He took a minute to smear the dirt on her license tags, adding a little more and making it difficult to read the numbers. She hadn’t thought to do that but she liked the idea of being harder to track.
“You should hide in the back until we clear the state line. On the off-chance that someone recognizes me, it wouldn’t be a good idea to be seen with a strange man.”
She pressed the release button of her remote and heard the familiar
thunk
. He’d already filled the tank with the gas Dwayne had left her.
Lamanto groaned. “I already have intimate knowledge of the discomfort of your backseat.”
“At least this time you’re not feverish and bleeding.”
“There is that.”
She tossed her satchel-sized purse into the front seat and set about removing the fuse for the GPS while he tried to make himself comfortable. He gave her a thumbs-up when she came around the car to close his door. Grabbing an afghan she carried for emergencies, she tucked it under his legs.
“Just be ready to pull it over your head, if we get approached by anyone wearing a uniform.”
“Will do, not that it’ll help if anyone takes a close look back here.”
“It’ll help if you stay out of sight until we hit the Georgia line. Then nobody is likely to care if I have a passenger.”
“Maybe if you sing for me,
mia l’angelo
, I can take a long nap.”
Keri’s heart tripped at the endearment. It rolled off his tongue with such velvety sweetness it warmed her from head to toe. She’d promised herself not to let his charm penetrate her defenses, but he melted them more each day.
“You’re a menace, Lamanto,” she charged, slamming his door and moving around to the driver’s side.
“Nick,” he corrected, chuckling.
“Don’t mock me,” she warned as she started the engine and shifted gears. “It’s a long, rough ride down this mountain, and I can make you seriously miserable.”
“Didn’t you take some kind of Hippocratic oath that forbids you to deliberately do harm?”
“I can’t remember,” she tossed over her shoulder. “I’m on vacation. I don’t have to think about professional responsibilities.”
The banter continued while she drove to the gas station. Lamanto went quiet when she jumped from the SUV to fill her tank, buy a few supplies and a throw-away cell phone he’d requested. He tinkered with it while she headed south to Interstate 75 and cranked up the radio.
In another hour, they’d passed into Georgia and stopped long enough for him to climb into the front seat. Once they’d driven through Atlanta, they shared a quick lunch, and he used a pay phone to activate his temporary cell.
Keri continued to drive while he checked in with his lieutenant and his family. She could tell by his end of the conversations they’d all been worried about him.
When they stopped briefly to eat in the late afternoon, she stripped to a T-shirt and gym shorts. The temperatures had slowly risen through their drive and reached well into the eighties by midway through Florida.
Lamanto took over the driving when they neared the outskirts of Miami. Keri happily relinquished the wheel. She had no desire to navigate through the insane traffic and unfamiliar streets. He whipped from intersection to intersection with no problem, but she knew she’d be lost in a heartbeat.
As evening approached, the heat and humidity had steam rising from the pavement. Instead of using the air conditioner, Lamanto rolled down his window and sucked in the heavy air.
“Ah, the smell of home!”
Keri wrinkled her nose. “You live in an exhaust pipe?”
He shook his head and gave her a reproving glance. “Can’t you smell the water? We’re almost there.”
She sniffed again but didn’t smell water for another fifteen minutes when they neared one of the many harbors framing the city. She caught her breath at the sight of sunset sparkling on the water with kaleidoscope brilliance. The harbor pulsed with activity and an amazing spectrum of color.
From dull-gray, slow-moving tugboats to rainbow-painted, racy speedboats, the entire area hummed with rich color and continuous activity.
“Miamarina?” she said, reading the name of the huge complex they’d entered.
“Miamarina at Bayside,” he said with a laugh and a shrug. “Where else would a good Italian settle?” They circled the parking lot and pulled into an empty end row spot overlooking the water. A concrete dock spanned out below them, just a few feet lower than the parking lot.
“So, what do you think?”
She couldn’t drag her gaze from the beauty of the water, wanting to absorb as much detail as possible. People zipped around on Jet Skis and she saw boats of every imaginable size and color.
“About what?”
“About my home.”
His words finally drew her attention, and she spared him a quick glance. “You live here?” Glancing around, she looked for residential buildings.
He unsnapped his seat belt and reached over to do the same with hers. Cupping her face in his hand, he turned her head to the left.
“See that pretty little cabin cruiser about middle way down the pier. Between the red and yellow sailboats?”
Keri slowly searched the row of slips. “The white one with the turquoise trim?”
“Yep,” he said with pride. “That’s my baby.”
Her eyes widened. “It’s your child, your girlfriend or your home? Be a little more specific, please.”
“I guess it’s a combination of all three,” he said on a chuckle. Then his voice went low and sexy. “At least it used to be my best girl. Lately, there’s a mouthy ER nurse nudging it aside in my affections.”
Keri’s heart stuttered and her breathing stilled, but she didn’t want to admit how deeply his casual teasing touched her. She covered the emotional reaction with a smile and light sarcasm. “I’m impressed. I don’t think I’ve ever vied with a boat for someone’s affection.”
“Only coon hounds and jacked-up trucks?”
He surprised a laugh from her and she smacked his arm. “You’re bad.”
Lamanto swooped in for a quick, hard kiss, and then reached for his door handle. “Grab some stuff, and I’ll take you to meet my girl. I don’t know about you, but I’m more than ready to stretch my legs.”
Once her feet touched pavement, Keri groaned and stretched, trying to work the kinks from her muscles. It felt good to be out of the vehicle. She drew in a deep breath, trying to absorb all the unfamiliar scents in the heavy air. The strong smell of fish mingled with floral sweetness and some oily scent she attributed to keeping all the watercraft in running condition.
Lamanto rounded the vehicle and opened the back door. After handing her the giant handbag she always carried, he grabbed a couple bags of groceries and clicked the door lock.
“A little different from the sights, sounds and smells of Thornsbury?” he asked.
“Majorly different.”
“Unpleasantly so?”
She shook her head as he took her arm to steer her in the right direction. “Not unpleasant, just unfamiliar. The only time I ever visited Florida was for spring break at Lauderdale.”
He dismissed that with a grunt. “Kid stuff. Tonight you’re in for a pleasure beyond your wildest dreams.”
The certainty in his tone made her lift her brows and give him a wary glance. “I’m almost afraid to ask.”
“We’ll be sleeping on the
Adrianna
.”
“Adrianna’s your girlfriend’s name?”
“
Adrianna
is my cabin cruiser. She’s named after my paternal grandmamma. Nonna Lamanto passed a few years ago, but left me enough money to buy the
Adrianna
. It’s been my home ever since.”
“You actually live on it? Fulltime?”
“Sure. Nothin’ like being rocked to sleep every night. No problem with neighbors. Most of these boats are docked year round but only used on the occasional weekend. It’s a perfect place to live.”
She knew nothing about boats or living on the water, so she couldn’t help being skeptical. “What about electricity and heat and bathroom facilities?”
“Got all that,” he said as they stepped down from the parking area to the pier and started toward his slip. “It’s compact, of course, like an efficiency apartment. And it has a nice little galley.”
“Galley’s the kitchen, right? I do read and watch some TV. I just don’t have any practical experience.”
They passed a couple boat loads of people docking for the evening. They looked relaxed, though sun baked and windblown. Lamanto shared casual greetings with them but didn’t stop to talk. He kept moving at a quick pace, and Keri could almost feel his pleasure when they reached his slip. Up close, the cruiser was larger than it had appeared from the parking lot.
“It’s a pretty big home,” she said, giving it a once-over. Mostly white, it had a wide turquoise stripe down the side and the name
Adrianna
scripted in the same color. “You’ll have to tell me more.”
“She’s a twin-engine, thirty footer, about average length for a cruiser. The top is hard. The fiberglass hull is V-shaped with a sundeck.” He pointed to the front of the boat with a chrome railing and built-in deck chairs on either side of a small table.
“A little dirty from lack of attention, but she’s a real beaut when she’s clean, and she really flies across the open water. Nonna would have loved her. My nonna was a bit of a speed demon. She lost her driver’s license at the age of eighty because she had too many points for speeding.”
That brought a smile to her face. “I think I’d have liked the original Adrianna,” she said. It sounded as though he’d been very fond of his nonna too.
“She’d have liked you,” he replied with certainty.
He jumped from the dock on to the back of the boat and helped Keri do the same, then steadied her until she’d adjusted to the gentle undulating of the deck beneath her feet.
“Welcome aboard,” he said with a grin, taking her arm and leading her to a cushioned, built-in bench.
“Sit tight until you get used to the motion, and I’ll do a quick check down under.”
“Something objectionable in your floating bachelor pad you don’t want me to see?”
He grinned and winked. “Just a little precaution since I’ve been gone so long,” he said, turning. He gathered the grocery bags, found what she assumed to be a spare key and unlocked the cabin door. Then he disappeared down the stairs.
She glanced around while waiting. The slips on either side of his held tethered sailboats. Each had their sails tucked out of sight and heavy canvas covers over the cabins, a red one on the left and a bright yellow on the right. They didn’t look as though anyone used them on a regular basis.
The slips beyond the sailboats held sleek speedboats and a variety of other watercraft. Farther in the distance, the area teemed with nightlife and a myriad of neon signs. This end of the pier had quieted. The well-placed security lights created a shadowy darkness as dusk descended. One or two of the crafts were well lit and had people aboard. She’d have to ask Lamanto how well he knew his neighbors.
He returned after just a few minutes, but the sight of him knocked all thoughts from her mind. His stunning good looks still caught her off-guard sometimes. With his hair tousled, his mysterious dark eyes and a five o’clock shadow, he looked beautifully dangerous.
After catching her breath, Keri tried to disguise her reaction with more teasing. “All’s well? No dead bodies?”
“No dead anything,” he said with another wink and a crook of his finger. “Come into my parlor.”
She laughed at the wicked gleam in his eyes and headed in his direction. “Said the spider…”
Excitement coursed through her as their gazes locked and their hands touched again. His grip felt warm and sure, giving her pulse a jolt as she followed him down the steps. When her feet touched the floor, he dropped her hand and slipped his arm around her waist. More heat flooded her as she absorbed the feel of having him hip-to-hip close. Unused to casual intimacy, Keri decided she could get used to it pretty quickly.
“This is called the saloon. It’s Italian in design, of course, in honor of her namesake.”
“Of course,” she repeated breathily. As her eyes adjusted to the change in light, she took in the compact beauty of the boat’s interior. Most everything, including the globed lights, was secured to the walls. “The paneling is gorgeous.”
“All natural teak,” he explained with pride. “It smells a little dank in here right now, common in this climate, but we can air it out better tomorrow. I can’t wait to take you out for a ride. There’s nothing sweeter.”
Keri made sounds of agreement as he slowly twirled her around to see the other features.
“The bed’s up here,” he said, pointing to a platform with heavy drapes. He pulled them back to show her a queen-sized, rumpled bed. The sight of disheveled sheets made her heart thump a little harder. The tight confines of the cabin enveloped her with romantic intimacy.
“The true head is at the foot of the bed and galley to the right,” he continued. “Nothing ready to eat, but I can remedy that pretty quick if you want first shot at the shower.”
“A shower sounds nice, but I don’t have any clean clothes.”
Lamanto pulled her fully into his arms. Hunger tightened his expression and she expected a kiss. Instead, he brushed his nose back and forth across hers in a gentle caress.
“Do you trust me? Really trust me?” he asked softly.
“Trust you how?” she replied just as softly. “Trust that you’re honest? Trust that you wouldn’t hurt me?”
“Trust me with your body, even your life?”
Keri looked into his eyes and tossed the question around in her mind. The answer came quickly. Of course she trusted him. If not, she’d have turned him over to her dad days ago. He’d had plenty of time to do her harm or take advantage of her at the cabin.
On the other hand, he’d needed her up to this point, as a nurse and a means of transportation out of Tennessee. He’d needed her to get them from her home turf to his. Would their easy rapport and budding relationship end now that he’d returned to his normal life? She’d never really asked if he had a significant other waiting for his return.
Lamanto’s good arm tightened at her waist, crushing her breasts against his chest. She felt the strength of his arousal when their lower bodies bumped.