“When you leave, put the lunchbox under your bed with the gun in it. Someone I trust will pick it up and make it disappear.”
She shook her head. “I don’t need this.”
“Yeah, ya do. You want to travel to one of those ruins and a few other places that attract unsavory people. Especially groups that pull the kidnap for ransom scam.” Joseph was calm in the face of Jo’s utter disbelief. “Rhys is rich. You’re a cop. Both of you are American. Any of those is a recipe for trouble outside the US. If something happened, wouldn’t you rather be armed to defend yourself and Rhys or would you rather hope everything will work out your way?”
“But a gun?”
“Why not? You know how to use one. Hell, Carl made sure you were familiar with several, so I know you can handle the Sig.” He rubbed a hand over the stubble on his jaw. “Look, if it were me, I’d rather have one and not need it as need one and not have it.”
“Fine. What should I do if your friend the commissioner’s men are chasing me?” she asked setting the lunchbox next to her purse.
“In what realm of reasoning would the police be chasing you?”
“I don’t know, but what if they were?” Could she keep the gun? Would her father’s contact shield her from any repercussions?
“Ditch the gun.” He threw one hand up.
Good to know where that line was. So the commissioner wouldn’t be able to help her if that happened. “And if it’s the bad guys?”
“Use the gun and get the hell outta there.”
“Got it. Ditch the gun and grab a tamale if it’s the cops. Shoot and run if it isn’t.”
“God, you’re a wiseass like Karma. I should’ve known. But quit mangling the Godfather. I like that movie.” He released his first smile since picking her up hours ago.
Jo laughed at having cracked her dad.
“By the way, since we’re talking about dangerous situations. You remember the Skinned case?”
“Won’t be forgetting that case in my lifetime.” She still woke in a panic, reaching for Rhys in the dead of night. Until she ran her hands over his body looking for wounds and listened to his heart, she couldn’t go back to sleep.
“Remember Trunk Guy?”
“Yeah,” Jo remembered nicknaming the guy when he dove into a trunk to escape her. “He did a lot of threatening, but I guess he wasn’t as connected as we thought.”
“That’s technically not true. Juliette and I took care of the men his uncle sent. And after explaining everything to our handler, we were given permission to take care of the uncle.”
“By take care of, you actually mean kill him?” Jo’s stomach bottomed out. Her little sister and father had killed people for her. He had done it once before when she had been kidnapped and left in a refrigerator to die. But that had been personal and done the second Maddy contacted Joseph. This had been strategic and planned through his actual work. Which meant he had gone to his handler and presented a logical case to put a target on someone’s back. “Wait. Trunk Guy sent men to kill us? Who us? Me and Sullivan? Or our families?”
“Yes, we killed the man heading up the organization. And the contract was for you, Sullivan, and both of your families. Including Elle, Rhys, and Rian.”
“Jesus.” Bile rose to the back of her throat. She hadn’t known they were still in danger. Trunk Guy had been arrested, and Jo had thought that was the end of it when nothing else had happened after a month. “But the uncle ran everything from Russia.”
“I know. It took us months to get him and his most trusted associates so you and Rhys would be safe.”
Jo’s shoulders slumped. This man continued to watch out for her. How she ever thought he’d left her when she was born was a mystery. “Thanks, Dad. Can you tell me about it?”
“Sure.”
The rest of the flight was spent with her asking questions and him answering. It was a level of trust she never thought to have with her biological father. And a gift she’d treasure, she needed to be sure never to break his trust as she might not get it back.
~ ~ ~
Jo listened with half an ear to Rian on the other end of her cell as he rambled on about how Evan was doing and what Maddy, Carl, and Lisa had done that day. And had she heard that Joseph had gotten Lucy arrested?
A bright sun hung high in the cloudless blue sky, beating warmth into her skin barely covered in the bright blue and gold bikini she’d worn for Rhys. The turquoise water of the ocean rolled across the white sand in front of her as she lounged in one of the chairs the resort had nestled together.
Not many had come down yet, so they had the beach to themselves for the moment. She was glad. Otherwise she’d be beating women off Rhys. He drew them like bees to honey whenever they went anywhere. Not that Jo could blame them, her man was gorgeous.
Damn, the ocean was put on this earth just for him to walk out of. Rhys emerged from the water, and Jo stared, riveted, noting every movement as if in slow motion.
His tanned skin glistened with droplets of water, highlighting the cords of muscles that covered his frame. Tiny drops clung like diamonds to the ends of his sun-bleached hair, unwilling to give up the perfection that was Rhys. He ran his hands over his cheeks and eyes and through his wet hair, pushing the shoulder-length mane away from the sharp angles of his face. Jo’s breath caught. Her gaze slid down Rhys’s chest and over his washboard abs to the tight navy swim trunks.
She grinned. I get this view not only for the next eight days but for
