Page 23 of Straight Shooter

“Water would be great.”

Mandy patted her knee. “Hang tight.”

Through the window, Peyton watched Rhett jump onto the boat. The deck shook beneath his weight. Warm air pumped from the vents, but it didn’t chase away the dampness in her bones. She shivered and tucked her fingers into the too-long sleeves. She needed a scalding hot bath to chase away the tremor in her bones.

“I grabbed your coat,” she heard a male voice say. “Your badge is in the pocket.”

“Thanks, Eric.” Rhett accepted the garment from a gangly agent in a T-shirt. It had to be his sweater she was wearing.

Her gaze drifted over Rhett’s evenly tanned skin, which was littered with goosebumps down to his wet pants. Someone tossed him a blanket, and he swept it around his shoulders. Catching her eye, he nodded at his team then stomped over the wood-paneled floor and entered the boat. He dropped onto the bench next to her.

His mouth lifted in a lopsided grin as he opened up the blanket. “We’ve kept each other warm this long—why stop now?”

Knots formed in her stomach, and she curled her toes against the planks. She couldn’t forget the hurtful things he’d said in the lifeboat, but without him, she’d have been brutally assaulted by a group of men. Rhett might not be her favorite person in the world, but for tonight, he had her vote.

She scooted her butt closer to his hip and curled against his side. The material closed over her shoulders just as Mandy returned. The woman’s gaze slid suspiciously from Rhett to Peyton before she handed Peyton a bottle of water and took her seat across from them.

The motor kicked up and the boat turned and sped off into the night. The blanket whipped around Peyton, and Rhett wrapped her in a bear hug. She closed her eyes to protect them from the blasting wind and buried into his warmth.

When they got to land, reality would set in. Rhett would be out of the picture and she’d have to deliver the paper to Max and get the hell out of Key West. For now, she had at least an hour’s worth of male body heat to absorb. After that, Rhett would be long gone, but his hot masculinity would fuel her fantasies for a long, long time.

Man, I need to get laid—with anyone but Rhett Callahan.

“Here, you take it.” Rhett pulled the blanket from his shoulders, but Peyton shook her head. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her breasts.

“I’m fine.”

She was anything but fine. The subtle trembling of her shoulders told him that. As soon as the boat had pulled up to the dock, she’d wriggled away from his side, leaving a deep ache in his chest. Mandy had gone to find some shoes for them in the US Coast Guard Station. Eric puffed on a cigarette at the side of the boat, out of earshot.

“You’re shaking.” He knew he should let it go, but why the hell did she have to make herself uncomfortable just because she was irritated?

She hunched her shoulders. “And your pants are still wet.”

“You’re half naked,” he said, nodding at her bare legs. She covered the top of her foot with the other, and he stared at her pink toenails. An image of those slim, attractive feet wrapped around his hips entered his mind. He quickly shook it away.

Mandy jogged down the dock and landed on the deck with a thump. “These are mine,” she said to Peyton. “They’ll be big on you, but it’s all we had. I’m sorry, I couldn’t find any spare pants.” She turned to Rhett and smirked. “Found these in the lost and found. I don’t think anyone will miss them.” She held up large sandals with giant yellow sunflowers on top.

He curled his lip and dangled the shoe from his fingertip. “Seriously?”

Peyton snorted and pressed her hand to her mouth. Her shoulders shook. Eric slapped his knee, and his laughter bounced off the ocean. “I have to say, man, those suit you better than your loafers.”

“Ha, ha. So funny.” He jammed his feet into the flip-flops, which had clearly been designed to fit Bigfoot’s wife, and stood. “C’mon, Peyton, we’ll give you a ride to wherever you’re staying.”

Peyton fell into step beside him as they made their way to the Dodge Charger in the parking lot. Her sandals slapped loudly on the pavement, clearly too large for her.

“Where are you staying?”

She gave him the name of her hotel, and he recognized it as one of the fancy ones along the coast. He whistled and bounced his eyebrows. “Swanky.”

She elbowed his side playfully. The contact sent a blast of heat through his core. Every damn antenna in his body was overcharged. The urge to make a snarky comment about how she was able to afford such a glamorous place slid down his throat. With Eric and Mandy present, he didn’t need to point out her record.

She shrugged. “I’m on business.”

Despite the annoyance picking at him, he smirked. “Yeah, well. Business is closed.” He opened the Dodge’s rear passenger door and waved her inside. He slid in next to her as Eric got in the driver’s seat. Mandy took the front passenger seat.

While Eric drove, Mandy hammered questions at Rhett about Moretti and what had gone down on the yacht. He kept his answers quick and to the point, then Mandy turned in her seat and her green eyes looked over Peyton carefully.

“I’m glad Rhett got you out when he did. Moretti’s a man I wouldn’t want to get caught crossing.” Questions hung off her words, but Mandy must have decided to keep Peyton’s reason for being on board between her and Rhett—for now.