HIGH TIDE (9 page)

Damn.

  ***

Both hands were on the steering wheel, and the key was in the ignition, but the car wouldn’t go.

“Grow up, Holt. You can handle this guy.”

The pep talk didn’t seem to work as she glanced at the rearview mirror to make sure she was not holding up anyone in the parking garage.

Digital numbers on the dash alerted her it was almost one o’clock. Nick had probably left already, if he had showed up at all. Last night Briana spent hours replaying their encounter over and over in her head, and kept picturing those dark eyes until she thought she would go mad.

This morning
, under the obtrusive sun, her vision wasn’t so rose-colored. Nick McCord had imperfections. He was aggressively male, with a touch of arrogance—although the latter was a trait she envied. He had a way of looking at her with the corner of his mouth curling indolently as if he found her amusing. The gesture intrigued her.

Okay, so there weren’t too many imperfections, but there were some. Perhaps in the light of day she would see more, when the moon and diamond-lit sea were not such an alluring canvas.

Easing the car into drive, Briana pressed on the gas and emerged from the heavy shadows of the garage into the brilliant sunlight of another gorgeous Hawaiian day.

Poised atop a sand dune, Briana held a hand to her forehead to ward off the glare as she scanned the beach. It was vacant. No hot geologists waiting to take her out on a date.

Did that really come as much of a surprise?

Tempted to just turn around and flee to the sanctuary of her office, she glanced at her watch and reasoned that Nick might have been tied up.
Delayed, yes, delayed.

Starting down the dune to the shoreline, the breeze billowed beneath the hem of her sleeveless dress, and an instant later molded the sheer material back against her thighs. After several unwieldy steps, she stooped to peel off her sandals, and smiled at the sensation of warm crystals blanketing her toes.

It was the middle of the workweek and the beach was empty except for a young boy at play, his robust mother watching lazily from beneath the shade of a palm tree. Briana nodded in her direction realizing that the woman’s dark eyes were following her.

She continued her trek, balancing on the edge of the soft burst of froth. That phantom lick of water made her tremble with the predictable tug of fear. Remarkably, it was followed by a burgeoning warmth of recollection.
Nick’s lips—his arms—his touch.

God, she had to stop doing this. She was a grown woman.
 It wasn’t as if she had never been kissed before. Although, no one had ever kissed her quite like that, and
no one
had ever enticed her into the water.

Briana flipped a curious seashell with the tip of her toe. With her focus on her feet, she nearly missed the wave that collapsed into her calves.

What the hell?

Swallowing down a ridiculous scream, she backed judiciously away. She would have sworn she was at a safe enough distance. The water here was as docile as a birdbath. But now as she looked out, she could see a
ripple of agitated swells, as if a huge boat had just passed by.

But there was no boat. On the horizon there were two bulky shadows. They could be anything from fishing
vessels to yachts, but whatever they were...they were anchored and had not produced a wake.

Yet, still those little waves persisted. Anomalies in a placid sea.

“Briana!”

Recognizing the voice, a tremor coursed through her. She turned to see a red jeep at the top of the slope.

He came.

CHAPTER SIX
 

Watching his jeans hike down the knoll, Briana felt a little queasy. Too much sun, perhaps? Or was it the intense expression on a man that was just too damn sexy for someone like her. She needed
Joe Corporate
. Calm.  Refined.  Professional.  Boring.

“Hi.”

One husky word and he set her to trembling.

“Hi,” she whispered. Clearing her throat, she added, “I didn’t think you would
—I thought maybe you had a meeting—”

Get a grip, Briana!

It didn’t help that he wasn’t smiling. It didn’t ease her nerves when he stared at her like he was about to verbally drill her into the ground—
or physically drill her
.

For a moment, he glanced away and she could see his broad chest expand on a deep breath. “I didn’t think you would be here,” he said quietly.

“I—” God, she couldn’t get her eyes off his lips. “I noticed the waves again.”

At that moment the high-pitched squeal of youth broke the stillness. Calling to his mother, the young boy hopped about in the wet sand. The woman in the red floral Kimono ambled towards him, her dress dipping into the water as she grabbed him under his armpits and hoisted him from the sea with a sharp
berating. A howl of protest ensued and faded as they returned to the shade of the palms.

Nick jogged over to the stretch of beach where the toddler had been playing
. Briana started after him.

Stooped before her,
his shoulders swelled as he leaned forward. She peered around them and detected a sparkle of fish scales.

“What is it?”

“Yellow fin tuna.” He leaned back on his heels.

It was huge!
With an ugly golden serrated spine like that of a dragon.  What was worse was that not much further away was another.

“Now there are dead fish on Manale Beach,” she sighed. “I think the Gods are looking to sabotage me.”

Nick rose, and her petulance evaporated. He did not look pleased.

“This isn’t good, Briana. You may not be far off base.”

“What?” She stumbled backwards when he started to march up to the jeep. She sprinted to catch up and tugged on his arm.

“Nick, it’s all just coincidence, right?”

Halting, he didn’t look at her, but instead glanced up at the stagnant treetops. “No wind. No wakes...there should be no waves. And dead tuna belong on a boat, not on shore.”

A chill broke the perspiration on the back of her neck.

Something told her this wasn’t going to be a lunch date.

“I have a call into the Hilo office to see if any underwater disturbances have been observed. If they
don’t send a team over, I will get some of our guys to go take a look. The marine biologists will be here soon to address the tuna. Do you have security here? If you could send someone over to make sure no one touches those tuna. We have to be sure they aren’t diseased.”

“Oh God. Is it possible?”

“It’s possible, but combined with the strange tidal pattern the past few days...”

His voice drifted off. They had reached the grounds of
Manale Palms
and Nick hesitated, looking into the inlet at the seawall.

“I admit that I wanted to find some fault with this property,” he turned to her, “but there is no fault here. Your construction is not responsible for dead tuna washing up on shore.”

“You harbored these ill feelings towards Manale, Nick...maybe others do as well. Maybe enough to sabotage it.”

A dark expression crossed his face. For a long time he studied her...a long enough time to make her uncomfortable.

“Don’t get carried away,” he uttered quietly.

“I won’t.” The words hung in the air, and took on a deeper meaning. “Nick, you came today, to the beach. I didn’t think you would.”

He turned away, giving the impression that he was searching the grounds. Only her steadfast silence forced him to look back. “I—” his hand wrapped behind his neck, “I wanted to talk to you.”

Instinctively, her
arms crossed. Here it comes, she thought. The tone of his voice was obvious. What single attribute of hers made him want to end this fledgling relationship—if she could go so far as to call it that? It wasn’t a relationship—he had simply kissed her
.

But God, was it a kiss that he could so easily walk away from?

Maybe she had come across as too professional, condescending even. Maybe he preferred a superficial partner that he didn’t have to battle with.

Studying the crisp lines of the white shirt that molded his chest, Briana sensed tension there. Irrationally, she wanted to reach out and ease it. She wanted to touch him again, to feel the sleek line of those muscles, and to be caressed like she had under the moon. But, that was simply a spell cast by its magic. Today under the sun, in the wake of a geological
quirk, she knew that there would be nothing between them.

Solitude smothered her.

“Talk about what? Last night?”

“Yes.” Pain lurked in his eyes. “Briana, look—I, the moon, and the way you looked, I took advantage of the situation. I’m sorry.”

So that was it. Simple enough. Why did his words hurt so much?

She could handle it though. She was strong.

“We both took advantage of the situation, Nick. It’s okay.” That sounded convincing. “Umm, look I have to get back into town and write up a report, and I have to get our security guard over to the beach—”

Nick felt like punching the coarse bark of the palm tree next to him. If not that, he’d like to let slip the curse on the tip of his tongue. Or, if neither of those
options worked, his third was to fore-go it all and grab Briana and kiss her until both of them were hot and wet in the sand.

The third option tempted him so much
that he took a step forward.

“Yeah,” he hesitated, “I’ve got about a thousand stops to make myself.”

If only he could be blind to that wounded look in her eyes. That kept him in check. Let her go to her office. Let her go make her calls. That was what her kind did. They didn’t want hot and wet in the sand. They wanted air-conditioned suites and gym memberships.

But if
she was truly one of them, then why that raw gaze, as if she echoed his very same desires?

***

“Geez, Bree,
dead tuna
?  That doesn’t look good.”

Briana
crossed her arms against the chill of the air-conditioned office. “Thank you for pointing that out.”

Naoki managed to look contrite, but a frown quickly wove the black eyebrows behind his dark frames. He lowered himself into the visitor’s chair.

“What do you need me to do?”

In search of a diversion, Briana approached the window and watched a coast guard vessel
chug into port. “There’s nothing for you to do. The marine biologists are on their way, and—”

“And?”

When it was evident she was not going to respond, Naoki offered, “Bree, why don’t you go home? You’ve been working nonstop, and you have to let the researchers do their jobs.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “What about you, Takanawa? You’re supposed to be on a date.”

Incredulous, Naoki toyed with a pen on the desk’s polished surface. “I’ve got some time yet. I don’t want to come across as over-enthusiastic.”

Briana smiled, but her face
didn’t support the gesture.

***
  

Skirting around a pack of children who feverishly pumped fishing rods off the pier, Nick eyed the placid water. As sedate as the tide may be, dead fish represented possible disease, and it made him uneasy seeing these young boys here.

Sidling up behind them, his deep voice startled the youths. “Hey guys, catch anything?”

In unison the foursome peered up at him, their mouths gaping.

Nick grinned. “Yeah, I was gonna come out here too. I heard that some of the big fish were literally throwing themselves on shore in an effort to get caught. I thought I’d get myself some whoppers.” He leaned in as if to share a confidence. “But, you know, they’re saying the fish are bad. Sick. And that they’ll make you sick if you touch them.” He leaned back. “So, I’m staying away from this area for awhile—at least until they tell me the fish won’t give me hives.”

Four mouths remained mute, but two sets of eyes shifted to confer with their cohorts. One pair of shoulders shrugged, and finally in a united voice, they proclaimed, “Okay.”

As the youths sprinted down the pier, their shouts demonstrated that they had already contemplated another venture.

Nick shook his head and leapt aboard the fifty-foot white cutter, its hull stamped with the USGS emblem in bold navy-blue letters.

Crossing the deck, he circled around a tripod-mounted crane. A box-corer dangled from it, a device that they used in testing reef deposits. Fixated on the instrument, Nick muttered when he slipped on a Dunkin Donuts wrapper.

“Keo!”

Already in a foul mood, he stooped to retrieve the trail of garbage and followed it into the bridge. There he spotted the bulky profile sitting before a gleaming windshield, nearly eclipsing the sun.