Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

K ane had managed to push the boat back into the water with physics. Even in her exhausted state, Waverly had found it, and him, very attractive. She was around men doing physics every day. However, they weren't shirtless and they certainly weren't built like Kane Townsend. The way he used gravity, force, and leverage without even stopping to write the calculation in the sand was a massive turn-on.

However, that was nothing compared to him walking back up the beach, scooping her effortlessly into his arms, and carrying her to the boat. She'd had some flashbacks of him running with her in his arms and had to stop herself from burying her face into his neck like a woman swooning with the vapors.

The boat ride had been long and bumpy. Everything on her body hurt . Even her teeth were sore. Kane had kept her lying on the bottom of the boat, covered by camo netting. They reached a small island right as the last of the gas ran out. Kane had run the boat ashore, which just caused her to ache even more. She'd let out a groan and Kane had hurriedly apologized.

Kane had leaned over the side of the boat, scooped her up in his arms, and carried her to a palm tree before setting her down. "I'll be right back," Kane told her as he pulled out a wicked-looking knife.

"What are you doing now?" Waverly had probably asked that question more than Kane cared to answer, but he always did.

Kane stabbed the boat, deflating it, before dragging it into the dense tropics of the island next to where she was sitting. "I'm covering our trail. If you feel up to it, you can grab some downed palm leaves and help me cover the boat, but only if you're feeling okay."

Waverly nodded as she struggled to stand up. But once she was up it felt good to stretch. Luckily, she didn't have to go far to find palm leaves. As she began to pick up large palm branches, she asked Kane, "How does this help? We're on an even smaller island in an even more remote location."

Kane smiled at her and she didn't feel so bad for asking the millionth question. "That's the point. We want you to vanish. There won't be a single sighting of you. I'm going to say I lost contact with the hostage takers and I fear you may be dead. But for you to vanish, we need to sneak into the U.S."

"What if Bruno calls while you're here with me?"

Kane stopped chopping at a palm and looked at her. "My brother, Hunter, is filling in for me. He has a script and our voices are very similar, but who is Bruno?"

"He's the leader. Jesus and Julio went with Bruno into town to be seen. There were several others, like the other man you killed along with Luis, but they never came to see me so I didn't pick up on their names."

"What does Bruno look like?" Kane asked and she told him. His frown tilted up to a smile. "Good job, Waverly. Bruno is who I talked to, but he identified himself as Tomas. Now I can run a more accurate search to discover who they really are."

"You can do that? And you can sneak us into the country?" Waverly asked, feeling silly. Sneaking into the country shouldn't be that hard. After all, there were 2,786 miles of tidal shoreline that weren't heavily patrolled in South Carolina alone.

"Yes. I'm lucky. I have good friends and a great computer system." Kane looked at his watch and then at the setting sun. "We need to get to the other side of the island before nightfall. Think you can walk or do you need me to carry you?"

Waverly was very tempted to say she needed to be carried. Who was she? She was in a life-or-death situation and suddenly her hormones, which had been hibernating, were springing to life with a voracious appetite for the sexy man in front of her.

"I think I can walk."

Kane tossed the last of the leaves over the deflated boat to hide the engine and then reached for her. She instantly held out her hand for him. Kane's hand fully enclosed hers and electricity shot straight through her body.

"Are you okay? You shivered." Kane was feeling her forehead with his other hand as he frowned at her. "No fever, but your face is flushed."

"I'm good." She was flushed because she was embarrassed that for as smart and grown as she was, she was feeling chemistry between them that couldn't be explained by numbers. She should be too old to be feeling butterflies. But here she was, walking through a jungle while someone was trying to kill her and trying to remember the last time she had a bikini wax. Actually, she knew the answer to that. Never.

"Waverly?" Kane asked, looking over his shoulder from where he was leading her through a small path in the middle of the island. It had seemed as if they'd been walking forever. "I know you said you're okay, but we're on a schedule. So, we have two options. One, you pick up the pace. Or two, I bend down a little and you hop on my back. Which would you prefer?"

"Have I slowed down that much?" Waverly was slightly disappointed in herself. No, she wasn't a sporty woman, but she liked to hike and now she couldn't even hike across a small island.

"You have, sweetheart. But that's expected. You're doing so well, but I don't want to push you too much and risk a relapse. Do you think it's okay if I carry you for a while?"

Holy Archimedes. The way he looked at her with concern without pity, but with respect, was seriously sexy. "I don't want to hurt you."

Kane grinned at her, took off his backpack, and moved it to his front. "You won't hurt me at all. Do you remember the stories I told you about my brothers? Carrying you for another mile will be nothing." Kane turned his back to her and bent down. "Hop on."

"The last time I had a piggyback was when I was a little girl."

"Never underestimate the fun of a good piggyback ride." Waverly put her arms around his neck, lifted one leg around his waist, and Kane did the rest. He had her up and on his back in no time. "Comfortable?"

"I'm more concerned for you."

She felt Kane chuckle underneath her body. "Don't be. You're perfect where you are."

"I do remember something about family and possibly somebody's prom?" She felt Kane laugh again as he retold her the story about his family as he walked at top speed down the narrow path. "You never mentioned your wife," Waverly finally said as darkness enveloped them.

"No wife. No girlfriend. Olivia would love to torment one if I ever find someone special. She has declared she will get payback on all of us for torturing her dates."

Waverly's heart pounded at the news Kane didn't have someone special in his life. Of course, the pathetic woman he was carrying was probably not his ideal girlfriend. "What would make her special?" Waverly asked. This was actually the most tactful she'd ever been with a man. Normally, she was even more blunt, which was why dating was hard for her.

"Well, she needs to be made of stern stuff and not be afraid of my overly involved family and my slightly scary sister," Kane told her as the sound of waves grew louder. "She needs to be independent since I travel a lot for work. She needs to be smart. She needs to be kind. And she needs to be able to laugh at herself. My family likes to tease each other. It's our love language. What about you? Why are you single?" Kane asked as they broke through the trees and out onto the beach.

Kane bent down and set her on her feet before digging into his backpack and pulling out two bottles of sports drinks. He handed her one while Waverly considered her answer. "I had some boyfriends in high school. They were all science nerds like me. People used to make fun of us, but we lived in our little world where we had our crushes, flirted over AP Chemistry, and had our own parties. In college, I had one serious boyfriend." Waverly took a sip and frowned at the memory. "I thought it was love."

"What did he think it was?" Kane asked quietly.

"A sure way to pass quantum mechanics and electromagnetism. He dated me for a full year to ensure he passed those classes. I was in love. I helped, or more specifically, did most of his homework and his labs. He failed his tests, but the lab grades were the bulk of the grades, so he ended up with Cs and that was good enough for him." Waverly was embarrassed to admit this part of her past.

"How did you find out?" Kane asked as he placed his hand on her knee. She looked up at him and there was no pity or judgment. Instead, he looked slightly angry.

"End of semester party. I came late and heard him talking to his buddies about what a chore it had been to date me and he was glad that it was over. See, he was a senior and I was a sophomore. Turned out, he was also dating a girl in the drama department. Since the physics department and the drama department rarely cross paths, we both never knew about the other."

"What's his name?" Kane asked, so casually serious that Waverly laughed.

"Why? You're going to beat him up?"

"Hell yeah, I am. Someone needs to."

"Don't worry," Waverly said, loving the feel of someone actually wanting to look out for her. "He was hired on as a physicist at a prestigious company but couldn't cut it. He got caught falsifying his data, which is a huge no-no. Now he sells cars. Predictably, he married the owner's daughter so he could skate through his career."

"Sounds like you were lucky to avoid him."

"True," Waverly admitted. "I hadn't thought of that. It messed me up, so I didn't really date the rest of college. Then, after college, I dated a fellow new scientist at work. He didn't like that I was smarter than he was. He was like Kelvin but more social. He hid it better, but the snide remarks took its toll on me. When my parents died, and I became guardian of a teenager, he bolted. Moved to the West Coast. Don't know whatever happened to him. Since then, I've been so busy working so I could provide for Lark that I haven't had a lot of time to date." Waverly hated how pathetic it made her sound. Kane probably had a date every night of the week, but she was too blunt to try to deny her quirks made it hard to date.

"Plus, I'm sure a lot of men are intimidated by you. It would take a very secure man to let you shine as you deserve." Kane squeezed her knee. "And you shouldn't settle for a loser who can't give you everything you deserve and more. Now, here's our ride."

Waverly was so lost in Kane's words that she hadn't noticed the sound of an engine off in the distance. Kane pulled out a flashlight and flashed it on and off in a series of flashes. Off in the distance, there was an answering flash of lights.

"Who is it?" Waverly asked, worried that it could be Bruno.

Kane smiled at her, his teeth flashing in the moonlight. "You'll see. Come on."

Kane stood as the sound of the motor grew louder. An inflatable boat zoomed toward them, cut the engine, and coasted to the shallows of the water.

"Kane Townsend?" a man called out.

"That's right. You're Ryker's captain?"

"That's me. Dean Cox. I was told I was picking up two packages and not to ask any questions. I'm guessing you two are the packages."

Through the light from the two flashlights, Waverly saw that the captain was in his late fifties. He was also the only person on the boat.

"That's us." Kane waded out into the water, tossed up his bag, and then walked back to where Waverly was standing at the water line. He scooped her up in his arms and walked back out into the water where the captain bent down and took her from Kane.

"Welcome aboard," Captain Cox told her as he set her down.

Kane pulled himself up and in the boat himself then they were off.

"Is there a doctor on board?" Kane asked. "My girlfriend was injured."

"There is. I'll send him to your room. We're boarding at suppertime so most of the crew will be eating below deck. Mr. Faulkner instructed me to keep you two hidden. I have a stateroom set up for you. Don't leave it and no one will know you're on board."

"Ryker Faulkner?" Waverly asked Kane in amazement. " He's your friend?"

"Grudgingly. We're warming up to each other now that I don't have to kill him for dating my sister." Kane winked at her and Waverly honestly didn't know what to make of it.

She looked out in the darkness and only then saw the lights of a cargo ship off in the distance. They drove in silence until they were close enough to see how enormous the ship really was. It was clearly going slower than normal as Captain Cox radioed in. A man appeared on the side of the boat and then two mechanical arms moved as if reaching out over the ocean.

"Duck please. This will take a moment." Captain Cox angled the inflatable to drive right alongside the cargo ship. The waves made the boat dip to the point that Waverly was worried about falling out, but Kane kept a tight grip on her.

Then two large hooks descended from the arms. Captain Cox turned to Kane. "Grab that, will you? You can see where to hook them." Captain Cox gestured in front and behind him and that was when she saw the alloy eye hoists.

"Hold on to the bench and don't let go," Kane ordered her before jumping up to help. He kept his feet wide as he reached for the first hook and got it attached to the front of the boat. He then deftly made his way to the back and hooked the second. "Got it."

Captain Cox cut the engine, and suddenly, they were being lifted out of the water. Kane kept his arm around her, making sure she was safe. Waverly was fascinated. She was looking at the system and asking Captain Cox questions about the weight limit and tonnage of the ship.

They came to a stop and the man arming the lifts looked at the newcomers with surprise but didn't ask the question that was so clearly in his eyes.

"Thanks for the lift, Captain," Kane said with a wink.

"Happy to help. Let me show you to your cabin." Captain Cox turned to the other officer. "Johnson, get two dinners and bring them to the empty cabin next to mine. Then send Doc Robbins there as well. As I said, this is a special favor for Mr. Faulkner. The three of us are the only people who are to know we have guests. Got it?"

"Yes, sir." Then Johnson took off on his mission.

Waverly had never felt so relieved as to be on a ship heading home. There could be no way Bruno would find her now.

Kane slipped his hand into hers as they walked along the massive ship. "Come on, let's get cleaned up and into bed."

If only he meant together. Waverly sighed. Too bad she wasn't his type.