Fearless

Davis lifted his head and, after a quick look over the side, stared down into Lara’s cloudy eyes. “Company.”

The boat shifted in the water and the footsteps fell louder. The chuckle came next. “Probably not the best timing on my part, but hello.”

Davis looked away from the woman who meant everything and over to the brother he’d called for help. Pax stood on the ladder with a bag of what looked like food in one hand and a folder in the other.

After a quick mental assessment Davis decided all of that, whatever it was, could wait. “Get lost.”

“Pax!” Lara jumped off the seat and straight into Pax’s arms. He dropped his packages just in time and her smile beamed. “It’s good to see you.”

Lara had the power to lighten even Pax’s darkest moods. They had a sister-brother relationship. They joked and she made fun of the way he hid his dates from her. And put either of them near a tub of raw cookie dough and it would be gone before you could get a spoon and jump in.

The stab of guilt over losing her extended to Pax. Davis had lost the love of his life. Pax had lost someone he cared about, and that list was not very long.

“You, too, though the circumstances need some work.” Pax looked at Davis over the top of Lara’s head and mouthed the word sorry. “You guys okay post guns and knives?”

“I was better five minutes ago,” Davis mumbled.

Pax kept an arm around Lara. “And look at you beating up the bad guys. I hear the lamp is your weapon of choice.”

“Kind of hard to hide in my pants, but yes.”

Accepting the fact the kiss was over and not going to be revived anytime soon, Davis motioned for Pax to sit. “What did you find out?”

Pax guided Lara back to the bench next to Davis before grabbing his dropped belongings and dropping in the seat across from them. “NCIS is on the scene at Wasserman’s house. Agents are looking for Lara.”

The blip of happiness disappeared. She looked back and forth between the men. “What?”

“And the dead guy on your floor is, or I guess I should say was, a gun for hire. Former military with a dishonorable discharge. Apparently, your boy liked to shoot a bit too much.” Pax handed the file to Davis. “So, it looks like we have some work to do.”

Lara slumped back in the seat. “I almost hate to ask what all of this means.”

The notes were few, but Davis read enough to be concerned. He flipped the pages but put the file down when he realized Lara’s total attention was focused on him.

Prettying it up wouldn’t help, so he shot right to the truth. “Pax is saying you’re likely to be the number one suspect in the murder of Wasserman.”

She shifted until her feet hit the floor, then she pulled them up, then they went back down again. Something seemed to be pinging around inside her and making her squirm. “But why would I kill him? I don’t have a motive.”

Davis switched to his game face—all is well and easy to handle—to try to calm her down. Her switch to panic mode would only make the job tougher. “We need to figure out who did and why.”

“And then get to the bottom of Davis’s attacker,” Pax said.

Lara reached for the file but dropped her hand. “The attacker could have followed me. He came in Davis’s house right after.”

Davis had already thought about that possibility and discarded it. “Did you see him following you?”

“No…” She bit her lower lip. “I don’t know.”

Pax looked out over the boat slips and exhaled loud enough to start a tidal wave. “What a mess, but at least some things never change.”

“Like?”

“Ken.” Pax pointed at the man still struggling with his pile of equipment, this time a net he’d accidentally stepped into and got caught around his feet. “Thinks he’s a boater.”

More like a menace, as far as Davis could tell. “I’m afraid he’ll hurt himself or, more likely, someone else.”

“The chances are limited. He never leaves the dock. He gathers stuff, sits on the boat and then goes home. It’s an expensive hobby.” When Ken glanced up, putting his hand over his eyes to block the sun, Pax waved. “Weird but harmless. But back to the attacker issue.”

Her body fell. “So, what are you guys saying?”

“Looks like we’re going to be spending a lot of time together.” And that idea didn’t bother Davis at all.

She gnawed on her lip again. “Oh.”

He winked at her. “Welcome back.”

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