Ride with the SEAL (Norse Security 1)

“No.” He exhaled and stared down at the floor. “That was my team on the phone. Loki thinks we need to find out who the real buyer was for the car. He thinks this won’t be over until we do. I hate to say it, but I agree. And I’m not talking about that drug dealer who showed up. That asshole had no idea what the Aeon was worth. He just wanted his smack.” He sat back on the bed beside her. “There has to be someone else backing him, someone who won’t stop until they get that car.”

“Hmm.” Everly frowned. Now that he put it that way, it made sense. “What does Loki think I should do then, repost the car for sale?”

“Yep. Except I told him no. I won’t have you used as bait.” Cam reached over and took her hand. “If anyone’s going to post it, it’ll be me. That way my butt’s on the line, not yours.”

“What about all the security stuff?” Concerned, she laced her fingers with his atop the sheets. “You’re the best at what you do. I’ve seen it. I’d hate for someone else to get hurt because of this, especially you.”

“I’ll be fine. And like I told Loki, I’m so good, I can teach someone else to do what I do. Hunter’s not bad on a computer. He can do what I tell him and run it all behind the scenes.”

“Okay. So, how do you plan to get word out that the Aeon’s on the market again?”

“Dark web.” He shrugged. “I figure this person, whoever they are, has the financial means to monitor all channels of communication. If I put it out there, word travels fast. All we need to do is get the car to a familiar spot I can easily defend and schedule a meeting.”

“Where?”

“Not sure yet. Can’t be too open. Don’t want to run the risk of outside collateral damage. Can’t be random private property either. Don’t want anyone asking too many questions about what we’re doing. Needs to have an easy escape route too, in case things go bad and we need to run.”

“Huh.” Everly grinned. “You know you just described my dad’s garage, right?”

Cam frowned. “I never thought about it, but it is kind of perfect, isn’t it? Any chance you can break us back in there without anyone noticing later tonight?”

She snorted. “Piece of cake. Place is usually a graveyard on Tuesday nights anyway.”

He winced at her choice of words and she laughed.

“Sorry.” Everly scooted out of bed, grabbing her sweatshirt and tugging it on before pulling on the enormous sweatpants he’d given her the night before. Even tied as tight as possible, she still had to roll them up three times at the waist to keep from tripping over them. “This is great. We can spend the day planning out our attack and you can get your post up on the dark web and then tonight we can head over to my dad’s garage and—”

“Wait a minute.” Cam stood too and walked around the bed toward her, in all his naked glory. And damn, but he was glorious—all chiseled muscle and sexy sinew. “I don’t remember saying you were coming with me to the meeting.”

“Of course, I’m coming with you. I won’t let you face this alone.”

“Let’s see how things play out today first.” He stepped closer and slipped his arms around her waist, his warm hands sliding beneath her sweatshirt to stroke her bare skin, making her shiver. “Right now, I need a shower.” Before she could protest, he swept her up into his arms and headed toward the bathroom. “And so do you. We’ll take one together, unless you protest.”

“No protests here.” She giggled, kissing his neck. “Bring on the water, baby.”

He jammed on the shower then turned to her, his expression serious. “I mean it, Everly. I don’t want to see you get hurt. If anything happened to you, I don’t think I could bear it.”

She hugged him tight, the warmth inside her bursting into fireworks of something more. “I feel the same. That’s why I want to do this meeting together. We’ve already proven we make a pretty good team and I know you have my back. There’s no one I trust more at this point.”

“Agreed.” He kissed the top of her head, then stripped off her sweats before leading her into the steamy tile shower. “For now, let’s see about getting you cleaned up.”

“Aw, darn.” She pressed him back against the tile wall, her slow smile increasing at the feel of his hard length pulsing hot and heavy against her hip. “I was hoping we’d get down and dirty again.”

13

“You sure you want to do this?” Cam asked Everly for the umpteenth time. They were crouched outside her father’s garage in DC, the Aeon parked in the driveway outside the open bay door. The place appeared deserted, at least for now. That would change as soon as their mysterious new buyer, GL574, showed up. If Cam’s hunches were correct this would be the drug dealer’s head honcho. He didn’t like putting Everly in harm’s way, but she’d already gotten them into the locked garage and turned off the security system. No going back now. Still, if there was any way to keep her from danger, he’d do it. “Look, I can probably handle both things myself and—”

“Which part of Hell. No. didn’t you understand, baby?” She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Besides, I’ll be fine. I know how to take care of myself, don’t worry. And you’ll have enough on your hands hacking into my father’s computer system in the shop.”

He wanted to argue, but she was right. In order to pull off what he planned to pull off, he’d need all his brainpower focused on coding. First, he had to bust through her father’s firewalls, then he needed to establish a secure connection to the mainframe at Norse Security—with Hunter’s help—then, if all went well, he could download the software he needed directly through the Aeon’s onboard Wi-Fi, allowing him to manually control the car without actually being inside it.

Everly checked her watch then nodded. “I should get in there. The buyer should arrive any minute. I’ll see you on the other side.”

“Hey,” he said, grabbing her arm before she could walk away. “If things go south, I just want you to know that I really enjoyed our time together last night. I like you a lot and I’d like to spend more time with you when all this is over. If you want—”

The rest of his words were cut off by Everly kissing him. When she pulled away, her sunny smile could’ve lit the dark night around them for years to come. “I like you too, baby. A lot. And I’d love to see you again.” A car approached and she pushed away from him. “But first, we’ve got some bad guys to catch.”

Cam watched her walk safely inside the brightly lit garage then pressed his back to the cold outer wall of the building as a black sedan swerved to a stop beside the Aeon in the driveway. Considering everything that car had been through over the past seventy-two hours, it looked pretty damned good, but he knew Loki was still going to lose his shit when he saw it. Their mission had been to return the vehicle in the same condition as when it had been stolen—perfect. Now, there were several bullet holes through the trunk, a smashed taillight, numerous scratches and dings to the paint, and a weird smell permeating the inside that Cam could only assume had something to do with the drugs that had been held inside there.