Ride with the SEAL (Norse Security 1)

His suspicions must’ve been written all over his face, because s

he backed up a step or two and crossed her arms defensively. “Listen, I had no idea where that damned thing was, I swear.” When he didn’t respond, she continued. “You asked me before why I was in my dad’s garage, alone, at two in the morning trying to steal this car. Well, I’ll tell you. Because I’m trying to escape the mob too. I’ve got a new garage space waiting for me. All I have to do to afford it is get this Aeon for my buyer. I do that and I’ll make enough to afford the rent and escape this shithole life of thieving. Believe me, you won’t find anyone who wants to help you get this car out of the mafia’s hands any more than me. But you need to trust me.”

“Trust you?” He snorted and shook his head. She was on the passenger side of the vehicle now, he near the drivers’ side door. It would be easy to toss the tracker her way, hop inside the still running car and leave her in the dust. That would be the smart thing. The safe thing. But for some reason that he didn’t want to examine too closely at the moment, he couldn’t do it. Maybe it was the almost-kiss they’d shared in the safe-house kitchen. Maybe it was all those years of fantasies he’d harbored about her. Maybe it was the way she’d lit up when talking about her dreams for the future and the passion in her voice when she talked about owning her own garage.

Whatever the hell it was, Cam found himself dropping the tiny tracker to the ground and crushing it beneath his heel before yanking open the Aeon’s door and leaning his arm on the car’s top. “Get in.”

“What?” She hesitated. “You mean you trust me?”

“I didn’t say that, sweetheart.” He tapped his fingertips against the cool metal. “All I know at this point is that you’ve got skills that might prove useful.” Cam allowed his gaze to flicker down to her lips and chest before returning to her wide dark eyes. His skin still tingled from the feel of her pressed tight against him and damn if he was ready to let that go yet without exploring all those delicious possibilities. “Right now, I don’t know what to believe about you. But either you get in the car and we figure this out as we go, or you stay here amongst the corn and walk a mile or so to find help. Either way, I’m taking off. Your choice.”

Her doe eyes narrowed and she glared at him as he slid into the drivers’ seat and revved the engine again. There were several gouges and scraps on the Aeon that he’d seen, but nothing a good buffing wouldn’t remove. Hopefully, by the end of the day he’d have this car safely in Loki’s hands and could walk away from this mission a success.

The passenger door opened and Everly slid into her seat. She stared straight ahead, her delicate jaw tight. “Fine. No way am I losing this deal now. I’ve got too much riding on it.”

7

Everly woke up to bright sunshine in her face and more farm fields blurring by outside her window. Judging by the sun’s position in the sky it was a bit past noon. She straightened and stretched, working out a particular sore kink in her neck before glancing over at Cam behind the wheel. “Where are we?”

He narrowed his gaze out the windshield, his expression contemplative. “Based on what I’m seeing, I’d say were square in the middle of Nowhere, Maryland. Population, us.”

She snorted and sat back, circling her ankles in front of her to restore some circulation. “How long was I asleep?”

“Couple of hours. Based on how hard you slept, you needed it.”

“Yeah.” She blinked at the digital clock in the dashboard. Twelve-thirty. “In my line of work, odd hours are a given. Never know when you might have a chance to catch a few winks, so you get used to sleeping when you can.”

“I hear you,” Cam said. “Used to be that way on SEAL missions too. And with the tech jobs I work for the agency, I’m on call all hours of the day and night. When they need me, I’m there.” He reached over and switched on the stereo then tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the country pop tune filling the air. Finally, he looked at her again, his green eyes assessing. “So, what’s your plan?”

“My plan?” She ran a hand through her disheveled curls as she checked her reflection in the mirror. What she wouldn’t give for a bathroom and a toothbrush right about now. Honestly, her plans for how to handle this situation were about as empty as the landscape around them. She’d expected this job to be quick, easy, and over by now. Never in a million years had she expected to be saddled with Camden Thursday, let alone to like him so much.

It was a problem, one she had no solution for yet.

Instead of responding, Everly just shrugged and flipped the visor up again then crossed her arms as she stared outside. Finally, she said, “Where are we going now?”

“Well, we can’t go back to the safe house, that’s for sure. And I don’t want to head to the Norse Security offices until I’m sure we’ve lost our tail. So, I’ve been driving around in lazy circles since you fell asleep, burning through our gas and keeping an eye out behind us.” Cam smiled. “The good news is, no one appears to be following us.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“The only place I’ve seen around these parts besides the grain silos and the small one stoplight town is that building over there.” He pointed to a crumbling brick warehouse with faded lettering on the side proclaiming “White’s Piano Manufacture and Repair.” “Not exactly a five-star resort, but it’ll have to do.”

Everly squinted at the abandoned structure as Cam pulled the Aeon into the gravel lot. They got out and Cam muscled his way through a wide set of wooden, barn-style doors and inside the ramshackle interior. Weak beams of sunlight filtered through the grimy windows and dust motes swirled in the shadows. “Wow,” she said, checking it all out. “This place must’ve sat empty for years.” She pushed the corner of a tarp aside with the toe of her shoe and spotted the gleam of metal. Bending, she discovered an array of tools—screwdrivers, wrenches, wire snips, even a hammer and a saw. Everly assumed they’d been left over from the workers building pianos. Her phone buzzed from her back pocket, reminding her she needed to check in with her buyer, give them a final price for the job. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do that until she’d given it a thorough inspection. As she stared at the tools an idea occurred. Cam acted like an overprotective mother where the car was concerned, but maybe being stuck in this place together, he’d let her do her thing as long as he was here to watch. She could give him some story about searching the engine to make sure the mob hadn’t tampered with it too.

Everly straightened and turned to Cam, who was keeping guard at the door. “You should bring the Aeon in here, keep it out of sight.”

He gave her a skeptical look. “This place is filthy and the exterior’s dinged up enough as it is. Last thing I need is to give Loki any more reason to kick my ass.”

“Loki?” Everly raised a brow at him.

“My boss.” Cam shook his head and looked away. “That’s his nickname. Kevin’s his real name, but he’s Norwegian and used to play a lot of tricks when he was in the military, so the name stuck.”

“Got you.” Well, damn. Her plan wasn’t working so far, but maybe if she applied a bit more pressure. “Yeah, I’d hate to see anything else happen to such a lovely vehicle, sitting out there exposed to all the elements like that. It’s a risk.”

Cam frowned. “It’s a bright sunny day. What could happen?”

“You sure you got all the trackers?”

His gaze narrowed on her. “What are you not telling me?”