Page 77 of Delta Force Defender

It was Hawaii. Her sister was here, she had a niece, and tonight, everything felt okay in a way it never had. Tonight she was entertaining what-ifs without beating herself up for it. Maybe that was why she smiled at him. As if they were different people. “We’re on a tropical island, Isaac. Surely you can come up with something more entertaining to do thanwalk.”

His gray eyes warmed, and she did, too.

One of Koa’s uncles was strumming a ukulele, an instrument Caradine had always thought was a joke untilshe’d heard him sing and play. People had big plates of food, and they were talking. Laughing.

And even though most of the people here were dressed in summer clothes, or board shorts, or the colorful dresses that made sense here, somehow, it almost felt like one of Grizzly Harbor’s festivals. The festivals were when everyone in town poured out into the streets, and no matter the temperature or the time of year, life felt bright for a while.

She didn’t know what would happen in Boston. But one way or another, it would be over. And if she survived it, there were what-ifs on the other side.

For the first time in a long time, Caradine felt bright all the way through.

Maybe that was why, when Isaac reached out and took his life in his hands by lacing his fingers with hers, she let him. She didn’t jerk away. She didn’t even scowl. She curled her fingers around his and held on.

And for a moment, they were the only two people in the world.

She could feel the heat of him, and the sizzle from that same electric current that always flared between them. She felt as if she were free-falling from a great height, when she knew full well her feet were on the ground.

For once, she didn’t pretend otherwise. She didn’t want to analyze it. Shefeltit, from the lump in her throat to the tightness in her chest. It all seemed to swirl around inside her, then bloom into the molten heat between her legs.

When he tugged her hand, leading her away from the gathering, she went with him.

She would normally demand to know where they were going. What he wanted, and what he thought he wasdoing.

But not tonight. Tonight she followed him, as the skyabove them began to ready itself for sunset in lush shades of pink and orange.

He led her away from the house and into the waiting jungle. He found a path through the trees and followed it as it cut lazily down the side of a hill. The ground beneath their feet smelled rich and damp. Birds sang to one another. And the sky she could see through the jungle canopy only seemed brighter.

And then he ushered her out of the jungle and into a tiny little slice of paradise.

Caradine heard it before she saw it, but when she could finally see where he was taking her, she actually gasped.

A waterfall tumbled from above, cascading down the green, rocky hillside to collect into a pool at its base. The water splashed over the ledge that marked the boundaries of the pool and continued down the side of the mountain.

“I know you like your hot springs,” Isaac said, his voice gruff. “I figured you might like this.”

“That’s a secret,” she replied.

She didn’t have to look at him to feel the impact of his gray gaze. “Maybe it’s time to let go of secrets.”

Caradine wasn’t ready to let go of her remaining secrets or his hand, so she clenched his fingers a little bit tighter. She stared at the water tumbling down, the pool at its base, and then the stunning, impossible view. Far below, the Pacific Ocean stretched out to forever, and maybe beyond.

It was one of the most beautiful places she’d ever seen, but the man beside her was more beautiful still.

And her heart. Her poor heart.

Maybe,a voice in her suggested,it isn’t Julia’s heart you have to worry about.

“When I was a little girl,” she said quietly, lost somewhere in the tumbling water and the waiting sea, “we sometimes went away in the summers. There wereprobably business reasons my father took us to the Hamptons, but all I cared about was the beach. I would play in the waves until my eyes stung from the salt, and there was sand everywhere. And sometimes I would swim out beyond the breakers and float there. And later, when there were no more beach vacations, and everything was tense and grim, I would remember floating like that.” She looked up at him and wasn’t surprised to find him looking at her with that unguarded heat on his face. “Held by the sea, staring at the sky. And the only other place I’ve ever felt like that was the hot springs in Grizzly Harbor.”

“Caradine,” Isaac said, his voice and his expression grave. “What were you and your sister whispering about on the couch? What are you planning?”

She laughed at that, though tears pricked behind her eyes, and she wasn’t entirely sure that was really a laugh. How could she tell the difference any longer? She picked up the hand laced with hers and brought it to her mouth, kissing those tough, strong knuckles of his.

There was nothing to say to this man. There never had been. Because there was too much to say and no way to start. She’d never stop.

So she didn’t speak. She dropped his hand, and then, holding his gaze, she began to take off her clothes. She kicked off her shoes and peeled off her socks. The volcanic rock that looked smooth and soft to the touch, but was so hard she was surprised it didn’t cut her, reminded her who she was. Why she was here.

What she had to do.

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