Barksdale had thrown Eva overboard. Alive? Or had he shot her first?
Please, God,
he prayed.
Please let her be alive.
Refusing to entertain any other thought, he urged the Jet Ski forward.
Barksdale had turned the speedboat and headed toward a yacht anchored in international waters. He could go after Barksdale. Or he could go after Eva, save her from the water.
Eva was a good swimmer and she knew the ocean. If she was dead, she was dead. If she was alive, she could make it until he got back to her or until one of his team could rescue her.
That choice made sense. It was the smart thing to do. It’s what Higgins would order him to do.
But Adam had learned that blindly following orders was not always the right thing to do. He had to follow his heart and if it cost him his career, well then so be it. It wasn’t a choice. No contest.
He let Barksdale slip away, hopped the Jet Ski over a high wave and went in search of the woman he loved.
She rolled onto her back and floated for what felt like a very long time, but was probably only minutes.
A thin pencil of light cut through the darkness. Then she heard the Jet Ski. The engine died suddenly, but the headlamp stayed on.
“Eva!”
It was Adam, calling to her, a heavenly voice in the darkest of night.
“Adam,” she croaked, surprised to hear her voice come out low and scratchy. “Eva?”
“Here,” she tried to shout, but she couldn’t. “I’m here.”
The Jet Ski engine revved up, the light drew closer. She waved a hand. “Here, here, I’m here.”
Then miraculously, there he was, right in front of her. He cut the engine again, reached for her and his strong arms going around her tightly, pulling her up onto the Jet Ski amidst the buffeting waves.
“Adam,” she whispered, “I…”
“Shh, don’t talk now. Save your energy.” He kissed her tenderly on the forehead, tucked her arms around his waist, started the Jet Ski and headed back to shore.
Rogers had a blanket. He wrapped it around Eva’s shoulders.
“I’ll be right back,” Adam whispered, and then allowed Rogers to lead her away to an awaiting medic.
“Barksdale?” Higgins asked, hands on his hips.
Adam shook his head, and then explained what had happened. Told Higgins of his choice to save Eva instead of going after Barksdale. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew by the expression on his commander’s face that his career in the ONI was over. How could he blame Higgins? Because of Adam, highly classified government secrets had fallen into enemy hands.
He’d let down his country in the worst way possible.
“We can’t touch him in international waters,” Higgins said.
“I know, sir.” He stood at attention. “What about the buyer? Did you apprehend him at the airport?”
“It was a red herring. The buyer is on the yacht. He planned on heading back to his country tonight. This was Barksdale’s last chance. Looks like he made it.”
“I have no excuse, sir,” Adam says. “The fault is entirely mine. I assume from the message he sent Miss St. George via my cloned phone, that the microchip was in her locket. He must have been the one who tried to mug us last night and take the locket at that time.”
“Did you ask Miss St. George if by some chance, he didn’t get hold of the locket?”
“No, but—”
“Let’s go ask her,” Higgins interrupted. Obviously, the man was grasping at straws. The microchip was the only reason Barksdale had lured Eva to the beach. When he’d gotten his hands on her, he’d taken the locket.
Commander Higgins strode over to where the medic was checking Eva’s blood pressure as she sat in the back of the ambulance. He introduced himself to Eva, and then asked, “Did Barksdale take your locket?”
“He did.” Eva nodded.
Higgins swore, turning away.
“But,” she said, “it wasn’t the locket he gave me.”
“Excuse me?” Higgins whirled back to her.
A saucy smile lifted her lips. That saucy smile Adam loved so much.
“I wasn’t wearing the locket that Keith had given me. A locket’s a pretty common piece of jewelry—I already had a cheap one.” She shrugged. “Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where Keith subconsciously got his idea for a hiding place—I wore it on a few dates. And remember, I thought I was going to meet Adam. I didn’t realize Keith had cloned Adam’s phone number and sent the message. After we had nearly gotten mugged over the necklace last night, I decided to wear the cheap one instead,” she explained. “I couldn’t imagine Adam would care.”
Was he hearing this correctly? Barksdale hadn’t gotten hold of the microchip after all? Adam fisted his hands, not really daring to hope.
Eva continued, “I tried to use Keith’s ego to buy time for Adam to catch up to us. He was so distracted bragging about his own brilliance, he didn’t realize it wasn’t the same locket.”
“So you still have the real locket?” Higgins asked.
“I do. It’s back at my apartment.”
“What are we waiting for?” Higgins said. “Let’s go get it.”
They arrived at Eva’s apartment a few minutes later. She went into her bedroom, came out with the locket. She presented it to Higgins.
All three of them held their collective breaths as Higgins opened the locket. It was empty.
Disappointment shattered the hopes that had been building.
“Nothing,” Higgins said.
“Keith said there’s a secret compartment in the locket,” Eva pointed out.
Higgins examined the locket closer. “By damn there is a little latch here. You got a multitool on you, Mancuso?”
Adam produced a multitool from his pocket, passing it to his boss. He slipped a glance over at Eva. She was watching him but he couldn’t read the expression on her face. When their eyes met, she quickly looked away.
Higgins jiggled the pick in the locket and the secret compartment sprang open.
“Son of a bitch,” he swore joyfully, and displayed the black microchip—not much bigger than a grain of rice—on the top of his index finger.
“That’s what all the fuss was about?” Eva asked. “That tiny little thing?”
“Lady, this tiny little thing could have caused the U.S. some major trouble. Thanks to you and your smart thinking, disaster has been averted.”
“It was Adam’s idea,” she said.
“Pardon?”
“He’s the one who told me rich people wear duplicates of their fancy jewelry when they’re in dicey situations. If it hadn’t been for him, Keith would have gotten away with this.”
Commander Higgins shot a speculative look Adam’s way. “I’m getting this back to the ONI right away. Mancuso, I believe you deserve some leave time.” He inclined his head toward Eva. “It’s effective immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
Commander Higgins left with the microchip. They went to change into dry clothes and met again in Eva’s living room.
Adam opened his mouth to tell her how much he appreciated her, how happy he was that she’d survived, how proud he was of her, but she jumped in first, cutting him off.
“You lied to me,” Eva’s blue eyes narrowed to slits. “I trusted you and you lied to me.”
The expression on her face tore him up inside. He put a hand out to touch her shoulder. “I’m sorry. It was my job.”
She yanked away from him, her bottom lip trembling. She blinked. “No. You don’t get to blame it on your job. You lied to me.”
“Yes,” he admitted. “I lied to you, but—” He broke off.
She was right. He was making excuses. His mistake wasn’t in keeping his identity a secret. That had been his assignment. No, where his sin had come in was in losing his head, breaking his own rules and following his heart. He should not have gotten involved with her on a personal level, not while she was his target. He should not have made love to her. If he’d stayed in his apartment and simply watched as he’d been assigned, he would never have hurt her.
“Eva,” he said, stalling as he searched for the words he needed to apologize. He wasn’t a man who apologized easily. He wasn’t usually wrong. But he’d screwed up big-time. He’d hurt her. How he regretted hurting her.
“I think it’s best if you left now.” She turned her back to him, staring out the window. She looked so incredibly sad, so breakable.
“Sunshine, I—”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Please, Adam, just leave. Don’t make this goodbye any harder than it has to be.”
Adam had had enough. He wasn’t going to let her push him away. He had to try and make amends, had to make her see how much he loved her.
Love.
There it was. The word he’d been barely able to think, much less say. All along he’d been falling in love with her. Probably from the very first minute he watched her doing naked yoga. He thought of all they’d shared. The long talks, the walks on the beach, surfing, golf. He thought of all the things they could share. The Sunday morning paper. Chicken soup when they were sick. Thanksgiving. Christmas. A home. A family.
His gut tightened. He wanted all that with her. Wanted her to be the mother of his kids. Wanted to love her for the rest of his days. “I can’t leave until you at least hear me out.”
She sighed, dropped her arms and turned to look at him. “You have five minutes starting now.”
“I’m so damned sorry I lied to you. The last thing I ever wanted was to hurt you. I shouldn’t have gotten involved with you. I put my mission in jeopardy, put your life at risk.”
“It’s true then, you regret getting involved with me?” She raised her stubborn little chin.
This was a no-win situation. The hope he’d been clinging to slid away. She wasn’t going to forgive him, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. He might be a lot of things, but he wasn’t a quitter.
“I don’t regret making love to you. Not for one second.” He growled. “What I regret is the timing. I shouldn’t have made love to you while you were under my protection.”
“I never asked for your protection.”
“No,” he agreed, “you got caught in the back draft of our investigation of Barksdale.”
“Admit it. You hold the fact that I was involved with Keith against me.”
That chapped him. “I do not!”
“You think I follow my heart too easily. That I go for flash over substance. That I let a pretty face keep me from seeing what kind of person Keith was beneath it.”
“That isn’t my judgment of you.”
Her nostrils flared. “Isn’t it?”
“No. Never. It’s your own judgment of yourself.”
Eva’s eyes widened and he could see that she finally got it. Her big heart was never the problem. What kept tripping her up was her own self-judgment.
“You’re trying to be something you’re not,” he said. “Perhaps it’s a backlash against your mother. You don’t want to be like her. I get that. But having an open heart is a wonderful thing, Eva. It’s what I love most about you.”
“Love?” she whispered.
“Yes, dammit, love.”
She was trembling all over, her knees quaking. “What are you saying, Adam?”
“I’m saying I’m in love with you, Eva St. George. It’s only been a couple of weeks, but I’ve fallen in love. I’m saying that while it was my assignment to watch and catch Barksdale if he showed up, I violated my ethics and allowed myself to get involved. Your open heart opened my heart. Before you came into my life I never knew I could feel this way. I heard people talk about love but—other than the love I feel for my family—I didn’t get what all the fuss was about. I never understood how someone could come into your life and steal away a piece of your heart forever.”
A smile tipped her lips and tears misted her eyes. “You’re saying I stole your heart?”
“Took it right out from under my nose.”
“Adam,” she said his name on a sigh.
He reached for her then and this time, she didn’t pull away. He tugged her into his embrace. “Forgive me, for being a dumb ass.”
“You’re forgiven.”
He dipped his head, peered deeply into her eyes. “You rock my world, Eva. Before I met you, I thought I was the best I could be. Living up to a moral code, being a good investigator, toeing the line, following orders.”
“You
are
pretty awesome.”
“Not as awesome as you are, Sunshine. You showed me how shut down I really was. How I was hiding behind my principles because I didn’t want to face the truth.”
“What truth is that?”
“That I’d become inflexible and uncompromising. That I was so determined not to let my heart rule my head that I almost missed the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“And what would that be?”
“You.” He tightened his grip around her. “Until you, I’d never felt like this.”
“Like what?”
“Shout-it-from-the-mountain-top exhilarated. It’s like the sun finally came out after a month of rain. It’s like I was Rip van Winkle and I just woke up and the world looks amazing and brand-new and full of possibilities and it’s all because of you.”
“Me?” Her voice sounded high and reedy, as if she didn’t quite believe him.
“You,” he confirmed, and put both hands on her shoulders.
“Just shut up and kiss me,” she said.
“Is that an order?”
“Yes.”
“I try never to disobey orders.”
“Good for y—”
He kissed her hard and long. Showing her with his lips just how much he wanted and needed her. Communicating in the best way he knew how, with action instead of words.
She kissed him back with equal fervor, giving as good as she got, matching his tongue stroke for stroke, taking him to the clouds with her, his spontaneous, free-spirited woman.
The heat of their bodies scorched him to his soul. He wanted her, needed her. Not just for now, but forever.
“Adam,” she murmured against his lips. “Adam.”
“Eva.”
They kissed, wind swirling the curtains around the open window.
“So,” he said, pulling back and wriggling his eyebrows. “My place or yours?”
Eva cast a glance around. “I know the perfect spot on the beach. We could slip behind a sand dune…”
“Are you suggesting we break all the rules?”
“You broke all the rules to get me, right?”
“Right.”
She grinned wickedly, touched the tip of her tongue to her upper lip, took him by the hand and led him to his salvation.