“Me?” he said with a rock of his hips. “Rescue the Navy SEAL?”
Nic framed his face, thumbs brushing his cheeks and soaking in the dark gaze swirling with more love than he’d ever hoped to have again. “I need you to keep holding on to that rope, Cam, even when I try to cut through it with a KA-BAR.”
Cam laid his hands over his and locked his legs around his thighs, caging him in. “I’ll hold on, baby, with everything I got.”
A buzzing sound roused Nic from sleep. Turning his head and seeing his phone lit up on the bedside table, he threw out an arm, silencing it before it could also wake Cam. The big body half on top of his shifted, but the snores maintained their steady rhythm. They’d only been out a couple hours; enough for Nic but Cam could use an hour more. Seeing no messages on Cam’s phone, he slipped carefully out of Cam’s arms and out of the bed, smiling as he pulled the sheet up over Cam.
His phone buzzed again in his hand, and he shot a text back to Mel that he’d call her in five. It was early there, but she ran according to her own clock most of the time. Not wanting to put his suit back on, he snagged a pair of Cam’s jeans, just a couple inches short, and—God help him—a BoSox tee, covered it up with Cam’s BC hoodie, shoved his feet in Cam’s boots, and pocketed a room key on the way out the door. First, he looked up the nearest Dunkin’—Cam seemed to think he needed to eat them as often as possible here, like they hadn’t just opened one up by the airport back home—then once he’d placed a mobile order and started the right direction, he dialed Mel back.
“Price,” she answered, “how are things there?”
“We rescued the vic and confirmed this case is connected to Cam’s sister’s disappearance. But we haven’t found her and the suspect’s still at large.”
“Yet no loss of life. Count that a win.”
This was why he got along with Mel so well. They saw the world in much the same way. “That’s what I told Cam last night.”
“And his mother’s condition?”
“Improving, thankfully.” It’d been a punch to the gut to see the priest at the hospital last night, but the news this morning that she was improving was no doubt why Cam had finally wound down enough to sleep.
“Another win.”
Nic smirked, even though she couldn’t see it. “Since when are you the team optimist?”
“Blame my husband.” There was a smirk in her voice too.
He turned the corner and spotted the orange and pink sign up ahead.
Pleasantries were nice, but she’d called for a reason, and he wanted to get back to Cam sooner rather than later. “You called at five in the morning your time. What’ve you got?”
“A bit of a mixed bag here too.”
“Give me the win first.”
“Now who’s the optimist?” They shared a laugh before she went on and Nic got in line for the walk-up window behind a woman and child. “I just got off the phone with your contact in naval admin. The burner phone was bought at the local Walmart. We traced the purchase to a Nicolette Sare.”
He racked his brain but came up blank. “I have no idea who that is.”
“So far, I’ve just got a North Carolina driver’s license and a social security card. Twenty-seven-year-old unmarried female. I’m in the process of pulling everything on her.”
Nic ran a hand over his scruffy jaw. “That was the good news?”
“Vaughn’s upped the insurance on the mansion and the family office.”
“Fuck!” The woman in front of him spun, green eyes glaring, and Nic mouthed I’m sorry before he darted out of line and around the corner of the building. “I need to set up that meet with Vaughn.”
“Let’s not do anything rash.”
He ignored the warning and continued to pace and plan. “Somewhere neutral, but I don’t know how much longer we’ll be here.”
“I put extra security on both the house and office already,” she said, likewise ignoring him. “What else can I do until you get back?”
The green-eyed woman from the line flashed across his mind, followed by thoughts of the one back home who meant the world to him. “Mary.”
“Your father’s housekeeper?”
She was so much more than that to him, but he didn’t have time to explain. “I talked to her before I left. Told her it might be time to retire.”
