by Rachel Grant
Luke nodded, having undergone a similar childhood phase that turned out not to be a phase at all. “If I didn’t get into NOAA, I’d have tried for Coast Guard.”
“With your background, you’d have been a shoo-in. I’d love to have you out there on patrols. But dealing with drunk tourists who shouldn’t be at the helm of a boat is a far cry from fighting terrorists.” Parker leaned back in his chair. “So, you know the guy who shot bin Laden?”
Luke picked up Undine at four, as dusk was just beginning to settle over the bay. Clouds were thickening as well. A rainstorm was rolling in. Back at the cabin, he made dinner, a vegetarian quinoa dish he was pretty certain she wouldn’t like, but he needed his amino acids, and his hip needed the anti-inflammatory properties. He’d make it up to her by giving her butter to go with it.
After dinner, he stood and stretched. His hip was stiffening. He’d overdone it in his workouts these last two days, pushing endurance instead of focusing on lifting. But exercising with the local teens had been fun and a good outlet. Today he’d had six boys and two girls in his improvised class, one of the newcomers had mentioned that Annie was his aunt. Another named her as cousin.
They were frightened, young, full of aggression, and needed an outlet. The regular trainer at the gym had pulled Luke aside and thanked him for working with them, as Luke broke up the routine at a time when it was sorely needed. They respected Luke. Admired him. Stories of his exploits as a war hero had already begun to circulate. He shook his head at that. Jokes with Undine aside, he was a quiet professional and would never claim hero status for doing his job.
But far better that these boys and girls show up at the gym rather than turn inward, and for them he’d pretend to be a badass SEAL who’d single-handedly liberated an entire village from the Taliban, if that was what they needed to see. The reservation was dry, but poverty was readily visible and there were enough handwritten signs warning of the dangers of drugs posted throughout the neighborhoods to know they were fighting an ongoing battle with drug and alcohol addiction out here at the remote northwest edge of the country.
So Luke had overworked his hip to impress a group of teens with his badass SEALness. At thirty-four he might not be old yet, but he clearly wasn’t seventeen anymore. “You ever do yoga?” he asked Undine.
“Exercise that sometimes includes taking a nap? Yes.”
He laughed. “You’ve gone to sleep while doing yoga?”
“I went to a few classes with this one instructor who always had a warm-down meditation that put me to sleep. He was my favorite instructor, but my Fitbit wasn’t impressed with him.”
“I need to stretch my hip. Join me?”
“Quinoa and yoga? You do know how to woo a woman.” She winked at him.
He forgot all about his hip five minutes into the workout when Undine assumed the Downward Dog pose. Her ass in the air pretty much wiped all thought from his brain.
Ahh, the healing powers of yoga.
Or libido.
Unfortunately, there was a knock on the door, interrupting his intention to interrupt her workout. Even worse, the visitor was Stefan.
Luke invited the man in and offered him a drink. Water with lemon. Luke had manners, but he wasn’t about to open a bottle of wine. Stefan accepted and sat on the couch. “I wanted to stop by last night but figured you weren’t ready to see me.”
Luke nodded and handed him the glass. He turned a kitchen chair to face the couch, while Undine took a seat on the end of the couch closest to the door.
“Thanks for the tip about locking down the finances. I had my tech guy change all the passwords, and my accountant has an assistant who will go through the transaction files.”
“It wasn’t my idea. Parker Reeves mentioned it. But I thought it had merit, given the lengths Trey was willing to go to secure his spot at the institute.”
Stefan sat forward and leaned his forearms on his knees. “There is something I want to tell you, if you’re willing to listen.”
Luke paused, doing a gut check for a surge of anger. None came. But then, he was being given a choice in this and appreciated the consideration. “Go ahead.”
“Twelve years ago, the night after I tossed you out of the institute, Undine had me convinced I needed to let the matter drop. She’d explained how she was the instigator, that she’d lied. And I believed her. I couldn’t hold you accountable when you were as much a victim. Honestly, if she’d actually been nineteen, I would have warned her of the dangers of dating a coworker and explained to her that things not going well in the relationship weren’t grounds for firing, so she’d have to tread carefully, and then I would have stepped back and tried not to get my hopes up that my favorite daughter was dating my favorite employee.”
Undine caught her breath. Her hand slipped across the space between herself and Stefan, and she took her dad’s hand in hers. All while Luke was finding it a bit difficult to breathe.
“But she wasn’t nineteen, and I couldn’t condone the relationship, no matter how fond I was of you, Luke. The firing would have remained—all of us working together would have been difficult, but odds were you’d have been rehired after she turned eighteen or went off to grad school. I’d planned to return your scholarship and to keep the drama private between us. No blackballing.
“But then Trey visited me in my office. As you guessed, he was the one who originally told me of your relationship, so it was natural for me to tell him the decision I’d just made. He then told me that he’d warned you Undine was underage, and that you’d laughed it off. And I’m ashamed I believed him. And so the dominos fell.”
“With all due respect, sir, the dominos didn’t simply fall, you kicked them.”
Stefan nodded. “I did. I kicked them. I felt betrayed. And I needed to protect my daughter from a viper who would do that. And I didn’t see I’d let the good man get away and held the true viper close. I’m sorry, son. For everything I did. For what my daughter did. When I think that you could have gone to jail…I just… I know sorry doesn’t cover it, but it’s all I have to offer.”
Luke took a deep breath. Days ago, he’d told Undine he didn’t want her apology, and when she’d offered it anyway, he’d rejected it.
He’d never imagined Stefan Gray would apologize. He cleared his throat. “Thank you, sir.”
“I know you’ve got a good position with NOAA, but, well, a job just opened up at the institute…”
Luke couldn’t help but smile as he shook his head. “No, thank you.” He shrugged. “I’m in the Commissioned Officer Corps. It’s uniformed service and not a job I can simply quit. Nor do I want to.”
Stefan nodded. “I understand. But I hope you’ll consider returning to the documentary.”
“Dad, no. You agreed not to pressure him.” Her tone was scolding but affectionate. Luke was glad the rift had begun to heal.
His gaze slid over Undine. Her thick mahogany hair had slipped in front of her eyes, and she batted it away, an action she did frequently. A tic, both familiar and endearing, which revealed her eyes. Right now her wide, brown-green eyes were damp, and her long lashes glistened with unshed tears. Taken separately, some might think her nose was a bit too long and her chin a bit too short, but the end result was utterly perfect. And damn if he wasn’t crazy about her.
He’d planned to offer up Parker to be her dive partner. The man could handle the deep, and with Stefan running the gas lines, she’d be fine. But no way could he hand her off to another dive partner any more than he could hand her off to any other kind of partner.
While they remained in Neah Bay, she was his, in water and on land. “Sweetheart, there’s no way I’m letting you go back to the deep without me.”
That night, they made love with the lights on. Luke watched her come as he brought her to orgasm with his mouth and again when he was inside her. He only closed his eyes as his own orgasm overtook him, holding her tight as he pulsed with release in her welcoming body.
Afterward, he la
y beside her, tracing circles on her back, as he knew she liked. The lights were still on, but she was half-asleep. He should turn them off and let her rest, but he couldn’t stop looking at her.
Finally he realized why he was so energized and couldn’t take his eyes off her. “I forgive you,” he blurted.
She rolled over to face him, her eyes no longer lazy with satisfaction and contentment. “You do?”
He ran a finger down the length of her nose. God, how he loved her imperfect nose. “I do. I forgive your father too.”
“How can you…?” There was wonder in her voice. “How can you even do that?”
“Because when you love someone, you don’t want to see them in pain. And holding on to the past hurts you. I can’t do that, not when it no longer matters.”
“Wait. You…love me?”
“Yep. I love you.”
Her lips widened in a broad smile. God, he loved her smile, the way it lit her brown-green eyes and revealed an ever-so-slightly crooked front tooth. Imperfectly perfect. Just like the rest of her. “Cool,” she said.
He laughed and pulled her against him, feeling lighter than he had since…forever. Who knew that forgiveness would be this freeing? This utterly good. Jesus, all the years he’d wasted with anger. He should have tracked her down when she was twenty.
He was energized. Fired up. He needed to move, to burn the energy, or he’d never sleep. “I love you so much, I’m not even going to insist on you going for a run with me.”
“You’re going for a run, now? It’s nearly midnight.”
“It’s only a few days since the full moon. It’s bright with the moon reflecting off the water. I’m feeling pumped right now. A run along the ocean is just what I need.”
“You’re crazy, you know that right?”
“Yep. Will you come with me?”
She hesitated. Then she shook her head. “I think your kind of crazy is infectious, because a run in the moonlight sounds kind of good to me too.”
He kissed her perfectly imperfect nose. “You won’t regret this, sweetheart.”
They stopped to rest when they reached the stream to the north that cut off the beach. He’d set too fast a pace, and she needed to catch her breath. He gazed up at the one bare stretch of sky that had a smattering of stars. The November Leonid meteor shower had begun, but they wouldn’t see much of it with the cloud cover.
The sand at his feet was littered with sand dollars. He reached down and scooped one up. It was bleached white, long since dead. Ancient legend said sand dollars were coins lost by mermaids. He smiled and held it out to her. “Was this one yours?”
She laughed and accepted his offering. “No. But I’m keeping it anyway. I still have the one you gave me the very first time we made love.”
He slipped his hand behind her neck and pulled her to him for a deep kiss. “I’m glad.”
He didn’t know if he and Undine had a foundation to build on for the future, or if loving her merely shut the door on the painful past. He wasn’t ready to face the question of whether they’d try to make this work beyond Neah Bay, and didn’t think she was either.
She lived in DC. He lived in Port Angeles. She had friends in DC who’d taken on the role of family. He couldn’t quit his job, and he didn’t believe she wanted to quit hers. “Your dad told me you left marine biology because he forced me out.”
She nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It was my punishment, and it was only fair, but it didn’t change things for you. It didn’t feel right to tell you, as if it was some noble gesture, because that wasn’t what it was about.” She sighed. “And the truth is, I almost went back on it, after grad school. I moved back into the institute while I was looking for a job. It’s when I dated Trey.” She shivered, and he draped an arm around her. “The fact that I almost caved proved it was always a choice for me, while it was never a choice for you. So it wasn’t equal. When I was offered an internship with NHHC, I jumped at the opportunity, both because it was a job I wanted and it meant I wouldn’t have to go back on my vow. The internship led to a permanent position with UAB, so I never had to face that choice again.”
“Now that I’m working in the field again, would you consider going back?”
“I don’t know. I never really thought about it. Maybe? But…I really love my job, and it’s damn hard to get a steady employment as a nautical archaeologist. It would be hard to walk away.”
He nodded. She was tied to DC as much as he was tied here. “We should head back. We need to sleep if we’re going to dive tomorrow.”
“Walk or run?” she asked.
He entwined his fingers through hers. The run had dispelled his energy. He was no longer amped. Just content. “Let’s walk. Unless you’re cold and in a hurry to get back?”
“No hurry.” Her fingers tightened around his, and she leaned her temple on his bicep. “This is nice.”
He released her hand and draped his arm around her shoulder. “This is perfect.”
They’d walked a half mile when he caught a whiff of smoke in the wind. The arc of the beach meant he couldn’t see the cabins or the RV park, but he could see an orange glow. “Awww, shit.”
Undine gasped. “Our cabin.”
He set off full-bore, with her by his side. She dropped back, and he slowed so she could stay with him. He couldn’t leave her alone. The glow grew brighter as they rounded the curve of the beach. At last, their cabin was in sight.
And fully engulfed in flames.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Theirs was the only cabin that burned. The porch of the empty cabin to the right also caught fire, but the volunteer firefighters managed to contain it before more than the side stairs were destroyed. It was eight the following morning when Undine and Luke collapsed onto the bed of one of the smaller cabins that faced the beach.
The manager expressed concern the arsonist would strike again even as he gave Luke the key. “We’ll just be here for one more night. Then I’m taking her to Port Angeles.”
The man nodded.
Luke’s biggest concern now was the question of whether or not the arsonist had known they were outside the cabin, or if this had been yet another attempt at murder.
Was it pure luck they were still alive?
The one consistency in the timing of the fire was that the excavation of Wrasse and the Soviet sub had once again been delayed. But of course, if Undine had died, the excavation would be put off indefinitely. No way would Stefan Gray stick around with his fancy dive equipment and run an excavation when his daughter had just perished, and the Navy would have to scramble to get a dive team up here to investigate.
The thought had Luke pulling her tight to his side. He’d already spoken with the Coast Guard, the FBI, and Curt Dominick, and they all agreed the target was most likely the excavation. Someone wanted to keep him and Undine out of the water. Which was why he would dive this afternoon, after he’d slept for a few hours. He’d been trained to work ops short on sleep, but Undine hadn’t, so Stefan, who hadn’t been told of the fire until an hour ago and therefore had a full night’s sleep, would be Luke’s dive partner.
Stefan’s crew was qualified to manage the mixed-gas hoses, but for added security, Parker would be aboard Nereid.
Thank goodness Luke’s dive gear had been on Nereid, not in the Hobuck cabin.
Soon they’d have answers. His only wish was that he had backup from his old SEAL team. This had become an op, and he could no longer think of it as a favor for the Navy or an old acquaintance.
Likewise, the bubble with Undine had been broken. The only reason he shared her cabin now was to protect her. No more distractions. No sex. No talk of love or the future. All that had fogged his mind and allowed him to turn soft and sloppy.
He was an operator again. A man fighting for his country and, in this instance, fighting for his woman. He wouldn’t let the Navy, the FBI, the Coast Guard, or the attorney general down. But most of all, he
wouldn’t let Undine down.
He would sleep for four hours, then wake up and begin his mission. He closed his eyes, and, like the trained operator he was, he immediately fell asleep.
Undine didn’t like being on deck while Luke and her dad were at the bottom together. They hadn’t been able to get the direct communication link that worked with the mixed-gas hoses to work, so they wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone on the surface until they were back in radio range at the decompression stop.
The silence from below was unnerving.
Dad and Luke weren’t using scuba. The gas was fed down tubes that ran directly from the boat, as the pure oxygen had been for decompression on her other dives. Both the mixed gases and the means of transmission to the divers meant they could be on the bottom longer. Coldness was a factor, because mixed gases caused divers to lose body heat and the longer period at the coldest depths only made it worse, but Nereid had hoses that pumped warm water directly into their wetsuits, further extending the amount of time they would be at the bottom.
All this meant an extended decompression stop, which meant more waiting for Undine, as the two men she cared about most in the world were on the bottom of the sea.
This sucked.
They were both extremely capable and experienced divers, but given the sabotage that had occurred at every stage, bringing them to this situation, she was still afraid. All she could do was monitor the hoses and make sure no one did something stupid, like hooking the monoxide outlet to one of their gas hoses.
Time moved slowly as she checked the dials for the hoses yet again. All the numbers were within the target range.
“It’s good to have you back, Undine.”
She smiled at Annabelle, a woman who was just a few years younger than her dad and had worked for the Institute since Undine was seven. Annabelle had been a surrogate mother in her younger years, and Undine hadn’t realized how much she’d missed Annabelle until she arrived on Nereid. “It’s good to be back.”
