Maritime Caper (Coastal Fury Book 12), Matt Lincoln [good books to read for beginners TXT] 📗

“Right, sorry,” I said sheepishly, pocketing my phone without responding to Holm’s last message. The Hollands would have to wait.

And given my promise to Holm, so would the Dragon’s Rogue. This time, I leaned back and closed my eyes for real, soon drifting into that pleasant haze between awake and asleep, enjoying a brief reprieve from all the chaos going on around me.

8

Ethan

I indeed landed about ninety minutes before Tessa, and I scoped out the restaurants near her gate after checking to make sure that her own flight was still on track to land at the listed time. It was.

I had ended up spending my flight, short as it was, resting. I could hardly believe it myself. But it had been well needed, and I had to admit that I hadn’t been sleeping well lately, worried as I was about everything that had been going on with work and otherwise.

I checked my phone again as I walked past a Mexican restaurant near Tessa’s gate and went to check out an Italian one. No new messages from Holm.

“Anything new?” I sent him.

“No,” he shot back quickly. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

I sighed and turned my phone off silent, so I would hear it if Tessa, Holm, or Diane tried to contact me, and focused on examining the Italian restaurant’s menu. I decided it would do, and it was the closest to Tessa’s gate.

After that, I pulled out my tablet and sent a quick email to Nina Gosse, the FBI agent that Holm and I had teamed up with down in New Orleans, to ask her if she knew anything about the Holland case and inform her that I was going to be in Virginia for the next several days. I doubted we would be able to meet up, but it couldn’t hurt to check, especially with our respective agencies working so closely together on this case. That said, I doubted that she knew anything about the Hollands. The FBI was huge, and she was probably on some other assignment or would be soon.

I then sat and waited for Tessa, not pulling out my tablet again but rather reading a mystery I’d bought at the gift shop nearby. I decided I liked this whole relaxing thing, but it wasn’t something I was going to make a habit of any time soon.

When Tessa came off her flight, I was standing there waiting for her, and I called and waved her over as soon as I saw her.

“Tessa!” I called, waving my hands up a little too eagerly. “I’m over here.”

When she saw me, her face broke out into a wide smile, and I felt my own features do the same despite myself.

She was dressed comfortably for her flight, in jeans and a t-shirt, and her hair and clothes were a bit disheveled from a long day’s travel. Her wavy brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her green eyes sparkled as she ran to greet me.

“Ethan!” she cried, reaching up and kissing me on the cheek. “It’s so good to see you again! I was beginning to think that that flight would never end.”

“Were you direct from LAX?” I asked as I took her bag from her and gestured for her to follow me toward the Italian restaurant I had selected for our dinner.

“Oh no, I had another layover at O’Hare in Chicago,” she groaned, rolling her eyes at the memory.

“Another bad airport,” I chuckled. “Though it’s a kind of landmark in and of itself, from what I remember.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t so bad,” Tessa sighed. “And I like Chicagoans more than I like those LA types. It was just a long day. Anyway, I don’t want to think about it anymore. What are our plans for this evening?”

“Well, I thought we could have dinner here, then rent a car and head to Newport News,” I suggested. “We can find a place to stay once we get there. Maybe scope out the area a bit.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Tessa said, smiling up at me as we rounded a corner and arrived at the little Italian restaurant in question.

There were only about eight booths and a couple of tables in the place, and about half of them were occupied. The lighting was low, and the walls and ceiling were painted black. Candles on the tables added to the already romantic and calming atmosphere.

We slid into one of the booths, and a waiter quickly brought us water and a basket of bread with olive oil, parmesan, and pepper to snack on while we decided what to order.

“It all looks so good,” Tessa said, looking over the menu. “At least for airport fare. And honestly, everything sounds good after the day I’ve had.”

“I’d bet,” I chuckled, thinking of how far she’d traveled in just a day or two. “And I’m glad you approve.”

I ended up ordering a seafood pasta dish and Tessa something with squash. The waiter hurried away to deliver our orders to the kitchen staff.

“So,” I said once he was gone, focusing all of my attention on Tessa and giving her my warmest smile. “Why don’t you tell me all about your trips to Nova Scotia and the Yukon?”

I got lost in her green eyes as she detailed everything that she’d been doing for work since we last talked when I was in New York. She’d gone on two big assignments for the National Geographic since then, both to Canada, detailing a strange geological phenomenon in Nova Scotia, and then chasing after that species long thought extinct in the Yukon.

The topics were interesting, to be sure, but there was more than that that made me want to listen to her for hours. It was Tessa herself, and her mesmerizing voice and infectious excitement and curiosity about her work.

My meal was pretty good, as far as airport food was concerned, at least. The seafood wasn’t exactly fresh, but it was decent enough, and it paired