Page 8 of Dead Drift

“It comes with the territory.” She shrugged.

“Then even more reason for me to stay.”

She glared at him, but he held his ground. After a long stalemate, she finally relented. “Fine. You can have the couch,” she said as Parker entered with a Styrofoam cup of coffee sloshing in his hand.

“Just like old times, I see.” A shadow of a smile crossed his scruffy face. The kid who’d tried for years to grow facial hair now had a five-o’clock shadow. Times had changed.

According to Katie, they had really changed. Had he expected time to stand still?

4

Luke followed in his rental car as Kate drove to her houseboat, Barefoot. He hated that she’d insisted on driving alone to the hospital, but he’d followed her every inch of the way and would continue to stay with her until Ebeid and whomever he’d hired to shoot at them was in prison or dead.

Though given the poor job the shooter had done, Luke bet he was either already dead at Ebeid’s hands or ready to take another strike before admitting his error to the unforgiving Ebeid. Either way, he or Declan was still in danger—more than likely, both of them. And that meant they were all in danger.

“I appreciate your offering to stay,” Kate said as they exited their cars and headed for her houseboat, “but—”

“It’s not an offer,” he said, pulling his sparsely filled duffel from the trunk and hitching it over his right shoulder. “I’m insisting.”

Kate cocked her head. “You really think that’s the best way to get me to respond positively?”

“No.” He inched the duffel strap higher up on his shoulder. “I know you hate it when people attempt to order you around.” He took a step closer. “It brings fire to your eyes.” Her beautiful, captivating eyes.

“So why go there?”

“Because you also know I don’t take no for an answer.” Never had.

“Fine.” She exhaled. “But just for tonight. We reassess in the morning.”

“Sure.” He shrugged, knowing full well there’d be no reassessing, but if that was what it took for her to let him stay the night, so be it.

Kate led the way and, after unlocking the sliding glass door, allowed him passage inside.

“You really ought to get a security system,” he said, stepping on board the small houseboat he’d first entered a few nights ago when following and then killing Ebeid’s right-hand man, Xavier Benjali.

Kate shook her head. “You sound like Declan.” Flipping a switch on the wall, she turned on the recessed lighting all along the pine-paneled ceiling. The galley-style living room decorated in creams, rustic oranges, and bright yellows showed her love of Tuscan-style interiors hadn’t decreased.

He was so incredibly thankful the guys had looked out for Kate while he’d been gone. They had been good friends to her, and it appeared—at least with Declan and Griffin—they were still his friends, too, despite the years they’d spent apart. Parker would come around eventually, after he got over the shock of his girlfriend being shot. Luke felt horrible about that.

“I have a guest room,” Kate said, moving through the living space to the galley kitchen.

He glanced at the couch. “I’m fine here. It lets me keep an eye on the door. I don’t sleep much.” He tried to, but in his profession sleeping soundly was rarely an option. He spent most nights reading, analyzing his ops, or exercising. He’d bother her less in the living room.

She shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’ll grab you some bedding.”

“Thanks.” He dropped his duffel on the floor and took more time to look around, since his last visit had been pretty intense.

The space was clean and uncluttered, though he expected no less from Kate. She’d always been a minimalist when it came to stuff and wasn’t the sentimental type. It had never been her nature to linger over things. He moved to the kitchen to find two photos in colorful magnetic frames stuck to the stainless-steel Kenmore. One was an image of her and the gang hiking at Bandelier. So they’d taken a trip to New Mexico. He wondered if it had been on business or for pleasure. He bet a combo of the two.

Sandia Labs, Los Alamos, and Kirkland Air Force base were located in New Mexico. According to Mack, Kate had been offered jobs all over the world, but she stuck to in-country. He wondered why, especially when it’d always been her dream to travel. So many questions he wanted to ask, so much he wanted to know about the woman she’d become.

Was she still devoted to Christ? It appeared so, from small actions he’d witnessed and the fact that her dog-eared Bible sat with a highlighting kit on the side table by the chaise longue.

Based on the Bandelier and cliff-jumping pictures on the fridge, she still loved the outdoors and adventure. Leaning in, he studied the cliff-jumping one but couldn’t place the location.

“Hawaii,” she said.

He turned, shoving his hands in his pockets at her nearness. He felt strangely out of place where he used to feel so at home in Kate’s presence.