Page 48 of Sighs By the Sea

With Hobbs pulling a disheveled Axe to his feet, I say, “You’re under arrest for failure to appear.” He spits at me, but I sidestep easily. Criminals are predictable, and Axe had “spitter” written all over him.

“You don’t have jurisdiction here, bitch.”

I turn to Hobbs. “Can you arrange for us to get back to the mainland?” My voice is overly sweet, but it works in my favor as Hobbs nods. “Perfect! We’ll be like a happy family, returning home after the long war.” To add fuel to Axe’s fire, I give him a wink.

Grayson watches, slack-jawed. I flit over to his side and kiss his cheek. “Thanks for the backup. You did well.”

His eyes narrow. “Are you placating me because I sucked?”

“You’ll never know.”

“Oh, I do know. You’re not sneaky, darling Maggie.” His smile lets me know he doesn’t mind. That’s good because he won’t win any points by acting like a hurt alpha. I’m good at my job, but I don’t expect anyone else to endure what I do. Man or not, this work is tough.

“Let’s just say I had it handled. I always have it handled. But how’s the hand, Ali?”

He looks at his knuckles, already bruising, and flexes them. “Fine.”

I chuckle. “Fine,” I echo, lowering my voice to match his rich tone. “I’m a man; we don’t bleed, we ooze masculinity.” We both laugh, but his eyes lose some of their mirth. I get it—now that the adrenaline is wearing off, he’s probably realizing just how dangerous this was.

“Why don’t you grab some chow? I need to call this in.” I rise on tiptoes and kiss his nose. “I’ll find you when I’m done.”

He nods, but I can tell he’s not really hearing me. His eyes are locked on my lips, and for some reason, he hesitates to leave.

“Oh, Mr. Cardenas, you have that look,” I say, stepping closer.

“Mm-hmm.” He continues staring at my mouth, and I lick my lips.

“Like you wanna kiss me,” I say, gripping his shirt.

“I’m not kissing you, Maggie.” And why the hell not? As far as I’m concerned, we’re together now. Besides, he was happy to kiss me an hour ago when all the Navy guys were giving me attention. Figures—now that the threat’s gone, he’s back to pretending we aren’t exploring this delicious chemistry.

“What about if I kiss you, Mr. Cardenas?” His chest rumbles with a growl. I’m not sure if it’s a warning or an invitation. I ignore it and press my mouth to his. I open up immediately, sliding my tongue against his. It takes exactly point zero two seconds before he’s kissing me back. I sink into him, and he wraps his arms around my waist, his tongue exploring my mouth with a hunger I didn’t know he had. I moan as my hands grip his hair.

Much too soon, I pull away. “I need to speak with our guy, okay?” My hands move to his chest. He leans down until our foreheads touch. “Okay, Maggie.” I let my hand drift down his pecs to his belt, giving it a single tug before turning around and heading back to walk with the now-cuffed Axe.

Grayson

Maggie looks wobbly on her feet. It’s nearing two a.m., and I can’t remember the last time I felt this tired—not since college.

Ah, college. Stale beer and running on fumes that smelled like pure tequila. I smile at the memory. Only two years in, I grabbed my degree in accounting and never looked back. School wasn’t really my thing. Besides, I had a job waiting. College seemed entirely unnecessary. Once I got partied out and met Suze, I left it in the past.

We’d been flown off the island on a giant helicopter. It was, in a word, amazing. Based on how thrilled Maggie was during the ride, I think she would have made one hell of an MP. Even I have to admit that being inside a machine soaring over the open ocean with the sun setting behind us was beautiful, with just the right amount of danger. I wonder if Maggie’s ever been on a helicopter before. Maybe I could get her another ride. I wouldn’t mind doing a tour with her or something.

But those are dangerous thoughts. I let myself get carried away yesterday. Both in the car and on the base. None of it should have happened. Right now, I should be focused on getting my son back. That means leaving distractions like Maggie far away.

She giggles in her sleep-addled state. “You okay?” I ask, feeling her lean against me as she yawns and nods. Words seem hard for her right now.

“Helicopter,” she mumbles, and I can’t help but chuckle.

“Yes, Maggie. We went on a helicopter. You looked like you loved it.”

“Mmhmm,” she says with another yawn. We did get a lead from Axe—no name, because that would be too easy, and the gangs have to make everything as hard as possible. But he did have a description. A woman. One his gang often sold drugs to, who supplied the first half of the payment, $25,000, to coax them to ‘take me out.’ The other half will come to whomever manages to kill me. Odd to be on this side of their wrath. But I can’t think of that right now. That’s Maggie’s turf. Tomorrow, she’ll turn her notes into a profile and run it through their system of CIs and known criminals. All that’s on my mind right now is sleep. Maybe for the next two whole days.

“Maggie?” I say, breaking through her sleepy thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“You want me to drive you to your sister’s dorm?”

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