Caribbean Rescue (Coastal Fury Book 16), Matt Lincoln [best book recommendations .txt] 📗

for an ice machine down at the end of the hall,” Ethan replied as he stood up. “I’ll go get us some.”

Olivia sat down on the edge of the bed and watched as he grabbed another glass off of the stand where the coffee maker was before heading out the door. They hadn’t even started drinking yet, and she already felt wired, as though every nerve in her body was on fire. Truthfully, it had been a while since she’d experienced any kind of romantic encounter. Sure, she went on dates here and there, but most days, it was the last thing on her mind after spending all day dealing with distraught victims.

It was different with Ethan, though. Even though they were in the middle of an intense case, she still couldn’t keep her mind from wandering back to thoughts of him. Hell, maybe the intensity of the case was actually exacerbating it. She honestly wasn’t used to being caught in the middle of so many exhilarating, life-or-death situations, and there was something kind of exciting about it, especially when there was an extremely attractive man by her side the entire time.

“Sorry that took so long.” Ethan apologized once he returned a few minutes later. “I could have sworn I saw something that looked like an ice machine at the end of the hall, but there was nothing there when I checked. Anyway, I did find some on the next floor down.”

“No problem.” Olivia smiled as she took the ice from him to prepare their drinks. “Now, tell me more about that anchor we found. You seemed really excited about it when you were texting your friend. What’s so special about it?”

Ethan launched into an explanation about why he suspected that the anchor once belonged to the ship he was so determined to find. Olivia couldn’t hold back a smile as she watched how animated he became when he talked about the pirate ship, and she spent the next half hour listening intently as he gave her a full rundown of the ship’s history.

“So, this Grendel guy was bad because he stole the ship?” she asked as she lifted the bottle to pour herself another glass. “But he was also kind of a good guy because he shared his riches with the poor?”

“Something like that,” Ethan replied with a small nod. “Though ‘good’ is kind of a relative term.”

“Well, people aren’t black and white.” Olivia shrugged as she leaned forward to pour Ethan another glass as well. The heavy bottle wobbled in her hand as she poured, and she inadvertently spilled some over the table and onto Ethan as well.

“Damn, sorry,” she hissed as she placed the bottle back onto the table.

“It’s fine,” Ethan assured her as he quickly stood up. As he did, his face came within inches of Olivia’s, who was still leaning toward him.

For a moment, they just looked at each other. Olivia couldn’t tell who moved first, but an instant later, their lips were pressed together, and she was winding her arms around his neck. She stumbled slightly as he gently pushed her backward toward the bed.

They were supposed to be waking up early tomorrow. She knew that, but at that moment, she really didn’t care.

25

Ethan

I drained the last of my coffee and did one final check to make sure I had everything I would need before heading out. Olivia and I had spent the previous evening awake well into the night, so when my alarm had gone off at seven the following day, I’d needed to force myself out of bed and back into my own room to get changed and ready. I’d enjoyed one cup of coffee in Olivia’s room with her and then another in my own room after taking a shower. I was finally starting to feel a little less groggy, which was good because we still needed to figure out exactly what our plan for the day was.

I made my way down to the lobby to wait for Holm and Olivia, but to my surprise, they were both already down there.

“Nice of you to join us,” Holm teased as I walked over to where they were both sitting on one of the couches. “I just got a call from Morris.”

“Did he sound angry?” I asked, recalling how annoyed he’d been the previous day that we’d returned from the bar without arresting anyone.

“Nah.” Holm shook his head. “He sounded as chill as he did before, so I think he’s cooled off. Anyway, he called to tell us that the guy we arrested in Kew yesterday is ready for us to interrogate.”

“Really?” I asked. “The hospital cleared him?”

“I guess so.” Holm shrugged. “Morris said that he was there at the station and that we could stop by as soon as we were ready.”

“That’s perfect,” I replied enthusiastically. “We still have four hours until noon. We can go speak to him and see if we can pull any information from him that might help us today during the raid.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Olivia smiled at me.

I smiled back at her before turning back to Holm.

“Well, what are we waiting for then?” I asked.

The three of us made our way out of the hotel and into the car. As I drove down to the Grace Bay station, I couldn’t help but glance over at Olivia sitting in the passenger seat next to me. We hadn’t had a lot of time to talk that morning since I’d needed to rush off after that first cup of coffee to shower and get dressed. I’d been a little surprised by her sudden offer of drinks the previous night, though pleasantly so. After she’d suggested we head to bed early, I hadn’t expected us to end up spending the night together. Not that I was complaining, of course.

“How do you think we should approach the interrogation?” Holm asked as I parked the car outside of the station. “You have a plan in mind?”

“Well, we should