Page 117 of Devoted in Death

“Is that why they’re so blue? X-ray eyes?”

“Where you’re concerned.”

“I don’t need a blocker, just some quiet. I talked to a half a million people today, most of them at least twice. You probably did double that.”

“And won’t the quiet hour be good for both of us?”

They stepped out, into and through the tropical bliss of plants and dwarf trees toward the deep blue water.

“God, that looks really good.”

“What are you doing?” he asked as she opened a case.

“Getting a suit.”

“Whatever for?”

“Look, I know I said an hour or two, and probably, but what if cops come early? And what if one of those cops thinks, just like we did: Hey, a swim would be nice. I’m not risking naked.”

“If you want privacy...” He took the suit out of her hand, set it aside. “It only takes blocking the elevator from this level, which I did.”

“Blocking the elevator.” Absently, she rubbed at the headache between her eyes. “Why didn’t I think of that? They can’t get in here?”

“They could if McNab decided to bypass, which would be a bit of a challenge for him. But I believe we can trust him to respect our privacy.”

So saying, he tugged up her sweater.

She considered McNab, bypassing, then nodded. “No, he wouldn’t do that. One question,” she added as she took off her trousers, “before the quiet.”

“I can handle one question.”

“How can it be one hour earlier in Oklahoma than it is here, and be the same time it is here in the Bahamas? Oklahoma’s in the same damn country as we are, right? It’s America. And the Bahamas aren’t. You don’t have to be a geography whiz to know the Bahamas aren’t in the U.S. and Oklahoma is. So why, for God’s sake? How?”

Christ, he adored her. Just adored every inch of her as she stood there in her underwear, radiating annoyed confusion.

“Science is full of mysteries.”

“It seems like bullshit to me. Who the hell decides these things?” she demanded as she stripped off the tank. “Who made the gods of time anyway?”

“That’s more than one question.”

“They’re related,” she claimed and wiggled out of her panties.

Since he enjoyed her careless striptease, he waited until she’d finished, dived in, before he undressed.

She did four hard laps, then rolled over to float on her back.

“Sometimes when you’re not here I do this. Just float like this and think how I’m in this big-ass pool in this big-ass house, and if that isn’t enough to blow up your skirt, I’ve got you working upstairs or coming home soon, or better yet...”

She reached out, felt his fingers link with her. “Better yet, right here. It’s a really good deal for me.”

“For me as well. I’ll think, Look at her, just at her, and she’s mine. My one thing I wanted long before I knew to want her.”

She turned, treaded water, then slid in to twine around him. “I really love you.”

He murmured the words back to her, in Irish, made her smile.

“They really can’t get in here?”

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