Page 228 of Cowboys & Navy SEALs

As Maddox watched her talk, he couldn’t help but smile. Addie had more grit than a pound of cornmeal. She was outspoken, impulsive, harsh on the outside and yet, so delectably sweet and tender on the inside. His eyes followed the trail of tangled, milk chocolate curls cascading down her back. The ends were tipped with blonde highlights, reminding him of morning sunlight kissing the ocean horizon. He wanted to slide his arms around her thin waist, bury his head in her thick mane of hair, and kiss the delicate skin on her tantalizing neck. He laughed to himself. If his SEAL buddies could see him now,they’d say he was a pathetic sap. Well, maybe he was. Addie was in his blood, and there seemed to be no way of getting her out.

His phone buzzed. He fished it out of his pocket. It was a text from Sutton letting him know the ETA for the jet. Less than two hours from now.Crap!He’d not yet broken the news to Addie. Considering her demeanor at present, he’d better hold on tight because it was bound to be a rocky ride.

A few minutes later, she ended her call. Her eyebrow arched as she launched right back into their previous conversation. “You were saying something about your thing with Felicity?” A dark cloud shadowed her face.

“Yeah.” He rocked on the balls of his feet. “I’m afraid that’s gonna have to wait.”

Her brows furrowed as she wagged a finger, her voice going school-girl sassy, her hips swaying. “Oh, no, Superman. You’re not getting out of this.”

No time to beat around the bush. Better to just dive in. If he were Catholic, he would’ve crossed himself before continuing. “We have to hop a plane to New Jersey in less than two hours.”

Her mouth dropped. “What?”

“The local authorities are going to arrest Brent Barrett tomorrow afternoon on the charge of your attempted kidnapping. Sutton thinks it’s a good idea for me—us—to get there first to question him. That way, we can learn for ourselves how heavily Barrett’s involved in this. Also, I’d like to question Blanche Richey, the woman Jordan had the affair with.”

She pushed her hair back from her face. “Less than two hours?” She motioned at the salad, her voice rising, hands flying. “That doesn’t even give us enough time to eat and get packed! I told Sadie I’d be there tomorrow to help with the award ceremony! I want to go to San Diego to check on Corbin and Delaney before the funeral!”

He caught hold of her hands. “Whoa, take a breath.”

She jerked, her lips clamping shut.

He kept his tone calm. “One thing at a time. First of all, as much as I’d love to try that blue cheese—” he couldn’t help but smile at the mention of it “—we can forgo the salad and pick up something on the way. Second, your assistant has been handling the conference up to this point. One more day won’t tip the turnip truck.”

“Turnip truck,” she grumbled. “I don’t even know what that means.”

“I’m sure you get the idea,” he chuckled.

She rolled her eyes. “What about the most important part—Corbin and Delaney?”

She reminded him of a kid, pouting to get her way. She was so darn cute that it made him want to give her everything she asked for. “After our trip to New Jersey, we’ll take Sutton’s private jet to San Diego.”

The wordsprivate jethad the magical effect of shifting the tide in his favor. The lines on her face smoothed, and he caught a hint of excitement glowing in her eyes. “Are you sure Sutton won’t mind?”

“No, not at all.”

She let out a breath, her shoulders relaxing a fraction. “Okay, it would be nice to get to the bottom of this ordeal, so we can put closure on it.” She tipped her head like she’d suddenly thought of something. “Do you think we’ll be able to find out if Brent Barrett’s the one who stole the hard drive?”

“That’s the hope.”

“If we could get it back, Piper would be elated.”

“That would be great.” Maddox wasn’t holding out hope that they’d ever see the hard drive again. Even if Brent Barrett took it, the chance of him handing it over was slim to none. However, he didn’t want to dash Addie’s hopes.

“You know, you never cease to amaze me.” Disappointment rang heavy in her voice.

Uh, oh. Maybe he’d called the shifting of the tide too soon. “What?”

A deviant giggle bubbled from her lips. “All this to get out of eating blue cheese.”

He laughed in surprise, sticking his finger in his mouth and gagging. “You mean the cheese of the dead?”

“So dramatic,” she purred.

“You’re calling me dramatic? Seriously! Says the woman who laid a big kiss on me and then slapped me.”

Her cheeks reddened. “Uh, for the record, you kissed me that time, Bama boy.” She straightened to her full height. “Any self-respecting woman would’ve done the same.” Her eyebrow arched. “By the way, don’t even think this gets you off the hook. As soon as we get on that plane, I wanna hear all about this Felicity thing.”

There was no mistaking the bite in her voice.

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