“I needed to let you guys know we’re about to have some company,” Bran said. “A deep-sea fishing boat was sailing by us on its way back to Miami. They hailed on the radio to say they’ve sprung an oil leak. They’re gonna tie up to us in a couple minutes and borrow a few quarts in the hopes it’ll be enough to get them where they’re going without having to call in a tow from the Coast Guard.”
“A fishing vessel?” Leo called, pulling off the condom, wadding it in toilet paper, and tossing it in the trash before reaching for the swim trunks and T-shirt he’d laid over the opposite end of the bathroom vanity when he changed into Maddy’s brother’s wet suit.
“Yeah, we must be close to a good fishing hole or channel or something,” Bran said. “I’ve seen three or four deep-sea fishing boats pass by our starboard side since we’ve been anchored. And get this, the name of the boat with the oil leak? It’sBreakingWind, for crying out loud. You gotta love those crusty, beer-loving fishing boat captains and their warped senses of humor.” He chuckled.
“I’ll be on deck in a sec,” Leo assured Bran.
“No need. We’ll handle it. I just figured I better let you guys know—”
“I’llbeon deck in a sec,” he said again.
“Yeah. Roger that.”
He heard Bran’s muffled steps move toward the door of the cabin as he stepped into his swim trunks. Olivia hopped down from the countertop. It caused her breasts to jiggle in the most amazing way. He groaned. “Stop bein’ so damn sexy, woman. You tryin’ to kill me, or what?”
“You’re one to talk,” she said with a saucy grin, leering at his package before he pulled his swim trunks over his hips. Then she stepped into the shower, bending to retrieve her soggy clothes. He not only got a peek at her pert bum shoved in the air, but the plump pink lips of her womanhood as well. The blood rushed from his head so quickly that he had to grab the counter to steady himself against the sudden onset of dizziness.
“You’re doin’ that on purpose,” he accused.
“Just taking advantage of an opportunity when it presented itself,” she said, parroting his earlier words back to him. Andthiswas why he loved her. Yes, she was beautiful. Yes, the sex was amazing. But it was her wit, her spark, her…intangiblesomethingthat made him grin, that made his heart warm, that made him want to listen to her tease him for hours before he grabbed her up and hugged her, kissed her, screwed her blind.
He was grinning like an idiot as he pulled on his T-shirt, watching Olivia wring the water from her clothes. “I could ask Maddy if there’s a clothes dryer on board,” he offered.
“I’ll finish wringing the water out, slip on the robe”—she pointed to the navy-blue terrycloth garment hanging on a hook on the back of the door. The precise way the belt was folded and tied told him the robe was freshly cleaned—“and then meet you upstairs and ask her myself.”
“I suspect everything with the approachin’ fishin’ boat is on the up and up. But the way this day has gone, I’m not takin’ anything for granted. So just in case thingsaren’ton the up and up, I was sort of hopin’ you’d be willin’ to hang down here for a bit,” he said, his grin widening because he already knew what her answer would be. The same as it was the last time. And right on cue…
“Not on your life,” she harrumphed.
He chuckled, shaking his head as he turned the knob and opened the door. The love inside him was so huge he thought it a wonder his skin was able to contain it without bursting open to spew forth heart-shaped confetti. “I reckoned as much.”
Chapter Nineteen
7:22 p.m.…
Olivia blew out a breath the minute Leo closed the door and simply stood there, trembling. He had no idea how much his words had both touched her and brutalized her—That’s what Rusty was talkin’ about when he said we needed to start really livin’. What we just did, you and me, darlin’, that’s what it’s all about.
Touched her because he was right. What they’d shared was beautiful. Glorious. The reason poets composed sonnets, musicians wrote songs, and writers penned stories of love and triumph.
Brutalized her because…Rusty. That one name, spoken aloud, reminded her why the beautiful, glorious thing they’d shared could never last. Because she’d lied to Leo from the first minute she knew him, betrayed him each moment after that by withholding the truth, and killed a man he loved like a brother with one split-second decision…
“I received an interesting bit of information yesterday,” General Al-Ambhi said in his thick accent, leaning back in his desk chair and spinning a letter opener in his right hand. Its sharp edges caught the overhead light, glinting ominously with each twirl.
“What was that?” Olivia asked from her seat across from him, careful to keep her expression only mildly curious though all her internal green lights had flicked to a foreboding yellow. Ever since she’d received the call from the rebel general to come to an impromptu meeting at his house, she’d been uneasy.
Onthesurface, the two of them had a friendly relationship. She was the CIA attaché to the SEAL Team charged with training his men in battle tactics for the ongoing fight in Syria. And he was the rebel leader who was sympathetic to Western ideals and the promise of what would hopefully one day be a democratic society.
Butthatwasjustwhatwasonthesurface…
Becauseunderneathallthatcharmandideology, General Al-Ambhi was a traitor to the rebel cause he claimed so fiercely to fight for. He was secretly in league with the Islamic State—ISIS or ISIL or IS or whatever else you wanted to call them. She preferred the title Evil Incarnate. And little did he know that she was playing both sides of the board too. The CIA had grown wise to his double dealings and had sent her in to feed him disinformation. The wide world of international intrigue coming full circle.
“I heard you were to meet five of your assets within IS last night in a coffee shop,” he said slowly. “So I followed you to determine their identities.”
Okay, now her internal green lights weren’t yellow, they were flashing red and blaring out warnings. Only those within The Company knew she’d planned the clandestine meeting. How the hell had Al-Ambhi found out?It didn’t make any sense.Unless…Is it possible there’s a leak?
Thethoughtsentacoldchillslicingupherspineuntilshefancieditwasthetipofthatletteropenerhewasholding.
“Why would you want to know their identities?” she asked carefully, remaining perfectly still though her thoughts were spinning.
