Page 49 of Code Name: Harbor

I take a moment to let that sink in and wonder why it’s giving me all the feels. Anyone who knows me would be stunned to see me falling for a man like Finn Marlowe. I’m the girl who perpetually dreams of the traditional fairy tale of being married to a solid man, living in a white picket fence community and having two-point-three children.

Not once did I envision being giddy over a former felon steeped in danger and suspect finances, who is more than likely guilty of crimes that could land him in prison for a very long time.

But Finn is so much more than that. He’s brave, courageous, dashing and romantic. He’s putting himself at risk to help me, and I can’t even begin to think about the seriously wicked things he did to me in bed that have me wanting to strip naked the minute he walks in the door.

I glance down at the dress I’m wearing.

It’s a floral wrap, incredibly sheer and deeply cut almost to my breast bone. I put it on without a bra and almost didn’t put on the G-string made of pale pink lace. I had images of Finn seeing it and wanting to do nothing more than tear it off me.

My phone buzzes on the kitchen counter, startling me from my wicked thoughts and I feel myself blush, as if someone had been listening in on my private fantasies.

I nab the phone and see that it’s my father calling, and a pang of guilt spears through me. “Hi, Dad,” I say, forcing bright and cheery into my tone.

“Hey, kiddo,” he says, his booming voice a bit subdued.

“How are you?” I gush, leaning against the counter and wrapping one arm over my stomach.

“Better than my daughter, apparently, because my daughter has not called me back in four days.”

I close my eyes, wincing over the hurt in his tone. “I know, and I’m sorry. It’s been so busy at work and I dropped the ball.”

My dad sighs and I hear the guilt in that breath sound. “Oh, I’m not complaining, Josie. I’m just being overbearing, I guess.”

He sounds sad and it tears me up. I’m so happy he moved to be near me after Mom died and we’re as thick as thieves in an ordinary Josie world. I almost get killed and then get swept off my feet by a man, and I’ve left my dad in the dust.

“You’re not overbearing and this is all on me. I just got caught up in… well, again… work is a little overwhelming right now.”

“Anything I can help with?” he asks, and I can feel his excitement over the prospect. I’ve bounced many things off him, and why wouldn’t I? His entire career was in intelligence gathering and he’s one of the smartest men I know.

The urge to tell him everything makes my knees weak. He’d have ideas, probably ones I’d never be able to come up with on my own.

But I don’t.

I can’t worry him about my safety. He’d absolutely become overbearing if he knew what had happened to me. He’d do more than Finn insisting I go away. My dad would hog-tie me, throw me in the back of his car and drive me to the other side of the United States.

I can’t have him worrying and I can’t have him impeding me, so I do something that I did earlier today to my teammates. I lie. “No, nothing you can help me with. A big tech client wants a counterintel assessment and I’ve been head down on it. A lot of boring computer crunching.”

Leave it to my dad to know me better than anyone, as well as the intelligence community. “Head down on a counterintel assessment doesn’t usually require four days of not returning your father’s calls.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t have an overbearing boss like Malik demanding results,” I say, wincing at that lie and sending up a silent apology. Malik is the furthest thing from overbearing.

“All right,” he says reluctantly, but I can tell he’s not buying it.

“How about we aim for breakfast this weekend? Pancakes at Glo’s? I’ll buy.”

My dad chuckles. “You do know the way to your old man’s heart.”

“Because you are my heart,” I murmur.

“Ah, honey. You’re my heart too. Okay, you’ve sweet-talked me off the ledge. Text me the time to meet at Glo’s and I’ll be there.”

I have to hold back my sigh of relief that he’s this easily pacified. He’s normally a tougher sell. “Sounds like a plan. Love you, Dad.”

“Love you too, Josie-bug.”

He hangs up and while I should be steeped in relief to have put him off just a bit, I’m deeply, profoundly aware of the size of what I am not telling him.

That I almost got killed, that now I’m a witness in a federal trafficking case, that said trafficker and his men are looking for me and oh yeah, I might be falling for a criminal.