Page 14 of Pirates in Calusa Cove (Everglades Overwatch #2)

CHAPTER 11

Three full days had passed since Trinity had woken in the hospital. Three full days of being waited on by Keaton and her dad. Three full days of going stark raving mad. If she didn’t get out of the house, she was going to lose it and fast.

Keaton rarely left her side. If he did, one of his buddies was at the house. Or one of Dawson’s deputies. But soon, he would have to go back to work since he was head of Fish and Wildlife for Calusa Cove. That made him grumpy. Not the job. Just that he’d have to return when not a single solid lead had come their way.

Dawson was working tirelessly around the clock. He’d been on the phone with the FBI and in constant contact with the police chief over on Marco Island. But they’d learned absolutely nothing. Not one clue.

Charlie had an alibi, though Keaton still wanted to keep a close eye on him, and he kept asking her weird questions.

Trinity wondered if he knew she’d been pregnant. Her father swore he hadn’t told him, and she believed her dad. Still, something had triggered Keaton’s desire to know about that relationship.

Fenton texted her at least three times a day and had sent flowers two more times. She didn’t respond, which spurred him to accuse Keaton of controlling her actions. Ridiculously, Fenton had begged her to hide in the bathroom and give him proof of life.

Her dad had finally told Fenton that she was just dandy, healing nicely, and that Keaton was taking good care of her.

She was sure that hadn’t gone over well, but she didn’t care.

Honestly, right now, all she cared about was that, while she enjoyed sleeping in Keaton’s bed and waking up next to him each morning, the man hadn’t laid a finger on her.

Granted, it had to be weird for him that her dad was sleeping a couple of rooms away, but if it wasn’t odd for her, it shouldn’t bother him.

Obviously, it did because he’d get all weirded out if they were kissing and her dad walked into the room.

Keaton Cole had some issues she hadn’t anticipated. Everything about him had been unexpected. Besides being romantic, sweet, gentle, and tender, he had his own brand of insecurities. He had trust and intimacy issues, something she had figured out the moment they’d met.

Only, she didn’t completely understand why.

Losing Petra had crushed him. That had destroyed him in ways she couldn’t even imagine. But there was more, and she wanted the whole story.

She leaned back on the lounge chair, lifted her tea, and sipped. The sun had begun to settle behind the horizon. She loved nights like these. His little slice of waterfront was vastly different from hers, but she didn’t care. She loved this tiny lot of land. Being able to watch boaters as they returned from a long day of fishing or simply enjoying the ocean was so different from how she sat on her porch and stared at the open ocean.

She wondered how many times Keaton had watched her pull her boat down this stretch of water. He could see the marina in the distance and the canal mouth opening into the bay.

“Hey,” he said as he approached from the dock. He’d been tinkering with his small boat for the last half hour. The man struggled to sit still. He’d remodeled his cabin by himself, and there wasn’t much left to do. If he wasn’t working, he was giving airboat tours. If he wasn’t doing that, he was bothering Baily at the marina or helping Audra and Dawson at Harvey’s Cabins and B&B.

Hayes had a few projects that needed to be done around his place, so Keaton could often be found helping him with that as well.

The only time she ever saw him idle was when they all sat around the campfire. She lived for those nights.

“Hey, yourself,” she responded. “Have fun playing grease monkey?”

He laughed, wiping his hands on a rag. “It was something to do while you had your nose in that book. ”

She lifted it and waved it in the air. “All done. The ending was so predictable.”

“It’s a romance. Aren’t they all?”

“Well, that part, yes,” she said. “I mean, we expect the hero and heroine to fall in love and live happily ever after. But sadly, the plot of this one didn’t have many twists and turns and not enough emotional baggage to make me care. I like to either sit on the edge of my seat because it’s so suspenseful or cry like a baby because everyone is so fucking broken.”

“You’ve been swearing like a truck driver lately.”

“You’re rubbing off on me,” she teased. “Or maybe it’s the lack of sex.” She waggled her brows.

He glanced at his watch, then at the door, and then at his watch again. But he didn’t say one flipping word.

“Um, Keaton. That was a hint. Or perhaps, a direct proposition. Either way, my dad’s working late. He won’t be back for at least two hours. We’ve got plenty of time.”

He waved his hand over his arm. “What about your shoulder? I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Are you going to make me beg? Because I’m not past begging, though you’re giving me a complex. I mean, I walked right out of your bathroom naked, and you didn’t even blink.”

“Oh, I blinked,” he said with a throaty growl. “Your father was in the kitchen eating breakfast. If I had acted on the thoughts going through my brain at the time, I wouldn’t have performed well because all I would’ve thought about was your dad…a bowl of oatmeal…and the fact my gun was only four feet from his fingertips. ”

As gracefully as she could, she rose. “Are you seriously afraid of my dad?”

“One hundred percent terrified.” He looped his arms around her waist.

She rested her good hand on his shoulder, fingering the hair that landed on the back of his neck. “Why?”

“Because he’s fiercely protective of you. Much like my old man is with my sister Tilly, and if I thought my dad was bad, well, I’m worse. If anyone had ever even looked at my sister cross-eyed, I’d have decked them.”

“Are you telling me that you beat up Tilly’s boyfriends?”

“Unfortunately, I did. She wasn’t always happy with that.” He chuckled. “Nine out of ten times, she was downright pissed off.”

“Wait. You actually hit them?”

“No.” He shook his head. “But Joe and I, we’d scare them. We’d let them know if they ever hurt our baby sister, there would be hell to pay. And let’s just say we weren’t subtle about it.”

“I’m so glad I didn’t have brothers.” She patted his chest, laced her fingers through his, and tugged him into the house and toward the bedroom. “While it’s honorable how you looked out for Tilly, women don’t always need protection.”

“I know that,” he said grimly. “And please don’t start with the whole women aren’t weak or frail or any of that business, because I never said that.” He closed the bedroom door and pushed her back up against the wall, shoved his knee between her legs and tangled his fingers through her hair. “It’s just that some men can be assholes—you know, like your ex, Charlie. Or worse. And I’ve seen that firsthand.” Gently, he ran his thumb across her cheek. “I had a friend in high school. She was just a friend. A good one. A guy she was dating raped her.”

Trinity gasped, covering her mouth. “That’s horrible.”

“She trusted him, and he took advantage. It was years before she could reassemble her life.”

“Where is she now?”

He smiled. “She’s a counselor back in Colorado. She’s friends with Tilly. She works with young girls who have gone through what she did. She turned a shitty situation into a positive one. But not everyone can do that. So, trust me when I say I’m not like this because I don’t think you’re incapable or incompetent. It’s just that I know men, and most of us are jerks.”

She palmed his face. It was scruffy from not shaving for the last three days, and she relished in it. “You’re not.”

“That’s not what you said for the first year we knew each other,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, well, neither one of us made a good first impression, now did we?”

“I always thought you were special. You just…scared me.”

“Because I was reckless,” she whispered.

“That was the reason I made myself believe. It was the only thing I could grab hold of that allowed me to make sense of the fact that I not only found you attractive, but that I cared about you. ”

She opened her mouth to respond, but he didn’t let her. He ravished her mouth with a passionate kiss.

His lips bruised hers, and his tongue twisted and twirled around hers as a deep guttural moan filled her throat.

She tucked her free hand under his shirt. The first time they had been together had been raw. It had been pure sex. Pure gutted pent-up desire. Sure, they had shared some deep emotions. They had run the gamut with them and come to one simple conclusion.

They wanted each other. Needed each other. But this was different.

It wasn’t just about sex. Or purging misunderstood emotions and intentions. This went deep.

It wasn’t love. She couldn’t describe it as that…could she? It was too soon for that.

His breathing hitched as she moved her hand up, tracing the contours of his muscular back and the scars that lined his skin. His touch was like fire, igniting a sensation that caused a gasp to escape from her lips. The heat between them was like an ember, a spark that intensified with every flickering second.

He pulled back, his gaze holding hers. The intensity in his midnight-blue eyes told her more than a thousand words ever could. He ran his fingers through her tangled hair, gently tucking a strand behind her ear.

“You do scare me,” he confessed, his voice a mere whisper as if he were divulging a secret that had been locked away for centuries. “You scare me because I feel things for you that I haven’t allowed myself to feel in a very long time. Things that I thought I never wanted to feel again. It’s why I kept my distance this past year. It’s why I’ve been so reserved.”

His revelation both shocked and humbled her, but she could understand. She could relate.

“And you frighten me because I’ve discovered parts of myself with you that I didn’t even know existed,” she admitted.

His smile was half-wistful, half-amused, yet fully disarming. “I guess that makes us equally frightening then.”

And as passion flared anew between them, they relinquished themselves to this fresh terrain of affection. One that demanded exploration—no stone unturned, no emotion unconveyed, naked and bared in every sense of the word.

Carefully and gently, he undressed her as he pressed his lips over every inch of her body. He left no speck of skin untouched by his mouth. And when he was done, he laid her on the bed, standing before her, and removed his clothes.

God, he was beautiful, scars and all.

In her eyes, each scar etched upon his skin was not a mark of detriment but rather a testament to his resilience, an ode to survival. Her fingers traced the path of each battle wound, soothing and adoring. His body trembled under her touch, his heart pounding against his chest like a wild drum echoing her own racing heartbeat.

He rolled to his back, making it easier for her arm to remain in the sling.

Straddling him, she pressed her hands on the center of his chest. She clung to him as if he were the oxygen she breathed. She’d never wanted anyone as badly as she wanted him. She took his length as if she were made only for him.

Not that she’d ever thought of herself as a possession, but she wanted to belong to Keaton. For him to belong only to her. It made no sense at all. She felt a fierce protectiveness of what they had. Of who he was. Of what they could be together.

The world outside his cabin was in chaos. Someone had tried to kill her, and one of her best friends was missing.

It felt so utterly selfish to be with him like this right now, but it’s exactly what she needed.

Keaton touched her as if trying to commit every inch of her skin to memory. His fingertips danced across her body like finely tuned instruments playing their favorite melody. Her response was visceral, every nerve ending coming alive. They moved together—two bodies in perfect sync—in an unspoken understanding that no one but them would ever comprehend.

His fingers tightened on her hips momentarily before loosening again, a silent promise that he wasn't going anywhere. She knew then that she wasn’t alone in this sentiment—that this strange mix of lust and affection wasn’t just one-sided. She felt it in his fingers as they roamed her body and heard it in his gasps as she touched him in return.

Her climax came hard and fast, and she hadn’t expected it when it slammed into her body. She cried out his name so loudly that she was sure she woke the alligators deep in the Everglades.

He gripped her thighs. His body tensed, and he thrust deep into her, spilling his orgasm.

He curled his fingers around her neck, pulled her lips to his, and kissed her like a delicate flower.

Or perhaps, his princess.

He broke off the kiss, palming her face. “You’re so beautiful.” He smiled. “And wicked.”

“Wait until I’m out of this sling.” She winked. “You don’t know how wicked I can get.”

“If I wasn’t scared before, I’m utterly terrified now.”

She stared at him for a long moment, soaking in his sexy gaze. She loved the way he looked at her and how he wasn’t so quick to want to get out of bed. Or stop cuddling. How he genuinely enjoyed the lazy part of being intimate.

She traced his cheekbone. His jaw. His lips. His chin and neck.

Then she fingered the tattoo. The reminder of his lost love. Immediately, her hand went to her midsection. He’d lost someone special. Something she vowed never to ask him to forget.

Tears stung her eyes. It was strange to think she’d lost a child. She’d miscarried during the fifteenth week. It had been hard, and what she mourned was the idea of a child, not her child.

He glanced at her hand over her belly, and then his gaze smacked hers like the sun's warmth.

“Oh, Trinity,” he whispered with so much emotion. Too much. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” He cradled her in his arms, bringing them both to a sitting position. He ran his hands up and down her back. Her arms. He kissed her temple and stared into her eyes with…love.

“Know what?” She blinked. Her world turned upside down in a flash. This perfect moment was tainted with the thick memories of a fist to her face. A boot to her gut. A visit to the ER. “What are you talking about?” Her body grew rigid, and she could hear the defensiveness in her voice.

This was not something she talked about.

Occasionally, her father could get her to muster the courage. But he’d been there. He’d picked her up at that hospital. He’d brought her home. And he would have killed Charlie if given the chance. Now, all her dad wanted was for her to be whole. For her to live her life and love again.

“Trinity?” Keaton lifted her chin with his thumb. “Open your eyes and talk to me.”

She had no idea she’d even closed them. Tears rolled down her face.

He brushed them away.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that when you placed your hand on your stomach, well, I know what that means,” he whispered.

“How on earth could you know that?”

“My sister lost two babies,” he said softly. “I know the gesture, and there’s another reason. But we’ll get into that one in a second.”

“No, tell me.” God, anything to not have to tell him what happened. “I want to know.”

“All right.” He lifted her from his lap and set her on the other side of the bed, covering her body. He swung his feet over the side, found his jeans, and hiked them over his hips. Standing tall, he walked across the room and leaned against the wall, staring at her with a strange look. One that she hadn’t seen before.

All she knew was that in that moment, she felt like he was anywhere but in that room with her, and there was nothing she could do about it.

“When I told you about the fight Petra and I had, I didn’t tell you everything.” He stared at his feet and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I left something out.”

“Okay,” she said softly.

“Petra lied to me.” He blew out a puff of air. “During our argument, I left the room because I was afraid I would say something I might regret. I do that sometimes.”

“Everyone—”

“If you want to hear this, you’ve got to be quiet.” He lifted his gaze, and it bored into her like a freezing iceberg.

She nodded.

“I wanted kids. I mean, so did she, but we weren’t exactly on the same timetable. So, when I stormed off to the bedroom to pack, I stumbled onto something she’d been keeping from me for a few months.”

A million things ran through Trinity’s mind. Like, were they trying, and she was secretly taking birth control? But instead of asking, she kept her mouth shut. Only that thought reminded her of something incredibly important. Really important.

Her pills .

They were still back at her place. Keaton hadn’t brought them over when he’d picked up her stuff. She’d asked him to grab the packet in the bathroom, but he’d forgotten, and now they’d just had unprotected sex. Well, crap.

She pushed that thought from her brain and focused on Keaton.

“When I pulled the document from the drawer, I wasn’t sure I was reading it correctly. But sure enough, Petra had an abortion and didn’t tell me.”

“Oh my God,” Trinity whispered. “I’m so sorry.” What else was she supposed to say? That bitch? No, she couldn’t say that. It was Petra’s body, and she still didn’t know the entire story. Didn’t know Petra’s side. Didn’t even really know his side.

Keaton ran his fingers through his hair. “I was pissed. Not that she’d had one, though I wasn’t happy she had. However, to this day, I’m not sure what angered me more in that moment—that she had the abortion or that she hadn’t trusted our relationship—our love—enough to tell me she wasn’t ready to be a mother.” He lifted his gaze. “Or was it that she hadn’t believed I was ready to be a father? And I’ll never know the answer.”

Oh boy. That was a lot to unpack. She needed to choose her words carefully, and the only thing she had was her own experience, which wasn’t anything like his, but it was something.

“An unplanned pregnancy isn’t easy to deal with for anyone,” Trinity said. “And I was in a shitty relationship. ”

Keaton sighed, nodding. “The bottom line is, I never got to tell her that I loved her. And that I forgave her, even though, to this day, I still struggle with why she couldn’t tell me, and for me, that will always be the rub. It always sends me down a path of wondering if maybe I loved her more than she loved me. Or if I didn’t understand her. What if?—”

“Keaton, you need to stop doing that.” She patted the bed. She wasn’t sure if telling him about what happened with her mother, with her miscarriage, or both would be the right thing. But she needed to do something. The poor man was torturing himself for something he had no control over.

“It’s kind of hard when I can’t have a conversation with her.”

“Well, imagine being able to have that conversation and still not getting an answer.” She tilted her head. “My turn to talk. Your turn to listen. Now sit.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He sat on the side of the bed, but the distance between them couldn’t have been greater. Well, she’d forced him to tell her all because she hadn’t wanted to face her demons.

“I’m going to tell you two stories?—”

“Two?” He stared at her with wide eyes.

She nodded. “I’ll do my best to make them brief.” She tucked her hair behind her ears. “My mom got pregnant shortly after my dad moved us back to Calusa Cove. My dad was thrilled. Another kid to spoil. My mom thought a second child might make this town bearable. She also thought it might be the thing that got my dad to leave. Anyway, the pregnancy wasn’t easy, and my mom had a stillbirth.”

“That’s terrible. I’m so sorry.”

“It was god-awful,” Trinity agreed. “We were all heartbroken. But my mom was devastated, and she took it out on me. Still does.”

“Excuse me?” Keaton blinked. “I don’t understand.”

“The way my mother sees it is, if I had never been born, my dad would never have moved back here, and she would never have lost her second child.” Trinity pursed her lips. Her heart still broke for her mom, her dad, and for that child. But it was hard to feel more than apathy for a woman who didn’t care about her own daughter’s well-being.

“But you had nothing to do with it. You didn’t cause it. No one can honestly hold you accountable.”

“I know that.” Trinity nodded. “However, my mother can’t even look at me and not think I’m the reason her life blew up, her marriage fell apart, and her other child isn’t here. I’m the bane of that woman’s existence.”

“I don’t even know what to say to that.” He took her hand and kissed the inside of her palm.

“For a long time, I tried to gain her approval. I wanted her to love me. Maybe she does. I don’t know. I’ve stopped trying.” Trinity let out a short laugh. “I guess I haven’t learned my lesson, though, since I’m still trying to make everyone in this town respect me.”

“Those that matter, do.”

“So you and my dad keep telling me.” She smiled weakly, taking his hand and pressing it over her stomach. She inhaled sharply and let it out slowly. “I wasn’t honest with you about everything that happened with Charlie.”

“I know,” he whispered. “I had no idea what you left out, but I think I do now.”

“He hit me. He kicked me. I fought back. I told you all that. But what I didn’t tell you was that I was pregnant. I hadn’t told him yet because I had learned he’d lied to me, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to be with him anyway. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I was past the point where I could have an abortion.”

“That’s a tough spot to be in.”

“I had a second-trimester miscarriage, and it didn’t happen that night. I started spotting that evening, but it wasn’t until the next day that I realized what was happening.”

He inched closer, wrapping his arm around her and tugging her close. “Did Charlie ever know?”

“I didn’t tell him. Neither did my dad. I wouldn’t have wanted his support, but that’s vastly different from you and Petra.” She glanced up, catching his gaze. “I told these stories because, sometimes, things aren’t about you. Whatever Petra’s reasons for not telling you might have had nothing to do with you, your love, or your relationship. There could have been something wrong, and she was trying to protect you. I didn’t see the paperwork, but I had to have what’s called a D&C, which is essentially the same as an abortion. You could have read the paperwork wrong.” She cringed. “No offense.”

“None taken. But when I confronted her, she didn’t deny it. ”

“Lord knows I’m not defending her. But again, for all you know, her father might’ve had something to say about it. You were young and did say he was judgmental and controlling.”

“Very much so, and while he liked me, he had issues with me.” Keaton leaned back. “I need to accept I will never know.” He kissed her temple. “I’m sorry about what happened to you. Since you were past the point of no return, would you have kept the baby?”

“I honestly don’t know.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “Keaton?”

“Yeah.”

“Why did you need to leave the bed, separate from me, to tell that story?”

“If I tell you the truth, do you promise not to freak out and run away?”

“I promise I’ll tell you if I’m freaked out.”

He chuckled, turning his head. He tilted her chin with his thumb. “By telling it while lying naked in bed with you, it felt like a betrayal to…us. To what we’re building together. Whatever that is, and trust me when I say, I’m both terrified of what’s happening as much as I am of being insanely excited about it.”

Her lips parted. Her throat dried up. Her heart hammered in her chest. Her eyes blinked wildly. She tried to speak, but instead, all that came out was something that sounded like what people described as an owl witch.

“You want to run,” he said.

“No,” she managed. “I just expected you to say it was a betrayal to her, not me.” She traced the infinity tattoo with Petra’s name. “She meant the world to you.”

“She did, and I did love her. I won’t deny that.” He brushed his lips over Trinity’s mouth in a hot, tender kiss. “I also won’t deny that I have very strong feelings for you. That I lo?—”

Ding-dong.

“Who the hell could that be?” Keaton growled.

“You won’t know until you answer it.” She patted his chest.

“We’re not done with this conversation.” He jumped from the bed and padded across the room.

There was no way that man had been about to say he loved her. She’d simply been mesmerized by the moment. By his intense eyes. By bonding through painful stuff from the past.

Who was she kidding? She was in big trouble because the really crazy part was that she couldn’t deny that she loved Keaton Cole.