Chapter 15

CHAPTER15

Marin woke to the sounds of footsteps on the boat.

“Griffin,” she whispered, trying to untangle her arms and legs from his. “There’s someone here.”

He moaned and rolled over, pinning her to the bed. When a pair of sneakered feet passed by the narrow window inches from their naked bodies, she frantically tried to remember where he’d put Ben’s gun.

“Griffin!” She thumped his bare chest. “Wake up! Someone is on the boat!”

His eyelids raised to half-mast just as the sneakers went back the other way. Griffin lowered his lids again and settled back down on top of her. “Not to worry,” he mumbled. “Those ugly ankles belong to Adam.”

“Are you sure?” She glanced frantically out the window.

“Positive,” he murmured against her shoulder, the rasp of his two-day-old beard tickling her skin.

She reached for the blanket and tugged it over their bodies just as the engine roared to life. Marin would have jumped, but she had two hundred pounds of muscled, naked man holding her captive.

“The boat is moving!” she shrieked.

“Mmm,” he said, his lips nipping at her collarbone. “We’ve been making it move all night.”

“That’s not what I meant.” She smacked his butt.

His eyes snapped open. Marin sucked in a breath at the heat in them. “I didn’t realize you liked to play that way. I doubt Ben has anything more than rope that we can use for sex toys. But I’m happy to go check with him.”

“Will you please be serious? I’ve had a crazy few days and I have the right to be a little jumpy.”

His face softened. He reached a finger down to brush a stray hair off her face. “I know. But you can trust Adam and Ben to protect you. They’re just taking us somewhere safe. That’s all.”

“Shouldn’t we go out there and see where we are going?”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “Not yet. I’d rather stay in here and torture you for using your hands when you should have used your words.”

She squirmed beneath him impatiently. “I was using my words. You just weren’t listening. You still aren’t.”

His hot gaze locked with hers again. “Damn it, Marin, the minute we leave this cabin things go back to the way they were. You go back to being a protectee. I go back to being who I am, a special agent, wearing a gun, doing everything I can to keep you safe. I just want a few more minutes of this, you and me. Stress-free and real.”

As Griffin bent his head and brushed his lips over her breast, Marin tried to relax beneath the warmth of his body. These last hours aboard Ben’s boat had been a magical time-out from her threatening reality. But she wanted to think they could continue like this, intimate and connected, long after the danger has passed. His words held a warning, however. One that was almost as frightening as the man who wanted her dead.

She leaned forward and kissed the top of his head. He tugged the blanket to form a cocoon over them. When his mouth found hers, Marin responded with a kiss as hungry as his. The boat picked up speed, but Griffin was unhurried as he made love to her reverently.

* * *

“Agent Morgan’s team found the curator’s intern,” Adam said. “Or what was left of him. Looks like he died the same way as Wes. A lethal dose of Sux.”

Griffin glanced toward the bow of the boat. Dressed in a white T-shirt and a pair of Daisy Duke jean shorts his idiot friends had picked out for her, Marin was out on the pulpit with Ben. The two of them were doing a stupid impersonation from the movie Titanic. Ben’s hands were all over her body. Her laughter floated through the air. Griffin should be glad to see her so relaxed. Instead, he was miffed his supposed friend was manhandling his woman.

His woman.

Jesus. Marin wasn’t his woman. She was a suspect turned protectee. Nothing more. Except for those hours they’d spent locked away belowdecks. Griffin had been more real with her than he ever had with any other woman he’d had sex with. He thought it was because he wanted to console her, to protect her. But she did something to him. And he was telling the truth when he said it scared the hell out of him.

“Shall I turn the wheel sharply so they both fall in?”

“What?” Griffin turned his head to face Adam.

His friend peered over his Ray-Bans. “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said.”

“I heard the part about the White House intern being offed. Do we think that was our Ukrainian friend or the Greek buffoons who attacked us yesterday?”

Adam scoffed. “Those Greek idiots were an embarrassment to hit men everywhere. We could have rounded them up with a damn Taser last night. It’s no wonder they had to hire a Ukrainian henchman to be their muscle. By the way, I gave Agent Morgan the collar. She said they lawyered up almost immediately.”

“Then the Ukrainian killed the intern. But why?”

“Leslie thinks he was the guy on the inside,” Adam explained. “Apparently, Intern Ari comes from a well-connected Greek family.”

“That brings us back to the million-dollar question of why steal artwork from the White House? They’ve got a successful counterfeiting gig going. Why branch out?”

Adam steered the boat around a buoy. “That’s the question that kept Leslie and me occupied for most of the evening. Among other things.”

“Hmm,” Griffin responded refocusing his gaze on Marin and Ben.

“That’s all I get is ‘hmm’?” Adam asked. “I tell you I spent the night with a woman you’ve been sleeping with and you can’t be bothered. Yet Ben barely has his hands on Marin and you’re ready to throw him overboard.”

The waves crashed against the side of the boat. Griffin’s insides felt just as choppy. “Leslie and I were never serious. She’s all yours.”

“And Marin?”

“She’s a witness in our protection. Nothing more.” You keep telling yourself that, Griff.

“Right. And the condom wrappers strewn about the boat are because you opened them up to make balloon animals last night.”

Griffin glared at Adam. “It’s complicated.”

Adam laughed. “That’s the call sign for any guy to run in the other direction. You’ll be able to think more clearly once we drop her at the base.”

Ice rushed through Griffin’s veins. “I’m not leaving her there alone.”

His friend eyed him warily. “The director wants you back at the White House. This case has everyone tense and he wants you to dodge the flying arrows. Marin will be surrounded by agents on the base. She’ll be safe.”

“Not good enough,” Griffin said through clenched teeth.

“What’s not good enough?” Marin asked.

Following Ben, she climbed off the bow agilely, only to slip on the last step. Griffin caught her before she fell. Marin leaned into him coyly, but he held his body away from hers. Confusion marred her pretty face. Griffin didn’t blame her. He was conflicted by his need to keep her close when finding the thief should be his top priority. If he was going to find this creep, he needed to listen to Adam and put some distance between him and Marin. It wasn’t like he hadn’t warned her an hour earlier in the cabin. He just hoped she’d gotten the message.

Marin’s stepped out of his grasp and crossed her arms in front of her. “Do I get to know where you boys are taking me?”

Ben pointed toward a marina up ahead before taking Adam’s place at the wheel. “We’re docking adjacent to Fort McNair. From there, Agent Groesch and some others will take you to a State Department safe house on base. I hear it has a fabulous view.”

She worried her bottom lip. “I need to be in New Orleans by Friday night.”

“You’re booked aboard Air Force One,” Adam informed her. “And you’ll have a lucky Secret Service agent as your wedding date.”

“You?” she asked Adam, her tone a little too hopeful for Griffin’s comfort.

“Hell, no,” Griffin declared. “I told you I was taking you to that damn wedding and I still am.”

Marin’s face was hard to read. “Try not to sound so enthused about it, Agent Keller.”

She disappeared into the cabin. When Griffin went to chase after her, Adam stopped him with a hand to his arm.

“Dude, worry about the guy trying to kill her,” his friend reminded him. “You can kiss and make up with Marin afterward. And then you’ll both live happily ever after.”

Griffin grabbed Adam by the shirt. “I told you it’s not like that.”

Adam pushed Griffin’s hands away. “Yeah, yeah. It’s complicated. Too bad you’re the only one who thinks that.”

“Guys,” Ben interrupted. “Can we gab about Griffin’s need to get in touch with his feelings another time? I really need each of you on either side of the bow to tie the boat off.”

Adam made a kissing noise before scrambling up top and heading to the left side of the bow. Griffin debated going below to check on Marin. Adam didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. Except for the part about catching Marin’s attacker. That needed to be Griffin’s first priority.

Ben steered the boat alongside the dock. “Keller, get your ass up there to grab the lines on the starboard side.”

Griffin made his way to the front of the boat.

* * *

Ben was right. The house they took Marin to did have stunning views of the Washington waterfront and Arlington beyond. It was also furnished more tastefully than the last house, befitting of the foreign dignitaries who used this address as a hiding place. The home would be perfect if she were enjoying a weekend getaway in Washington, DC.

Except she wasn’t. She was essentially a prisoner. And even worse for her psyche, Griffin was obviously not sticking around to play the role of her bodyguard.

“There’s a gorgeous tub in the master bath if you’d like a long soak after swimming in the Potomac,” Agent Groesch said. “I guessed at the sizes of clothing you’d need, but you should find something upstairs that will fit you.” The female agent tsked at the tight shorts Ben and Adam had brought for her that morning. “Leave it to a man,” she mumbled as she walked back into the room the agents were using as an office.

Marin buried her hands into Otto’s fur. She was delighted to see the big dog awaiting her when she arrived. Otto’s presence almost made up for the fact that Griffin was abandoning her.

“The windows are bulletproof,” Griffin told her after he’d inspected the entire house.

He was standing in the wide hallway, carefully maintaining his distance from her. Just as he had during the boat ride; determined to play the cold, detached special agent. Marin was trying desperately not to let his distance hurt. She wasn’t having much success, however. She thought what they’d shared the night before—what he’d shared with her—meant something. Apparently, she was wrong. Again.

“There are two Uniformed Division officers at each exit, not to mention that you’re on a military base,” he added. “You’ll be able to relax here.”

Given how strung out she was emotionally, Marin wasn’t sure she could relax anywhere, but that was beside the point. “What time does the yoga instructor arrive?” she quipped.

He arched an eyebrow at her sarcasm, but he stayed where he was, poised to make a break for it through the steel front doors. Marin just wanted him to leave. The pretense of having a civilized conversation with him was too draining on her raw emotions. The sooner he left, the better. She opened her mouth to make another witty remark, one that would let him think she wasn’t dying inside, but emotion clogged her throat.

A whispered “be safe” came out of her mouth instead.

Not waiting around for his answer, she climbed the stairs quickly, wanting to put as much distance as she could between them before she broke down. She just made it over the threshold of the master bedroom when the door slammed shut behind her. Marin whirled around to find Griffin standing in the center of the room, a thunderous look on his face.

She gaped at him for a moment before indignation took over. Was she to be further humiliated by breaking down in front of him?

“Is there something else you needed, Agent Keller?” she choked out. “Or something else you didn’t want to say?”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” she cried. “Don’t be frightened to death that a crazy man is trying to kill me? Don’t be anxious because I’m trapped somewhere and can’t even talk to my family? Don’t be heartsick because the idiot I thought I felt something for is really a freaking robot!”

An instant later she was on her back on the king-sized bed, Griffin on top of her. She struggled to push him off, but he grabbed her wrists with one hand while the other hand gripped her chin. A tear leaked out of Marin’s eye making her even angrier. She bucked against him.

“Damn it, Marin, settle down.”

He bent his face to hers so his lips could catch the tears falling down her face. The air in the room seemed to still at the sheer intimacy of his gesture.

“I’m not a robot,” he said, his breath caressing the sensitive skin beneath her ear. “If I was, I could have walked out of this place without doing this.”

He took her mouth in a hot, demanding kiss that had her heart breaking even more. She wanted to resist him, but her body wouldn’t. Couldn’t. So she kissed him back with the same fervent desperation. Their tongues dueled and their teeth collided as they breathed the other one in. When Griffin released her wrists so his hand could join the one caressing her face, she reached beneath his T-shirt to skim her fingers along his warm skin. A groan escaped the back of his throat at the contact.

Marin gulped back a sob when his lips broke free to graze down her neck.

“The last thing I want to do is leave you here, Marin,” he whispered hoarsely. “But this is who I am. This is what I do. I’m not good at compartmentalizing. I never have been.” He took her earlobe between his teeth before soothing it with his tongue. “It’s all or nothing with me. And I have to be all work. I wish I could be the man you want, Marin. But I have to find this son of a bitch and make him pay for what he’s doing to you. I need you to understand this.”

Her heart shredded a little more at his honest confession. The pathetic part was, she did understand. Griffin was hardwired to spend his life protecting people. And he was good at it, if the men and women who worked with him were to be believed. What she didn’t understand was why he couldn’t acknowledge the “something” between them; something that she had was starting to feel a lot like love on her part. Why couldn’t there be both in his life? She’d have to debate that subject at another time, however. That battle wouldn’t be won tonight.

She shoved at his chest and Griffin pushed up on his elbows, his face hovering inches above hers. Those ocean eyes of his were turbulent and wary. Marin traced a finger along the perfect outline of his jaw.

“I do understand.” She hesitated so she could pull together the words that needed to be said. The ones that would let him do his duty without worry. “You’ve been tracking this gang of thieves down for years. You need to go and find this guy. Last night—last night was about two people finding comfort together. That’s all. I’m a big girl.” She kissed the corner of his mouth. “Thank you for being there for me.”

Relief washed over his face. “I want you to be able to have your life back,” he said.

Too bad he didn’t want to be in it.

His tongue slid past her lips and he was kissing her again. This time, he kissed her like he had all the time in the world; savoring her mouth as though he was storing it up as a memory. Tears pressed the back of her eyes once more. She was grateful when Adam’s voice called out Griffin’s name.

She averted her face so he wouldn’t see the tears rimming her eyes. Griffin slowly got to his feet. Marin heard him walk to the door. She heard him pause briefly before opening it.

“I’m gonna get your life back for you,” he said softly.

Marin nodded her head so he’d know she was listening while silently praying for him to leave before the full waterworks started. When she heard the door click, she buried her face in a pillow and sobbed for what might have been.