Page 63 of Poison Evidence

But he’d give her space, as she requested, and follow at a distance.

Shit. Could he be a bigger asshole? She’d misinterpreted his words in the worst, most painful way, which told him something about her relationship with her ex.

He’d witnessed so much of her strength, he’d failed to see how much pain she hid. So maybe she was a good actress—in one area, at least.

But then, hiding pain from one’s enemies was a basic survival skill, and this was a reminder that even though they’d made love, even though he’d come to care about her far more than he should, they were still and would always be enemies.

And he’d unintentionally used sex to break through her strongest defense shield.

Ahead of him, she skirted around one of the skylights, a small opening that looked down on the lower chamber of the cave. Where he’d just made love to her, then gutted her because she dared to ask him to find a reason to live.

He covered her trail as he followed. He’d have to do the same on the return. At least the soft canopy bounced back quickly, and evening rain would likely erase any vestiges of their passing.

At last, Ivy settled in a patch of sunlight, but instead of staring upward, she faced the soft ground and drew shapes in the dirt. Thirty minutes passed as he watched her, hidden from her view by a leafy plant, but he had no doubt she was aware he guarded her.

She jumped up all at once and turned back for the cave. He tucked himself deeper in the shadows as she passed, then visited her seat in the sunlight. He paused before erasing her markings, his heart feeling tight at the necessity for wiping away this glimpse into her psyche.

A series of triangles were drawn in the dirt, followed by symbols and complex equations he couldn’t begin to understand.

Chapter Twenty-One

Luke held Undine on the tarmac and kissed her one more time. The Raptor jet was refueled and ready for the long flight to Palau.

She dropped back to her heels with her hands behind his neck. “Don’t underestimate him. He’s Dimitri Veselov, not Parker Reeves, and he’s not your friend.”

He nodded. “Don’t worry. I won’t make that mistake again.” He released Undine and nodded to Ian Boyd. “Let’s roll.”

Undine hugged Ian. “Watch his back,” she said. “Or I’ll kick your ass.”

Ian laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”

Luke took a step toward the jet, then stopped and faced her. Her long dark hair whipped up in the wind, and, as it always did, his heart flipped just looking at her. His fiancée. His past. His future. “I love you,” he said with feeling, not the rote words of their daily good-bye before he headed to work.

Her eyes lit, and she smiled. “Cool.”

He laughed. Her reply only pulled him in deeper. Leaving Undine for a job would never be easy; they had too much lost time to make up for.

She grabbed his shirt and kissed him one more time. “I love you too. Stay safe, both of you. And bring Ivy back.”

“Will do, Undine,” Ian said, then climbed the steps to the private jet.

With one last look at the woman who’d become his world, Luke followed Ian up the steps, then gave a low whistle as he took in the plush corporate jet. “This is quite the step up from the military flights we used when heading to a deployment.”

“Working for Raptor has its perks.”

“Did Keith give you a spiel to pass on to try to recruit me?” Luke asked as he stowed his suitcase in a storage compartment.

“Pretty much. But he also knows it’s futile.”

“Yeah. I’m out of the game. If this weren’t personal, I wouldn’t be here.”

They settled into their seats. One of the pilots sealed the door, and they were airborne just moments later—a perk of being able to use the small Port Angeles airport—no waiting as they would have at SeaTac or Boeing Field.

Definite perk. But still, Luke wasn’t interested. His life was in Washington with Undine, and he was happy working for NOAA—and thankful his bosses had approved open-ended leave at the last minute so he could embark on this mission.

It didn’t hurt that Curt Dominick personally made the request, but still, after last fall, his employers were more than happy to give him whatever he wanted, as long as he continued to wear the NOAA uniform. They wanted to move him into public relations, but he’d flat-out refused. He didn’t want to be the poster boy for the organization. He wanted to be an anonymous marine biologist. He wanted to continue his study of the effects of sonar on marine mammal navigation.

But today, the whales would have to wait.

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