Redeeming Her SEAL (ASSIGNMENT Caribbean Nights #9) - Kat Cantrell Page 0,42

eyelids with unshed tears. Nodding, she blinked back the moisture before she revealed her entire hand and smiled.

It didn’t work.

Rachel’s keen gaze zeroed in on Audra’s face, and she was pretty sure the tears hadn’t escaped her notice. God, what was wrong with her? She was turning weakness into an art form, and displaying her soft underbelly around a woman who likely ate other people’s vulnerabilities for breakfast made her feel even worse. She cleared her throat.

“Charlie wants to add a dolphin-habitat-education spiel to the excursion. I’m in to help guide that. It fits with what I do at the aquatic center. The only problem is that I don’t know if it will be enough to counter the injunction. Have you had a chance to work through that? Legally?”

“No. I’m concerned too, frankly.” Rachel’s smile belied what should have been bad news. “But I’m working another angle at the moment. Here it is. Tell Jared to cancel the injunction. If he says no, talk him into it.”

The glass of water Audra had just picked up nearly slipped out of her hand. “What? What makes you think I have any influence over him?”

“Lucky guess.” Rachel sat back in her chair contemplating. “And my money is on Charlie being your motivation. Because you know you have a hand in the reason this whole thing got started and you want to make it right.”

That was so close to the truth it lodged in her throat and she couldn’t breathe all at once. What Rachel was suggesting was the very definition of being caught between a rock and a hard place. She probably had been the catalyst for Jared’s vendetta, whether she liked it or not. Just because he’d transformed the whole thing into some macho pissing contest that Charlie gladly jumped on didn’t absolve her part in it.

She owed it to Charlie and his former teammates to try Rachel’s suggestion. Rachel even had a personal stake since she was involved with Evan Silva. The reasons to do what she was asking were valid, but Audra didn’t like the idea of calling in a favor with Jared. Or what she might have to do in return, because there was no way he’d do it out of the goodness of his heart.

And yet… part of her wondered if success wouldn’t somehow be the magic spell that fixed things. If Jared lifted the injunction, maybe it would remove the wedge between her and Charlie.

Looked like Rachel had called it in one—Charlie was enough of a motivation for her to do it.

She put her head in her hands. “Okay. I’ll talk to him. But no promises.”

Rachel patted her shoulder. “You’ll figure it out.”

“Can you do me a favor and keep this between us for now?” Audra hated to ask for secrecy, but Jared was such a touchy subject, and the last thing she wanted to do was give Charlie yet another reason to cool his jets. “I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. Plus, he’s out of town and I don’t know when he’ll be back. In the meantime, I’ll work on the materials for the habitat educational cycle and you work the injunction angle. Can we agree on that?”

They shook on it and dug into the conch salad and corn muffins. By the end of the meal, Audra felt like she’d made a friend. And it was only after they walked out of the restaurant that she realized how desperately she’d needed one.

“Let me walk you to the marina,” Audra suggested impulsively, loath to allow the evening to end when all she had ahead of her was a lonely apartment and another night spent clutching her phone in anticipation of a call she wouldn’t get.

If she wanted to see Charlie, she’d have to reach out. Again. And hope it was the right next step instead of a mistake that got her hand cut off.

“Sure.” Rachel linked arms with Audra like they’d done it a million times, and they walked along the path from the restaurant to the public marina where Evan had agreed to pick her up.

Car tires screeched behind them, and an engine revved. Audra glanced behind her and yelped. A car barreled down the lane between the marina and the row of shops—a strip meant for people, not vehicles, which told her the driver had probably indulged in one too many cocktails.

The vehicle headed straight for her and Rachel.

Instinct took over. She yanked on Rachel’s elbow and leaped, falling heavily onto one of