Page 15 of Poison Evidence

Or rather, letting Jack do as he pleased, which pleased her very much.

She was reclaiming herself, which she’d given up in pieces during her marriage. Plus, she’d gotten lost in the empowering oblivion of sex, escaping the shock and horror of the mangrove swamp. “Thank you for fucking my brains out, Jack.”

“I’m not done yet.”

He slipped his tongue inside her, causing her to purr.

“That sound right there.” He moved to lavish attention on her clitoris. “Drives me wild.”

She made the sound again, first as a joke, then for real. He’d earned it with his clever tongue. “You’re good at this.”

“Thank you. Too bad it’s not the sort of reference I can put on the charter website.”

She laughed. “Five stars. Captain Jack fights and fucks like a champion.”

How did she forget that sex could be so much fun? Not just that it felt good. She felt his laughter against her inner thighs as his body shook with it.

Then he got serious about his task, and she held her breath as another orgasm built. As promised, he held her on the edge, letting her savor it forever before he added his fingers to the task and pushed her over the precipice.

Afterward, she was drowsy and sated, but she felt like she should show him the same courtesy. He stopped her from scooting down on the bed and kissed her temple. “Get under the covers. You’re beat and need to sleep.”

They lay spooned together. She enjoyed the feel of his hard, muscular body against hers. Muscles he’d earned in the Air Force. He’d served in the one branch of the military she knew the least about. She knew plenty of men in the Navy and Marines through her work both at the institute and now for NHHC, and when her cousin Alec had been in the Army she’d met her share of soldiers, but she didn’t think she’d ever spent time with an Air Force pilot.

“How long were you in the Air Force?” she asked.

“I thought it was my turn to ask questions.”

“If you’ve read or watched the news in the last nine months, you probably know everything about me.”

She felt him shrug. “I know a bit. Your grandfather and father were cartographers. You followed in their footsteps. You have a cousin, Alec Ravissant, who is a senator in Maryland.”

He probably knew about Alec because of the damage control necessary when Patrick was arrested. Patrick had campaigned for Alec, and everyone close to Patrick was suspect. She’d made several statements pointing out thatshewas the connection between Patrick and the campaign. She’d actually left Patrick months before the election but hadn’t told Alec because she didn’t want to disrupt things when his campaign had other, far bigger problems.

“Like the senator, you came from money, but your branch of the family poured their money into the institute, which was a nonprofit, and with the dissolution of the institute, the money is gone now.”

She nodded and rolled to face him. “My father brought Patrick aboard because he had money and a philanthropic bent. Or so we thought.” She brushed her lips over Jack’s. “But that’s all we’re going to say about Patrick, okay?”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m just—I’m happy right now. I want to keep that.” How crazy was it that she could feel happy after the night she’d had? Jack was good medicine.

“Deal. Okay…what else do I know? You’re fluent in Spanish and English—and, apparently, Japanese.”

“Less fluent in Japanese, but getting there.”

“Basically, you’re smart as hell. You work for NHHC—which was in the news a lot last fall.”

“You’re referring to the thing that happened on the ferry in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.”

He smiled. “Yeah. Thething. You know anything about that?”

“Not really. I’ve only met Undine Gray—the NHHC archaeologist who was involved—a few times when she was still working for the Underwater Archaeology Branch.”

“She doesn’t work there anymore?”

“She quit so she could stay in Washington. She fell in love with Luke Sevick—the guy from NOAA who”—she raised her fingers in air quotes—“single-handedlysaved the world that night.” She didn’t bother to hide the sarcasm in her voice.

Jack laughed. “You don’t believe the story?”