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B uzzz… Buzzz… Buzzz…

Maddie blinked and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She stretched her arms over her head and groaned. Fatigue brought her eyelids back down and sleep clouded over her. Her hand curled into the cool sheets next to her and the gentle hum from the shower reached her ears.

Last night she’d lain awake, her senses on high alert, waiting for Carlos to return to bed.

After their fight she’d called the front desk to move to another suite, but the ship was filled to capacity.

Thankfully, it had been after four in the morning when he’d finally passed out on top of the covers beside her.

His deep rumbling snore had assured her that he wouldn’t slit her throat while she slept.

Buzzz… Buzzz… Buzzz…

Shit! Her phone. She jumped into a sitting position and lifted the device from the night table where it sat plugged in.

Zoe’s name and number illuminated the screen.

Maddie swallowed, her thumb hovered over the icons.

She couldn’t chance answering it and having Carlos come out.

She’d have to wait and call her back. With all that had been going on she’d been completely out of touch with her friend.

She peeled back the covers and pressed her feet into the cool area rug. The water shut off and her back straightened. Her fingers curled into the mauve duvet comforter and she debated crawling back under the sheets and pretending she was still asleep.

No. The last thing she wanted was for him to catch her in bed.

It could give him ideas. Her phone vibrated again and she picked it up to read the message.

It was Zoe again. Guilt gnawed at her. She needed to get better about returning calls while on a job, but when her mind was on a task she thought of nothing else.

Where are you? I’m worried. Call me asap.

She moved her fingers over the screen.

I’ll call in a bit.

She had to talk to her. If Carlos asked her to come downstairs with him right away, she’d tell him she needed to call her mom or—

Shit! She slapped her palm to her forehead. She’d completely forgotten about the lie she’d told Carlos about her mother having a heart attack. Damn, she was rusty.

She got to her feet and the bathroom door swung open. Carlos stood in the doorway, a mauve towel draped around his hips. Curly black hair swarmed around his chest like bees to a hive, trailing their way down to the towel.

Carlos had a lot of body hair. Nate kept his body hair nicely groomed, nothing like Carlos’s hot mess. His body lacked the thick, muscular build that Nate worked so hard for.

His bloodshot green eyes landed on her and his face twisted. “Morning,” he said and stepped out of the bathroom. His still wet feet left a trail of footprints on the marble floor. “Are you coming down for breakfast?”

“After I take a shower and call my dad.” She kept her voice terse and carefully enunciated each word. If they had a real relationship, she’d still be pretty pissed about his accusations yesterday. She met him at the bathroom door, intending to brush past him.

He didn’t budge. His eyes moved over her face. She folded her arms tightly across the thin material of her pajama top, blocking her braless nipples.

“I need to check on my mom.”

A muscle at the corner of his mouth jumped, but he didn’t say anything. His eyes moved down to her crossed arms, stopped on her belly, and slid back up even slower. If it was possible for his stubble to get any darker, it did. His eyes turned hard with need.

Her pulse beat frantically against her throat.

It wasn’t the hungry, soul-consuming need that she’d seen reflected in Nate’s eyes.

This was different. Up close, Carlos didn’t look good.

Instead of being deeply tanned from hours spent in the sun, his olive skin tone held a shade of ash beneath the brown.

His eyes were bleary and red, and his lips bone-dry.

Her stomach muscles clenched and she sucked her breath in.

Had he done drugs last night? He’d never appeared high around her, but that didn’t mean he didn’t do them.

Sober, Carlos was terrifying—if he was using drugs that was a whole other ballpark.

Her skin prickled with the need to curl away from him.

Carlos’s chin lifted with an air of entitlement and he took a step closer, bringing the towel in contact with her abdomen. Her blood turned to ice. The back of his knuckles stroked over the bare skin of her bicep.

She cleared her throat. “We should hurry before it gets too busy down there. I could sure use some coffee before we dock.” With any luck, coffee would get him moving.

This morning, they would be stopping at St. Thomas.

Their original plan was for her and Carlos to spend the day together, but she’d also told him yesterday that she was flying home.

Dammit, she’d taken a gamble by saying that, and unless he begged her to stay, she had to follow through. His eyes snapped up to hers.

Her breath caught in her throat as his finger touched her chin, turning it up toward him. His mouth came down on hers, hot and demanding. Revulsion spiked at the back of her throat and her arms dropped to her sides.

The last few days she’d gotten away with the odd peck or kiss on the cheek, but nothing too invasive.

He was testing her… searching to see how far she would go to prove herself to him.

She opened her mouth, welcoming him. His tongue was sticky, as if he needed a gallon of water and his lips scraped over hers.

Brrring! Brrring!

The sharp chirp of his phone sounded from the nightstand behind her. He pulled away. “I want more of that later. But I need to take this call. Come find me at breakfast, we need to talk.”

He brushed past her and reached for his phone.

She fought the urge to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand.

She moved quickly into the bathroom, shut and locked the door, and pressed her shaking hands to her face.

Oh, God. He wasn’t stupid. If she didn’t sleep with him tonight, he’d probably call the whole deal off…

Or kill her.

By the time she got out of the shower, he was gone.

She dropped on the bed, and rolled her shoulders back.

This case was wearing on her. She wouldn’t admit that Nate had been right…

at least not aloud. But she’d come close to death more times than she cared to count and they were nowhere near finished.

She picked up her cellphone and curled her legs under her. She clicked on Zoe’s contact and the phone rang in her ear.

“Maddie! Where are you?” Zoe’s soft, flighty voice rang out. Anxiety laced her words and guilt stabbed through Maddie’s heart. After all Zoe had been through, the last thing she needed was to worry about her best friend.

“Well, hello to you too. How are you?”

Zoe breathed a sigh through the phone. “Worried sick. You’re in Miami, aren’t you?” Her tone seethed, but pain hung behind it.

Zoe was the one person—besides Nate—that she didn’t have to lie to. But she still hadn’t told her exactly what she was up to. She would have tried to stop her from getting involved with Carlos and the last thing she needed was guilt while trying to keep Carlos’s suspicions at bay.

“Umm… close. I’m on a cruise heading to Puerto Rico.” She lifted an extra towel and scrunched the moisture out of the ends of her hair.

“What?”

Maddie yanked the phone away from the piercing cry. She massaged the outside of her ear with her finger and nestled the phone on her shoulder. “I told you I was going to do something about Leila.”

Silence hung in the air. Okay, so she hadn’t specifically said she was setting out to avenge Zoe’s little sister’s death. But she had told Zoe that Carlos would pay for what he’d done. And she was so close to keeping that promise.

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do,” Zoe said softly, her voice thick with tears.

“But I don’t want to lose my best friend too.

Why didn’t you tell me? I knew something was up when you weren’t returning my calls.

Then you missed two Wine Wednesdays in a month—which is a first. I called your work and they said you were away. ”

Shit. She should have known Wine Wednesday would be a dead giveaway. “I’m sorry I didn’t call, but it was just too risky. I shouldn’t even be talking to you now.”

“Oh no. You need to stop this. Please, come home.”

Her stomach twisted and tears clouded her vision. “I can’t. I’m almost there… this is too big. I’ll call in two days—I promise. I love you.” Her throat tightened as she disconnected, not waiting for a response.

She dropped the phone on the bed and covered her face with her hands. She wished she could have told her she was being as safe as possible and working with the FBI, not to mention Nate. But she couldn’t risk it.

She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and straightened. She had to get her game face on. Nate was waiting.

She got dressed quickly and let her hair hang wildly around her shoulders. No point in straightening it when the humidity would turn it into a tangled mess anyway. She shimmied a white floral sundress on, grabbed her beach bag, and shoved her feet in her shoes.

She picked up her phone and roamed her fingers over the screen.

He’s gone. Is it safe to come over?

The device pulsed in her hand seconds later.

All clear. Dylan has his eyes on Hector and Carlos in the dining room.

Her hand shook on the door handle. She took a deep breath and stepped out of the room. The hallway was empty, but most everyone would be at breakfast before they docked.