Page 12 of Finding Carly
Jag glanced at her, then back at the road in front of him. “What do you want to know?”
“I heard Kenna talking about him at the wedding, bummed that he wasn’t there. Who is he?”
“Baker Rawlins is a former SEAL who lives up on the North Shore. He spends his free time surfing.”
When Jag didn’t say anything else, Carly asked, “And? There has to be more to him than that.”
His lips twitched. “Well, if you ask the girls, they’ll all tell you how hot he is.”
Carly’s brows lowered in surprise. “Really? But they’re…not single,” she finished lamely.
“Well, they claim they’re allowed to look, and that there’s nothing wrong with saying someone is good-looking.”
“That’s true,” she admitted. “And that’s it? He’s a good-looking former SEAL who likes to surf? And that somehow makes you and your friends want him involved in finding Luke?”
“No,” Jag said, all teasing gone from his tone now. “He’s deadly as hell. Not a man I’d want to piss off, but who I absolutely want on my side when I’m trying to track down someone who doesn’t want to be found. He’s intense, a little scary, but an honorable man. He was pissed when Kenna was taken hostage. Vowed to find Luke. I’m guessing the fact that he hasn’t yet makes him very muchnothappy. What do you know about what happened to Monica?”
Carly blinked at the seemingly abrupt change of topic. She wanted to mention that ifJagthought Baker was scary, she absolutely did not want to meet him—because in reality, he was probably terrifying. Instead, she shrugged and said, “Nothing.”
“She was kidnapped by a man who used her as bait to lure Baker to the Big Island. The guy used to be on Baker’s SEAL team and was kicked off for being mentally unstable. His plan was for both Monica and Baker to be burned alive by Kailua’s lava flow, but he underestimated his former team leader.”
“Holy shit,” Carly breathed, squeezing Jag’s hand. “They’re all okay?”
“If you mean Monica and Baker, yes. The other guy, not so much. He got a dose of his own medicine. My point is, Baker didn’t hesitate to do what needed to be done to make sure Monica was safe. He also flew to New York to meet with frickin’ mobsters to make sureElodiewould be safe from any retribution from a certain family. He should be relaxing in his retirement and worrying about nothing more than surf forecasts, but he’s not. He’s as much a part of our team as the rest of us, even if he’s not active duty anymore.”
“So, he wants to make sure Kenna’s safe,” Carly said softly.
“Yes,” Jag said without hesitation.
For some reason, his answer made Carly’s chest tighten.
“But also, he wants to mitigate the danger toyou, angel,” Jag continued.
Carly looked over at him, skeptical. “But this Baker guy doesn’t even know me.”
“Doesn’t matter. He knows you’re important tome, and that until Luke is neutralized, no one is safe.”
She licked her lips. “Important to you?” She blurted the question without thought. Carly immediately wished she could take it back.
“Yes,” Jag said, seemingly unconcerned. “I’ve spent every minute of my free time checking up on you and bugging him ceaselessly about what he might’ve found out.”
Carly honestly wasn’t sure what to say about that. She only knew how his words made her feel. Like she mattered. Like she wasn’t invisible. Like someone cared if she lived or died. All of it made her want to cry.
As if he realized she needed a moment, he kept talking. “After we meet with the detective, how would you feel about going over to see Kenna? I know she’d love to seeyou.”
Carlywantedto say no. Being around Kenna felt…weird now. It was Carly’s fault her friend had been taken hostage and almost blown to pieces.
“Okay,” she whispered instead, after a long moment.
“If you need more time, that’s all right, but I know for a fact she misses you terribly,” Jag said gently. “Aleck said she talks about you all the time and complains that work isn’t as much fun as it used to be because you aren’t there. If you aren’t ready to see her, maybe we could go down to Barbers Point and see if Lexie, Elodie, and Ashlyn need any help at Food For All.”
A pang of longing hit Carly. She wanted to. Shereallywanted to. But the thought of being out in the open for so long made her heart rate spike. And if she brought attention to her friends, led Luke to any of them, she’d never forgive herself.
“Look at me, angel,” Jag said in a low tone Carly couldn’t ignore.
She hated being like this. She missed the outgoing person she used to be. She looked over at Jag and saw him splitting his attention between her and the road.
“I’m pushing you hard. I know that. But you aren’t alone. You’ve got people who love and care about you. You said you wanted to take your life back, and I want to help you do that. As much as I want to be by your side every minute of every day, I can’t. The last thing I want is you hiding out at my place just as you were in yours.”
