Chapter Nine

Charlotte

My heart stops as I watch Liam approach, ridiculous frozen umbrella drinks in hand, with the Hispanic man he’d been talking to at the bar. There had been something in the man’s eyes when our gazes locked that had made me uncomfortable, and for a second, my first instinct had been to go back to the villa and wait for Liam. But then they’d started walking over to me, and I couldn’t leave. I wouldn’t leave Liam anyway. Whatever happens, we’re in this together. The diamond on my finger glints in the sun, making me think of the vows that have always terrified me. For better or for worse. It doesn’t get much worse than having someone try to kill you. But then I think of my parents’ marriage and realize that’s not true. Shaking my head mentally, I focus on the situation at hand.

At least I don’t recognize the man. If we’d run into one of my kidnappers or guards, this would be a lot harder. As it is, I don’t know what I’m supposed to say or do.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Liam says, leaning down to kiss my cheek. He brushes his lips close to my ear, and softly says, “Shh.”

Images of last night flood my memory. He’d told me the same thing then, more than once, and I recognize the reminder to trust him, to let go and let him take the lead. I take a deep breath and relax. He had me then, and he’s got me now. No matter what happens, I can trust Liam to keep me safe.

“I’d like you to meet Manny,” he says, turning to the man. “Manny, this is my beautiful bride, Charlie.”

Charlie? That’s a new one. My whole life I’ve always been serious, focused, responsible. No one has ever called me Charlie. Charlie is a nickname for one of those fun-loving, popular girls. It wasn’t until I met McKenzie and Gemma that I even had a nickname at all, and they call me Chaz, not Charlie. And what happened to our aliases?

Smiling, I extend a hand to the man called Manny. “Hi. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He lifts my hand to his lips, and I try to keep my face blank. His touch—actually, everything about the short but solid, powerfully built man—gives me goose bumps, and they’re not the good kind.

“Maravilloso! I see why you couldn’t leave this beauty behind, Liam.” Liam? “How are you enjoying our country, señora?”

“It is very beautiful, and I love the ocean.” At least that part is true.

“I hope you have found us to be hospitable hosts.” The way his beady brown eyes bore into me makes me wonder briefly if he had been at the house where I’d been held hostage. But no, I would remember him.

“I can’t complain,” I say lightly.

Liam slips his arm around my waist, pulling me to him possessively. “If you’ll excuse us, I believe we’ll go back to our room. Time is short. I’ve got to make the most of it, if you know what I mean.” He nuzzles my ear and I lean in closer to him.

“Of course,” says Manny. “We will see you this evening. Let’s say six o’clock at the hotel bar.” He fixes Liam with a pointed look. “Don’t stand me up. Salome will have my head if she doesn’t get a chance to say hello and meet your new wife.”

I have the distinct feeling it’s a thinly veiled warning, and his wife is not the one who will have Liam’s head if we don’t show.

I wait until we’re back at the villa before I bombard Liam with my questions. “Who was that? How does he know your name? And why did you call me Charlie?”

Liam laughs, but there’s an edge to it. “Slow down, sweetheart. That was Manny. He’s married to Salome and they’re here on vacation with their two children. You now know as much about him as I do.”

I stare at him, dumbfounded. He sighs, pushing his hair off his forehead. “This memory thing is starting to be a real problem. I saw him on the beach yesterday. He recognized me, called me by name. I have no idea who he is, but he knows me, knows about the guns, knows I’d been killed, and now, obviously, he knows that I’m alive. The clock is ticking.

“Judging by the way he referred to El Gato and what he seems to know about the guns, he’s at least a lieutenant in the cartel. Maybe higher. He wanted to know if I’ve met with El Gato yet, and I told him we were enjoying a few days for our honeymoon first. I wasn’t going to tell him about you, but he turned around…” He shrugs. “There was no point in denying it. But hopefully the nickname may throw him off.”

“Are we really meeting him and his wife for drinks?”

“No. We’re getting the hell out of here. Pack your stuff.”

I don’t move. “Maybe we should talk to him,” I say slowly.

He turns to give me an incredulous stare. “Are you fucking kidding me? I’m not taking any chances. I don’t like being at a disadvantage. I don’t know how much he knows. Get moving.” He smacks my ass lightly and turns around, the subject closed as far as he’s concerned. “I want to make sure we have plenty of time to be far from here by the time six o’clock rolls around.”

“We should meet him,” I say more forcefully. When he doesn’t respond, I grab his arm. “Liam, listen!” The look he’s giving me is more than a little intimidating, and it occurs to me that as a SEAL commander, he’s probably not used to being challenged, but I forge ahead. “Right now, we don’t have anything to go on but your bucket list, and you don’t remember anything about it. As you said, the clock is ticking, and we don’t have time to figure this out at our leisure anymore. If we talk to Manny, we can maybe get some more clues, or at least find out what we’re up against.”

“What I’m up against,” he corrects.

“What we’re up against. Unless you’re planning to let me go home.”

“Not a chance,” he says flatly.

“Then it’s you and me,” I say firmly. “And unless we’re going to be on the run forever, we have to start finding some answers. This guy is a good start.”

“No.”

I throw my hands up in frustration. “Okay. Tell me then. What’s your plan? I have yet to hear it.”

“To keep you alive, okay? That’s my fucking plan!”

That stops me cold. Sure, he’s being a pig-headed, chauvinistic, typical man, but a tiny part of me melts at the thought of him putting my safety above his own well-being. Not that I’m going to let that happen. I trust him to keep me safe, but I intend to keep him safe right back.

I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his waist tentatively. “Thank you. I want us both to stay alive. But that’s not going to happen if we don’t find the guns. We can’t run forever.”

His arms go around me, and he rests his chin on the top of my head for several long minutes, not saying anything. Finally, he says, “Okay. We’ll meet him for drinks. But we get there early and I buy the drinks. Don’t take a sip of anything that I don’t give you. And don’t leave my side for any reason. I don’t care if the resort catches on fire or Jesus himself appears. Got it?” He leans back and tips my chin up so he can fix me with his most intimidating stare, and I feel a trickle of moisture between my legs. God, it is hot when he gets all authoritative, even if I like to sometimes call him on it. I resist the urge to press my thighs together as I nod. “And after drinks, we’re getting out of here.”

“Where are we going?”

“I don’t know yet.”

We arrive at the hotel bar thirty minutes early, and despite the brightly colored hanging lights, salsa music, and jovial atmosphere, I feel more like I’m walking to the guillotine instead of into a bar. Liam has spent the last hour grilling me over what I should and shouldn’t say, and I’m terrified I’m going to screw things up and get us killed, although there’s no way I’m admitting that to Liam. After all, I’m the one who talked him into this.

The straw-thatched bar is open air and right on the beach, with a floor made of wooden slats like a beach boardwalk that’s flush with the white sand. Plenty of lights make it a beacon in the dark night, and there’s already a small crowd of partiers, which makes me feel slightly better. Hammocks hang between the solid wooden beams that support the roof, and underneath it, tables with cushioned seats in pairs on either side are carefully placed to create conversation areas. More tables are set up just beyond the covered area on the beach, and the palm trees are wrapped with white fairy lights, giving it a festive air.

With his hand on the small of my back, Liam guides me to the bar. I’m wearing the sundress I bought in Puerto Vallarta with a cut-out back, and the warmth of his hand sears my skin. Without asking what I want, he orders two cervezas, his eyes following the bartender as he pulls the cold bottles from a tub filled with ice and pops the tops off before pushing them across the bar to Liam. Liam pays for the drinks, then taking my hand in his, he leads me to one of the tables inside, waiting for me to sit down before he sits next to me. He’s chosen a table with one of the cushioned seats for two, and I’m grateful for the feel of his solid body right next to mine, making me feel safe.

“We’ll stay an hour. That’s it. Make that beer last,” he murmurs to me.

“Yes, sir,” I retort, giving him a mock salute.

He smiles for the first time since we ran into Manny on the beach—a real one that makes the corners of his eyes crinkle. “I could get used to the sound of that,” he says.

“Don’t count on it,” I say with a smile of my own. “Remember? I already told you…I’m untamable.”

Heat flares in his eyes as he says, “We’ll see about that.”

“Liam!” Unfortunately, Manny’s booming voice interrupts us, and Liam stands to shake his hand. I follow his lead, standing with my beer in hand to greet Manny and the attractive older woman next to him, whom he introduces as his wife Salome. After the initial introductions and small talk is over, Manny motions to the bartender. “A round of shots, por favor.” He grins at Liam, revealing a row of crooked, yellow-stained teeth. “The usual? As El Gato always says, never trust anyone who won’t do a shot with you.”

Liam nods, realizing he’s been backed into a corner. I know as well as he does that he can’t do anything to make the cartel lieutenant think anything is amiss…which in this case, means not turning down a shot the lieutenant buys. The usual turns out to be Patron tequila poured straight from the bottle, and Liam gives me a slight nod to let me know it’s safe as Manny proposes a toast.

“Keep your compadres near and your enemigos nearer…” he says. He looks at Liam expectantly, obviously waiting for him to finish the toast, and I feel a flare of panic for Liam. It must be horrible not remembering anything. Before Liam can give himself away, I clink my glass to Liam’s and blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. “But if you make your wife mad, she’ll give you reason to fear her.”

There’s a brief pause, and then Salome bursts out laughing. Both men join in, and I let out my breath. “My dear, that is just priceless!” she says. “I can see you’ve heard the party line as often as I have.” Turning to Liam, she says, “She’s feisty.”

Liam shoots me a grin that has my stomach flip-flopping like an acrobat. “Almost untamable,” he says as he lifts his eyebrows at me. “Almost…” he adds deliberately, and my pelvis tightens deliciously.

“So how did you two meet?” Manny asks.

Liam’s warm hand covers mine. “We’ve actually known each other for years. Charlie went to school with my little sister.”

“Ah…McKenzie, is it?”

Liam’s grip tightens around my fingers and I give his hand a little squeeze back to remind him to not let Manny get under his skin.

“Do you know her?” I ask innocently.

“It’s my job to know everything about the people who work for me. Which is why it was such a surprise to find out that Liam is not only not dead, but that he’s also married. Tell me, querida, how did the two of you end up married when he just came back from the dead? I’m intrigued.”

I can feel a rivulet of perspiration trickle between my breasts as his beady eyes bore into me. I steal a glance at Liam, but his expression is bland with a hint of amusement, and I realize he actually trusts me to handle this. My grandmother’s voice echoes in my head. “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” She was the one haven of love and peace during my turbulent childhood, and I suddenly find myself missing her. She would have loved Liam, and he would have loved her right back.

“Well, as Liam said, we’ve known each other a long time. Then last fall, a group of us went on vacation together. Liam and I took a walk on the beach, and it was just so easy to talk to him, to laugh, to be happy, to be drunk, to be sober, to be sad or frustrated. Then he touched me, and it was like he set off a nuclear reactor in my body. I felt like every nerve ending was glowing, everywhere we made contact lit up. We kissed and…you know…” I gesture vaguely. “The way he looked at me was unforgettable. And I knew right then I never wanted to go another day without hearing his laugh or seeing his face looking back at me.”

Salome sighs. “That is so romantic.” She smacks Manny’s arm. “Why don’t you look at me that way?”

I look over at Liam, expecting to see that look of approval I’m slowly becoming addicted to, but his expression is inscrutable. “It was like a dream,” he finally says, tearing his eyes away from mine to look at Manny. “In fact, she haunted my dreams after the accident. When I woke up after months of being in a coma, I had a moment of clarity. Life is short and you shouldn’t waste a minute of it. I knew the first thing I had to do was find Charlotte. Marrying her was a bit spur of the moment,” he admits with a wink in my direction, and I hold back a giggle.

Salome’s gaze swivels to me. “And all that time he was in a coma, you didn’t know where he was? You thought he was dead?”

I nod. “I went to his memorial service. It was awful.”

Liam flashes me a look of mock hurt. “It was awful? I left specific instructions. It should have been the party of the year.”

“It was awful to think of you gone forever,” I say quietly.

Manny clears his throat. “I imagine you were thrilled to see him.”

“You’d think!” Liam says pointedly to me, his lips twitching again with barely concealed amusement. I realize he’s actually enjoying this. I have to admit, I am too. It’s like Liam and I are having our own private conversation right under Manny’s nose.

“There were extenuating circumstances,” I reply primly. Turning to Salome and Manny, I explain. “He made an overly dramatic entrance.” Liam chokes on his beer and I giggle.

Manny is clearly growing impatient with our innuendo-laden banter. Fixing his gaze on me, he says, “How long have you been married?”

Liam slips my hand in his. “Just a few days,” he answers for me. “As I told you earlier, I came here as soon as I could. We married in an informal ceremony—”

“Very informal!” I add with a snort.

“Shame on you,” Salome says to Liam. “The love of your life deserves a ceremony to remember.”

Liam shrugs. “I needed to get here as soon as possible to meet with the boss. I imagine he wasn’t very happy when I died without delivering what I owed him.”

“That is an understatement, compadre. But you are here now. I’m sure you will get it sorted out in no time. It’s too bad he is gone until next week.”

I squeeze Liam’s hand. Finally, some valuable information.

Liam plays it cool. “Yes, it is. But it will give me some time for a honeymoon with my bride. He’s back Wednesday?”

Nice bluff.

“Thursday,” Manny corrects. “At the compound in Quintana Roo. I’ll tell him you’re coming.”

“Perfect.”

“I assume you will deliver what you owe him at that time?”

“Absolutely.”

“Excellent.” Manny claps Liam on the back. “Come. Let’s have another shot.”

After another round of shots and a story about Manny and Salome’s young son, Liam threads his fingers with mine. “It has been good to see you, Manny, but if you’ll excuse us, I owe Charlie a honeymoon.”

“And a wedding,” Salome says. “You must give her a proper wedding. These things are important to women. Right?” She looks to me for confirmation.

“Actually—” I say uncomfortably.

“Tell him, Manny!” She grips her husband’s arm and gestures exaggeratedly at Liam.

“Si, señora,” Manny says drily. Turning to Liam, he says, “Give the woman a proper wedding.” He adds under his breath, “But her wedding is your funeral, compadre. This time next year, she’ll have given away your favorite pants, replaced your favorite chair with a designer one that’s uncomfortable, and will be carrying your cajones around in her purse. I see she’s already made you lose that necklace you always wore. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing.” He laughs at his own joke.

“What necklace?”

Manny punches him in the arm. “Ha! See what I mean? The silver one with that unusual carving on it. I’ve never seen you without it. You used to say it was your good luck charm. And now you’re all ‘what necklace.’” He laughs loudly. “I guess she’s your good luck charm now.”

Liam wraps his arm around me, pulling me to him. “That she is.” He holds his hand out to shake Manny’s, then kisses Salome’s. “See you next Thursday.”

“That went pretty well,” I say as soon as we get back to our villa. Liam shuts and locks the door, then motions to me. With my heart thumping, I slowly walk over to where he’s standing. He cups my chin in his hand. “You were fucking amazing. Your toast saved my ass! And that description of how we got together…” He shakes his head. “That was something else.” Suddenly embarrassed, I look away. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

“It was. I’ve never had anyone have my back like that.” He presses his lips to mine softly before letting me loose. “Thank you.” Turning around, his runs his fingers through his hair. “I’ve got a week and half to find the guns. Damn my memory!” He paces the room. “I wish I could remember the necklace he was talking about. I don’t remember ever wearing a necklace. Not my style. Maybe that was some sort of clue. Especially if it had some sort of carving. But who knows where it is now? Probably in the rubble somewhere in Pakistan.” He growls with frustration.

“Actually,” I say slowly. “I was wearing it when I got kidnapped.”