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She woke up only when Cam lifted her off the bed.
“Where are we going?” she asked sleepily, holding on to him.
“Bath, then food, then a nap,” her captain said.
“Tonight we get what we need to make our happy ending, belleza.” Enzo sealed that promise with a sweet kiss to her lips.
“Tonight,” she echoed, happier than she’d ever been, her body humming from what her men had given her.
For the rest of the afternoon, she let them tend to her before the most important night of their life.
Chapter
Nine
The water was inky black as they neared the shore where they’d leave their small vessel. Enzo was on edge as he rowed, trying to make out the entrance of the cave.
“I still think you should’ve stayed behind,” he told Rosalía, who was tucked at his feet.
“I’m the one who can identify the bottles, remember?” she said, in a pugnacious tone that made his prick stand up.
“I’m just worried about you, belleza. We both are.” He couldn’t see her face in the pitch-black of the night, but she pressed her cheek to the side of his leg.
“I’ll be fine. You and Cam figured everything out today.”
They had, in theory. He and Cam had come out there late that afternoon, and after some persuading and handing over an obscene amount of money, they’d finalized their plan. The guards at Benny’s warehouse were going to get a little distracted in about a half hour, during the midnight shift change. They’d been reluctant at first, but Enzo had convinced them they wouldn’t touch Benny’s rum, just repossess some stolen goods. That and a pile of cash had done the job.
They’d get in, find the rum, load it into the two dinghies, and get back on the schooner without anyone being the wiser. Thirty cases of Caña Brava Gold Reserve were practically worth their weight in the precious metal. It was true that they would not return with what they’d been asked to secure, but there was no chance Big Joe would be unhappy with this haul.
“You have the knife strapped to your wrist?” Enzo asked her, to which she responded by squeezing his knee. “Your pistol?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re sure you’ll be able to use it?”
“Enzo,” she whispered, her voice full of amused aggravation.
He couldn’t help worrying even if things seemed to be going their way. Enzo had never been that lucky, and so far, setting this up had been much too easy. He had to make sure she could defend herself if anything happened. Cam had been as explosive as a powder keg all afternoon, and they’d almost come to blows a couple of times. But that was because the big sod was an overprotective mother hen. Enzo bit back a smile thinking of the way Cam had manhandled him before they’d left the hotel. He’d made Enzo promise not to be impulsive, and then Cam had kissed him fiercely. In just a few days things between them felt so different. Enzo’s chest ached with how much he wanted to protect what they’d found.
He ran the back of this hand over his face, just to feel the twinge from a spot on his bottom lip where Cam had bitten. Everything had to work out. This had to go as planned because Enzo would be damned if he let anything jeopardize what the three of them had started. What the three of them could have.
Rosalía let out small squeal when the small boat pushed onto the sandbank and jolted.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Enzo asked.
“Yes,” she said shakily, and he almost wished he’d pushed harder for her to wait for them on the Delilah. But she knew what the crates looked like, and she was right—they could not afford to waste time.
“Remember—” Cam started from his perch at the head of the small vessel.
“I know, I know: be careful, and always stick to you or Enzo,” their woman whispered irritably, making Enzo grin at the thought of Cam’s forbidding face. “I’ll be fine.”
As they attempted to make quick work of securing their small boats on the beach, Rosalía asked, “Whose boats are those?”
Opposite their side of the mouth of the cave were three dinghies, a bit larger than theirs. There were tarps covering the back of them, much like the ones they had in their own boats. They intended to use them to hide the bottles in case they were stopped by the Coast Guard.
“Maybe they belong to the guards?” Butter asked hopefully.
“Why would they need three, you moron?” Rolly countered as Enzo’s neck prickled.
