Page 88 of Into the Blue

“Lee,” I hiss. “Don’t sass me! I only have like five minutes to even talk.”

Liezel clears her throat. “Bythis, I’m guessing you mean Lidia.”

“Yea. Thank you for my new personal bodyguard.”

Lidia snorts a laugh, but is quick to return her focus to the door. She may not be a true part of Dupont, but I’m still in danger. Blue’s claim on me was not without its own repercussions. I’m grateful that Lidia is actually qualified to protect me if anything were to go down.

“To answer your question, we’ve just been following the plan. Infiltration is easy when they’re scrambling. They needed people, we were there to step in. Lidia is very well qualified, and highly recommended.”

“By us?” I question.

“By us,” she confirms. “Now, we have one of our own to protect you should anything go down.”

“Incoming,” Lidia says, moving to the door to open it for Blue.

“I gotta go. This is brilliant work. Talk soon!” I quickly end the call, stuff my burner away and pick up my dummy phone that Blue gave me instead. I snap a picture of the waterfront now that the sun is beginning to set.

His energy whips around the space as I look out onto the water.

“Thinking of jumping?” He asks in his deep tone at my ear.

“No,” I respond, tucking the phone back into my purse.

“Good. Wouldn’t advise it.” His body presses mine to the railing, hard and imposing behind me. Blue points off into the distance and I follow where he’s showing me. A small light flickers in the horizon among cypress, tall grasses and more dense plants.

“What am I looking at?”

“Tell me what you know about the bayou.”

My brows pinch, unsure about this line of questioning. “I don’t know…” My voice waivers. “There’s a lot of them here.”

“Know what lives in them?”

Despite his warmth still pressing close to me, a chill slips down my back.

He flicks his wrists and there’s an ominousplonkin the water before us.

“What was that?” I say, turning to face him but he doesn’t give me space.

“Look,” he says and my eyes try to see what he’s showing me.

Then I see it.

Obscure shapes begin to move in the distance.

“Milo…”

He runs a hand down my arm over the goosebumps. “That was a chicken breast that I just threw. It’s been some time since I’ve needed to come out here. Chicken is good, but I know they prefer somethin’ a lil’ different. Lil’ bigger.”

“Milo…” The shapes are moving just as slowly as before but there are far too many of them.

A warm palm dips under my skirt to run over my calf and up to my thigh. Kneeling behind me, his face is eye level with my ass. “You see it yet?”

I squint at the shapes. I don’t know for sure, but I figure there are only so many things it could be.

“Milooo,” I whine when his tongue dips into my puckered hole. He’s tentative, a soft brush of his warm tongue exploring me there.

“Blue,” he corrects.