Page 88 of Crossing the Line
“Darling, he’s got just an amazing physique—you really do, Xavier,” Sylvia beamed at him. “It would be a crime to put him in some voluminous, knee-length discount store trunks.”
Xavier snatched the trunks back, held them over his hips, and Waverly got a good look at just exactly what would be barely covered by them.
“Too bad we already had our swim today,” he whispered.
“At least they aren’t thong.”
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Late that afternoon, Waverly went below to grab a nap before getting ready for dinner, and Xavier used the time to call Micah in L.A.
“How’s the high life, brother?” Micah’s voice came through the phone crystal clear.
“Oh, you know, just another day aboard a multi-million dollar yacht.”
“Yeah, I bet all those islands start to look the same,” Micah mocked.
“You get my emails?”
“All eleven of them,” his friend snorted.
“What’s new since then?” Xavier asked, squinting off the bow into the cerulean horizon.
“FBI’s decided to take a look at our two missing persons, see if they can’t scare up any information or bodies,” Micah told him.
“Are the locals going to release that email from Plotts to us?”
“I’m talking to them and the feds. Feds have jurisdiction, but they’re backlogged into next year with cyber shit.”
“Well, keep offering. I don’t want this guy to slide because some ten-year-old embezzling court case is hogging up staff capacity.”
“Will do. The feds are also releasing Ganim’s identity to the press today. The tips have started to slow down on the sketch alone. They were hoping he’d try to run back to El Plano if he thought they hadn’t connected him to the case. But no such luck. So they’re going to go public with what they have.”
“Are they going to mention the missing girls?”
“Dunno. They aren’t real open and into sharing if you know what I mean.”
Xavier had expected it. “Well, keep pushing with Hansen. He’s not going to want to get cut out of this either.”
“How’s our bombshell client these days?”
Xavier thought about the drop of his stomach as they’d jumped into the sea, her laughter when they surfaced together. “She’s good. It’s good to get her out of town, away from it all.”
“There’s going to be a lot of questions for her in London, especially if Ganim’s name goes public.”
Xavier leaned over the rail and sighed. “She’ll handle it. She’s tough.”
“Uh-huh.” Micah said a lot with very little. “Any other ethical slips I need to be aware of?”
He thought of Waverly under him, screaming his name as she came.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” he said evenly. There was no point in confessing. His partner would just try to drag him off the job and replace him with someone else. Someone he couldn’t trust to be as good as he was. He was the one who needed to be here with Waverly. He’d deal with the fallout later.
“Good,” Micah said even though he didn’t sound convinced. “Look, seriously Saint. If you’ve got anything you need to talk about…”
“I’m good. Everything is good. Or it will be once we find this bastard.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
