CHAPTER TWO
DALTON’S EXAGGERATING,” HOLDEN said softly, leaning close so he could whisper in her ear. “The first few times he told the story, he and Kimber were under the water for a good four seconds before the yacht ran ashore and blew up, so I don’t think they were nearly as close to the explosion as he’s making it out to be. Next, he’ll tell people they were actually on the ship when it exploded and only survived because he’s so tough.”
Kendall shivered a little, and it had nothing to do with how crazy Dalton’s story was. On the contrary, it had everything to do with Holden’s warm breath caressing her neck. It was all she could do not to lean in even closer on the off-chance he might brush those incredibly sexy lips of his across her ear. She was so caught up in the fantasy, she barely heard the laughter around them as everyone ragged on Dalton for embellishing some of the details in the story.
Holden had introduced her to Chasen and Hayley the moment they’d walked into the private dining room the restaurant reserved for parties. The couple were cool with her being Holden’s plus one, just as he’d said. Instead of talking about the upcoming nuptials like she thought they would, the guys had immediately started talking shop and telling crazy stories about how they’d met their girlfriends.
Kendall thought they were making up the tales because they were so outrageous. But when Dalton Jennings recounted what happened to him and his wife, Kimber, recently in San Francisco, she already knew they weren’t. Because she knew every bit of what he said was true.
That was when Holden reluctantly admitted he and his friends were Navy SEALs. Kendall had no idea why he hadn’t mentioned it when they’d been at the bar. She’d have thought dropping the fact that he was a SEAL would be a sure way to get into a girl’s panties. So, why not go with it? Unless he wasn’t attracted to her. Regardless, she acted appropriately impressed when he told her.
Kendall ignored the rapid beating of her heart being near Holden was causing. For this whole thing to work, she needed to stay in character. That meant reacting the way any other woman would when she learned she was at a party full of daring Navy SEALs. That was a lot easier to do when she reminded herself that Holden was a dangerous criminal.
“Who cares how close they were to the explosion? They still had to jump out of a moving boat. That’s insane!” She turned her head a little to look at Holden. “Were you up in San Francisco when all that happened?”
Kendall also already knew the answer to that question. The FBI had hours of video footage from various traffic and security cameras around the city, providing a solid timeline of when Holden, Dalton, and Wes had been there, along with most of the places they’d gone. Not all of them, of course. If they had that kind of information, the FBI field office in San Francisco would never have sent Kendall down to San Diego. Holden would have already been arrested and in prison.
Still, it’d be interesting to see how he’d answer her question. Criminals lied even when they didn’t have to. It was a habit that defined their lives. She was surprised when the dark-haired Holden nodded.
“Wes and I originally went up there to help Dalton rescue his daughter, Emma, from the same creeps who later grabbed Kimber and put her on the yacht that blew up. We helped get Emma back, but truthfully, I barely showed up in time to do little more than scoop Dalton and Kimber out of the bay after the explosion. They got off that boat completely on their own.”
“Don’t let Holden downplay the role he played in the whole thing,” Dalton called out from across the table, a grin on his face “I would never have gotten Emma—or Kimber, for that matter—back without his help. I’ll owe him and Wes for the rest of my life.”
Kendall nodded all wide-eyed at that, acting like she didn’t know anything about the kidnapping and subsequent rescue of the little girl, or the part Holden had played even though she’d read the extensive FBI report. The part that had interested her the most was the break-in Holden had orchestrated at Kimber’s former employer. She knew why he and the other guys had broken in and what they’d stolen there. More importantly, she knew exactly how Holden had pulled it off. Bottom line, the man was extremely talented when it came to breaking into high-security facilities.
But as talented as Holden might be, it turned out he had a signature style of sorts—a unique way of creating feedback loops when bypassing video cameras. The technique was so different it stood out like a set of fingerprints, and the FBI had immediately connected him to a second theft that had occurred in San Francisco a day after the first. While both jobs had involved pilfering extremely cutting-edge computer technology, the item stolen from the second job was worth millions more than the stuff from the first. Due to security classification reasons, her bosses hadn’t told Kendall yet exactly what Holden had stolen, but it was something important, and the National Security Agency desperately wanted it back.
There were some agents in the Bureau who’d wanted to arrest Holden immediately, but calmer heads had prevailed, pointing out that the Navy SEAL had almost certainly stolen the item for someone else, which meant he didn’t have it in his possession. If they arrested him now, he could lawyer up and they’d never get close to what they were after.
So, they’d sent Kendall undercover to somehow weasel the information out of him. Though how the hell she was supposed to do that was a mystery to her. She was relatively new in the Bureau and had zero undercover experience. But according to the FBI profiler who’d studied Holden, she was exactly the kind of woman who could get close to the SEAL.
She gave Holden a smile. “What? Being a hero during duty hours isn’t enough for you? You have to save the world in your off time, too?”
He snorted, glancing over at Dalton, Kimber, and the adorable little girl sitting between the couple having way too much fun with her French fries and a veritable swimming pool of ketchup. “I wasn’t being a hero or trying to save the world. I was just doing whatever I could to protect my family.”
From the expression on his handsome face, Kendall got the impression he wasn’t merely referring to the trio directly across from them. He was talking about everyone at the table.
“Protecting people who are important to you?” she said softly. “I’m pretty sure that’s the definition of being a hero.”
If she didn’t know better, Kendall would think Holden was blushing. After reading the files on the break-ins up in San Fran, Holden’s school records, his Navy personnel file, and the psychology profile the FBI had developed on him, she’d walked into the restaurant with certain expectations. But ultimately, the man she’d ended up meeting was nothing like the cold, calculating thief she’d been prepared to find.
Instead, Holden seemed warm, genuine, and yeah, with that thick, dark hair, eyes the color of espresso, and a square, chiseled jaw, he was also sinfully attractive. But above all, he clearly cared about his Teammates and extended SEAL family. Truthfully, it was obvious he’d been worried about her, too. He’d never met her and yet still stepped in to help. The scene with Isaac Whitworth, her handler out of the San Diego field office, had been completely fabricated, of course. The FBI profiler had told them that if Holden overheard the argument, he’d come to her rescue. That a woman in trouble was something Holden simply couldn’t walk away from.
Kendall wondered at the strange dichotomy of that. The FBI had written a profile for a cold, calculating thief who couldn’t walk past a stranger in trouble. She had to admit, when Holden had swooped in and rescued her, she’d been impressed.
“What, you don’t like being called a hero?” she asked when he didn’t say anything. In fact, he actually looked a little flustered at the compliment.
She leaned a little closer. Damn, he smelled good. For a criminal. She had a fleeting thought then, wondering what his skin would taste like under her tongue.
Get a grip. You’re undercover, not on a date.
“In the SEALs, the word hero isn’t thrown around quite so lightly as in other walks of life,” Holden said softly. “I did what I had to do…even those things I would have preferred not doing.”
She gazed into his dark eyes, pretty sure that was a partial confession of sorts. Which only proved once again he wasn’t the man the FBI profiler had described to her. That man wouldn’t have let anything slip so easily.
“Something tells me there’s nothing you wouldn’t do for the people you care about,” she said.
He smiled. He had a really nice smile. “If there is, I haven’t found it yet.”
Kendall was still considering all the subtle nuances of that answer when a group of servers brought in dinner. As they ate, she and Holden chatted about her master’s program and life in the SEALs, in between getting caught up in the other conversations around the table.
On the other side of Kendall, wedding planner, Felicia Bradford—who’d recently gotten engaged to a SEAL named Logan Dunn—was talking about all the stuff she still had to do for the big event tomorrow. Kendall wondered when the poor woman planned to sleep. It sounded like she had more work to do than an army of wedding planners could tackle.
“You’re coming to the wedding with Holden, right?” Felicia asked.
To say the question caught Kendall off guard was an understatement. Her job was to get as close to Holden as quickly as possible, but she hadn’t planned on inviting herself to the wedding. Mostly because she figured there was no way she could pull it off without making Holden suspicious.
She glanced at Holden to see him looking as frustrated with the wedding planner as he had with Wes earlier at the bar.
“Thanks, Felicia,” he said dryly. “It’s not like I was planning to ask her myself or anything.”
Kendall couldn’t help laughing.
Felicia shrugged, not the least bit offended. “If you were going to ask her, what are you complaining about? I just saved you the trouble.”
Yup, they were definitely like one big family.
Holden shook his head, then looked at Kendall. “I just got this crazy idea. Would you like to go to Chasen and Hayley’s wedding with me tomorrow?”
Kendall smiled. “I’d love to.” She glanced at Felicia. “You sure it wouldn’t be a problem? I won’t mess up the seating arrangements or anything, will I?”
“What kind of wedding planner would I be if I couldn’t handle a simple last-minute arrival?” Felicia scoffed. “It won’t be a problem at all.”
She turned back to Holden to find him grinning at her, dark eyes dancing. Her pulse skipped a beat. She told herself she was simply psyched at the chance to get closer to him so she could arrest him. This case could kick-start her entire career.
Her career. Yeah, that was exactly why she was so excited.