Page 81 of Finding Carly
“What does that mean?” Jag asked, semi-alarmed.
“Just that this has gone on too long. If Keyes had an accomplice, the asshole has been very patient. But I’m betting he’s getting anxious to finish what Keyes started. Everything within me says this isn’t over. That someone’s biding their time. Just tell Carly to keep her eyes open for anything unusual.”
“More unusual than seeing Keyes’s friends everywhere?” Jag asked in frustration. “I swear she’s run into them more now than when she was dating the fucker. Just the other day, Gideon Sparks dropped off two envelopes at Duke’s. One for Carly and one for Kenna. They had year-long passes to the Honolulu Zoo inside and some bullshit note about how sorry he was about everything that had happened. How he wanted to try to make up for some of the trauma they’d gone through.”
“No shit?” Baker asked.
“No shit,” Jag confirmed. “And Beau Langford sent her a gift certificate for a free sunset cruise that embarks out of his marina. As if she’d ever get in a boat within ten miles of that asshole.”
“Yeah, not a good idea. I’ll look into both men, maybe pay them another visit to see what their motivation was.”
“Carly already called Detective Lee and told him about both. He said he’d talk to them.”
“Yeah, but I’m thinking I can get more info out of them than he can. I’ll do my best to make sure they forget Carly exists.”
“Thanks.”
“All right, I’m gonna jet, just wanted to make sure everything was all right with you and Carly and make sure her request was legit.”
“It’s legit,” Jag found himself saying.
Baker was quiet for a moment, then he shocked the shit out of Jag by saying, “You’re a damn good man, Jag. Carly’s lucky to have you.” Then he clicked off the connection and left Jag sitting in his car, staring at his phone.
Shaking his head, wondering how the hell Carly’s bloodthirsty request had led to Baker giving him a pep talk, Jag started his engine and backed out of the parking spot, anxious to get home. He’d be late getting to work, but he didn’t give a shit. He was going to take his time and have breakfast with Carly, as usual.
He wished he could spend the day with her, but that wasn’t possible. There had been another kidnapping of school children in Nigeria. This time it was nearly five hundred boys. Boko Haram was at it again, and the United States had offered any help to the Nigerian government that they needed in order to track down the group and get the children back. The SEALs were neck deep in researching the area where the boys had disappeared, in case they were sent in to assist in the recovery.
Jag didn’t want to leave, not now, but the thought of what those boys’ fates would be if they weren’t found struck a little too close to home, and he wanted to help get them back to their families.
He drove home a little too quickly and took the stairs two at a time as he ran up to his floor. The second he entered his apartment, he smiled. It smelled like cinnamon rolls. He kept telling Carly that he couldn’t eat that kind of junk in the morning before work, but she simply shrugged and baked stuff anyway.
“Morning,” Jag said as he walked into the kitchen.
She turned and smiled at him, and Jag melted. This was what he wanted. Carly smiling at him like that for the rest of their lives. He’d do anything to make that happen.Anything. The fact that she’d accepted what had happened to him, that she hadn’t stormed out after he’d treated her like shit, was a minor miracle. He hadn’t realized until afterward how close he’d come to losing her. He hated that he’d hurt her, but she didn’t hold a grudge and things were now even deeper between them.
He stalked over to her, and Carly’s smile widened as he got close. He wrapped an arm around her waist and yanked her against him. She stumbled, but the laughter that left her lips as her hands landed on his chest let him know she wasn’t frightened.
She was still smiling when his lips landed on hers. He couldn’t wait another second to touch her. She tasted sweet, as if she’d been sampling the icing that was supposed to go on the cinnamon rolls when they came out of the oven. But within seconds, everything but the feel of her against him and her lips under his faded into the background.
He kissed her with all the love he had in his heart. All the gratitude that she was the woman she was. All the relief that she’d been able to overcome her reticence when it came to dating.
They were both breathing hard when he pulled back.
“Um, wow,” Carly said, staring up at him with wide eyes.
“Morning,” Jag said softly.
“Did you have a good workout?” she asked.
Jag shrugged. “Mustang kicked our asses extra hard today, probably to make a point that he knew I’d slacked off the last few days.”
Carly rolled her eyes. “Oh, a few days off of work. Yeah, you’re such a slacker.”
Jag chuckled. Then he sobered. “Baker called me this morning.”
Carly blushed and asked lightly, “He did?”
She knew why Baker had called him, but was obviously trying to play it off. “Yup.”
