Whirlpool (Cutter Cay Book 6)

by Cherry Adair

The tip of her nose turned pink. “Some people don’t think so.”

  “Who?” Finn asked, following her to the enormous swivel front door, set into the only wall in the place. The heavy metal door swung open with a touch of her finger. “Dr. Núñez?”

  "Theo?" She huffed out a laugh as they walked outside into the sunshine. “He never knew me.” She locked the door with her palm print on a nearby biometric pad. “I doubt he had an opinion either way.”

  Good to know.

  The flight back was mercifully short, Finn held her hand from the helipad to the salon downstairs. They were all there waiting- an entire freaking room filled to the brim with Cutters. Taciturn Logan, boisterous Zane and his mechanic wife, Jonah looking distracted as he talked on the phone, and Nick and his Princess Bria, smiling, welcoming. The last two made Peri more nervous than Logan's non-verbal dislike. Of what she wasn't sure, but she steered a wide berth.

  Finn handed the backpack to Nick, without releasing her hand. He made no bones about their relationship. Which both pleased and terrified her.

  Urging her ahead of him, Finn drew her down beside him on the loveseat. The heat radiating from his body enveloped her as his arm brushed hers. Peri inhaled the sea-air/citrus smell of his skin and almost whimpered as it intensified the constant ache of awareness that electrified the fine hairs on her arms.

  His eyes promised things that made her heart race even faster, and it was damn hard to catch her breath. What weird alchemy did they have that drew them together like two magnets? What was it about Finn that caused this reaction in her? Every. Single. Time. He was like fire, blazing hot, searing everything to ash that couldn’t withstand the heat. She liked his brand of heat. Liked it a lot.

  Liked it enough to love it.

  In comparison to how wrong things were in the world she’d created, when they had sex everything felt so right. She didn’t see how those two worlds could ever be reconciled.

  Love would never be enough for the long term. That realization caused a fierce ache to fill her heart.

  Does he know my connection to the Cutters?

  He seems to know everything.

  He can't.

  "Behave." She gave him a little poke with her elbow. "I'm already on a razor's edge. Want me to come right here in front of your friends?"

  "No, that's for my eyes only," Finn answered, not in the least repentant as she removed her hand and leaned forward away from him. Yeah, it was fine if she controlled the pace, the intensity, the seduction. To give him the power over her emotions was too freaking scary. Hah. Imagine that. She'd found the one thing that scared the shit out of her.

  “You made good time,” Nick smiled as he placed her tablet on the easel beside Finn's. Trying to convince herself that Nick Cutter was on her side in any of this was dangerous. No matter that she reluctantly liked them. These were the Cutters. Undeniably sneaky, underhanded, unprincipled. Always out for their own gain.

  “Look at that. Same size, same shape.” Nick said. “Thanks for sharing this with us, Ariel.”

  Damn it, Nick was so freaking. . .nice. And Finn was determined to embarrass her. He could try, but she was a hard woman to embarrass. “No matter who discovered the tablets, they’re a remarkable find, and worth sharing. I’m grateful Finn was able to get me there and back so quickly.” Wow, she was impressed by the even, casualness of her own voice.

  “Was yours found beside what could’ve been a chest?” Zane looked over at her. Damn those Cutter-blue eyes were penetrating. Unnervingly so. “Bronze lock? Fist-sized emeralds?”

  The thought occurred to her that maybe they knew exactly who she was and what she'd done. That they were toying with her like giant, devil-eyed cats, waiting to slam a heavy paw on her back and devour her in one gulp. Bring it on. You have no idea what kind of trump cards I'm holding behind my back. "Yes," she answered Zane. "The same circumstances as Finn’s. I recorded everything, and of course, took pictures of the location before I brought it to the surface.”

  “Excellent." Zane hunkered down beside the enormous stone slab of the coffee table to get a better look. “Holy shit, look at them together. This is really something special.”

  Finn's hand brushed Peri’s shoulder as he rested his arm along the seat cushion behind her head and played with her hair.

  Theo whispered something, presumably to himself, in rapid Spanish so low Peri couldn’t hear the words. Then said more loudly, “They are the same author, no doubt. But not identical as you see. A similar size and shape, comparable script and number of lines. But not identical.”

  Peri's heart skipped several beats. Was this an optimal time to tell them what she needed to tell them? They were all upbeat about the tablets. Distracted. . .

  This confession would be much harder now with Finn in the mix. Once she told the Cutters who she was, and what she’d been doing all these years, she’d never see him again. They were his friends, they were the ones who had his loyalty.

  It was a given that he wouldn’t like what she'd done if he discovered even a small part of the truth. The thought hurt her heart. A physical pain.

  But what if she didn't tell them?

  Clearly, they still didn't recognize her. If they didn't recognize her as the thieving Sea Witch by now, there was no reason they ever would.

  Or, when she least expected it, when she was defenseless, and even more deeply attached to Finn, would they pounce? That would be worse than this, surely? When she was lulled into a false sense of security and happiness?

  "What's going on in this beautiful brain of yours?" Finn asked softly, stroking his thumb across the rapid pulse at her temple.

  Peri turned her head. His face was inches from hers, a furrow of concern between his quick-silver eyes.

  Euphoric happiness flooded every cell in her body, the joy bordering on pain.

  Dear God. She was in love with him.

  Back away.

  No way was she in love with him.

  She was in lust with him.

  Yes. Of course. That was it. What red-blooded woman wouldn't be in lust with him?

  Big difference between love and lust. She'd recover from lack of lust. The absence of lust wouldn't rip out her heart when he walked away as he inevitably would.

  She'd never had a relationship that lasted longer than five months. She always made sure it didn't get emotional. And damn it, she was always the one who walked away first.

  Stop. She dared not go there now. Not when her cover was about to be blown to shit. The first tender bloom unfurling in her heart was soon going to be stomped into oblivion. Unless she kept her mouth shut. .

  Just a little longer, her aching heart begged. Just a little longer to feel like this. To hoard the memories to indulge in - afterwards.

  She blinked back the foolish sting behind her lids.

  Get over yourself. This isn't a freaking surprise. You knew- have always known that this would end. Sooner than later.

  Not telling them really wasn't a viable option. Because come hell or high water, that other shoe would drop. They'd been in too close a proximity, for too many years, for that not to happen. Something or other would trigger a memory. No ands, ifs or buts. Back to Plan A.

  But just a little longer. . .

  "I was thinking about seeing all three tablets together, and what that means historically."

  "We don't have long to wait," Finn told her, the slight frown between his brow smoothing. "The chopper is heading in. The curator will be here any minute now. "

  "I always wanted to open my Christmas presents the moment they were placed under the tree. Waiting isn't my long suit."

  His voice became low and smoky, "I've known you to be just fine with anticipation."

  He touched her as if he couldn’t keep his hands off her. Peri wasn’t sure he realized how intimate it must look to the others seeing his hand resting on the back of her neck, absently winding a loose strand of her hair around his finger. "Everything with you is foreplay," she murmured softly
, holding his gaze as if they were alone in the room. "I anticipate what's next with you, with every beat of my heart."

  Don't tell them, her heart cried. Leave things as they are.

  "Macushla, if you keep looking at me like that, I'm going to swoop you up, and carry you out of here like a Neanderthal," Finn whispered. "I don't give a damn what anyone thinks."

  "And miss the arrival of Bria's tablet?"

  "And miss anything and everything that keeps us fully clothed and upright."

  "Anticipation," she teased, loving the flare of his pupils, and the feel of his breath on her lips.

  He closed his eyes as if in pain. "Killing me."

  "Me, too." She'd live in the now. And worry about the sense of dread growing inside her -later. "Want to see some pictures?" A change of subject should cool them off some. Lifting her butt off the cushion, she pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her shorts and entered in her password, then handed it to him.

  "Naked selfies?" he asked hopefully.

  "’Fraid not."

  With a sigh, he took the phone from her and started to thumb through the images. “These are all your finds?” he asked as the sound of the rotors overhead suddenly became noticeable.

  “So far. Those are of some of the more interesting pieces.” Not many, because she’d been too occupied to dive her own site since they’d all shown up. "But it would be a good idea to compare the locations of the finds, don't you think?"

  “Yeah. I do.” He connected to his Bluetooth earpiece. “Walker, send these images to print. Yeah. Now please.”

  Before handing her back the phone he forwarded the images to his own phone.

  Nick got up to pour his wife a cup of tea. Logan rose and strolled over to the window, tilting the blinds for a better view, letting in a flood of hot sunlight. It struck the tablets on the coffee table and made the gold glow.

  “It’s going to be awesome seeing all of them side-by-side.” Teal, legs curled under her, leaned against Zane. “I can’t wait to see if they’re the same, or different.”

  “It would be presumed the tablets will show the exact same text,” Theo told them with authority. “Surely that’s why they have been found on different ships? To ensure at least one reached its destination? This would make sense since it was a long trip to Spain, and the waters along the coast of Patagonia can be treacherous. It would be a natural assumption that one or more of the ships would not make it back.”

  “Napolitano was Italian, not Spanish like the other three ships,” Finn pointed out. “That raises more questions, doesn't it?”

  Peri could tell it was a rhetorical question. But a question Finn would figure out like a dog with a bone. His hand tunneled under her hair, then his fingers closed on her nape. "You're very sensitive right here," he whispered wickedly, stroked his thumb up her nape, into her hairline, and then down again. "One of my favorite places to kiss you."

  Peri elbowed him in the side. With a smile, he straightened, but kept his hand - now still - on the back of her neck.

  “I will patiently drink another cup of this excellent tea.” Bria took the fresh cup from her husband, her eyes smiling at him over the rim. “And wait to see what Signore Vadini, in his expert opinion, has to say.”

  Finn's warm breath fanned the hair at her temple, causing goosebumps to prickle her skin. He stroked his thumb gently behind Peri's left ear.

  His unveiled affection made her skin grow hot with desire, while her breath caught with anxiety over the mountain of worries she’d created for herself. Not the least of which was his obvious decision to make their relationship, for want of a better word, public. Very public. Anyone looking at the two of them, his fingers on her nape, pushing her hair aside, certainly knew there was something between them.

  He was in business with the Cutters, it wouldn't be fair to ask him to choose.

  Scared he'll choose his friends over you?

  Yes.

  The heavy tread of booted feet moving down the corridor toward the salon had everyone turning to the doorway in anticipation.

  Damn it. Falling in love with Finn was not in her freaking plans. In fact, it was the anti-plan.

  “There’s your curator.”

  “This is good news.” Bria placed her cup on a nearby side table.

  “Sorry about your floors.” Nick got to his feet, holding out his hand to his wife. Bria rose gracefully to join him. They all stood as three men entered. The cause of the heavy treads on Finn's highly polished teak floor. They did nothing to hide the full arsenal of weapons strapped about their persons. It wasn’t so much that the men were large and intimidating, pretty much every man in the room was of a similar height, and disposition, it was that they all looked. . .menacing. Not in a barroom brawl kinda way, but in an I-will-kill-you-with-my-bare-hands-if-you-make-a-wrong-move kinda way.

  They stepped aside to reveal a slight, balding man with black, horn-rimmed glasses.

  Given his deeply wrinkled skin, sunken dark eyes, and thin gray combover, Peri guesstimated the linguist/curator was a hundred and thirty years old. His shirt, even after the long flight, was neatly pressed, and blinding white. He wore it with a lizard green tie, a worn-shiny, three-piece brown suit circa 1950, and polished black dress shoes. His gaze went directly to the gold tablets propped up in pride of place on the coffee table.

  Hands outstretched, Bria glided over to greet her curator, who’d managed to rip his gaze from the tablets to make nice with his benefactress. “Signore Vadini-" the two spoke in rapid, animated, Italian, accompanied by the requisite flourishing hand gestures. Bria asked if he needed to rest after his long trip. He said no, he wanted to study the tablets first.

  Peri lost count of how many times the poor man gazed longingly at the tablets instead of Bria. Clearly, he was dying to get his hands on them.

  Finn shifted. His bare arm brushed hers. Would it always be like this with Finn?

  The sensation made her heart pound and her blood sing through her veins as if she’d just gulped down a giant glass of brandy.

  When she moved, his fingers on her nape gently tightened, and the steely strength of his forearm pressed against her spine, from waist to shoulder blade.

  Finn was a toucher, and Peri wasn't used to being touched, and certainly not so casually. And in public, no less. She'd become accustomed to being alone, doing without the physical contact most people took for granted.

  There were several decisive moves she could make to put some space between them, but, damn it, she liked his hand on her. She liked the weight of his arm draped around her. To her, his possessiveness symbolized her control over him - a man whose reach extended beyond the solar system.

  “You know you can only touch me like this in public because I allow it, don’t you?” She knew her whispered words would be like a red, hot seduction to Finn.

  He gave her a lazy smile, as he wrapped an arm about her waist and pulled her in more tightly. “Game on, Persephone. I see challenges where most people see problems. Looking forward to further discussion. In private.”

  Anticipation. She shivered with longing.

  The princess clapped her hands. “Everyone,” Bria said with an engaging smile. “This is my dear Ale Vadini. Signore Vadini not only secures the safety of our el tavoletta d'oro Merrezo and our other treasures as well, he is an expert linguist, and has managed to translate many of the words on our tablet.”

  “Madre di Dio. A t-third tablet has been discovered?” the curator’s voice broke, as he addressed Bria in Italian. It was several moments before he was capable of speech again. His eyes glistened as he looked around at everyone gathered in the room. “This is truly-" his voice shook. “Profound. It is profound. And Divine providence to have three such tablets converge here where they began their arduous journey.”

  Theo, standing closest to the tablets, perked up, face flushed with excitement. Voice breathless, he demanded, “You are capable of reading the ancient text on Tableta d oro, señor?”

&nb
sp; “Sí. Yes. Some. I, and many scholars, have had many decades to work on this project. May I sit?”

  Nick went to talk in low tones to the men who’d brought the curator, then returned with a straight-backed chair for Dr. Vadini, which he placed next to the coffee table holding the tablet.

  After several minutes, during which the curator was seated, served coffee, and given a slice of torta galesa cake, everyone returned to their respective seats. Without taking his eyes off the tablets, he said, “I will preface everything I say today with some caution. Yes, I have managed over a lifetime of work and study, to read a handful of the words on the tablet of Merrezo.” Signore Vadini removed a pair of white cotton gloves from his breast pocket and drew them on like a surgeon before performing a heart transplant.

  “May I?” He reached for Peri's tablet closest to him.

  “Allow me.” Zane stood, grabbed a throw pillow, then lifted the heavy tablet from the stand and set both on the old man’s lap.

  Eyes closed as if in prayer, the curator breathed in deeply, then looked down. With great reverence, his fingers hovered millimeters above the raised text. “It is the same author, and as hoped, the text is different.” He pointed at Finn's tablet. "I wish to see all three together."

  "Bring a small table," Bria ordered Jonah, who stood nearby. He went to find a small side table, and returned with it, placing it directly in front of the curator.

  Peri leaned forward. She didn’t want to miss a thing.

  TWELVE

  Both tablets were laid, side by side for the Curator to inspect. Which he did while the clock ticked off the minutes.

  “Different?” Theo inserted after five minutes of absolute silence, leaning forward. “How so?”

  “The tablets are not a single, identical, repeated message, signore. Rather, each tablet tells us something new.” When he looked up his eyes gleamed with tears. “After all these years. I never thought...” He shook his head.

  The old man glanced at one of the men in black, and the guy came forward to place a small metal case on the table. “Open her please.”