by Becky McGraw
Would she have a house right now at twenty-nine if her grandma hadn’t died and left it to her? Probably not, because it really wasn’t financially feasible because she was never there. She suspected that might be why Keegan didn’t have a permanent home.
“No problem at all,” she replied with a smile, bringing her finger up to push up the corner of his mouth. “Your trailer is kind of cozy. Like a tiny house, only the tin can version,” she giggled, and he finally smiled.
“Unk—give me a few and we’ll be inside,” Keegan said, his eyes fixing on her mouth.
“Take your time, Son—I’m just glad…” His uncle cleared his throat. “Glad to see you home.” The door slammed and the trailer floor shook under her back.
“If you think this is cozy, you should see the shower,” Keegan said, pushing up to smile down at her, his handsome face looking more relaxed than she’d ever seen it. “I have first dibs, so you’ll have to wait on the hot water to recharge.”
“Very chivalrous of you, Boris,” she replied sitting up, her insides feeling light. “Haven’t you heard the ladies first rule?”
“Haven’t you heard chivalry is dead, babe?” He grinned and the dimple that popped out in his left cheek made her want to lick it. “Equal rights being what they are these days, the hot water is mine.”
She laughed as he grabbed his t-shirt and jeans and took a step to open a door in the corner. How in the heck a man as big as he was could squeeze into that small space she didn’t know, but the water started running and he banged his way through showering.
The hair on the back of her neck raised and a shiver raced down her spine which had nothing to do with the endorphins swimming in her body. This little unexpected stress-relieving diversion was over.
That feeling of doom was back, and they had work to do. They needed to figure out what that shipment in Baltimore was about fast, before that warning sign turned into a reality.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Keegan hung up the phone and sighed. According to the Commander, Abdel Nour had still not been captured, so it could have been the Imam at the Lily Pad. There wasn’t any intel that he was even in the United States, however, so it could’ve been anyone in the bar.
Since Jules was unable to identify him by the photo he showed her, as a last ditch effort, he asked Greg Lambert to try and track down a photo of him without the beard and head garb.
Even though last night was supposed to be his last at the bar, he was going back tonight to try to find out what Frank or Rusty knew about the two men. A credit card receipt might yield their last names, at least.
But Jules would not be going with him. Those men tried to kill her last night because of what she’d overheard and would try again if they saw her. That told him there was probably merit to her suspicions. Because he helped her escape last night, they might try to knock him off too, but Keegan wasn’t afraid. If they showed up there again tonight, they would need to be afraid of him because he had a few lessons to teach them about manhandling a woman.
With a sigh, he walked to the trailer to get his laptop instead of going back into the shop. The only solid piece of information they had was the name of that ship, so he needed to research it before they went off half-cocked to Baltimore Harbor.
Uncle Bob could entertain Jules for a few more minutes, since they hit it off like long lost buds at breakfast. Who knew she was really into motorcycles and could talk the talk with Bob? His uncle was certainly impressed with that fact, and with her. He let Keegan know that with several raised eyebrow looks and winks.
He’d just sat down and booted up the laptop when the trailer door opened and Jules came inside smiling. “Your uncle is a riot,” she said, sliding into the seat across from him.
“I think he thinks the same about you. Either that, or he’s developed some sudden facial tics,” Keegan replied with a wink. “I have a feeling if he wasn’t married to Aunt Louise, he might ask you to marry him.”
“I’d accept,” she said quickly, and Keegan looked up to see her grinning.
The sight of that grin did something delicious to his insides. Seeing her happy did too, because now that he knew about her background, he realized she hadn’t had a lot of occasions to smile in her life.
“Oh, yeah?” he asked, wanting to keep the playful banter going, so that smile stayed in place. His eyes fell to her mouth and his blood heated as he remembered how good those plush lips felt around his cock.
Next time, she’d be sucking him before she put on the condom. A shiver rocked him, and he squirmed. Something powerful was happening between him and this woman and he needed to pace himself before he let himself be pulled into it.
“Yeah, Bob kind of reminds me of you in a lot of ways,” she replied, and her face flushed.
“You thought I was an asshole a few days ago,” he said with a laugh. “Now you think I’m a hero and awesome like my uncle?” Her opinion of him had certainly done a one-eighty.
Keegan was honored to be lumped into the same category as his uncle, though, because there wasn’t a man on earth, even his father, who he respected more than Bob MacDonald.
“I’m a woman, so I’m allowed to change my mind. And you’ve given me plenty of reason to revise my opinion.” Her smile widened, and so did the fire in his body. “You saved my bacon last night, you believed my gut feeling about this situation and, without any evidence, you’ve agreed to help me stop these terrorists. That is heroism in my book.”
“No, it’s not—those men tried to kill you last night for a reason,” Keegan replied, sobering as he was reminded of why she was here. “They were worried about you repeating what you overheard, which tells me there’s something to it. That’s why I agreed to help you. Well, that and the fact that my gut tells me Godzilla might be behind whatever they are planning to do.”
“Godzilla?” she repeated frowning, which made him want to lick the cute crinkles between her eyebrows away. He wanted to lick more than that, but they needed to focus right now.
“Abdel Nour—that’s our nickname for him on the teams,” Keegan replied.
She folded her hands on top of the table and pinned him with her eyes. “The mere fact you want to find someone on the military’s most wanted list, when you’re no longer in the military, tells me what kind of man you are—a hero who cares more about his country than himself.” He loved her stubbornness because it almost rivaled his own.
“I do care about my country first and foremost, but finding Abdel Nour isn’t about that for me.” Keegan was out of the teams now, but he would always be a SEAL, and as such, was not doing this for the glory. He was doing it because it was the right thing to do.
“Why do you want to find him, then?” she asked, lifting a brow as she sat up and folded her arms over her chest. “This mission doesn’t really involve you in that case, because you’re a civilian now.”
“Because SEALs don’t fail and, although I’m a former SEAL, I count not finding Abdel when we were looking for him a great failure, which will bother me forever. As long as he’s breathing, he’s a threat to my brothers who are still on the teams. If I can neutralize that risk to protect them, I will.” And if I can protect you in the process, all the better. Bringing down terrorists is not a one-woman operation.
Seizing the mile-wide opening to get a few of his burning questions about his new bi-lateral partner answered, Keegan closed his laptop and pushed it to the side.
“You’ve dropped a few hints and I need to know. Why are you so hot on this mission? You aren’t assigned to it, your boss basically shut you down when you told him what you found, yet here you are investigating something that isn’t your business either.”
Her eyes welled up again, and she blew out a breath. “Like you, if I can neutralize a possible threat to innocent people and don’t, I couldn’t live with myself. My parents were killed on 9-11. My dad was a firefighter and my mom worked in tower two. He was in the stairwell trying to get to her when it collapsed.”
> A tremor that might have registered 8.0 on the Richter scale shook him. His stomach lurched as he reached out to cover her trembling hand with his. Her grief and fear seeped inside of him through her eyes, through her skin.
“I’m so damned sorry, honey. That had to be horrific,” he said, past the knot of emotion choking him. He wanted to know it all. “Was your older brother a firefighter too?”
“No, John was my younger brother who turned to drugs at thirteen to numb the pain and when they stopped working, he killed himself right before his seventeenth birthday.”
Rage and grief left him in a roar as he slid out of the seat when the first tear tracked down her face. He pulled her up to her feet and hugged her to his chest, as he fought tears himself. Her body trembled and he squeezed her tighter. When her breath came out on a rush, and she reached up to wipe at her nose, he gripped her shoulders and pushed her back.
“After college, I joined the Navy and became a SEAL because I watched that unfold on TV when I was a kid. It left a lasting impression and those images haunted me. I wanted to kill those evil bastards to make sure that never happened again. Hearing your story makes me so damned glad that I did,” Keegan said, admitting something he’d never told anyone else.
He’d never said that out loud, because he imagined that could’ve been a mark on his psych evaluation, which may have kept him off the teams, and he was determined to get into BUDs. Her emotional baggage was so much more, and the feds knew it from her background check. That probably explained why they wouldn’t allow her on the counter-terrorism team.
That baggage could cause her to snap and do something crazy during an operation. Like going rogue to follow this lead alone, which was exactly what she had been planning to do if he hadn’t stepped in to help. That proved she wasn’t capable of rational thought or calm deliberation where a potential terror threat was concerned.
Her instability could also put them in danger on this mission if any of her suppositions came to fruition and they came face to face with Abdel.
Keegan swallowed hard. “Are you sure you want to chase this, baby? I have connections and could call it in to Homeland Security and they could investigate it.”
That was the smart thing to do here, and he hoped she agreed. If she didn’t, he was not letting her go off alone.
Greg Lambert had certainly perked up when Keegan asked about Abdel Nour and told him about what Jules overheard, but he couldn’t authorize him to investigate it, since that was not part of his mission and he had no evidence to support it. If he got evidence, though, Greg wanted to know about it immediately.
“Yes, I want to chase this, because this is an immediate threat. The feds could take months to follow up and we don’t have months,” she replied firmly.
“Okay then, let’s get to work, Natasha.”
Keegan sat back down and pulled his laptop to him. If she was determined to do this, he was determined to make sure she didn’t get herself killed.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“It’s a cruise ship? Are you sure?” Jules asked, getting up to lean over his shoulder to look at the screen. Leaning in, she quickly saw he was on the website for Radiant Seas Cruises, an exclusive boutique cruise line. “Do they have any cruises pulling out on Friday?”
“Yes, only one. It’s seven days.” He clicked open the link to see the full description of the cruise. “It stops in Bermuda, Tortola, and the Dominican Republic.”
Inside and balcony cabins showed as sold out, but there were suites available. She couldn’t imagine how much that would cost. She quickly found out when he shocked her by clicking on the"Book Now” button. Her breath froze in her chest as she covered his hand with hers.
“No, we can’t do that!” Her heart stopped when she saw the opulent suite, which explained the opulent price tag.
“You only live once, right?” he said with a laugh as he moved through the booking process to choose the Captain’s suite. “Don’t worry about it. I just made a healthy chunk of change by plugging that leak for the government.”
“But you just can’t,” she said, covering her mouth with her hand.
“You do have a passport, right?” he asked, ignoring her.
“Yes, but it’s at my house in Franklin,” she replied. And other than one trip to Nassau eight years ago when she wanted to try out her new scuba certification, it had never been used.
“We’ll go by there before we go to the port on Friday. You’ll need to pack anyway.”
Jules’ head was spinning from the speed he was making these decisions. Cruises took time to plan, but not for him evidently.
She didn’t know if she had that much time banked at work to take off a week, no, ten days, with the wait time. And the agency usually required thirty-day notice for leave, unless she had an emergency. If her suspicions were true, this situation definitely qualified.
But was she making the right decision doing this? Was she confident enough in her gut feeling to bet ten thousand dollars of his money on it?
“I can’t let you spend that kind of money on this operation, Keegan, it’s too much. What I overheard could be related to a party next week and not a terror event. Hell, they could be picking up a hundred cases of caviar, for all I know.”
He turned a disbelieving stare on her. “Don’t be flip-flopping on me now, Natasha. You were confident enough before now to chase this lead. What’s changed? Are you doubting yourself now? Because self-doubt is not a good trait for an agent to have.”
“No, I’m not doubting what I heard or suspect,” she replied, her shoulders slumping. “I’m doubting you spending that kind of money for us to go on this ship without knowing who or what we’re looking for. Maybe we could just be here when the ship comes back to port? That might be more prudent.”
“Too late. We’re going and you need to have confidence in my abilities, even if you don’t have any in your own. Just stop worrying and get ready for some fun in the sun and waves.”
“Waves?” she asked, perking up as a rush of excitement pushed through her. She hadn’t surfed since before she went through Quantico. Her beach bum, surfer boyfriend at the time taught her how and she quickly got hooked.
“Yeah, Tortola has some of the best surf spots around and I’m an addict. I’ve been eyeing those locations for years to keep my sanity while I was deployed. I’m making this a working vacation, and that will be my reward.” He finished the reservation by entering a credit card number, and Jules was pretty doggone impressed he had it memorized.
“I haven’t hit the waves in forever,” she said, and he turned his eyes to her again.
“You surf?” he asked, looking dumbfounded, but pleased.
“Not in a long time, but I love it,” she replied and his grin lit up her insides like a flash bang. That smile did things to her. This man did more. Keegan MacDonald was every man she’d ever dated, minus the things that made those men a mistake, with a lot more muscle.
“Then I’ll book the shore excursion for two instead of one once we get on board. Here, sit down and fill out your information, so I can finalize this.”
He stood and she squeezed around him to sit at the computer. Once she filled out all of her information, she moved the cursor to the"Submit” button and looked up at him. “Are you sure about this?” she asked once more.
“I’m sure,” he replied, and that grin reappeared. “More sure than of anything I’ve done recently. We both deserve this and if we catch a bad guy in the process, even better.”
Jules looked back at the screen and her hand shook as she hit submit and the wheel that would take her on a Caribbean adventure started spinning. She really did feel like Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle at that moment and Keegan was Boris on steroids.
“Thank you,” she said once the confirmation screen appeared.
“You’re very welcome,” Keegan replied. “Now, I’ve got to get ready to go to the bar.”
Shocked, she spun in the seat to look up at him. “Why would yo
u go back there? Our investigation is over!”
“No, it’s just beginning. I need to see if I can get more information on Ari from Frank or Rusty. I at least want his last name, because that will help us figure who and what we’re dealing with on this mission.”
“No—those men saw you last night. If they see you, they’ll kill you!” Jules shouted, as she pushed up to her feet.
“Plenty have tried, sweet cheeks, and I’m still standing here. No worries, I’ll be fine.” Keegan put his fingers under her chin and tipped it up. “I won’t let them kill me, because I’m going surfing with you…and other things,” he murmured, before fitting his mouth to hers for a hot, lingering kiss that curled her toes.
“Then I’m going with you to watch your six,” Jules said when he pulled away, her heart pounding and her stomach sick at the thought of him going back into that viper pit alone.
“Nope, you are going to stay here with Uncle Bob, because they will kill you if you go back in that bar and they’re there. Watching your six will distract me.”
Jules smiled tightly, but her mind whirled. If Keegan MacDonald thought she was going to sit here worrying about him, he had another think coming. They were partners and she was going to make sure he didn’t walk into a trap.
She waited until he dressed and left, then went to the shop to talk to Bob. She was sure his ex-military, motorcycle-maniac uncle would have the same problem she did with Keegan going off into danger alone. Bob would help her, and tonight, they would ride—whether Mr. I’m-too-sexy-for-a-bullet SEAL Boy liked it or not.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“You ready to roll, Uncle Bob?” Jules asked, as she rushed into the shop through the back door, her body buzzing with adrenaline.
She stopped beside his bike and pulled the black and hot pink skull cap out of her back pocket to tie it on, while he attached a leather sheath of some kind to the side of the bike. He looked up at her and smiled Keegan’s smile, dimple and all. His gray crew-cut hair and neat gray chin-strap beard were the only things that separated him from what his nephew would look like in twenty years.
