Nessa stared at the line of cars in front of her waiting to cross the border into Mexico. The sweat on her hands made the wheel slippery and she tightened her grip. With one hand she turned up the air conditioning. Just a few seconds later she turned it back down. How could she be cold and hot at the same time?

Just because she’d never left the country before. Just because she was going into a scenario that a Navy SEAL refused to take her into because he didn’t believe it was safe. Just because she was about to pee herself from fear any second now.

She asked herself if she could really do it. Sure there were hundreds of other people waiting to cross the border for an enjoyable afternoon of Mexican culture, shopping, food, and beaches. If only she was just crossing to the big street where all of the tourists went and would be surrounded by hundreds of people, things would be great.

No, Nessa was purposefully seeking out a single point in the city where there was a high likelihood of illegal activity.

It wasn’t too late to bail on the whole plan and just stay in the United States where life usually followed predictable scripts. Nessa was driving in the far right lane to give herself an out before reaching the gate, and at the pace traffic was moving, she had a few minutes to really think about it. In fact, the plan had revolved around Baron racing after her and refusing to let her go alone. She’d been sure he wouldn’t call her bluff, and at that point, it had been a bluff. That’s what she got for trying to con a highly trained intelligence expert, because once she had reached her Escalade and pulled out of the parking lot, there was no Baron in her rear view mirror. Maybe he’d been so confident in the bluff he didn’t believe she’d do it.

And now that she was so close to the border, she was afraid to turn around and go back on what she had said she was going to do. Being around Baron gave her so much confidence and made her feel so dang safe, she never would have made the stupid declaration if it weren’t for him. And here she was now, the one trapped between two impossible decisions.

The cars in front of her moved, and Nessa slowly inched up. One car length closer to the border. If what Baron said was true, just on the other side of the border she would find chaos and lawlessness and a complete lack of any sort of order.

No, that’s not what he’d said. The thought of his fear of what could happen just reminded Nessa about how crazy she was to put herself into the situation alone.

She’d just go and watch. Grab a taxi and check it out. Just stand across the street. Or maybe buy something at the surf shop.

Maybe the sense of security Baron had instilled in her would stick with her. There was a chance it wasn’t just something she felt when he was around. Here she was, after all, inching forward again toward the border.

Someone pounded on the passenger’s window. Nessa screamed and took her foot off the brake then slammed it down again. A man in a baseball cap pounded again and Nessa slammed her hand down on the automatic locks.

The door opened and she realized instead of locking the doors she had unlocked them!

Nessa screamed again and started slapping the air in the man’s direction. Where was Border Patrol? Where were the police?

The man held his hands out in a calming manner. “It’s me,” he said. “It’s Baron.”

“Baron? What … ! What are you doing?”

He climbed slowly into the front seat. “I really didn’t mean to scare you. I know you don’t like surprises.”

Nessa put a hand to her chest and realized it was rising and falling a hundred times a minute. Through teary eyes, she saw Baron was wearing a t-shirt, shorts, flip-flops, and a baseball hat. The shirt was fitted exactly right and she could see muscles she’d only guessed at before. His defined arms did not help her catch her breath. Neither did his perfect pecs. Or the outline of a six-pack she could see under his shirt.

Nessa looked straight forward so she could gather her thoughts. Things were so much better with him here, but she was as determined as ever to go forward with the mission. He had come here to stop her from going. So did that mean he was buying her bluff or not? Nessa was torn—overwhelmed with relief that he was here, but a little ticked that he was going to try to stop her now, after all she’d been through.

“You can’t stop me,” she said, feeling her spine straighten. “I told you I was going with or without you.”

“I thought it was a bluff,” he said. “I totally thought it was a bluff.”

“I’m doing it. So get out.” She pointed at the door. “Unless you plan on kidnapping me or something.”

“No kidnapping today,” he said. “On either side of the border. You’ve got more guts than anyone I know, but I’m not going to let you go alone.”

“You can’t stop me—”

“I’m not here to stop you,” he said. “I’m going with you.”

“You’re going with me?” The world wasn’t making any sense.

“Unless you’ve changed your mind and decided to park right here.”

A horn blared behind them. Nessa jumped again and another clipped scream came out. Nessa realized a couple of car lengths had opened in front of them.

As she started to pull forward, Baron signaled to the turn-off she had been eyeing and debating. “Pull over here.”

“You just said you were coming with me,” said Nessa, wondering if his claim that he was going along was totally made up.

“I am, but we don’t want to drive across. By the time we make it through this traffic it’ll be too late to make it in time. And for another thing, this car stands out way too much.”

Nessa signaled and took the turn off. “Isn’t that what you want? For it to take too long for us to make it across the border so we just have to turn around and come back?”

“I would never sabotage you,” he said immediately, and bluntly. She knew it was pure truth. And he wasn’t done. “Nessa, I’ll never face Al Qaeda again. I might not ever shoot anyone to save an innocent life. My days of saving the whole world are over. But when you need a man by your side—whether it’s doing surveillance in a foreign country or opening a jar of pickles—I can be your hero. And man is it a pleasant thought to think of being the hero by your side rather than the hero off fighting dragons.”

A smile was splitting Nessa’s face from ear to ear and her heart was trying to get her to throw her arms around him, but she was able to keep both hands on the wheel.

“Pull over here.” Baron motioned to a parking lot.

Nessa followed his instructions and as soon as she pulled into an open spot, she threw her arms around him and buried her face in his neck. He’d come for her and not only that, he’d rather stay by her side than run off to be a hero.

Into his neck she said, “You smell good, and you feel good, and you look good.”

“You sound like me, saying whatever’s in your head.” He had his arms around her and it was the perfect contrast to the instability of her life five minutes ago.

“I want to just stay right here until Monday,” she said.

Baron sighed. “As much as I’d love that, I told you I’d go with you on the mission, so we should go.”

Nessa reluctantly let him go and they climbed out of the car. “Should I bring my purse?”

“Do you have a wallet or something? For your passport, phone, and expense card?”

“Good idea.” She pulled out her small purse and they started across the parking lot. The light jacket she wore was too warm for the sunny day. And it didn’t match his casual clothes. She had a long way to go to being an international spy, but there wasn’t time to feel sorry for herself. “Where are we going?”

“There’s a walkway across the border. When traffic gets like this, it’s faster to walk across.” He looked at her with … admiration? “How’d you know I’d come for you?”

She decided to have some fun with him. “I’m pretty sure it was a moral imperative for you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at it this way,” said Nessa. “Since I met you, I looked into what it takes to become a Navy SEAL. What can you say about a man who will go through something like BUD/S training and all the other training it takes to become a SEAL merely to have the privilege to go around the world, risking his life to protect freedom? I mean, that doesn’t even make any sense. Who would do that? I’ll tell you—the type of guy who would never let a girl,” she glanced around to make sure no one could overhear, “go on a mission like this alone.”

“So it really was a bluff?” Baron was obviously shocked. “All along, even when you were sitting in line to cross? You only came because you knew I couldn’t help myself? Wow, I didn’t realize I was up against a pro.”

Nessa smiled proudly, basking in the praise. “No. I actually thought you’d stop me at the mansion. As soon as I left I realized I had talked myself into a pretty scary corner. It’s a good thing my boyfriend, I mean my partner, is such a hero.” She winked at him, and Baron tripped over a crack in the ground.

Seeing him trip made Nessa feel all giddy inside. Everything had changed in the last five minutes.

When Baron recovered, he said, “Wow, you are good at this game of just blurting things out.”

“Oh, so it’s a game,” she said, verbally handing him a shovel to let him dig deeper. “Is that what this is for you?”

Baron bobbed his eyebrows. “I’m having fun with you and you’re laughing at me, so it kind of feels like it.”

“Me too,” admitted Nessa. “So what’s our cover story?”

“Boyfriend, girlfriend, day trip across the border.”

Nessa loved the sound of that, even though it wasn’t true and even though she had only known him a few days. “I won’t ask what our real story is, because I think you would tell me.”

Baron smiled his flirty smile. “I might just tell you anyway, but we have some mission prep to do before we actually cross the border.”

They walked along a wide sidewalk with dozens of other tourists spread out heading south. The border appeared to be a couple hundred yards away.

“Like what?” asked Nessa. “Tell Sutton we are going?”

“Already did,” said Baron. “I prepared an email on the way down. I had a black suit driving me, and when I saw you get close to the border, I sent it.”

“Saw me?” she asked. She was pretty sure she would have noticed his Escalade following her. “You’re not talking about with your eyes, are you?”

“No,” said Baron. “I tracked your Escalade.”

Nessa felt her face go hot. On principle she hated the idea. In reality she knew Baron was looking out for her. “What makes you think you had the right?”

“Full disclosure, I did it before today’s mission even came up.”

“That makes it worse!” Nessa stopped on the path and stared at him. “Stop treating me like a child!”

Keeping his voice much calmer than hers, Baron turned toward her.

Don’t let those gorgeous dark eyes distract you, she told herself.

“When we started working together, I looked at all the risks, specifically what form they might come in. If there are bad guys from the other side of the border involved, and they catch wind of us looking into them, kidnapping is a distinct possibility.” His eyes grew even more intense as he tilted his head toward her. “Even if I didn’t care about you care about you, I would have done it for any partner.”

“Any partner?” she muttered, partly hypnotized, partially ticked still.

“Any partner,” Baron repeated.

“Even a SEAL?”

“Even a SEAL,” he told her. “And I’d expect him to do the same for me. No permission, no disclosure, just watching each other’s back.”

“Why not just tell me you were doing it?” asked Nessa.

“Guilty on that one,” said Baron. “I didn’t want to freak you out. It’s such a small chance it happens.”

“Can you see why I feel like you don’t trust me?”

“Yes,” said Baron. “I promise I won’t do it again.”

Nessa sighed. “How can I stay mad when you are so open and honest?”

“You can’t,” said Baron. “Besides, you don’t want to go on an exotic day-date with your boyfriend angry do you?”

She really didn’t want to be angry at him. “You promise to keep me in the loop in the future?” She held out a hand to shake on it.

Baron smirked as he looked down at her hand. Ignoring it, he took her by the shoulders. “I promise.”

He laid a kiss on her, and Nessa felt her feet come off the ground as she floated away in the ecstasy. It was a good thing he was supporting her or else she might have fallen over.

The kiss didn’t last nearly long enough. Nessa looked up at him, licked her lips, and said, “That was not a fake boyfriend kiss,” she told him.

Baron winked at her. “No, it wasn’t. Now back to the mission.” They started walking toward the border. “First, I’m taking you shopping.”

“Be still, my heart,” said Nessa, feeling lightheaded all over again. “Did you just say what I thought you said?”

“Yep,” said Baron. “You look like a DEA agent. Let’s tourist you up a bit, like me.”

“I don’t think that DEA comment was a compliment, so I’ll focus on you taking me shopping.”

They were getting close to the border. Baron fidgeted with his shirt where it hung over his shorts in the back. “It feels weird to not have a gun.”

Nessa wrapped a hand around his arm, loving the feel of his rounded bicep. It was as hard as rock. “We’ll just hope this is as calm as a stroll through any California market where you could walk around without a gun.”

“I never walk around without carrying,” said Baron.

“What? This whole time we’ve been together you’ve had a gun?”

“Of course,” said Baron. “Too bad it’s illegal to carry in Mexico.”

They reached the building labeled ‘Mexico’ in huge letters and walked in. A Mexican agent checked their passports and they were on their way.

“That was easy,” said Nessa as they stepped out of the building to a covered walkway.

“It won’t be like that going the other direction,” said Baron.

“What’s that?” asked Nessa, pointing to a huge arch ahead of them in the distance.

“Tijuana River Bridge.” Baron took her hand casually as if they walked hand in hand every day.

For a couple minutes, Nessa just walked, loving the feel of his strong hand, loving this connection with him. As badly as she wanted to uncover a drug deal today, she did not want the mission with Baron to end.

“How does this look?” asked Baron, coming to a stop in front of a clothing shop. It had some cute blouses.

“Great,” said Nessa. She didn’t take long picking out a white blousy cotton shirt with embroidered red flowers along the neck and short sleeves. She swapped for her “DEA shirt and jacket” in a dressing room.

“I love that shirt,” said Baron “I love you in that shirt.”

Nessa loved the shirt even more, but she especially loved his reaction to her in the shirt.

Baron handed a card to the cashier. “Expense account,” he explained, “just so you don’t object.”

Half a block later they repeated the quick trip into a store selling knock-off name brand clothes and bought a pair of shorts.

“Much better,” said Baron. “Now we match.”

“That wasn’t my idea of a fun shopping spree, but at least I don’t stick out. How are we on time?” She pulled out her phone. “Still got 45 minutes. Should we get a taxi?”

“Not here,” said Baron, pulling out his phone. “The taxis near the border are unregulated and unreliable. We’ll do Uber.”

“I thought you didn’t know enough about Tijuana to feel safe here,” said Nessa.

“I still don’t,” said Baron. “But I had a little time to cram on the way here and I’ve been trained to gather key bits of intel quickly.”

A car with an Uber sticker pulled up two minutes later. “Señor Baron?” asked the driver.

“Sí,” said Baron, opening the door for Nessa, then sliding in after her.

The driver asked a question in Spanish, and Baron answered without missing a beat. With a nod, the driver took off down street.

“How many languages do you speak?” asked Nessa.

“Can I count dialects?”

“Of course,” said Nessa.

“Eleven.” Baron looked aside as if … embarrassed? “And a half.”

“Eleven? Wait, what’s the half?”

After delaying half a second, he said, “Klingon.”

“You speak Klingon?” Nessa wasn’t sure she’d heard him right. “Like Star Trek?”

“Only a little.”

She hadn’t taken him for a Trekkie. “Big fan, huh?”

“Eh,” he said. “So so.”

“You called me the big nerd and you’re the one who learned Klingon for fun?”

Baron grinned and shrugged. After glancing around at the street, he said, “I thought learning a constructed language would help train my brain and it was either Klingon, Esperanto, or Elvish from Lord of the Rings.”

“Nerd,” she said, elbowing him in the side.

“Thanks,” he replied.

“So what are the other ones?”

“English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Classical Syriac, Levantine Arabic, Mesopotamian—”

“Is that a real language?” She watched him for a sign of joking around, and saw him check out the windows again, as if ready for an ambush. “Or are you planning to awaken an ancient mummy by reading an old papyrus spell?”

Baron’s laugh was slightly forced. It was obvious he was growing uncomfortable the further they got from the main tourist centers. That was making Nessa nervous, which would probably just make him more nervous. There had to be something she could do to ease the stress.

She scooted into the middle seat and said, “You forgot one language, my boyfriend.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” she whispered in his ear. A quiver passed down his spine and she was close enough to feel it, as well as the goose bumps on his arm. “The language of love.” She leaned in front of him and returned the kiss he had surprised her with on the other side of the border.

Baron relaxed into her for the duration of the kiss, which wasn’t very long, but oh so sweet.

“Don’t know how I forgot that one,” said Baron. “It’s my favorite one, even though I’m still learning it.”

“You looked a little nervous,” she said, still in his space and only loud enough for him to hear. “So I thought I’d make you feel better.”

“As much as I appreciate it,” he told her, stealing a glance around her to see out the passenger side window, “and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’d rather be a little nervous. On my toes.”

“So no more kissing?”

In a quiet voice he said, “I’m so tempted to turn this into a real vacation and take you somewhere and kiss you like crazy.” He blew out a breath. “But I told you I was in on this mission, and so I’m not going to derail it.”

“Darn you and your Navy SEAL principles.”

The car came to a stop. Nessa looked up to see surf boards stacked outside of a small shop. They were here! It was on. Nessa thought she was going to die. She wasn’t a secret agent, she was a glorified data analyst. What was she thinking crossing international borders to bust up a major drug deal?

“Nessa,” said Baron. He put his hand on her arm. “Breathe.”

She was breathing, too fast actually.

“You’re ready for this, Dr. Dimmick.”

Nessa felt better. They could do it.

“Gracias,” said Baron, sliding out of the car.

Nessa repeated it and followed him out.

“Let’s hit the waves,” said Nessa. “Is that even what they say?”

“I don’t know,” said Baron. “Never surfed before.”

“What?” said Nessa. “Neither of us have surfed. Can we still do this?”

“Totally,” whispered Baron, “but we’re early. C’mon.” He led her into the shop next door and they bought a couple of tacos.

“Ok,” said Nessa when the tacos were gone. “Ten minutes. We can go now, right?”

“Let’s do it,” said Baron.

He took her hand again.

We got this, thought Nessa. We totally got this.

The surf shop was small, but they had merchandise floor to ceiling, covering all the walls. Baron already had sunglasses on, and he grabbed a pair for Nessa and handed them to her. Enough light came in the wide open front wall of the shop that it wasn’t weird for them to be wearing them. Next, Baron led her directly to the swimsuits. Nessa raised an eyebrow at him and caught him smirking at her.

“What’s your style?” he asked.

“Does it matter?” Nessa ran her finger along a row of string bikinis. “Not a whole lot of variety.” She had never worn any swimsuit so revealing.

“What do you mean?” Baron held up a tiny pink two-piece. “This one actually has a real butt instead of a g-string.”

“Oh, missed that one.”

Nessa looked around the shop. The only person there was a pretty young attendant. No shady guys loitering in the corner. No funky smoke pouring from a back room or funky chemical, meth lab smell. No kids looking up and down the street ready to warn the big dealers.

“You could pull it off,” he said, “but no pressure.”

As he put the almost non-existent suit back, Nessa pictured herself in one of them. Not that she was going to wear one today in front of Baron, or in public, but she didn’t mind his comment one bit.

“How about some shorts?” he asked.

Nessa moved to the stack of surf shorts. “Look! Matching!” She held up a short women’s pair and longer men’s suit. Both had the same pattern—large white and sky blue stripes with dark blue anchors.

Baron grinned at her. “You’re so cheesy. I love it!”

The sound of a truck’s engine rumbled from outside and Nessa found her head going automatically to check it out.

“How about these tank tops?” asked Baron.

Had he not noticed the truck, or was he just playing it cool? That was a dumb question, actually. He was a highly trained Special Forces guy. Of course he knew there was a delivery truck outside. In his baseball cap and sunglasses he just looked like any other handsome, buff tourist.

Baron was holding up a coral and green floral pattern top.

“Oh, honey,” said Nessa. “Are you teasing me or can you really not see how bad that clashes?”

He shrugged and stepped to the side. “Do any of these match?” From the position he’d taken up, he had a great view of the shop.

Nessa came to stand next to him, keeping her head facing down, but her eyes up. A clean-cut guy walked in, approaching the attendant. Even without the Thompson Produce shirt, she would have recognized the driver who she’d expected—Brody.

I knew it!

Nessa wanted to pump her fist and tell Baron she’d told him so. Not that he’d doubted her. Instead she picked up a pink tank top and held it up.

The delivery driver reached the attendant and they embraced immediately and shared a very intimate kiss. He said something to her in Spanish and she replied.

Baron, still as casual as a tourist, said, “This matches, but the one I picked clashes?”

“You’re kidding me, right?” she said.

The attendant led Brody to the back of the store, where the stock room would be. They were hand in hand, and Brody looked at her hungrily as he followed her.

“A tryst,” said Nessa under her breath.

“Yep,” muttered Baron. “A hook-up.”

A teenage boy came out of the back and sat on the chair by the cash register. He barely noticed Baron and Nessa.

Nessa was deflated. It wasn’t her fault that nothing illegal was going on, to her knowledge anyway. In fact, her data analysis was perfect and Brody, the little horndog, had proved it. He just wasn’t up to what they thought he was up to.

It would be almost exactly ten minutes until Brody came out and drove on, or so the data said. Baron and Nessa continued to browse, picking out every beach accessory in the shop—sunblock, towels, an oversized umbrella, snacks, soda, bottled water, and an assortment of stickers. She hoped it wasn’t obvious they were killing time and waiting for the tryst in the back room to be done. By the time Brody came out, they had a pile of stuff at the register as well as merchandise under both arms.

Baron was already at the register and told the teenager, “I think we got one of everything, so I guess we’re ready.” The kid smiled and nodded as he tallied up the purchase.

Under the guise of holding up another tank top, Nessa eyed Brody. The female store attendant didn’t come out with him, and he was carrying something in each hand. That was a little suspicious, but Nessa couldn’t see what he was carrying because of the display racks.

The female attendant came out of the back and chose just that second to come over to ask Nessa, “Do you need help?” It didn’t sound like she was suspicious of Nessa, it just seemed like she was trying to look like nothing suspicious had just happened.

The worst part was that Nessa didn’t dare follow Brody with her eyes, and never saw what he was carrying. “I’m fine,” said Nessa, dying a little inside as what she’d come all this way to see walked right out the door in the arms of the delivery driver.

“Wait,” said Baron. “Forgot one thing.” He went over to the very front of the store and grabbed a t-shirt off the rack.

Nessa wondered if he’d sneaked a glimpse outside and if he’d seen what Brody was carrying.

I can do this, she told herself, determined to stick to the undercover persona.

“Need to rent surfboard?” asked the woman. Nessa wondered why she was all of a sudden giving such good service when she had ignored them when they first came in. Oh wait, Nessa wasn’t the only one who had been waiting for Brody. This woman had to be ready for him when he arrived, and couldn’t be bothered with customers before then.

Then she realized the woman was waiting for an answer. They hadn’t rehearsed this. Were they renting boards here? Were they even really going surfing today?

“No thanks,” said Baron. He explained something in Spanish—maybe something about a hotel?—and the woman nodded, then went to the register to help the teenager ring everything up.

Nessa joined Baron at the counter, wishing the clerks would check them out faster so she could get Baron outside to sort through all the info.

Eventually the teenager finished adding all the purchases and turned the iPad toward Baron and said what Nessa assumed was a number in Spanish. Instead of giving him the expense card, Baron handed over a few bills.

Of course, no cyber trail that way. Nessa should have thought of that. They were out the door within minutes, carrying bags of goodies.

Baron took the bag out of one of her hands, transferred it to his hand that was already carrying a bag, then interlaced fingers with her. Nessa almost forgot they were just playing undercover. It would be so nice to just relax on the beach with him for the rest of the day, but she had to know more about what he’d seen.

They turned toward the beach and didn’t speak until they reached the sand and were relatively isolated. Keeping her eyes on the shoreline ahead, Nessa said, “Did you see what he was carrying? Did that seem uber suspicious to you? Are we really going surfing? Wait.” She stopped and turned toward him. “Did you say something about a hotel? And will you please wipe that adorable smirk off your face?”

“No, to that last question,” said Baron. “I can’t remember the rest of the questions in order, so I’ll just tell you the plan. I told them we were going to get boards from the hotel, and yes, we are going surfing. We don’t want to blow our cover.”

“And the hotel?” She was almost positive that was just part of their cover story, and wasn’t really going to happen.

“Yep,” said Baron. “Doing that too. There could be eyes anywhere, and us being there at that exact time might make us suspicious, just in case anyone is watching us.”

A hotel! The two of them? As much as Nessa loved being with him, and how perfect a weekend together would be, Nessa would wear a string bikini to church before she hooked up with a guy. She opened her mouth to object, but Baron didn’t let her get a word out.

“We’ll get a room with two beds. I’m not going to try anything, but I think it’s really important we keep up the charade. Especially since something suspicious is definitely going on there.”

“What?” asked Nessa, too interested to feel the full impact of relief at the moment. “What was he carrying out of the shop?”

“Coke,” said Baron.

“Holy cow! Cocaine? Just carried it out of the store, just like that?” It was hard to walk casually when she wanted to either turn and face him, or run like a little girl and wave her hands in the air in celebration.

“No,” he said with a chuckle. “Coca Cola.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

Nessa was back at the bottom of the roller coaster. All that for a booty call and drink stop? No, that didn’t make sense. All of it together didn’t make any sense.

“But there’s gotta be more to it,” she said. “Right?”

Baron nodded. “There’s gotta be. I’m sure of it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. Strong work, Dr. Dimmick. You cracked it.”

Nessa’s grin was as wide as the ocean along the horizon. She’d done it. Back to the top of the roller coaster again. “Not a bad partner, huh?” she said, nudging his muscular side with her elbow. “I bet you feel really bad now about treating me like a kid.”

“I felt bad before,” he insisted. “Now I just feel stupid.”

Nessa pulled out her phone. “I’m calling Sutton.”

“Not yet,” said Baron.

“We have to call now. There’s still time to stop him at the border.”

Baron shook his head. “That’s exactly what we don’t want to do.”

“You aren’t making any sense. It’s the entire reason we came to Mexico.”

Baron winced and said, “The reason we came is because you were coming with or without me, and I refused to let you go alone. I’m sorry that I didn’t even think to tell you this until we got here, but we can’t do anything today. Even if we would have seen him carrying out the other kind of coke, we couldn’t do it.”

“Why not? We don’t have to go to the border. Sutton could make a call to the Border Patrol, give him a description and a license plate.”

This time Baron stopped and turned toward her. “I know how much this means to you, and I know it stinks to high heaven.”

“It doesn’t have to,” said Nessa. “We could save a life today.”

Baron turned on the smolder switch on his brown eyes, trying that spell he sometimes cast over her. Nessa didn’t think he was doing it on purpose. But she was strong. She could resist him, and even win him over.

“Nessa, if the mule gets singled out at the border after months without any problems, and the Border Patrol goes straight for his very unsuspicious bottles of Coke, who are the suppliers going to look at?”

Arg! He was right. She hated it, but he was right. Nessa and Baron would be in danger in that case. “No!” she exclaimed, kicking sand into a dust cloud in frustration. “Let’s get out of here. Right now. Go back across and there’s nothing they can do to us.”

“We can’t,” said Baron. “Brody went straight for the border. He’ll beat us by at least ten minutes, even if we hustle. Ten minutes could be a life or death difference for us.”

Nessa studied him, trying to peer past those gorgeous brown eyes. “Did you put your kid gloves back on? Are you only doing this because your partner is weak and can’t take care of herself.”

Baron dropped his bags into the sand and took her face in both his hands. Nessa suppressed a moan of pleasure, but she did lean in to the strength of his hands and close her eyes momentarily. It was a dream moment—his comforting hands, the ocean smell, sound of crashing waves, and the fast success she’d found in her first real world assignment.

“You are strong, intelligent, and capable,” said Baron. “And don’t even get me started on how beautiful you are.”

She smiled, tempted to get him started.

“You knocked it out of the park today, Nessa. And we can’t get careless.”

“I know,” she muttered. “If something happened to Brody today, any eyes would be on us.”

“You’re exactly right. And an operation as professional as this one is likely to have eyes everywhere. Maybe even in the Border Patrol itself.”

It was still hard to let it go, especially after she’d gotten them both down there and discovered something fishy in the surf shop.

“Look on the bright side, Nessa. We are stuck here in Mexico at least overnight. And we have to go surfing. And spend lots of time kissing.” He came forward, pulling her face toward him. Their lips met and she went weak in the knees. Her toes were grounded in sand and her head was flying into the heavens.

“Lots of time?” she managed to say.

“Lots,” he said, kissing her again, lingering a little longer, allowing her to savor his soft, thick lips.

Against his lips, she muttered, “You can’t distract me with your delicious lips, you know?”

“That wasn’t even my plan,” he said, smiling his crooked smile. “I just couldn’t resist you. I know this whole acting like we’re in love thing is supposed to be an act, but I’ve never been a very good actor.”

Love? Wow, she liked the sound of it, even if she wasn’t bold enough to say it herself.

Baron picked up the bags, relieving her of the pressure of returning his declaration and started back toward the hotel. There were quite a few people out on the beach, but in this area between the hotel and the water there were no ears to overhear. They had a quarter mile or so left to walk over the soft sand before they reached the ten-story hotel. The sun felt wonderful on her skin, but not nearly as good as Baron’s touch in her hand.

“What’s your concern?” he asked. “We’re partners, so I want to be on the same page.”

“We know they aren’t transporting something mild like marijuana. Not in such small packages.”

“That’s true,” said Baron.

“So how do I live with myself? I know we did good today, and in the long run, it might keep some drugs off the streets. But how do I not think about another Samantha happening this weekend that we could have stopped?”

For a while Baron didn’t speak and she could feel him working it through.

“No words?” she teased. “I’ve finally tongue tied my verbose fake boyfriend.”

“You’re on a roll today,” he said lightly. Then in a more serious tone, “You touched on things I couldn’t put into words.” That was all.

Nessa didn’t want to push. Baron had never held back on her and when he had something in his mind, he would say it to her.

She spoke up. “Okay, so we don’t have to stop Brody at the border, but is there a way to keep the drugs out of circulation some other way?”

“Like what?”

“Have Mr. Thompson impound the truck, no, all the trucks in his fleet so that it’s not suspicious.”

“Until …?”

“Until Monday when they can bust him at the border.” Nessa saw the flaws in that plan. “But how will Brody even come to Mexico if his truck is impounded? And Mr. Thompson can’t bring his whole operation to a stop over something so small. And Brody will just carry the bottles of Coke away anyway, unless they specifically restrict him, which would be super suspicious.”

“You’re right,” agreed Baron. “I love that analytical brain of yours.”

Nessa felt all warm, and it wasn’t from the sun. “Stop distracting me. What if someone were to waylay Brody’s truck after it crosses the border, swap out the mule Coke with real bottles of Coke and let him go on his way?”

Baron simply said, “What if?”

“Well, then Brody takes the clean Coke to his contacts, who go to open it to extract the drugs and find soda instead of smack, and they realize something is up, and they never use Brody again.”

“More like they kill Brody, assuming he swapped out the drugs,” said Baron.

“Oh …” Nessa looked sick.

“Now, about smack? How is that in your vocabulary?” said Baron, winking at her.

“I watch Law and Order,” she said, starting to smile, but catching herself again. “It’s killing me, Baron. Don’t you, like, have a SEAL buddy who can just blow up the truck? I know one of your friends has a rocket launcher and is itching to use it.”

Baron chuckled. “Logan Steele.”

“No,” growled Nessa. “That would derail the operation again.” She wanted to hit something. So much for her grand dreams of being a hero and saving a life today.

“The day we were captured in Syria,” said Baron.

Nessa’s ears perked up like a startled horse.

“We had a decision to make.” He paused for a minute and they walked without speaking. Emotion poured off of him in waves and she was scared he was going to decide to not tell her. “We had to choose to take out a little fish before he hurt one person, a woman, or let him hurt and maybe kill her so that we could stay in our cover and have a shot at the big fish.”

“You took out the little fish,” said Nessa, tears threatening her eyes again. “You jeopardized the mission to save one person.”

Baron nodded solemnly.

“And you all had to suffer in prison for your choice.”

“It wasn’t about us,” said Baron, then continued slowly. “The big fish was ten times worse. Maybe a hundred times worse. It took eight months for another Team to finally take that piece of garbage out. I think about that a lot, still. How much bad he did in the world in those eight months.”

Nessa put her head on his shoulder, understanding where his wisdom and maturity came from. As painful as it was for her to process, it came from suffering. Oh, how she hated the thought of that. She was determined to not make this a pity party, so she just rested her head on him for a while until she was able to speak without any pity in her voice.

“Brody’s a little fish,” she said.

“Brody is now bait,” said Baron. “Because of your mad data skills, we are not only going to stop this flow of drugs into the U.S., but we have the opportunity to make life miserable for a lot of bad guys.”

“What do you mean?”

“We can see everywhere Brody goes,” said Baron.

Nessa hadn’t remembered that. “Our tracker. He goes straight back to the plant.”

“Which means either he is carrying the drugs out himself, or he has a partner. Someone inside Thompson’s Operation.”

“That could be hit or miss for us,” said Nessa. “If the change happens at the plant, we’ll catch it on camera.”

“That’s right,” agreed Baron. “No one will even try to hide it. He’s just bringing some Mexican Coca Cola back for a buddy.”

“But what if he takes it out of the plant himself?”

“I’ll have someone tail him today. I’ll make the call as soon as we get to the hotel.”

Nessa did the math. That should work. “What if he loses him?”

“He’ll be thorough,” said Baron. “Tracker on his car and tail him.”

“Ok,” said Nessa.

“One way or another, he’ll lead us to someone who is a bigger problem than our little fish.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “And it’s all because of you.”

“Not all,” said Nessa. “I could never have pulled off that trip to the surf shop without you.”

“Oh please,” said Baron. “You’re like the female James Bond. You were amazing.”

“Ha! Okay, now I know you’re patronizing me.”

Baron put his hands up defensively. “That’s just the start of it. I can’t say what the DEA will do, or what the federales will do on this side of the border, but I would bet my shiny new Escalade that Brody isn’t the only one hauling smack out of the surf shop. A little surveillance on that place could shut down even more streams of smuggling. And once they get all the surveillance they need, they move in and bust people in a concerted effort. There’s no saying how high in the ranks it could go.”

As Baron talked, Nessa got more and more excited. She hadn’t dreamed this one surveillance mission could ever be so far reaching.

“Nessa Dimmick will have made her mark on the world,” he added. “You can retire with a perfect record.”

She laughed. “I was thinking more along the lines of securing a more permanent spot on a team that continued making a difference in the world. Maybe even partnering up on a more permanent basis with an associate who can’t keep his mouth shut.”

“A guy like that sounds like a blast to be around,” said Baron. “I’m pulling for you.”

They had reached the sidewalk near the hotel and took a second to shake the sand from their flip flops.

In a quiet voice, probably since there were people not too far away, Baron repeated, “I’m going to book one room. Two rooms would be suspicious. I’ll make sure it has two beds. Cool?”

It was impressive how thorough he was with their safety, even though it seemed almost impossible to her that anyone would be watching. She nodded. “Thanks.”

She didn’t know how to express her relief and gratitude that her first real boyfriend wasn’t trying to take advantage of a tight situation. She loved being close to him without having to worry about going too fast. His kisses were the perfect pace for her. Well, she wouldn’t mind a few more actually, but if she had to choose between going too slow and too fast, she’d take a guy who over-respected her boundaries any day.

They walked into the gorgeous lobby, hand in hand and once again Nessa was glad the charade wasn’t over. Tall ceilings, huge arches, and tons of light made her feel like she was in a resort and the guy next to her made her feel like she must be dreaming.

Please don’t let me wake up anytime soon.

As they approached the front desk, a man behind a computer said, “Welcome to the Rosarito Beach Hotel. How may I help you?”

“Could you speak Spanish please?” she said quickly, earning a questioning look from Baron.

“Sí, señorita,” said the man. Then he continued in Spanish.

Nessa shrugged and told him, “Oh, I don’t understand it, I just love hearing my boyfriend speak it.”

Baron’s eyebrows shot up and Spanish words started rolling off his tongue. Nessa put a finger to his lips to stop him before she melted right then and there.

“I asked for that, but you better save it for later.” She made a suggestive glance upstairs and winked.

A blush crept up Baron’s face. That was a whole new win for her.

He said, “Como tu lo quieres, mi amor.”

Nessa knew what those last two words meant and they set her pulse racing all over again.

In Spanish, Baron and the man made arrangements. At one point, Baron told her, “We got a walk-out room. Straight down to the beach.”

A month ago, Nessa was a permanent resident of her comfy desk chair. And now Baron had transported her to beach chairs.

The man at the desk handed Baron a keycard and pointed to a hallway. When Baron put a hand gently on her back to guide her, she slowed just to get more of the feel of his hand on her back.

At the door, she put a hand over his as he reached with the key card for the door. “Wait.”

He was listening.

“Before we go in …” She reached a hand up around his neck and he picked up on what she wanted, coming forward to meet her lips. He had promised her more kissing, and she was determined to hold him to it.

The kiss was exotic and fresh, like the hotel and beach around them. She could practically taste the salt from the sea on his lips.

“Con permiso.” The tender, Mexican voice brought Nessa back to the real world quickly. A maid was pushing a cleaning cart around them and gave Nessa a wink. Never before had she felt that special kinship with all the women in the world who had ever been in love. She had dreamed about someday experiencing what all those women in movies and books felt; she hadn’t expected the far reaching collateral experiences like sharing a wink with a stranger. It only made the experience better.

“I am for real in love with you,” breathed out Baron as he caught his breath.

Nessa smiled. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of you telling me that.”

“Smart to get that kiss out of the way before we go into the room,” he said. “Once again, my partner is a super genius.”

He got her, knew exactly where she was coming from. All Nessa wanted to do was get changed and hurry out to the beach, where they could get close again without worrying if too much would happen behind closed doors.

Within seconds, Baron had the door open for her.

“I’m gonna change,” said Nessa, claiming one of the bags.

“I’ll arrange a tail for our little fish,” said Baron, already working on his phone as he moved toward the chair and small table.

Nessa went into the bathroom, closed the door, then leaned back against it to catch her breath. For hours she’d been running on adrenaline and borrowed courage, ever since she’d stormed out of Sutton Smith’s control room hoping that Baron would follow her.

Lo and behold, he’d followed her and together they had pulled off the mission, and there was no saying how far-reaching the results would be. All she had to do for the next day or two was hang out with her real boyfriend on the beach. And this was her job! Never in a million years did she imagine anything like this as she sat behind a computer for hundreds and hundreds of hours in school.

“Enough stalling,” she told herself. “Go live this life instead of sitting in here heart-throbbing about it.” She dug in to the bag and found the swim shorts and tank top. It still blew her mind that Baron hadn’t pushed her to go super skimpy with the bikinis in the shop. Wasn’t that a boyfriend’s job? As if everything else right now wasn’t enough, she had found the perfect man. On a day of roller-coaster ups and downs, she had launched into the sky, no longer even held to the ground on a track.

Nessa shimmied out of the shorts she’d bought earlier that day. As she folded them and laid them on the counter, she felt a tiny bulge in the side seam. Had it been there all along? She tried to think back to the last time she had sat down. The Uber. That was the only time she’d sat since putting the shorts on. The bulge was on the side where she wouldn’t feel it unless she happened to sit on her side somehow. It had been placed in a spot where it wouldn’t be noticed.

With trepidation, she slid one hand up the shorts’ leg and felt a cylindrical disk, about the size of a Lifesaver candy. It took some effort, but when she yanked on it, it dislodged.

What in the …

It looked like a bug. A tracking device. What else could it possibly be?

Nessa’s heart dropped into her gut. Someone was on to them. Someone knew exactly where she was right now. They could be circling in, closer and closer, ready to bust the door down.

She reached for the door handle, scared of what she’d see on the other side of it, and wondering how long it would take to be located. Baron would know all about this device and what kind of info the bad guys had on them. Baron had—

Baron had … what?

For one thing, he had tons of experience with this type of spy activity.

He also had professed ample concern about Nessa’s safety on this side of the border. Baron had also been very close to her on multiple occasions throughout the day.

But most of all, he had promised to respect her and keep her in the loop when it came to stuff like this.

“Baron!” The roller coaster was no longer up and down, it had crashed and was burning. The fire fueled Nessa’s outrage.

How dare he! And what in the world made him think she wouldn’t find it? For all his talk about respecting her and treating her like a partner, this was unforgivable and she was about to let him know that.

“Nessa! Are you okay?” He sounded worried. Or maybe that was guilt she heard in his voice, knowing that she must have discovered what he’d done. He was going to make an argument about worrying about her and wanting to keep her safe.

It would be a load of placating talk meant to calm her down and distract her from his broken promises. Again and again she would try to prove herself only to have him pull something like this.

Yelling at him and hearing his justification wasn’t good enough. Nessa needed to show him, to prove herself.

“Nessa? What’s wrong?” He knocked on the door.

“I … no, I’m fine.” How could she get rid of him? “I need a towel. I don’t know if these ones are clean.”

“I’ll call the front desk,” Baron stated instantly.

“No, can you just grab a couple? I need it before we head to the beach.” Let him wonder what was so urgent.

“Okay.” He didn’t sound as confident anymore. “We bought some at the surf shop.”

“No,” said Nessa, slipping the shorts back on, followed by her flip flops. “I always wash towels before I use them.”

“Oh. I …”

“I guess it’s a girl thing. I’ll be safe in here without you,” she assured him. “It’ll only take you a second.”

“I’m taking a key,” he said. “You don’t need to open the door if anyone comes knocking.”

“Thanks.” She didn’t want to talk too much. He was an intel expert, and probably knew she was bluffing hard.

“See you in one minute,” he said.

Nessa didn’t answer, afraid she’d lose it if she tried. No you won’t.

The door to the room opened. The second it closed, Nessa pulled the bathroom door open and saw … nobody. He had bought it! She had sold it! There wasn’t much time.

Nessa locked the bathroom door then pulled it shut. Then she took two seconds to jot a note on the notepad, grabbed her phone, and slipped out the back door to the patio leading to the beach, all before Baron came back in.

The first part of her plan had actually worked.

Who was she kidding, that was her entire plan. All she knew now was that she had to prove Baron wrong and prove herself capable all in one.

Not knowing the next step in her plan, she took off at a jog.