Elbows on his knees, Liam leaned forward. “Okay, Harris, you have our complete and undivided attention.”
The young security cop folded his hands over his stomach. “Open-minded attention?”
Cocky bastard.
“Are you in a position to be picky? We’ve gone to a lot of trouble for you.”>Going dreamy over him at such a crazy time seemed strange and wonderful all at once. Didn’t she deserve a moment to soak in what they’d shared last night?
She pulled her attention off her handsome lover and back to their conversation. “Just shy. Not much of a social life. She’s a truly nice person, devoted to the animals in her care… Although now that you mention it, she does have a backup for when she has to shop or if she’s sick. She hires vet tech students looking to make extra money while they’re in school.”
“Then I’m guessing that’s what she did now. All the more reason it was crucial to keep the plans from her at first. She isn’t trained in this sort of crisis. She will be able to say with all honesty to the students that she would be staying at a hotel.”
“You’re right. Still…” She scraped her hair back from her face. “The thought of someone trying to hurt them, getting so close, scares me. Factor in that the gunmen were driving the same kind of car that followed me to base in the first place, and I’m really freaking out.”
He pinned her with his glittering green gaze, as lush and virile as the Everglades. “This nightmare is going to end soon, Rachel. I promise you. We’re going to put together a plan for reentering the base, depending on what Harris is able to tell us.”
“Do you still think he’s unbalanced?” Even though her instincts told her otherwise, she had to take Liam’s concerns seriously.
“How am I supposed to know if I’ve never met the man?”
Valid point. “That’s the real reason you have your friend along, isn’t it? To make sure you outnumber him.”
“Just playing it safe.” He swooshed past a jutting cypress.
Safe? Where foxes and bears—not to mention the Florida panther—lived in this fragile wetland? Although the human beasts in the real world lately were every bit as lethal.
Liam navigated the airboat around another sharp bend with the skill of a race car driver, then cut the power back to idle. A shack came into view in the middle of a cypress swamp. A no-kidding shack. When he’d said a little out-of-the-way place and not to expect much, she’d expected to be pleasantly surprised, figuring he’d been downplaying so she wouldn’t get her hopes up. Cedar red planks closed in what appeared to be a lean-to on stilts. The front porch doubled as a dock and it didn’t appear there was much of a backyard.
At least the place had a roof.
Electricity, however, was doubtful.
“There’s an impressive generator,” he said, answering her unasked question. “And water from a well. The outside is deceptive. We’ll be safe here while we regroup.”
“If you say ‘trust me’ again, I think I’m going to scream.”
His dry laugh mingled with the cacophony of frogs and crickets. Everything out here was bigger, louder. Even the dragonfly buzzed around her face at concert level volume.
“Do you own this place?”
“It belongs to the uncle of one of my exes.” He worked the controls, slowing and revving the engine at just the right pace to ease up to the dock. “I have an open invitation to use it.”
How open? “Dare I ask which ex-wife?”
“Jealous?”
Yes. “Curious.”
“The second one.”
“Priscilla.” The cheater. The one Rachel actually wanted to kick for hurting Liam. Well, come to think of it, they had all hurt him.
“You remember.”
“That was very important information you shared.” And being jealous was churlish. She cupped his beard-stubbled cheek, full out touching him for the first time since they’d bolted out of bed. “I thought your parting with her was… acrimonious.”
“It was,” he said simply as he cut the engine. “But her uncle and I stay in touch even though I do my best to avoid her.” He pressed a quick kiss into her palm before stepping back to tie off the boat.
The kiss was nice and she wanted another, one that lingered, rather than a brush in passing. Was he just taking care of business or retreating emotionally, destroying another relationship? She desperately wanted to know more, to help herself sort through the jumble of emotions stirred up by this man. But now wasn’t the time. Maybe once they were settled inside.