I know it seems like you can’t win. That he’s got all the aces in his hand, but he doesn’t. First off, he’s dying. I really think that all he wants to do his see his son. He might be willing to negotiate.”

  Cate shook her head. She knew him better than anyone, and Rick Allen didn’t negotiate. He didn’t back down. He never conceded anything. “He doesn’t want to see Avery. He wants to punish me.”

  “Are you so sure about that?” Tack pressed. “Maybe he’s changed. Dying can do that to a person.”

  Cate couldn’t imagine Rick changing. That would require him admitting that something needed to be changed, and he’d said more than once that he didn’t need fixing.

  “I’m better off running. He hasn’t forgotten what I did to him. He’ll want me punished.” She knew it to be true. He’d search for her right up until the day he died, and even after, he’d instruct the trustees of his estate to pursue her. Rick Allen didn’t forget...or forgive.

  “Let me talk to him. I can persuade him to see reason. He’s Avery’s father.”

  A creak near the stairs drove Cate’s attention to the small hallway that led belowdecks. Avery stood there, hair askance as he clutched the railing with his small hand. He looked bewildered and confused, and she had a horrifying thought in that moment: How long had her boy been standing there? What had he heard?

  “Are you talking about my daddy?” he asked.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  TACK WATCHED ALL the color drain out of Cate’s face, and he realized things had just gone sideways. The boy didn’t even know his father was alive, much less that he was actively searching for him.

  “Avery, it’s time for bed.” Cate’s voice was firm, but not too firm. She clearly did not want to discuss this now, but eventually, she had to. Even Tack knew that, and he wasn’t a father. At some point, the boy would need to know the truth. He still felt that Cate wasn’t right in keeping this from the boy. No kid should be told his parent had died, when the parent was very much alive. Even if that parent wasn’t the most stellar guy on the block. A boy needed his father, even if his father was...wel
l, Rick Allen.

  “But, Mom... Daddy?” The simple words seemed to cut through Cate like a knife. She hesitated, glancing at Tack. He tried to keep his face neutral, but the boy needed to know his father was still alive. He’d know soon enough, anyway. No matter how good Cate was at running, he knew the odds were not in her favor. Not now, not with Allen so close to her. It wouldn’t take Derek long, either, to figure out Cate and Avery left on this boat. Then it would be a matter of tracking it to Aruba. She had a chance to get away, but not a very good one. “You were talking about Daddy,” Avery said, his little brow furrowed in confusion. Poor kid.

  Cate dropped to her knees in front of the boy. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow, okay, kiddo?” She put her hands on his shoulders and pulled the little one in for a hug. She met Tack’s gaze from down on the deck. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

  Avery yawned, too sleepy to argue as he let his mother lead him back down the stairs and to his bunk belowdecks. When she emerged once more, she carefully secured the gate and latch, so that they wouldn’t be so easily overheard. He wouldn’t be peeking his head up unless he’d figured out how to unlock a door.

  “You have to tell him,” Tack said, voice low.

  Cate glared at him. “He’s not your concern.” She tried to edge past him on her way to the wheelhouse.

  “Sure he is.” Tack blocked her way. “Cate, I...I want to do right by you. And by him.”

  She hesitated. “But what about Adeeb? You can’t abandon him.”

  Tack’s heart was ripped in two. He was torn between loyalty for his brother in arms, and love for the woman who’d turned his life upside down. How could he possibly choose? Yet right now, with her, he couldn’t let her suffer. He had to save her.

  “I’ll find a way to save you both.”

  “That’s not how the world works.” Cate looked despondent. “You’ll have to choose, and in the end, you’ll side with him. Because you’ve known him longer. Because he’s done more for you. He’s a hero. I’m no hero.”

  “You are to me.” It was true.

  Tack desperately wanted to find a way where he wouldn’t have to choose. In the meantime, his entire focus was on making sure Cate didn’t run. If Cate ran, she and Adeeb lost. He wouldn’t be able to save either of them.

  He’d do what it took to save them both. He wasn’t a quitter. Not in high school football. Not when he volunteered for the marines. Quit didn’t live in him.

  “You might not know it now, but you will. I’ll prove it.” Tack towered over her, and she seemed so small and delicate, a woman who desperately needed protection. His protection. He wanted to care for her, and for Avery. He wanted to keep her safe, and he wanted her to know that, too. He realized he was falling in love with her.

  “What if I never believe you?”

  “Then I’ve got a long road ahead of me,” Tack said and cracked a grin. Cate resisted smiling, but eventually her mouth twitched.

  “I bet you’ll get tired of convincing me before we get to Aruba.”

  “Oh, no, ma’am. I don’t have quit in me. I survived basic training, and way worse. You’ll have to really bring the pain if you want to get rid of me.”

  Cate eyed him with suspicion. “Okay, so if I can trust you, if you really do have my best interests at heart, then tell me, what do you think I should do? Turn myself in?”

  “No,” Tack said, and shook his head. “But I think you should let me try to negotiate with him. Let me bargain and try to get him to drop the charges. I know it’s a long shot. I know the man is...stubborn.” Cate let out a derisive snort. “Okay, more than stubborn. Pigheaded. But we’ve got to try. Maybe I can make him see reason. Maybe he’ll give up that visa, too. Crazier things have happened.”

  Cate looked doubtful.

  “When we get to Aruba, I say we hide you and Avery. Let me try to talk some sense into Allen. If I can’t, then we can run.”

  “We?” Cate arched an eyebrow.

  “Do you think I’m letting you go? I told you, I’m falling for you. That doesn’t happen often. You’re a special woman, Cate. Worth fighting for. Worth sacrificing for.” Tack had never felt so certain of anything in all his life. He suddenly felt invigorated with purpose. He had a reason to get up in the morning that had nothing to do with turning a quick buck, or desperately trying to right past wrongs. He realized how deeply he’d missed that, and how much he’d taken it for granted when he served Uncle Sam, until right this moment.

  Cate hesitated. “You’re really serious, aren’t you?”

  “As serious as a jail sentence, which is what you’ll get if I don’t try.” Cate grew solemn, her pretty green eyes darkening with worry. He reached out and gently touched her arm, feeling her extra-soft skin beneath his fingers. All he wanted to do was hold this woman for the rest of his life. The intensity of the feeling startled him, and yet it all just felt...right.

  “Even if they don’t catch you,” he said softly. “Do you really want to spend the rest of your life running? That’s a different kind of sentence. You run and Adeeb dies. At least my way, I can try to save you both.”

  “You can’t really think that will work. Rick is not a reasonable man.”

  “Maybe he’s found Jesus on his deathbed.”

  Cate snorted. “The man doesn’t have a humble bone in his body.”

  “You’d be surprised how powerfully persuasive the possibility of imminent death can be.”

  Cate bite her lower lip. Tack pulled her closer and she let him, and moments later, he’d wrapped his arms around her tiny frame. The woman was so slight, he felt like he could wrap his arms around her twice. She needed him. Avery needed him, and he wasn’t going to fail them. One way or another, he was going to find a way out of this mess.

  “I nearly killed him...” Cate whispered.

  “What he did to you was wrong. He was wrong, and you did the only thing you could do. You fled. That took courage.” It did, and her standing up for herself and her son was one of the many reasons Tack had fallen for this woman.

  “I should’ve done it years before. Maybe even before Avery. But for so long, I was afraid.” The words came out so low against his chest that he almost thought he hadn’t heard them.

  “I know you were.” Tack squeezed her tighter. “And if you’d run earlier, you would’ve never had Avery, and he’s a blessing. So you have nothing to beat yourself up for.”

  She nodded against his chest as he sank onto the small bench on the deck and pulled her to him. “I wouldn’t trade him for the world.”

  “Exactly. So you have nothing to regret.”

  “I hadn’t thought about it like that before.”

  “Well, now you should start.” Tack rested his chin against the top of her head, and felt like nothing could be more perfect than having Cate in his arms, her legs pressing against his on the small bench.

  “True, but...all those years. All that time...being afraid. I think I’m still afraid,” she murmured, her voice choked with emotion at the confession. He hugged her tighter.

  “We all live with fear.”

  “Do you?”

  He thought about Adeeb, and about all the regrets that weighed so heavily on him. “Every day.”

  “What are you afraid of?”

  That I didn’t do all I could to save the one man who’d saved me.

  “That I’ll fail someone I care about again.”

  That was the truth.

  “So why did Derek hate you? Why didn’t he help Adeeb?”

  “Because I lodged an official complaint against him. I jeopardized his promotion,” Tack admitted. He didn’t like talking about it, because he regretted doing it. “I should’ve just kept my mouth shut. Kissed the man’s ass more, but the fact was, he was making calculated political decisions, rather than thinking
of the mission. Or his men.” Tack shook his head. “I also thought he might be taking bribes from someone in the Afghan government. Never had any proof, though.”

  “Then you should’ve reported him. You did the right thing,” Cate said.

  “No. If I’d kept my mouth shut, Adeeb would be home by now,” Tack said. “Derek knew how I felt about him. He screwed Adeeb just to mess with me. That’s how petty the man is. I knew that, too. I knew when I filed that complaint there’d be repercussions. I just thought they’d be on my head. Not Adeeb’s.”

  Cate cuddled into him. “We all make mistakes. I stayed with Rick too long. Does that mean that everything that happened to me was my fault?”

  Tack shook his head. “Hell, no.”

  “Then maybe you should start giving yourself a little bit of a break.”

  Tack knew logically what she said made sense, but it just didn’t jibe with the feelings in his heart. It might never. He couldn’t lay down the guilt, not yet. He might carry it until he died. He blamed Derek; of course he did, because if he hadn’t been such a monster, then Adeeb and his family would be safe. But mostly, he blamed himself because he always knew what kind of man Derek was. An ambitious sociopath.

  He marveled about how open Cate’s heart was, how forgiving. With her, he felt like a better man, his best self. He wondered if he might find some measure of peace with her. Maybe if Cate loved him, he could. She looked so damn beautiful in that sundress, showing off her tanned shoulders and thin frame. Even now, he wanted to whip it off her, just as he had that morning when he’d seen her in it for the first time.

  He glanced down and saw the small scar on her chin and felt anger rise in him again as he flicked his thumb across the thin line. He never wanted anyone to hurt her again.

  “I’m never going to let anyone touch you,” Tack growled. “You know that?”

  “Good,” she said.

  Anger boiled up in him. Anger at Rick Allen.

  “I want to kill him,” Tack said.