Safe in Her Bodyguard's Arms, page 6
His mind was busy listing all the reasons why he couldn’t have her, but his body wasn’t really paying attention. Instead some part of him was conjuring up images of her naked in his arms, his mouth moving over hers and then down the side of her neck, following the path that a bead of sweat was taking.
He jerked his thoughts away from that.
“Why did you come?” she asked.
He stopped and fumbled in his backpack, very aware that he needed a few moments to get himself back under control. He took a deep breath and pulled out his reusable water bottle, taking a long swallow before offering it to her. Their fingers brushed as she took it and all of the calm he’d forced on his body was gone. His pulse raced as a shiver of sensual awareness went up his arm and then straight to his cock.
She’d asked him something, but for the life of him he couldn’t recall what it was. Something about why he was here.
“My boss is big on family. So I tried to weasel out of coming and Van said, ‘He’s your brother. Go.’ And here I am.”
“Does Van know your brother?” she asked, handing the water bottle back to him, and this time he was careful not to allow their fingers to touch.
“No. But he knows me. Our team... It feels more like real family than Aaron does to me. But Aaron and my brothers, they were...are a big part of the man I’ve become and I think... Well, not to get too deep but Van knew I’d regret not coming before I did.”
That was one of the things he liked about his boss even if sometimes he resented it. Van always put the team members’ best interests at the heart of everything. They worked hard and the job came first, but Van made them all feel as if what they were doing made the world a better place.
They were his found family. It was odd because the Price Security team wasn’t like what he’d believed family was growing up. There was no fighting or yelling and everyone just had each other’s back. He hadn’t known that kind of group existed.
“So here I am,” he said. “Sorry I didn’t call you. If I had maybe...maybe you’d be safe at your coffee shop instead of in the swamp.”
“Maybe.”
“Just maybe?”
“Well. The thing is...once I found out that Aaron was involved with La Familia Sanchez cartel I had to find out more.”
“Why?”
“It’s complicated,” she said with a wink at him. But her expression was closed and her mouth had tightened. As much as she was trying to keep things light, she couldn’t. It was just a guess, but based on what he’d learned so far, she built her toughness up herself and she didn’t want to let him see any cracks.
“Isn’t everything?”
“Yeah.”
He put the bottle back in his backpack. In a few more kilometers they’d reach the lake and he’d already decided they’d use the inflatable pack-raft he had in his bag to traverse it. They started walking again and she fell into step beside him.
“The cartel?”
“It’s not really anything solid. But my dad was the sheriff and was investigating their movements through central Florida when he and my mom were killed.”
“And the cartel was suspected?” he asked.
“By me and my brother. But the cops said it was an accident.”
That was a lot to unpack. But it wasn’t really that uncommon; many cartels and shady organizations had plugs within law enforcement. Corruption happened everywhere. “Why did you think it wasn’t?”
* * *
Obie blamed the swamp and this wild day for why she was bringing up her parents. But also there had been a hint of honesty in the way Xander opened up about Aaron. Something that she always felt like she had to reciprocate.
Also, if she was being brutally honest with herself, she wanted him to tell her she was grasping at straws, and maybe make her give up on her idea of asking Aaron to find out more about her parents’ deaths. Something that every logical part of her being was sure would lead to nothing.
But her heart was hoping. Her sixteen-year-old self needed answers. Needed to know their deaths were something other than a random accident. Obie truly wanted to believe that her life hadn’t changed so drastically, that she’d lost her parents and brother in the span of a year, for something random.
She wanted that loss to have a meaning. At the time grief had been overwhelming, and then with Gator’s departure she’d struggled just to survive, but today mired in the swamp she wanted the truth for herself and justice for her parents.
If it didn’t reveal anything, if it was just random... Well, she didn’t want to dwell on that either.
So why didn’t she believe her parents’ deaths were an accident? As a kid she’d trusted the cops and didn’t want to believe someone who worked for her dad was also in with the cartel. “They died in the swamp. That’s the first thing. Daddy grew up in the Green Swamp. And Mama was from Georgia and knew how to survive in the bayou and had learned our swamp as well.”
“Were they out walking in it?” he asked.
Though he’d said he was a bodyguard, the way he was asking questions and listening told her that he must have done some investigation in the past. She was so tempted to leave off talking about her parents and steer the conversation back to him. But she wanted answers, and Xander was making her view the situation differently.
“No. They’d taken the airboat.”
“It broke down?”
She shook her head. “If it had Daddy would have fixed it. He was always fixing it and knew that airboat like the back of his hand. They hit a tree and the airboat exploded.”
He raised both eyebrows, seeming surprised by her revelation. “Having seen your skills behind the wheel of the boat and in the swamp...that does raise a few questions. What did the medical examiner find?”
“The bodies were charred from the fire,” she said, her voice cracked as she relived the grief and pain she’d felt back then. She’d never seen the bodies; Deputy Wade had made sure she and Gator hadn’t. “They said that Daddy had a heart attack and lost control.”
Logical. It was the only explanation that would make sense for two people as savvy about boats and the swamp as her parents had been. But her father had been in excellent health on his previous checkup only a year earlier. Deputy Wade had pushed for further investigations but it had been shut down by someone higher than him. Obie and Gator had believed that Wade was right to ask them to continue and resented the fact that he’d given up so easily.
As an adult, she almost got it. Sometimes in order to keep a job, rules had to be followed. But Wade had been friends with her parents and had been Gator’s godfather. In Obie’s opinion he never should have stopped looking into it.
“You don’t think he did?” Xander asked, pulling her back into the present.
“He was healthy and he’d been close to arresting someone in the cartel. Daddy believed that someone had been using routes through the swamp to smuggle something. Not being vague but he wasn’t sure if it was just drugs or drugs and guns and maybe people. He saw a small hunting hut that looked as if it had been used as a shelter. He cleaned the trash out of it and when he checked in a few days later he could tell someone had been sleeping there again.
“He found the trail of the persons staying there and found some stuff—I’m not sure exactly what—but it made him suspicious and he brought it to his superiors, who told him it was nothing. He and Mama had gone to check it out the night they died.”
She hadn’t realized how much she’d been holding on to until the words spilled out of her. It had been such a long time since she’d allowed herself to think of them and even longer since she’d spoken of that night.
“So...you think the cartel killed them?” he asked.
She heard the questions in his voice. She had no proof, and even to her own ears it sounded like a string of circumstantial incidents. But she wasn’t going to back down from her beliefs. “Yes.”
“You think Aaron was involved?” he asked.
She hadn’t even considered that. “They died ten years ago.”
“Just about the time that Aaron and I lost touch. But I’m not sure that he would have been in the cartel then.”
She let out another ragged breath. “I really don’t think he’s responsible. I just hoped maybe he could get some information for me.”
Which sounded impossible to her. Xander seemed as if he wasn’t sure what to say and she got that. “Yeah. So that’s why I came to Key Largo this afternoon. I don’t know what info Aaron has on the cartel or if it’s all bullshit to keep himself out of prison, but I thought maybe there’s something that will lead to some answers for my parents’ deaths. Maybe something to connect the cartel to the deaths of other sheriffs. I’m not really sure what I want to find.”
She’d never been sure if the cops had shut down her and Gator’s concerns because they knew her dad’s death had been the key to something bigger and more dangerous. In her heart she knew her parents would never have been involved in anything shady. But he could have been a target for trying to stop it.
“You want answers,” he said.
“I do.”
“I get that. I’m not sure what Aaron knows but I can ask my boss to look into it.”
She appreciated him saying that and figured he was just being nice until she looked up and their eyes met. He was sincere. His blue gaze held hers. He put his hand on her shoulder and she knew he had her back. It had been a long time since she’d talked about this and even longer since she’d thought someone would be at her side. “Okay.”
“So I guess even if I’d shown up we might still have met,” he said.
“Probably. Would you have seen the threat before they shot at us?”
He shrugged. “Who knows? I mean I saw you enter and I was watching the house and didn’t notice them.”
“Should you have?”
“Maybe. I think I was in my head. Aaron and I have a lot of history. I mostly hate being told what to do. I didn’t want to be ordered to come to Miami.”
“I’d be pissed if my boss forced me to do anything,” she said. But Helen wouldn’t have had to force Obie to go if Gator called. In fact if Obie as much as heard a rumor about her brother she would follow it. “But I would drop everything if Gator reached out. Family is blood, and you don’t go against blood.”
* * *
Obie would do whatever she could to help her family. There was a well of caring inside of her that was obvious. She’d handled everything the day had thrown at her but her emotions were clearly deep given the way she talked about them.
Part of Xander wanted to open up to her. He wasn’t that guy. Never had been. That was his secret shame. He just couldn’t feel the things that others did. Instead of feeling empathy when someone was devastated, he got angry and enraged. Not helpful, as his mom had pointed more than once.
At Price Security there were protocols in place that made it so he didn’t fail. There were always backups. Right now he’d give his right arm to have his best friend, Kenji Wada, by his side. Kenji saw things that Xander didn’t but he was also very good with people. He could do the small-talk stuff that Xander didn’t want to.
But Kenji wasn’t here.
Xander had never felt more like he was failing than he did at this moment. Meanwhile Obie watched him in that quiet way of hers. What was she trying to find in him?
Probably some reassurance that he’d keep her alive. She’d been shot at and forced to go deeper into the swamp and it was clear she wasn’t prepared for this. She’d brought up the cartel. He really didn’t know anything about them but sent the information to Lee so she could pull up everything the internet and dark web had on them.
“I know you would do anything for your family,” he said at last. “But I’m not that guy.”
“Why not?” she asked.
He started to shrug but she just sort of rolled her eyes. “Don’t lie. It’s okay to just not answer.”
As empathetic as she was, it didn’t translate to her being a pushover. She’d probably shared more than she’d meant to about her parents’ deaths and now she wanted to even things up. At least, that was his guess.
“I didn’t make you tell me about your parents,” he pointed out.
“Did I say you had? Listen, we are stuck in the swamp for the rest of the day at the very least and someone is after the both of us. I probably shouldn’t have overshared and the conversation sort of naturally went to your relationship with Aaron. I didn’t ask any deep, probing questions. You’re the one throwing up barriers and acting defensive. I don’t know you or Aaron well enough to be judgy about your relationship. That’s all coming from you.”
He rocked back on his heels. He felt so seen right now. He didn’t at all blame her for what she’d said. “Truce.”
“Sorry, I just am not someone who is going to be all like sorry you are getting into your feelings. That’s not who I am.”
Steel ran through her. Why he was surprised was beyond him. He’d seen flashes of it at the house and then in the boat and when she’d been so cool with the croc. Some of the people he’d worked with in dangerous situations would have lost it when confronted with a predatory animal. No amount of training could make someone immune to fear.
“How’d you know how to deal with the croc?”
“I like animals. In another life I might have been a marine biologist. I still like them so I spend a lot of time reading books on the ecosystem of the different swamps and have been studying the Everglades and surrounding areas for the last few years. There are a lot of dangers in the swamp.”
“Do you miss living in the swamp?” he asked. He was piecing together the woman before him. She had been so polished and very much like all the women he’d seen in Key Largo and before that in Miami when he’d flown in. She had looked urbane and sophisticated. Now sweat had dissolved her makeup, leaving her skin fresh and tanned looking. Her hair had lost that board straightness, curling and escaping the ponytail holder she’d caught it up in.
She seemed at home here. Learning about her upbringing in the swamp helped it make sense. But why had she left and changed so much? And having done so, why was she still keeping her knowledge of the swamp? Plus if she was talking then she wasn’t asking him uncomfortable questions.
“I didn’t think so,” she said. “Should we get going?”
“Yes. When we get to Cuthbert Lake I’ll inflate the pack-raft. I think it will be easy to cross and quicker than walking all the way around it,” he said.
“You have a pack-raft?”
“Yeah. I mean it’s Aaron so I sort of prepared for everything,” he said.
“What’s everything?”
“Land, water and air escape,” he said.
“Air?” she asked, eyeing his huge backpack with its 120-liter-capacity tag on full display. “Really?”
“I’d call Van for a chopper if needed.”
“And we don’t need one now?”
“It’s for emergency use only. It’s expensive and involves a lot of paperwork,” he said.
“So are you some sort of British Boy Scout? Do the Brits even have Boy Scouts?” she asked.
“Yeah. But I wasn’t one. I simply do better when I have a plan for every outcome,” he said. Some things he knew couldn’t be anticipated. His brother’s accident, for one thing. Aaron sending his hot coffee shop boss into a dangerous situation for another.
Reacting to her like he was.
He still wanted her. And no matter what he did to distract himself, she reeled him back in.
It made his skin feel too hot and his concentration harder to hold. But it was the truth. He was pretty damned sure that was a truth she wasn’t looking to hear from him.
But he couldn’t deny it or ignore it any longer.
Ah, hell.
He didn’t want to tell her the truth about himself because he didn’t want to disappoint her. And women never really reacted well to a guy saying hey, I don’t do feelings but let’s hook up. Or at least not a woman like Obie, with her big brown eyes full of unspoken feelings, staring right into his core.
Chapter 6
The mangroves they’d ditched the boat near gave way to a saltwater swamp that would lead them to the Everglades, about a couple of days’ walk to the northwest. The swamp was different from the one she’d grown up in but she’d come to love these southern swamp areas. The mud flats and sand were thinly covered by seawater during high tide, but because the tide was out, it was just wet as they walked across it.
Most of the plants that thrived in the area were able to tolerate tidal flooding, such as their saviors the mangrove trees, which grew and formed thickets of roots and branches. Their thin, tall roots anchored them to the sand. Providing the perfect cover for Obie and Xander as they moved farther away from Madeira Bay.
She smiled as she noticed some crabs and other shellfish feeding on the fallen leaves and other materials from the decaying roots of the mangroves. She loved seeing this side of nature. And though she limited herself to visits to the Miami Seaquariam these days, she missed being in the water and the swamp, the feeling of being at home.
Birds flew overhead circling and looking for their lunch, making Obie aware that she hadn’t put any snacks in her purse before heading out to Aaron’s house. She hadn’t been prepared for any of this. Which was probably a good thing. Who wanted to be prepared to be attacked by a vengeful drug cartel, right?
“I had no idea the swamp would be so...alive,” Xander said.
“Marine biologists call this area the nursery of the ocean because so many species thrive here and come here to spawn. Fish who lay their eggs in the salt marshes ensure their young have plenty of food and some protection in the swamp grass as they grow,” she said. She’d spent a lot of time reading up on the swamp. As much as Aunt Karen wanted her to forget, a part of her had never been able to.
