Miguel pulled the young man aside and drew a pile of cash from his pocket. “Tell me what you know.”
The kid shrugged, eyeing the money with what could only be hope in his eyes…and maybe a little greed as well. He understood that need, had been there himself as a kid once. “You want to make the money? You want to buy something for your pretty mama? Maybe you have a girl to impress?”
“I don’t know anything about the woman, Señor,” he hedged, showing a decent streak of loyalty. His eyes betrayed him, staying with the money.
Miguel stepped closer. “Maybe you have a little sister as well, eh?”
The kid’s eyes nailed him, confusion turned to suspicion. And just the dose of wariness Miguel intended.
“La señora only has her husband here. She’s on vacation, getting away from the kids for a while.”
“Where are the kids?”
He shrugged. “No se. We didn’t talk about that. Just that they weren’t here. She didn’t say where they were.”
“And her husband? Why wasn’t he on the boat today?”
When the boy shrugged again, Miguel wanted to give him a good smack. “Work.”
“Work?”
“Si.”
“Okay.” Miguel considered that, considered that maybe he could wiggle into her life. Maybe if there was business and pleasure…well, he also understood that a man and woman who were balancing work and pleasure would be vulnerable to certain riffs.
“Oh, and they talked about leaving for the Philippines soon, too.”
Miguel looked up, shocked at the announcement. “Both of them?”
“No, solo el hombre.”
Miguel grinned. “Perfecto. Gracias.” And then he pulled his derringer from his pocket, aimed, and shot the kid in the heart before he turned and walked back up the deserted path to the main road.
***
Hawk took a quick ten minutes to check on the team before following Stacy back to their rooms. The bungalow was quiet, lights off. He checked the bedroom and found everything in place, not a wrinkle in the bedspread.
Through the sliding door to the master suite’s private patio, a flash of splashing water caught his eye, and the blur of her swim stroke became clear. She rose from the water onto the big rock at the shoreline.
The cove beyond their suite was one of the only places along this stretch of beach made of rock and surrounded by dense growth, the backdrop of green so lush, he wished he could paint it. He wasn’t the artist in the family, though.
He crossed the hot sand. The fifteen yards seemed a hundred. The abrasions along his side and arm had tightened and ached with every move. The ankle that had kicked out the scooter was tender from the beating.
To the west of Stacy’s perch, rustling in the green caught his eye. She waved. Years of instinct and caution beat through his veins as a figure slipped into the dense jungle and disappeared.
Hawk approached, never stopping his thorough scan of the surroundings even when it caused Stacy to roll her eyes. There was nothing there now, and he stopped his veering to return to her spot on the shore.
“I thought I saw something,” he said, and for a shockingly brief moment, he heard a new defensive tone in his voice. “Did you see anyone?”
“Nope. The rendezvous I planned didn’t work out.” Her lips pursed as she narrowed her eyes. She was teasing him. The casual joking didn’t seem funny this time. And he had to wonder if it was because she’d instigated it. Not fair. He knew that…
Annoyed. She was annoyed.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, changing the subject.
She jumped down and gathered her things into a large pink bag. “Fine. You?”
“I’m okay.” He sent another long glance toward the trees and shook his head. “There was a man standing not ten feet from this spot. He disappeared.”
“Oh, well, that must have been Juan, the pool boy.” She scowled, beginning her trek back to the house. Raw, abraded skin covered the back of her arms.
Hawk’s gut tightened. “Oh, man. Stacy,” he said sympathetically.
She turned, piercing him with a gaze. He took her right arm and lifted it so he could see the marks on the back. “I didn’t realize you’d gotten hit. I thought—”
“Hit?” she asked with a huff. “That’s from you knocking me to the ground.” She relaxed, held his arm. “Protecting me, Hawk. It’s from you standing between me and the evil that is out there. It’s nothing, same as the raw skin along your arms and your back are nothing to worry about. Okay?”
He couldn’t help but touch her, give in to the urge to rest his palm against the pulse at her neck. “What if it wasn’t some random anti-tourist vandal?”
She gripped his wrist. “Please, Hawk. Some things are what they seem. Let’s not borrow trouble. Just this once, okay? The officer said they’d been having problems. If someone was after you or me, they wouldn’t have been here weeks before us wreaking havoc on Punta Gorda, just to have an alibi. Besides, you’re thinking about someone who wants you dead. The scooter hardly did the job.”
“Someone was watching you.”
“No one’s out here,” she replied, begging him. “We’re careful, Nathan. No one is here.” She used his name, which she only did when she was really serious. “Besides, aren’t I worth a second look?” She raised her brows in mock inquiry to lighten the mood. She started back up the beach.
He ran a hand over his mouth, looked around again. Had he been wrong? Had the breeze blown through and moved the bushes along the shore there?
Doubt would be worse than actually losing his sight. There was no room for doubt in his business, in his life, but in a matter of minutes, he’d doubted her then doubted himself.
He’d been so busy getting these last assignments completed. He’d been avoiding her, avoiding his own problems. And now he had more than just personal problems to deal with. This new development in the Philippines had gotten worse.
And all the vision loss in the world wouldn’t excuse the fact that for the first time—ever—he considered hiding business from her. She wanted back in. At first thinking she was just picking up an exercise regimen, he started suspecting maybe there was more to it. She’d spent the last year, slowly getting back into the routine of training with the guys, of being around the office during business hours.
Stacy was happier than he’d seen her in a long time.
If he let her in, the fear—seeing—or not seeing someone, who might or might not have bad intentions, was enough to choke him. He followed her, slowly up to the back patio and through the sliding door into their suite.
Through it all, he had to protect her, and he was afraid he couldn’t.
Trouble bombarded him from all sides. And he could only be grateful he’d been able to save her this afternoon on the road. Grateful. God. What an awful feeling.
“You’re angry.”
He found her watching him, and suddenly he wanted to do it her way. Get rid of everything except her and him. The vacation he’d promised her. No business, no responsibilities. Nothing.
“At me?”
“No,” he answered, taking her hand and pulling her as tightly against him as he could. He was hard instantly, pressing his lips to hers and wanting to undo the past. To change the fact that he had to leave her and go to Manila for a few days. Oh, he was in so much trouble and he just wanted it all to go away.
He could have been a plumber, like his step-dad, and raised a family with Stacy—risks and danger not included.
Tunneling his fingers through her short hair sent reminders to his soul that what they had was more than just a business relationship, more than he-man and damsel in distress. She was strong…
And he was going to lose the ability to be her equal. He shoved the thought away.
Stacy’s hand trailed up his spine, lightly caressed his skin, making the fire that raged through him burn even hotter. And he knew it had been too long—
“It’s been so long, Hawk.” Her whisper brushed his neck an instant before she took his lips in a kiss made only for him. He sank into it, lifting her from the floor at the same time.
Her desire was like a living breathing thing, devouring him. He had to believe that his failings weren’t going to paralyze him, end something he’d worked for almost his entire adult life.
The part that mattered anyway.
He began a slow retreat through the kitchen then turned down the hall to their bedroom. All the time, moving his hands over her body. He didn’t want to stop touching her.
Being with her he knew. Was it enough? How could it be enough?
When her hands found their way to cup his rear, all thought stopped.
He kicked the door to the bedroom open.
Then shut it, blocking all his thoughts from joining them in bed.
***
The cool sheets slid down Stacy’s back when she rolled away from Hawk to let her arm hang over the side of the bed. Her legs brushed against Hawk’s, and he automatically reached for her as if to stop her.
She had no intention of leaving the bed. Not yet, anyway.
Her limbs were fairly shaking in the aftermath.
Apparently, she hadn’t been the only one at the end of her rope. “I really needed that. I know this isn’t the complete answer for whatever it is that’s between us—”
He stopped her with a hand on the small of her back. “Later,” he said, making her smile into the softness of the mattress under her cheek. Hawk rolled her over and tucked her into the curve of his body.
His sigh was familiar and pregnant with his regret over leaving her. “I’m sorry I have to go. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
“Just a few days.”
“What happened?”
His hands rode up her ribcage and squeezed her shoulder before sliding down her arm. It was a comforting touch, only this time, it only left her feeling alone, abandoned.
“The guys are being held at the American Embassy in Manila.”
“How could things go so wrong?” Frustration had her separating from his touch. “Are they under arrest?”
“Not officially—”
“Official? Do they want me to get official? I can get very official with them.” Stacy had worked with the embassy off and on for years. Even with the staff changing over the years, she’d maintained close contact. “These men have served their country, and now they are serving the people of the Philippines.”
She stood, looked around, and pulled on her shorts. “I’m putting a call in to Paula right now.”
“Whoa.”
“Don’t you start with me, Hawk.” The anger she felt, as if it came from somewhere else, spilled over. “These are our men, not just yours. How dare they hold them?”
“There was an altercation outside Paniqui while they were testing Min’s security systems.” Hawk had risen and was also putting on clothes. Too bad. She was sorry their conversation had ended their much-needed, naked interlude. “Two of the guys were injured. And a local was killed.”
“Will they be there long?”
“Looks like there were witnesses supporting the team’s innocence. Just a matter of red tape, paperwork.”
“Let me go with you.”
“No way.”
She jerked at his sharp, unexpected tone, and her frown turned to a scowl.
“Manila is risky right now.”
“There are always risks, Nathan. You can’t protect me from everything, and if I went with you, I could help with the paperwork. I know how you hate it. Besides, we’d be together.” Isn’t that enough?
“It’s not that I don’t want you with me.” He opened the closet and pulled out a small bag. “Come on. You know how it is.”
“Cortez?”
Surprise filled his eyes as he shrugged. “I just can’t get him out of my head, Stacy. Why? He was just a criminal who made bad choices and built a business on murder, drugs, and death.”
Hawk approached her, reached for her hands and gently ran a finger across the scrapes and bruises from earlier. “I can’t take the chance that he’ll be there waiting for me, for you. He lost his wife—”
“We’ve lived on the edge a long time.” She met his gaze, challenged him with the truth. “We are careful, Hawk.”
“And you’re going to stay careful here…thousands of miles from this asshole.”
She stared for a minute, just watching as he went around her, finishing up the bit of packing, until he finally stopped in front of her. “Maybe I should call Jamie to come stay with you while I’m gone.”
“No. Don’t make him do that.”
“I won’t have to.”
She didn’t like to be in the spotlight. Front and center wasn’t her style. “He doesn’t have to be here. I’ll check in with him, if it makes you feel better.”
A low rumbling growl escaped from her husband and that strong, capable hand scrubbed at his head. “Yes, it makes me feel better, damn it.”
“Fine.” What the hell.
“Thank you,” he breathed.
They’d handled the dangers for as long as they’d known each other. The only difference now was that he seemed…
Afraid.
***
He called it a go bag for a reason.
Go. And within minutes, he would be gone. Even on vacation. This time, he’d caught a flight at oh three hundred. Stacy laughed at herself as the familiar worry of deployment hit her. Then she went to pour a glass of wine. He’d left her behind. Because he needed to protect her.
She wanted to be with him.
Her part in the business needed serious revamping, if she was ever going to get out of this rut of being a homebody. She took a sip. The merlot soothed her, the flavor comforted her.
When her phone buzzed, she pulled it out of her pocket.
She talked to the kids, told them what was going on, then talked to her mom, too.
“He has a very important job, dear,” her mom responded to her thought on Hawk’s leaving.
“Yes, I know.”
“And you have the kids.” Her mom held onto the old traditions, maintaining her house and home for her man.
Stacy had to wonder if she really had the kids.
They were getting older. Not grown up or moved out but independent. Unless they needed a ride somewhere, she wasn’t really the center of their world anymore. “I should go, Mom.”
“Okay, dear. Thanks for calling. Moira was just saying this morning how much she missed you.”
Stacy smiled. “I miss her, too.”
Hanging up, she swiped a finger through old messages and found the one from Diane. The one she’d received just before they’d left North Carolina.
Been awhile, friend. Please come visit. Would love to see your face, and that of your husband, too.
She hit the reply button. She’d need to fill the next few days, their trip to the Mayan ruins a complete wash at this point. She’d thought they could take a few days to go inland, even see Mexico, but everything was up in the air now that he wasn’t even on the same continent.
Before she could change her mind, Stacy began typing on her screen.
I have a few days free. Want to drive down. Let me know what works for you. Can’t wait to see your face. Love.
Hitting send, she relaxed, her head resting on the lounge chair behind her.
He’d left before.
He’d leave again in the future.
This was not something to be overly concerned about.
She shivered, the dark of night closing in around her. The usual peace fled. And as the minutes ticked by, she resigned herself to the questions that were still unanswered.
He would get his reprieve until he got back.
She was going to make it her one goal to get to the bottom of his fear.