Since he hadn’t been devoured by a great white, maybe Kincaid planned Jake’s demise by exhaustion. The man hadn’t said a word since they’d walked into the water. Unfortunately, it had given Jake plenty of time to think. Could be that had been the plan all along.
What if Maria was pregnant? What if she wasn’t? Did it make a difference? Either way, he loved her and, bottom line, nothing else mattered.
“Do you love her?”
Startled from his thoughts by the sudden break in silence, Jake stopped and braced his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Was the boss a mind reader now? That was one hell of a scary thought.
“Your answer better be yes, or I really will kill you. And why are you breathing so hard? Christ, you’re a wuss,” Kincaid said. He turned, jogging back toward the campground.
“Asshole,” Jake called after him, straightening up and forcing his legs to start moving.
“Pussy.”
Jake gathered the last of his energy and put on a burst of speed, tackling Kincaid around his knees. “Those’re fighting words,” he rasped as they wrestled in the sand. He held his own until the boss called it a draw and Jake grinned. Damn, he’d needed a good fight to knock some sense back into his head.
“You’re grinning like an idiot, Tiger Toes. It better be because you love my sister and you finally realize how stupid you’re acting.” Playing dirty, he twisted up and dug a knee into Jake’s stomach.
“Uncle,” Jake gasped.
“I’ll interpret that as a yes to both, so you get to live another day.” Kincaid stood and offered a hand.
Jake gave the hand a wary eye before accepting help up. “I just knew you were going to do that,” he muttered when he was flipped through the air, landing belly down. Levering himself up, he brushed sand off his face.
“That detective called me last night. Fortunada wants to see her.”
What? “No. No way. He’s put her through enough already.” Kincaid obviously wasn’t any happier about this than he was, so why did it sound like he was considering it?
“It’s not our decision to make. She doesn’t know yet, and I don’t know how she’ll react when she does. Hopefully, she’ll tell him to go to hell.”
Jake wasn’t so sure. He’d seen the longing in her eyes when she’d talked about finding her father. If nothing else, she’d want to eliminate the bastard as a possibility.
“When you going to tell her?” He really should have killed the son of a bitch.
“As soon as you pack things up here and follow me home.”
He kicked a broken shell, sending it tumbling ahead of them. “That was my plan before you let that little bomb drop. I need to see her. Try to explain.” If that was possible. Preferably, he’d never have to talk about what happened in Egypt, but he had to tell her or she’d never understand why he’d been such as ass.
Kincaid lifted his head and watched a line of pelicans fly over. “It’s not easy to live with losing a man on your watch, but it’s too damn easy to blame yourself. The guilt’s a bitch.”
“I’ll be okay.” If he kept saying it, he might believe it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Maria hosed the suds off Sally, glancing up when Logan’s car turned into the driveway. She lifted her hand to wave, then dropped it when Jake pulled in behind him. Her first thought was to run inside and hide, but she’d never been a coward and wouldn’t start now. Besides, her Mustang still had soap on it and at the moment, she was fonder of it than Jake.
Why would her brother bring him here, anyway? If they had a meeting, Logan should’ve gone to K2. She went to the other side of her car, away from the sidewalk, and kept her gaze on Sally—or would have if her eyes had been kind enough to obey. Against her will, they insisted on peeking at Jake.
The way her heart pounded against her chest physically hurt. “Stupid heart,” she muttered. He’d go inside and be out of sight in a minute, and then maybe she could breathe again. Don’t let him see you’re even aware he’s here. Right, there was still some soap on the wheel and she’d look at that. She stared so hard at the chrome her eyes almost crossed.
“Chiquita?”
His voice sounded right behind her and she spun, hose in hand.
“Well, I was in need of a bath,” he said as water sprayed over him.
“Ha ha.”
He deserved that and more so she kept the hose aimed at him. Water dripped down his beautiful face and if his eyes appeared sad, she didn’t care. Really, she didn’t. He just stood there in his wet T-shirt, board shorts, and flip-flops as if waiting for her to say something. Turning away, she twisted the nozzle to “Off” and grabbed a soft rag to dry Sally.