Redeeming Her SEAL (ASSIGNMENT Caribbean Nights #9) - Kat Cantrell Page 0,61
where they’d treated the team after Abu Al-Khaseeb? Audra would be stuck with him.
Yeah, considering marriage or any iteration of long-term was a really bad idea at this point when they couldn’t have a conversation without detonating a crap-ton of ordinance that took off several layers of skin. If she wasn’t flinching over a touchy subject, he was.
Sex, he liked. Sex, he could do. Sex wiped out everything else but the two of them, which was the way it should be. The rest of this? Not in his realm of expertise. All he knew was that he wanted Audra naked twenty-four seven and the problems to go away.
Sighing, he climbed from Audra’s bed since the mood had broken into a million pieces anyway. She’d rented a boat to take them to Ilhota Rosa, but unlike the first time they’d made this trek two years ago, they didn’t need a driver since he had more than enough familiarity with the area to act as their guide. Evan had built a dock at the island, which he headed toward.
After Audra filed her report, the Wildlife Foundation had secured the help of the Bahamas National Trust to designate the area as a national park, but it was too far away from Abaco, the nearest large island, for many tourists to make the trek. That’s what made snorkeling excursions from Duchess Island so special—no other excursion company could travel to the reef in a day trip.
The sun shone, and the breeze lifted Audra’s hair, making her smile, which reminded him that this day could still be about simple pleasures. And more complex ones, because he’d double-checked to be sure she’d packed essentials—a blanket and condoms. She had food in her bag too, which was also a nice touch.
At the rickety dock, he tied up the rental and helped Audra onto the splintered boards. The platform rocked under their feet, but the splendor of Ilhota Rosa captured every bit of his attention as the pink sand warred with both the foliage and Audra’s red hair. It was a nice kind of chaos, one he’d always appreciated because it wasn’t his mess to sort out.
At least it hadn’t been. Now it was. Just breathing in the tropical air here got his juices flowing. The coral reef off the coast ribboned through the water, just visible from his vantage point. It was so close to the island it was considered a part of it, which was what made it such a great locale for snorkeling. Tourists loved it. There wasn’t another spot like it in the entire Caribbean—he’d looked. Without it, the heart of his company had been ripped from its mooring, and the hemorrhaging had gotten bad enough to be serious.
Aqueous Adventure was dying, and he’d been waiting around for… what? Rachel to fight his battles for him?
He needed to take action, and being here at the battleground solidified his next steps. A cute dolphin habitat program wasn’t going to cut it. But he had an idea what would—he needed to cut the head of the snake off at the throat.
“Nice addition,” Audra commented with a nod at the dock as she gripped his hand tighter. “I’m shocked it’s still standing.”
“I’ll pass your compliments on to my builder,” he said with a grin. “We didn’t bother to upgrade since we didn’t know what was happening to the island.”
Still didn’t.
Audra stiffened, sending up a nonverbal red flag that they’d fallen into yet another pothole on the road to wherever the hell they were going. And the worst part was that he didn’t even know what he’d tripped over. Her part in the war going on with Anderson, which she’d yet to own up to? He could hardly call her on being closemouthed about something when he was just as bad.
Well, he knew one way to get her good and relaxed. And get his mind focused on the one thing that made sense between them. Sex was always a good answer to their problems.
He slipped the bag from her shoulder and let it thunk to the sand and rummaged around until he found the blanket, spread it out, and got to work on Audra’s wardrobe. Her eyes flashed with sweet heat as he grabbed the string around her neck and pulled. The triangles fell away to reveal her peaked nipples.
“Fast work,” she said and squeaked as he yanked her into his arms to bring his mouth down on hers.