Page 84 of Pucker Factor

“No, just a place where he can be seen. And he likes to be called a good boy.”

That made Eli flinch. “You want me to talk to a fish?”

“Oh, it’s something you’ll do all on your own when you see him. And Horatio likes to be read to.”

He sighed heavily, staring up at the ceiling. “Horatio is your cat?”

“Yep!”

“And I suppose you have a certain book you want me to read to him.”

A smile twisted my lips. “Well, he really likes to hear about his life. If you can’t guess, it’s theHoratio Hornblowerseries.”

“Is that about the Navy guy?”

“Yep!”

He looked even more confused now, and that’s what I liked about our relationship. I had to keep him on his toes. “So, you want me to read him books about him, that aren’t really about him.” I nodded. “And I’m guessing this is fiction.”

“Does that matter?”

“Other than the fact that your request just keeps getting weirder and weirder?”

I smiled at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him closer. “You like me weird. In fact, I can’t wait to show you all the weird things I’d like to do to you.”

His eyebrows shot up and he shifted uncomfortably. “Uh…” He jerked his head to the side. “What’s that, Red?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Didn’t you hear that?” he asked, stepping away from me and pulling up his pants.

I scrambled to figure out what was going on. Everything was great, and then he freaked out and pulled back. “Was it something I said?”

“I have to…check on something.” He flung the door open and stepped right up to Red. “Good, you called. Let’s go check it out.”

“Check what out?” Red asked.

“The thing…you know, the thing you were…” He glanced back at me and frowned. “Anyway, we should go.”

He walked out with Red trailing behind in confusion. I quickly got up, rushing to the door as I adjusted my dress. What the hell just happened? But as I ran up the steps to the deck, ready to give Eli a piece of my mind, I stopped immediately, snapping my jaw closed at the sight in front of me.

22

ELI

“What the fuck is going on?” Red asked as he rushed behind me.

“Nothing, I just have to—”

A gun was pressed to my head. I should have seen it. Hell, my senses were all off the minute she told me she wanted to do weird shit to me. I wasn’t sure why I freaked out, but I had to get out of there before I started asking questions and found out exactly what she wanted to do. I still had a job to finish, though I couldn’t remember what it was at the moment.

“Hey…” I said, looking at the captain out of the corner of my eyes. “What’s going on?”

“Hands in the air.”

I did as he asked, slowly raising my arms. After a quick look around the boat, I saw that all of my teammates were in similar positions, all being held by someone on the boat. But there was a look in Fox’s eyes that settled the nerves inside.

“Sure. Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

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