"What the hell are you doing in my house, Henry?" Nikki asked as she yanked the bathroom door open. She had slipped on a little robe she had hanging on the back of the door but felt exposed in front of her boss even though all the important stuff was now covered.

"The ATF guy called in, said you went in the water. You didn't call me and I couldn't reach you so I came to check on you."

"My phone is on the bottom of the marina. Keegan's got wet too. Don't you think someone would have got in touch with you if I weren't okay?"

"I don't know. It looked like you were a little too busy."

"That's none of your business, Henry."

"He's a suspect."

"No, he's not and you know it."

"He's still part of the case."

"Only as a courtesy. My courtesy, I might add."

"Yeah, you were being courteous all right." He sounded jealous. Keegan was right. Oh, yuck. Henry was old enough to be her father.

"I'm a grown woman, Henry. I don't need a babysitter."

"I don't know about that. How long you known the guy? A week?" If that.

"It's none of your concern what I do on my own time."

"Your own time? Last I checked you were on a stake out. Next I find you getting staked out in your bathroom." His face had turned a deep crimson.

"That the best you got, Henry? All the euphemisms for nearly having sex and that's what you throw out there." Great. Now she was taunting him the way she used to taunt her father when she was a teenager.

"Nikki!" His bellow filled the tiny cottage.

"Now you listen to me. This is my house and I did not ask you to come here. I am an adult and you are not my father. You have no expectations in this situation except professional ones and since Keegan is not part of my case, you've got nothing."

"Wait until I tell your father how I found you naked with some guy you hardly know."

"That's enough, Henry! You've gone too far. I think it's time for you to leave. As you can see, I am fine. Your duty ends there. I will see you in the morning."

"Nikki—" His voice grew quieter. "I'm sorry, I just—when that dude Will said you went in the water and—"

"I get it, Henry. You were worried. You didn't want to tell my father I was dead while he was so close to death himself. Believe me, I understand. But barging into my house—my bathroom—that's just too much. I have a right to a personal life. The job doesn't own me and neither do you."

Based on the hurt that filled Henry's eyes, she probably could have left that last part out. It felt necessary though, to re-establish the boundaries that somewhere along the line had become blurred in Henry's mind.

"I'm sorry. I'll be going now. See you in the morning. Will's checking with the ATF for any intel on weapons trafficking in the area. We are meeting at seven sharp."

"We'll be there."

"We?"

"Come on, Henry. You know Keegan will be with me, one way or another."

"Yeah." His expression went blank. "Good night, Nik. I'm glad you are okay."

He turned and walked out of her bedroom. Nikki followed. As they passed the kitchen, Henry stopped and scowled at Keegan. "I got my eye on you, boy. You don't want to hurt her."

The sharp warning hung in the air as Henry slammed the front door. Suddenly embarrassed, she turned to Keegan but instead of making eye contact became fascinated with the floor tiles. "I'm sorry about that. Henry—"

"Is seriously in love with you." This time Keegan's tone wasn't accusatory and she appreciated that. Mostly because he was right and she had been stupid not to realize it herself sooner.

She covered her face with her hands and dropped into a chair at the small table. "It's awful, Keegan. What am I going to do? He is my father's best friend. They were in the Navy together. I'm an awful daughter."

Keegan squatted down beside her and took her hands from her face. Holding them in his own, he traced little circles with the pad of his thumbs while he spoke. "You are not an awful daughter. You didn't do anything wrong. The man is your boss, he is old enough to be your father, and he was completely out of line tonight."

"Then why do I feel so bad?"

"Because we didn't get to finish what we started?" he teased.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it." She matched his tease with sarcasm.

"Henry had his heart broken tonight. Who knows how long he has been carrying a torch for you. The flame was doused when he saw you with me and that was a huge blow to his ego. It's going to take a while for him to come back from. The only saving grace is that he thinks you don't know how he feels. That's why he acted like such a hard ass—to cover his own pain."

"You sound like you speak from experience."

"Not really. I'm just a guy who knows how other guys think."

"It's going to be hard to face him in the morning."

"For him too. But you have one advantage he doesn't."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"I'll be there with you." He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. It lacked the passion from earlier. Instead it sent her a different message. He was there for her, he cared about her, and he would protect her. Not that she needed protecting, but it was just nice to feel protected.

She pulled one of her hands from his and pressed the palm of it to Keegan's cheek. "You are a good man. No wonder your mother is so desperate to hook you up. It's a federal felony that you are still single."

"I don't know about all that." It was obvious he was embarrassed but she didn't care. He needed to know. Nikki got the feeling he doubted his worth in a relationship and it was time she found out why. There was no way they could go any further if she didn't have some assurance that there was a chance at a future for them. This was a man she thought she might want that with but she needed to know if he was all in or if his baggage would come between them.

"I'm going to go put some clothes on. I'll be back in a minute." He looked disappointed. Good. Let him want her, it would make their next conversation that much more imperative.

When she returned wearing a tee shirt and a pair of yoga pants, he was sitting in a chair at the table turning his glass of water around in his hand.

"You want a beer?" Nikki asked pulling the refrigerator door open.

"Sure. That actually sounds pretty good right now."

She grabbed two bottles and handed one to Keegan as she sat down. "So, what’s it like having a twin?" Not exactly the question she had intended to ask but it was a good lead in.

"It has its moments. We are identical in looks but not in personality so that can be a challenge sometimes. Especially when we were kids."

"How are you different?"

"Kaiden is more laid back. He likes to joke around and never takes life too seriously. At least he didn't until he found Katie. Now he is super serious about her. And work. Kaiden never messes around with his job. He is a very devoted law man."

"What agency again?"

"Homeland."

She snapped her fingers. "That's right. How else would he just happen to know we were in need of assistance unless he had your phone tapped or bugged or something."

Keegan laughed. "He doesn't do that. At least not to me. He is a good brother. I can always depend on him. Logan too."

"Another brother?"

"Sort of. He's really our cousin but his mom died when he was young so my mother raised him with us. We are all about the same age."

"What about his dad?"

A dark shadow passed over Keegan's expression briefly. "In prison. For murdering his wife."

"Oh crap."

"Yeah."

"Is Logan a big wig fed like you two?"

Keegan shook his head. "No. He's a municipal cop. He and his wife work for the same agency. They met when she was in witness protection. Logan saved her from a mercenary and now they are married and expecting a baby. They live out by Ma in the mountains."

"So, your mother raised three lawmen."

"Yes. It was important to her that we be respectable."

Nikki laughed. "Law enforcement was a guarantee of that?"

"In my mother's opinion, yes."

"I think she did all right." Nikki reached out and touched his hand.

Keegan turned his over and threaded his fingers through hers. "Why don't you go ahead and ask me what you really want to know. It's okay, we need to talk about it."

So, she wasn't as smooth as she thought. Okay, here goes then. "What really happened with your Margot?"

Keegan cleared his throat. "First, she isn't my Margot. While we were dating she was seeing someone else. Or, I should say, she had me on the side. Only I was the only one in the United States of America that didn't know this."

"I'm so sorry." She squeezed his hand gently. "That must hurt."

"Yeah. Since my brother was one of those people."

"Ouch."

"He didn't want to hurt me. He had no idea how serious I was about Margot and just figured the sex would fizzle. Which it did, by the way. Long before we broke up. I thought it was because of this child killer case we were all wrapped up in. Nothing kills the mood like a dirt bag kidnapping and murdering little kids. When the case was over and we got the guy, I wanted to celebrate and she wanted to break up. The other guy popped the question with a huge rock."

"I can't even imagine."

"It's the reason I left the bureau. I couldn't stand running into her all the time and God help me if we had been put on a case together. My SAC took my resignation well, even pretended he had no idea why I was leaving so suddenly."

"That's how you ended up with Border Patrol?"

"I knew the right people, they sped up the hiring process and let me laterally transfer. I'll have field training but no academy. Honestly, I would have taken a job with port security if I had to just to get out of there."

"How about the house? How did you find that?"

"I'm renting a beach rental but I have to get out soon for the tourist season. I wanted something secluded and away from the out of towners that descend on this place in June. My agent showed it to me almost on a dare, I think. The second I stepped through the front door I was in love. Such a shame it has been left to crumble all these years."

"I don't know what was wrong with that woman."

"What do you mean?"

"She had you and she let you go." She was going all in. What did she have to lose? If Henry hadn't walked in on them, they'd be having this conversation in her bed anyway.

"Nikki—"

"It's okay, I'm not asking you for anything. I'm just simply saying the woman had to be a fool. When a man as strong, confident, sweet and caring as you comes along, a woman takes a second look. Okay, a third. The second look was probably at your ass." His face turned a deep crimson giving Nikki a warm, fuzzy feeling in some very important places. "Anyway, once you stopped passing by, she should have held onto you with both hands and never let you go."

"Nikki—"

She held up a hand. "Hold that thought. I'm not done. I can't believe for a second that she realized what she was giving up. Even after only knowing you for a few days I can see that you are the kind of man a woman would be fortunate to have for a partner. I don't think you need online dating sites or mail order brides or any other scheme your mother cooks up to help you find a wife. You just need to open you heart and mind again to the possibility of falling in love and it will happen without any help."

Keegan rose from his chair, pulling her to her feet in the process. His lips moved over hers essentially ending Nikki's tirade against arranged marriages. She parted her lips willingly to him, forgetting that she was supposed to be pleading her case and let her tongue do the talking in other ways.

When she couldn't have been more thoroughly kissed, Keegan released her. "Are you done now?"

Ignoring the shake in her legs and turmoil in her abdomen, Nikki nodded, "Yes."

"Good. Because it's my turn now. I no longer care who Margot dates or marries. I am glad I left the Bureau and moved here and I am damned glad I bought that old, broke down, wreck of a place. This week I ran into—literally—a woman that makes me feel things I have never encountered before in my life and I want to find out more about them. When I kiss her, the planet stops spinning, time quits passing and I forget to breathe. I've experienced more passion in the past few days than I have in an entire lifetime and when I thought I was going to lose her that to the icy cold Atlantic Ocean tonight, I nearly lost my mind."

As he spoke, Nikki had slowly sagged against Keegan. Her legs refused to support her any longer as his hands ran up and down her arms, across her back and into her hair. All that kept her up right was his hold on her.

"Me? You feel that way for me?"

Keegan let out chuckle, his voice then turning low and husky. "I really thought I had made that obvious in the bathroom."

"I thought it was adrenaline."

This time Keegan laughed outright and motioned to the front of his jeans where a very prominent bulge was straining against the zipper. "Does this look like adrenaline to you?"

Nikki shook her head. "Well, no, but I just thought it was an in the moment thing."

"Then we have had quite a few in the moments just today, haven't we? I really like you, Nikki. Maybe even more than like you. I thought I might wait until the case was wrapped up to have this conversation with you but I really didn't think I could. Margot is my crazy ex but she is over and out of my life."

Nikki started to giggle. "I have a crazy ex too. Troy thinks we are still dating no matter how many times I've told him to go to hell."

"We both have a little baggage to lose. Luckily, I'm good at losing things."

"Me too," Nikki replied, pulling his lips back down to hers. Keegan reached down and picked her up, letting Nikki's legs wrap around his waist. While they found their way back to each other’s mouths, Keegan carried her toward the bedroom. As soon as his foot crossed the threshold, a loud banging sounded at the front door.

"That boss of yours can't take a hint," Keegan said against her ear as he nibbled the lobe a bit. Nikki shivered at the deliciousness of what he was doing to her.

"If we ignore him, maybe he will go away." She started undoing the button on his shirt for the second time that night.

The pounding repeated. Keegan groaned in frustration. "He's not going away."

"Keegan! Come on, I know you’re still in there! Put your pants on and open the door!"

"That would be your jokester twin brother."

"Ugh, yes." He set Nikki onto the edge of the bed and bounded back to the front door without realizing Nikki followed him until he whipped the front door open and nearly knocked her to the ground.

"I’m sorry! I didn't know you were right behind me." He offered her a hand to steady her. To his twin, he said, "What the hell do you want?"

"I got a lead on your case."

"And it couldn't wait until morning?"

"Yesterday you would have wanted me to wake you in the middle night with a lead."

Keegan shook his head. "Fine. You're right. What is it?"

"Why don't you come inside?" Nikki asked, pulling Kaiden in with one hand and closing the door with the other. "I don't need the neighbors talking about the twins I'm doing."

"What?" Keegan spun around, shock and anger in his blue eyes.

"Relax, Border Patrol, I'm joking."

"Oh." Keegan glared at his brother and maybe at her a little too. "So, what is so damned important you had to tell me at midnight?"

"I know who they are and where they are going."