Page 78 of Riptide

“It’s just that…well,” he reached for her, took her hand in his and cupped her cheek. “You see, now, I really, really like you.”

Kaimana melted inside, his piercing eyes seeing through to her soul “I really, really like you too.”

“It seems we have a big problem here…all this liking and all.”

“Terrible problem.” Her heart pounded in her chest.

“I know we haven’t known each other long but I think…It’s just I think I might like you a little more than like if you get me.” Seth beamed with a sexy glint in his eyes that went straight to her heart.

“I get you. And, yeah, I might be thinking I like you a little more than really just liking you.” Her cheeks flushed, wearing a coquettish smile.

Love. It was crazy Kaimana was even thinking it or that she thought Seth was thinking it too. They’d barely met yet there was no denying the chemistry. But more than that, she genuinely cared for him. Love? Shit, I am falling in love. So much trouble.

Before she had a second more to contemplate her awkward expression of her feelings, Seth’s mouth crushed onto hers. His tongue brushed against hers, their kiss on fire with emotion. Desperate, she kissed him back with passion and a hungry craving that only Seth could sate.

Evan’s voice broke the moment and her cheeks heated in embarrassment.

“Hey you two. Would you like to keep making out like teenagers or maybe go catch some bad guys?”

“I’d keep kissing her bro, but yeah, bad guys.” Seth smiled at her and pressed his mouth to hers one last time. As he pulled away, he held her face in his hands. “Be careful, Kai. Stay with Marcus. No heroics. Only if they need you. I can’t come out of all of this without you.”

Kaimana nodded, her eyes locked on his. As she watched him leave and make his way to the chopper, flying off into the night, her chest tightened with emotion, and the danger they all faced.

“You ready, Kaimana?” Marcus asked.

“You’ve got no idea. Let’s go get this fucker.”

* * *

The drive to Laniakea Beach passed quickly. Save for a few passing cars, the road remained quiet. She and Marcus rode in silence, both lost in their thoughts.

As they came within a mile of the auction, Marcus pulled off to the side of the road and turned off the car.

“What are you doing?” She asked, her anxiety twisting in her stomach. “We need to get closer.”

“We’ve got the drone. No need to get too close to the action,” Marcus explained as he switched on a console panel that resembled a large tablet. An overhead picture of an estate flashed on the screen. “And we’ve got FLIR technology. Thermal drone. Look there.” The screen lit up in hues of orange and purple. He pointed to bright yellow figures. “There they are. In the back of the house there. See.” Several dozen yellow figures lit up in a congregated area.

“The auction.”

“It’s in the back of the house. Backs up to the rainforest.”

“I want to be there. What if they need help getting the women out?” Kaimana shook her head. A sickening feeling curled in her stomach. Her instinct told her to move, something about being so far from the house was more dangerous than being there.

“We’re good. If they need you, we’ll drive right over. We’ve got trained agents on this raid. They’re going to come in full force, and we don’t want to get in their way.”

“You know Evan taught me lots of things while we were together. And one of those things was to trust my gut.” Kaimana glanced to the screen. Limos lined the home’s driveway, and she wondered how many criminals had shown up for the auction. “Things don’t feel right.”

“It’s just nerves. We all get like that. But trust me. We’re good. We’ve got about fifteen minutes before the auction starts. Hold on a sec.” Marcus picked up his phone and glanced at a text. “They’re in position. Looks like fifty buyers are either seated outside or still in the house.”

“Do you know who they are yet?” she asked.

“They’ve only got a few identified. So far, we’ve got a well-known TV preacher who apparently is more of the ‘do as I say not as I do’ type. We’ve got a senator. That I didn’t expect. Of course we’ve got a few domestic and international billionaire playboys who we’ve already been watching. Some are new players and we’ll sus that all out once they’re in custody.”

Kaimana struggled to shake the nausea that rose in her throat. She swiveled her head, checking for passing cars. “Now I’ll be the first one to say I’m no FBI agent and I’ve never been on a sting, but I think we need to move in. I know you trust those agents you brought in tonight but—”

“I trust them as well as I ever could. I’m not saying things won’t go south but I’ve been working for over twenty years now and in all that time, I haven’t run into any moles in my division. Just solid men and women doing their job, protecting our country.”

“Okay.” A small sense of relief came over Kaimana, but she couldn’t shake an impending sense of doom. “I don’t like sitting here. It’s too dark.” Something flashed out of the corner of her eye and her focus was drawn to the field across the street. “I just saw something. Over there in those bushes.”