“Aside from the timing, that seems like a stretch, especially if she has a life there in Jacksonville.But it also seems like too much of a coincidence.They’re connected somehow.”
“Through your father and that offshore account.”
“I agree.We just have to figure out how.”
“Figure out what?”Cam said, strolling back into the tasting area.
“Who thoseUnknowncalls are originating from,” Nic replied, arm out for Cam to slide in next to him.“And how they’re connected.”
Cam sidled up next to him, fitting perfectly to his side.“A threat?”
“I hope not.We have enough of those already.”
Conversation paused with the vibrating of Mel’s phone on the bar top.
She picked it up, tapped the screen, and a sly smile tipped up the corners of her mouth.“Speaking of threats”—she dropped the phone in her pocket—“my husband wants me home.”
“He that stupid?”Cam asked.
Nic couldn’t agree more.Mel was the last person on earth he’d threaten.He liked his balls, thank you very much.
Mel’s sly smile morphed into a full-on smirk.“Oh, he’s not stupid at all.”
“Aidan rule!”Nic mock-protested, while Cam pretended to be Lauren, hands covering his ears.“Don’t want to know.”
She sashayed toward the exit, laughing, and once they heard the entry door click shut, the keypad’s red light glowing down the hallway, Nic nudged Cam around to his front and between his knees.
“You sure piped down from when you first came in here.”Cam looped both arms around his neck.“Thought you were going to tear the bar apart.”
“That’s about how I felt then.”He grasped Cam’s bare forearms—warm, muscled, and solid, the dark hairs prickling his fingertips.He never wanted to let go.“Closer now.”
“Closer?”Cam’s voice dropped an octave.
Nic felt that kind of closer too.They hadn’t had much time for foreplay lately.He missed it, wanted to draw this out a little longer.And to celebrate a small victory here at the end of a day full of ups and downs.“Closer to nailing Vaughn and Bowers.To ending this.”He tightened his hold.“This could work, Cam.I’ve been playing at confident, bluffing, but I believe it now.We’ve got leads on all fronts.I just need the evidence, then I can put charge sheets in front of the grand jury.I can taste the indictments.”
Cam inched closer, elbows dipping.“If I get you the evidence, and we end this, then what happens?”
Nic coasted his hands up, over the rolled cuffs of Cam’s sleeves, over his shoulders, to his neck, fingers teasing the ends of his hair.“We move on with the rest of our lives.”
Cam likewise wove his hands into Nic’s hair, playing along with a sexy smile.“And what life is that?”
Wanting to play, to keep drawing this out, Nic waited until he was an inch from Cam’s lips, the agent drawing him in, then slipped off the barstool and ducked under Cam’s arm.Grinning, arms spread, he was far too proud of his far too simple maneuver, but he felt lighter than he had in days.He was going to enjoy this while he could.
Cam laughed even as he cursed.“Fucking SEAL.”
Rushing back into his arms, Nic ate up Cam’s infectious laughter, swallowing it in a kiss and letting it fill his insides with warmth and love.Tasting victory.Maybe, just maybe, happily ever after was within reach despite it seeming so far away forty-eight hours ago.
Cam had unfastened half his shirt buttons by the time Nic came back to his senses, remembering the future he wanted to show his boyfriend.He slipped his hold again, drawing a frustrated growl from Cam.“Worth it, I promise.”He grabbed Cam’s hand and tugged him toward the distillery.“Come with me.”
They wove through the first room of big silver tanks and into the second cooler one, to the back where he and Eddie had made extra room between the stout tanks.
“You making wine now?”Untangling their hands, Cam circled the four-stack of barrels that were racked in the middle of the aisle over the drainage grate that ran the length of the distillery.He crouched on the far side, running a hand over a barrel head.“Or better yet, whiskey?”He glanced up at Nic.“These are whiskey barrels from Ireland.”
“Nah, someone else has that whiskey covered.”He winked, and Cam groaned, tapping his head against the steel hoop on the end.
“You just had to go there, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did.”He pointed at the metal workbench and wall-mounted shelves behind Cam.“Hand me the thief?”
