Chapter Seventeen

Charlotte

I’m grateful for the fear that’s coursing through me; at least it takes my mind off the fact that my heart is breaking all over again for Liam. I can’t bear the thought of him and Walker and Noah dying in that warehouse because of me. I wonder how long they have before the drone that’s programmed to detonate hits. Gray said thirty minutes. It’s been at least twenty.

I’m the kind of girl you want to have in a crisis. When bad things happen, I’m the one who stays calm and takes charge. Of course, I’ll fall apart later, but now I’m grateful for that calm detachment, and focus on coming up with a plan, finding some way to get away from the asshole who’s been digging his fingers so hard into my bicep, I’m going to bruise. I have to figure out how to get back to the warehouse and unlock it, or somehow find and deprogram the drone…

The sound of footsteps and then gunfire startles me. Several men are headed toward the warehouse. I recognize one of them is Manny, the guy Liam and I had drinks with at the resort what seems like ages ago. It takes me a minute to realize the drug cartel lieutenant who’s had a death grip on me since we left the warehouse has let go in order to point his gun at the only person who might be able to help me and Liam.

“Manny!” I call out, trying to warn him.

He looks up, but it’s too late. The bullet hits him, and he crumples to the ground. Shit! There’s an explosion of gunfire, and I take off running toward the warehouse. I see Martin Gray scurry off into the woods. Coward! So much for making sure I stay safe. The small, squatty-looking man known as El Gato catches up with me, along with two other men whom I assume are underlings in his cartel.

“Manny says you are Liam’s wife. Did they kidnap you for the guns?”

Thinking fast, I say, “Yes! We were waiting for you to do the exchange, and they showed up, grabbed me, and threatened to kill me if Liam didn’t give them the guns.”

His already beady eyes narrow into slits. “Where are the guns now?”

Crap! Too late, I realize I’ve played my hand wrong. El Gato doesn’t care about me or Liam. If he knows the Nuevo Leon cartel took the guns, I’m not sure what he’ll do. He might go after them, leaving me to go back and free the guys. Or he might decide it’s a good idea to hang on to me for leverage until he gets the guns back, in which case I’ll be unable to get back to the warehouse before it explodes. Even if he lets me go and I get to Liam in time, El Gato’s going to want the money he paid Liam back if he doesn’t get the guns—and it’s already spent.

Suddenly, I remember Dominguez’s men leaving one of the crates of guns behind the building and I know what to do.

“They locked the guns in the warehouse with Liam and Noah while they go get something to transport them.” I’ll leave it to Liam to explain who Walker is, and when, or if, to reveal the location of the guns.

El Gato curses in Spanish, then turns to me. “Do you know the combination?”

I nod.

“Let’s go.”

I run as fast as I can back to the warehouse, El Gato and his men right behind me, and with shaking fingers, I put in the combination. The padlock opens with a click, and El Gato holds me in front of him as he nudges me through the opened door.

Liam, Walker, and Noah—whom I recognize from Vegas—all stare as we walk through, their eyes wide.

“Mr…um…Gato and uh…Manny”—I stumble over his name, thinking of him dead—”saw me as they were coming to get the guns and saved me from the other guys. I told them how they locked you guys in here with the guns while they went to get help to carry them out.”

“Where’s Dominguez?” Noah asks the drug lord.

El Gato smiles. “It looks like your day has finally come. Go after him.”

“They took my gun.”

“Juan.” One of the men immediately hands over a machine gun, and after a quick questioning look at Walker, who nods almost imperceptively, Noah’s gone, leaving Liam and Walker to face down the cartel alone.

“Who’s this?” El Gato nods at Walker.

“A friend of mine. He helped me smuggle out the guns.”

El Gato nods, seemingly satisfied. “Where are they?”

“Some are in that crate over there.” Liam gestures at the crates of soybeans several feet away. “The bigger shipment is just outside the warehouse, in the back. They managed to drag it out before they realized they needed help, so they left it. Your guys can check out this one. I’ll show you the bigger one myself.”

El Gato nods. “The girl comes with us. Your friend stays in here.”

No! Walker! I sneak a glance at him, but he doesn’t look worried. He’s standing with his feet apart, arms crossed, looking like a total badass, and I can see why Gemma’s attracted to him. Liam grabs my hand and drags me out the door, El Gato right behind us.

I’m about to jump out of my skin, knowing the drone could crash into the warehouse at any minute now, killing us all, but Liam is…well…Liam. Calm and easygoing, he acts like he has all day. As if reading my mind, he turns to me, gives me that sexy, slow grin of his and says, “You know my motto sweetheart. It comes in handy at times like this.”

Right. I need to act like I don’t care or I’m going to blow this. I take a deep breath and shoot him a fake smile.

“Good girl.” That actually makes me smile for real. He’s businesslike as we approach the crate, prying open the lid to reveal the guns.

“Here you go, delivered as promised. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go make out with my wife and maybe even cop a feel or two while you inspect the merchandise. She’s a little shaky after that incident with Dominguez.” Lowering his voice a bit, he adds, “Whenever her mind starts to overthink things, it helps to put her to work, if you know what I mean.”

Oh my God. He did not just say that.

El Gato, who’s busy inspecting an AK-47, stops to leer at me, then winks at Liam. “Si, si. Vamos.”

Liam pulls me toward the trees. Loud enough for El Gato to hear, he says, “Fuck, that scared me, baby. I need to feel your skin, assure myself you’re alive.”

I know my part. “Not here where anyone can see us!”

Growling, Liam says, “You’re killing me, woman!” He scoops me up, throws me over his shoulder, giving my ass a smack for good measure, and runs for the trees. I catch sight of a blur of blue jeans and a white shirt—Martin Gray—heading back toward the warehouse.

There’s a loud popping noise, and suddenly, the place explodes in a mushroom of smoke.

…

“You sure you two didn’t tell Kenzie I’m alive?” Liam asks Walker and Noah for about the tenth time as we wait for the flight attendant to finish her spiel about how to work the seatbelts and oxygen masks.

“Not a word. I don’t think she’d believe us anyway,” says Walker. “We just told her we got Charlotte and found the guns, and we’d fill her in on the rest when we get home.”

“Good.” Liam sits back, satisfied. We’re sitting in that section of the airplane—a commercial flight that we all booked with our real passports—where there are two sets of double seats facing each other. I’m sitting next to Liam, and Walker and Noah are opposite us. “I want to see her face. And explain everything.”

“Like why I have a black eye?” Noah says drily.

Liam shrugs. “That was before I knew you were NCIS. I thought you were with the cartel and using her.”

“I’m pretty sure Walker mentioned I wasn’t,” Noah says dryly, but there doesn’t seem to be any animosity between the two of them. If anything, there’s the beginnings of a friendship, fueled by mutual respect.

Liam shrugs.

“I’m in love with her,” Noah says. “In fact, now’s as good a time as any to ask you this. I know Kenzie’s dad is gone, so I want to ask you. I’d like your blessing to ask her to marry me.”

My eyes well up with tears, unexpectedly touched by the raw emotion in Noah’s voice, and I wonder what it would be like to be loved so unequivocally, so completely. I want that, I realize. Maybe not today. I look over at Liam, who smiles at me lazily, making my heart squeeze in my chest. Maybe not anytime soon. It’s going to take me a while to get over Liam. I mean, I know what we had wasn’t real—we were just two people in close proximity on an adventure—but in addition to showing me how to let go and live a little, he showed me that giving up control doesn’t mean it will be like it was with my parents.

Control freaks like me think we can prevent the storms of life from coming. But everything that’s happened over the last week has showed me that no matter how hard I try to control things, the storms happen anyway. When Liam demanded I give him control, he actually gave it back to me by showing me that even when I can’t stop the storm, I can weather it.

Funny how the right person can change how you see everything. Well, the right wrong person. I sigh. While my outlook may have changed, Liam’s hasn’t. Liam still has his job and a life of adventure—not to mention a girl on every continent—waiting for him. In fact, he’ll be even more of a hero after the story of what happened in Mexico gets out.

After Liam grabbed me and ran into the woods, the drone that Martin Gray programmed to crash into the building made contact, exploding on impact. It killed El Gato and his two henchmen—whom Walker had quickly knocked out and left unconscious in the warehouse before escaping himself just before the explosion—and destroyed the crate of guns, leaving no evidence of anything.

It remains to be seen whether the CIA agent—greedy for the last crate of guns—was killed in the explosion he himself orchestrated or not. If not, the testimony of Noah, Walker, and Liam, plus the tape Anthony has, will undoubtedly send him to prison for life, and ensure Liam’s reputation will be restored.

And the head of the Nuevo Leon cartel? This morning’s news stories have been filled with rumors of the kingpin’s death, but no one knows for sure except Noah. And since he’s asking for McKenzie’s hand in marriage, my guess is he carried out what he needed to do to avenge the deaths of his wife and daughter in order to move on to the next chapter of his life with McKenzie.

I sigh again, wondering if there’ll ever be a love like that for me one day.

Liam nudges me with his knee. “Need to use the restroom?” He winks, and there’s nothing I want more. I want to do everything with him—I want to travel the world with him, exploring every new city with him by day and making love every night, giving him all of me in that way that makes his eyes darken with lust.

But he doesn’t want that. He was clear at the beginning. No-strings-attached sex. That was the deal. It’s time to let him go.

“I’m good,” I say.

Three hours later, we land in Charleston and quietly get an Uber back to McKenzie and Gemma’s apartment. The fanfare can wait. We all stand back a little as Liam knocks on the door. It’s flung open, and the color drains from McKenzie’s face. “Oh my God. Liam? Is it really you?” Tears stream down her face as she launches herself into his arms. “Liam!!”

Fifteen minutes later, after Kenzie has cried and examined Liam and given him a guilt trip for letting her go a minute longer than necessary thinking he was dead as only a sister can, Walker goes into the kitchen and comes back with beers for the guys and a bottle of wine and three glasses for me, Kenzie, and Gemma, and we all settle into the living room to fill McKenzie and Gemma in on the events of the last week. While Liam tells them about waking up in the hospital in India, his memory loss, and everything that led him to ultimately getting a fake passport and flying to Mexico to rescue me, I watch my friends.

McKenzie is snuggled into Noah’s side with his arm protectively wrapped around her, and the look of adoration he gives her when she’s not looking melts my heart. Gemma’s sitting next to Kenzie, Walker perched on the arm of the sofa next to her, which is nothing unusual. They’ve been best friends since high school. But there’s something about the way she’s leaning against him, and the way he leans over to brush her hair back, that confirms my suspicions that something must have happened in San Francisco. I couldn’t be happier for them. They are actually perfect for each other. I don’t know why none of us realized it before.

But once again, I’m the one left behind. At least I had Mexico, I think wistfully. Stop it! a little voice inside of me says. I don’t have to go back to the girl I was before. While I can’t have Liam, I can still have the woman he set free, the one who learned to let go and be wild and have fun. I’m not going to lose her. I’m not going to let fear stop me from living completely anymore. Sure, my heart might get broken again. But I will survive.

I remind myself of that the next morning as Liam is getting ready to leave. We’d all drank late into the night and crashed as the sun was coming up—Noah in Kenzie’s bed, me with Gemma, and Liam and Walker taking the sofas. Today, the three of them fly to Washington, DC for a joint debriefing with the Navy and NCIS, followed by the CIA and possibly even the president.

“Hey,” Liam says. “Want to take a walk?”

“Sure,” I say, trying to sound blasé. I knew this moment would come the minute I made the decision to take my top off in the pool in Mexico, but it doesn’t make it any easier. I’m determined to beat him to the punch this time.

We walk down to King Street, talking casually. When we get to the Unitarian Church, I naturally turn toward Gateway Walk. “This is one of my favorite places in Charleston,” I tell him as we walk through the iron gates and down the tree-lined path. “It’s like a secret, hidden path through the city.”

“I can see why. It’s gorgeous.” He looks up at the moss-covered trees, then turns to me and puts a finger under my chin, tilting my face up. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I am.” I realize it’s the truth. Despite the fact that I was kidnapped—twice—for once in my life, I was the one had the adventure of a lifetime, and I don’t have any regrets. “It’s been one hell of a ride, I’ll give you that. But it had its moments.” I smile at him, and he smiles back.

Grabbing my hand, he says, “I’ve got to go take care of all the red tape and sort out things. But I was thinking maybe we could see each other sometime—”

“I don’t think so. It was an amazing week, and I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. I mean, how many girls get rescued in the middle of the night by a hot Navy SEAL?” His eyes crinkle at the corners, but before he can say anything, I rush on, the words tumbling out of my mouth so fast, I won’t have time to rethink this. “But let’s not pretend it was something it wasn’t. It was just a vacation fling, plain and simple. A one-time thing.”

“But—”

“It would never work out between us anyway. I’m the wedding planner who doesn’t do relationships, remember? And you’re the badass Navy SEAL who doesn’t have room in his life for a woman. You live by the seat of your pants. I like lists. You like to be in control. So do I.” Except with you, a little voice in my head says.

But I can’t back down now. It couldn’t work. Although he seemed to have tapped into some part of me I didn’t know existed, at heart I’m still just a nerdy girl who likes calendars and lists and order—which is still definitely not Liam’s type. Not the first time in Playa, or the last.

“Let’s just say goodbye and keep the memories. You’re in short supply of those anyway,” I tease.

He laughs at that, although his eyes look sad. “Once a brat, always a brat.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

We walk back to the apartment in companionable silence, and an hour later, the car arrives to take the guys to the airport. “I’ll meet you guys downstairs,” Liam says to Noah, who’s busy making out with Kenzie like they’re going to be apart for months instead of a few days, and Walker, who’s apparently decided the hell with all of us and cups Gemma’s face in his hands before planting a kiss on her lips.

He’s opening the car door as I reach the bottom of the stairs. “Hey, Liam!” I call out.

He turns around, a huge smile on his face. “Yeah?”

“Remember that first night in Mexico, when you were worried about the guy before you?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say I was worried.”

I smile. “Yeah, well you were better. I just thought you should know.”

“Thanks.” He stands there as if waiting for something, and I realize he’s waiting for Walker and Noah, who throw their bags in the trunk and climb into the car. Liam is the last one in.

“See you around, Prescott.”

He hesitates for a minute, then gives me a wink and a salute, and he’s gone. This time, forever.

…

“I still can’t believe you and Walker!” Kenzie says two nights later as we’re gathered around their TV, waiting for a special ABC news show—the guys’ first and only interview—to begin.

“I know,” Gemma sighs. “I can’t believe it either. The perfect guy for me was right there all the time. And you and Noah?” She fans herself. McKenzie filled us in on the whole story of how she ended up on a boat with him in the Philippines, thinking he was a SEAL Walker or someone else on Liam’s team had sent to help her, and how they’d fallen in love.

Turning to me, Gemma says, “Now we just need to find someone for you.”

“I’m good. In fact, I need a little time. I ended up falling a little for Liam,” I admit sheepishly. They both stare at me wide-eyed, while I fill them in on everything that happened with Liam—well, bits of it anyway. They’re my best friends. “But it was just a vacation fling. He’s got his life and I’ve got mine, and they couldn’t be more different. Completely incompatible, actually. Besides, he’s not my type, and I’m definitely not his.”

Kenzie gives me a sympathetic hug, but before they can ask me any more questions, Gemma says, “Shh. It’s starting!”

The three of us watch as Liam, Walker, and Noah tell the well-known news anchor and the rest of America the story. It’s the most riveting hour of television I’ve ever seen, and not just because I know it’s my last glimpse of Liam for a long, long time. It’s a captivating story, beginning with a clip of the blown-up hut in Pakistan and ending with a surprise appearance by the doctor in India who had saved Liam’s life, which left Liam, the doctor, the news anchor conducting the interview, the audience, and the three of us in tears. The guys take turns with the story, and the deep affection and camaraderie between them is apparent.

At the end, the news anchor says to Liam, “I’ve heard talks of a movie deal, possibly with you playing yourself, a possible book, consulting offers… What’s next for you?”

“I’m going back to what I love.”

My heart sinks, although it’s no surprise. I knew all along he’d go back to being a SEAL. It’s one of the reasons I ended things.

“Isn’t that dangerous?” she presses.

He grins, and my heart catches. I’d forgotten how his smile makes my insides wobbly. “You have no idea,” he says. “I also have a few last things to check off of my bucket list.”

“Oh yes,” the news anchor says with a smile. “The bucket list! So was it a map like everyone thought?”

“Yes. Turns out it was the most important map of my life.”