So here he was in a wet suit, surfboard under his arm, standing on Del Mar Beach beside Eva. She’d shimmied in her wet suit and he’d been trying his best to keep from noticing how the neoprene conformed to her breasts, but he failed miserably and hadn’t heard a word she’d said.
“Adam?”
“Huh?”
“Could you stop staring at my boobs for five minutes and give me your undivided attention. The last thing I want is for you to drown.”
He forced his gaze off her tits and looked her in the eyes. A smile played at her lips. She wasn’t the least bit mad at him for ogling her.
“Dude, listen to the lady,” said a long-haired beach bum lounging on the sand nearby.
Adam leveled the guy his steeliest military officer’s glare. The guy raised his palms and then went back to waxing his surfboard.
“I’m listening,” Adam told Eva.
What a lie. His ears were attuned to the sounds of her sexy breathing, not what she was saying.
You can handle this. You’re strong. You’re athletic. Who won MVP on your high school baseball team?
His athleticism might help with the surfing, but how was he going to justify the erection straining against his wet suit? He needed to get into the water now before he embarrassed himself again.
“Got it,” he said. “Let’s hit the water.”
He turned his board to hide what he didn’t want her to see—a repeat of what had happened in yoga class—and struck out for the water.
Look what the woman had done to him. She was going to think he was a first-class perv. He found it damned disturbing. The water splashed cool against his ankles and he was happy for the distraction, but unfortunately it did nothing to dash his rising libido when she came running up alongside him.
“Let’s go over the basics again,” she said, summing up what she’d just taught him.
He tried to process it, but there was so much to learn. All this time he’d thought surfing was a lawless free-for-all without structure or rules when nothing was further from the truth. He liked the discipline of it, but hated being in over his head.
“Grip your board like this,” she hollered over the sound of the waves, demonstrating the technique.
Focus on surfing,
he lectured himself, mimicking her movements and gliding into the water on his board. Higgins had told him to hang out with her, watch over her and pry as much info as he could from her about Barksdale. That did not include getting all hot and horny over his target.
He’d never been this out of his element before, both in the surf and in this thing with Eva. If he was smart, he’d call Higgins and tell him that he needed to put someone else on the assignment, that he couldn’t handle himself.
Yes, that would look so professional. And what about redeeming yourself? What about catching Barksdale so he didn’t have to feel so ashamed for letting the theft happen in the first place?
Because he did feel responsible, even though he’d followed every protocol and done everything he could to keep the data safe. Barksdale had simply been better than Navy Intelligence. And there was the rub. Adam’s division was supposed to be the best of the best and they couldn’t stop a civilian computer hacker from stealing top secret government documents. Even though no one blamed him, he blamed himself. He’d failed. And failure wasn’t something Adam swallowed easily.
“Here comes a nice mushy beginner’s wave,” Eva called out. “Get ready to use the stance I showed you.”
Stance. Right. The one he hadn’t been paying attention to because he’d been too busy ogling her.
A slow rolling wave came toward them, frothy white and gentle. Girly wave.
“Put your hands under your chest and raise up. Like cobra pose in yoga class.”
Sure. He’d get right on that.
“Push up from your hands and toes,” Eva hollered as the wave reached them.
He did as she said and suddenly he was up, teetering on the board.
“Bring your right foot back, left foot forward.”
For a moment he thought he was going into the ocean headfirst, but somehow he managed to get the correct stance, bend his knees, and extend his arms for balance.
“Look forward, eyes straight ahead, chin up.”
That was no problem. His military training kicked in and the next thing he knew, Adam was surfing. Okay, yeah, it was the kiddie version of surfing, but he was up on the board and balanced and a wave was rolling underneath him.
It felt like playful sex. Fun and easy.
Eva was on her surfboard beside him, gliding effortlessly along. “Hey, you’re a natural.”
He grinned and for the first time in a long time, he felt truly free. And then he went and spoiled it all by losing his focus and shifting his gaze to stare at her sexy body in the wet suit and bam! Right into the water he fell.
Luckily she’d leashed his board to his ankle with the ankle rope. Otherwise it would have been lost in the waves. He managed to get turned around and back on the board. His legs were already feeling rubbery—this from a guy who ran three miles a day—and he spat out a mouthful of salty seawater.
But even so, he couldn’t stop imagining what she would look like without that wet suit on, surfing naked like Neptune’s nymph. He wondered if she had ever surfed nude. He’d bet hard money on it and Adam was not a betting man.
Dammit! He had to stop this.
He lay belly down on the board and let the waves push him back to shore.
“Where are you going?” Eva called. “We’re just getting started.”
No, ma’am, he was done. No way was he going to be able to keep his erection in check as long as she was wearing that skintight suit. Not even the cold Pacific Ocean could take the starch out of his…er…
sail.
“I need a break,” he said.
“Okay.” She nodded. “I’m going to paddle on out and see if I can catch some bigger waves.”
No, wait. He’d thought she’d come back to shore with him. He didn’t want her going off on her own, far away from him.
Already she was gone, swimming off on her board, out of earshot.
Dammit. He paddled after her, getting sloshed and tossed by waves. Gritting his teeth, he barreled ahead. He was not letting her out of his sight.
But the same currents that were carrying her out to sea, seemed to be shoving his surfboard toward the shore. Water had gotten into his ears—why hadn’t he thought to wear earplugs—and he couldn’t hear anything but the whooshing noise of the ocean and his own quickening heartbeat.
Every time the wave lifted him up, he searched for her. She was several hundred yards away. Other surfers paddled near her. A sailboat skimmed the horizon. And there was a Jet Ski out in open waters, moving fast toward Eva.
Uneasiness washed over him. He didn’t like this position of weakness, not one damned bit.
Up he went on the wave, saw the Jet Ski pulling up beside her. Salt water stung his eyes and it was hard to see. His gut went cold. Something didn’t feel right. Was she in trouble? Had the Jet Ski rider stopped to help her? Or was there another more nefarious explanation? Could it be Barksdale?
He didn’t know where that thought came from, but it spurred him into action. The surfboard was an encumbrance, getting in his way. He had to shed it.
Adam reached down, stripped off the ankle rope, let go of the board and went after her, swimming against the tide with all his might.
He didn’t look the least bit contrite. “Sorry.”
“What in the hell were you thinking?”
“I was out jumping the waves, saw you and came over to say hi.”
She gripped the board tightly. “Hi, now goodbye.”
The waves tossed him closer to her. She did not want to be close to this man. Just looking at him made her ache for a hot shower. Yes, he was good-looking, but he was also a criminal and she’d stupidly dated him.
“I’ve been trying to call you,” he said. “Left a message. You didn’t call me back.”
“Are you shocked about that? Considering you left me holding the bag with the Navy. They took me down for questioning.”
“What did you tell them?”
“I had nothing to tell them other than obviously I didn’t know you at all if you’d steal from your own country. What did you steal?”
“Innocent until proven guilty,” Keith said. “But that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. To apologize.”
“Apology accepted. Now go away.” She made a shooing motion.
“Who’s the guy you’ve been hanging out with?” Keith jerked his chin in the direction of the beach.
“Don’t tell me you’re jealous.” She snorted. “You get no say in who I date.”
“He doesn’t look like your type.”
“Wait a minute, how do you know I’ve been hanging out with anyone?”
“I’ve been waiting for a chance to talk to you.”
A prick of fear pierced her. “Have you been following me?”
“I needed to see you.”
“That’s stalking, Keith. There are laws against it. And might I remind you that you’re the one who broke up with me. Not that it really bothered me. I deserve so much better than you.”
“Listen—”
“So you’ve been following me and the best place you could find to talk to me is the middle of the ocean? What’s wrong with coming to my apartment?”
“They can’t bug the ocean.”
“Who?”
“The Navy.”
Alarmed, she asked, “Keith, just what in the hell did you do?”
The wind buffeted his Jet Ski even closer to her. She pushed away, disgusted with herself for having struck up a romance with him. God, what had she been thinking?
That was it. She hadn’t been thinking. She’d just been out for a good time and look where it had gotten her. She just wanted to get back to Adam—
Adam.
She’d been so creeped out by Keith that she’d forgotten about Adam. Where was he?
Ignoring Keith, she turned in the water, scanning toward the shore, and finally spied him several yards away giving the distress signal.
Crap! He was in trouble.
She turned back to Keith to ask him to take the Jet Ski over to Adam and help, but Keith was already speeding away.
Fine. Right. Worthless ass.
Resolutely, she launched herself on her board and headed toward Adam.
She caught a wave and it only took her a couple of minutes to reach him, but the journey seemed forever. He kept going down under the waves and each time, she feared he wouldn’t come back up, but thankfully, he held on.
“Where’s your board?” she gasped as soon as she reached him. His eyes were bloodshot, his face pale, his lips tinged blue. He looked exhausted.
“Took it off to come after you.”
“What did you do that for?” she asked, extending her board to him so they could both hang on.
“I thought you were in trouble. That Jet Ski came up on you and I—”
“I was fine.”
“How was I to know that?”
“You thought I was in trouble and you came after me?” She felt a tugging in the center of her chest. A sweet, sappy, dangerous feeling.
“The guy on the Jet Ski—”
“My old boyfriend. The creep I told you about.”
Adam turned his head to look at the departing Jet Ski that was now far in the distance. He scowled and his eyes clouded.
Aww, was he jealous? The tugging in her chest intensified.
“What did he want? Did he threaten you? Hurt you?”
She shook her head. “No, no, he just wanted to talk to me.”
“About what?”
Okay, that was officially none of his business. Jealousy might be cute. Possessiveness was not. Especially since she and Adam didn’t even have a relationship going.
“I don’t have to answer that.”
“Do you still have feelings for him?”
Eva scowled. “What do you care?”
“I don’t. It’s just…” He looked like he was about to say something else and then he clenched his jaw shut. “Yes?”
“Never mind.”
“If you have something to say to me, just spit it out.”
“What did he want?”
She wasn’t going to tell him that Keith had just dropped by in the middle of the ocean to tell her that the Navy could very well be bugging her apartment. She was still trying to process that and how would it look to Adam if he learned she’d been mixed up with a guy who was in serious trouble with the Navy?
“I’ve got nothing to say.”
Well, that was that. Nothing to do now but head back to shore and try to figure out what had just passed between them.
They clung to the board, kicking in unison, heading back toward the beach. She was so aware of him. The water and waves and sun retreated into the background until he encompassed everything.
He’d thought she was in trouble and he’d come out to help her. And he was jealous of Keith. She tried not to smile, but she couldn’t help it.
“What are you grinning about?” he growled.
“You.”
“I amuse you?”
“Yeah, you do.”
“Never had a jealous boyfriend before?”
“You’re not my boyfriend.”
“My loss.”
She startled, turning to stare at him. His face was right next to hers, his dark eyes dilated. From sun, she told herself, but feared it was from something else. Something far more complicated.
Relief rushed through her when her feet touched sand. She stood up, Adam following suit.
“We’re here,” she said, the surfboard still between them.
“Yeah.”
His eyes never strayed from her face, leaving Eva to wonder just where “here” was.