Redeeming Her SEAL (ASSIGNMENT Caribbean Nights #9) - Kat Cantrell Page 0,4
was his family, forged in the inferno of war, which had bonded them more closely together than blood ever could. He didn’t take any of them for granted one single day of his life. And he was going to fix this problem for them come hell or high water.
Thirty minutes later, Charlie and Jack took off from the Town dock and jetted to Abaco in one of Aqueous’s speedboats, a trip that usually took about ten or fifteen minutes, pending the traffic. As they flew over the crystal blue water, they yakked about the latest episodes of Walking Dead and Vikings, the only two TV shows either of them watched. It was nice to shift focus off of Audra for a few minutes.
Jack pulled into the Lady of Saints Marina in Harbour Town and tied up in the slip the company rented, then snapped off a one-fingered salute as Charlie hopped a water taxi to Freeport. Such were the logistics of the Caribbean; everything was within boat or plane ride distance as long as you didn’t mind a journey of several legs.
The sign for FARC came into view a half second before the building did. Freeport Aquatic Research Center overlooked a small park on one side and a marina on the other. Charlie paid the driver, clambered up the concrete steps from the dock, and entered.
His pulse thumped in his temple as he walked into the hushed, air-conditioned building where Audra worked. He’d never been to FARC before, but of course he knew where she’d landed after getting her doctorate. The Caribbean was a small place.
The lobby displayed photographs of marine life: dolphins, a hundred different kinds of fish, turtles, eels, shrimp, rays, you name it. If it swam in the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, there was a picture of it on the wall. Charlie had viewed almost all of them up close and personal in the year since he’d left the Navy and settled on Duchess Island.
A pretty receptionist smiled as Charlie approached, and he forced a return smile because this was only the first obstacle in what would likely be a long quest. The blackness inside rattled his box, threatening to spill out a whole slew of unpleasantness, which wasn’t helping. Mostly, he could keep his PTSD symptoms under control. Except in times of extreme duress. Like now.
“I’m here to see Dr. Reed.” He almost didn’t choke on it. At this point, it would have been a lot more preferable to be hashing out a way to get in to see Anderson instead. He still might go for a fourth try later, but Audra was the right plan. For now.
“Do you have an appointment?” the receptionist asked pleasantly.
“He doesn’t.” Audra’s voice sliced through the air from behind him. “But it’s okay.”
Charlie’s blood heated instantly despite the certainty that he’d been braced for this.
He turned. Audra stood just inside the glass door, not one red hair out of place and a frozen smile on her face. The dress she wore covered everything, but that didn’t matter when he knew exactly what that angular body underneath looked like. Gorgeous. Miles of creamy legs. A slick, delicious center that he could instantly taste. Flashes of her breasts heaving as she came stormed through his mind at the same moment a swirl of emotions he couldn’t sort fast enough clutched his lungs.
Dear God. He’d have sworn he’d ordered all of this in his head, at least well enough to be in her presence. But he hadn’t realized how much the sight of her would hurt deep down where he couldn’t touch the ache. Why did the memories have to be so sharp? It had been two years since the last time he’d seen her in person.
“Follow me to my office,” she said and swept past him in a cloud of perfume he didn’t recognize, which tripped a landmine he hadn’t expected.
Given to her by her boyfriend? If things had gone as he’d have preferred, he’d be privy to every last detail of her life, and instead, they were virtual strangers. Who’d spent two glorious weeks together exploring each other’s souls as they learned each other’s bodies.
Had that meant nothing to her? Her expression still hadn’t shifted from the frozen half smile, as if she’d stumbled over a slightly crazy relative she had to be nice to but didn’t really like.
He waited to respond until they’d entered the elevator and the doors slid closed. “I’m not a trained dolphin.”