he didn’t have time to swap bloody noses right now. Even if going a few rounds of hand-to-hand with his friend might drastically improve his mood.
“Thought I’d come help you out for a few days.”
“You just didn’t want to be locked in the office alone with Kennedy.”
Asher pretended to shiver. “True. That woman could teach the Navy a thing or two about control and intimidation.”
Knox laughed. He never had any trouble with their office manager. But then, Kennedy actually liked him. He had no idea what Asher had done to her, but his friend had obviously ticked her off. Staff meetings were often an exercise in veiled barbs, which could be highly entertaining since they weren’t aimed at him.
“Gentlemen, if you’re done swapping barbs and figuratively smacking each other on the ass, perhaps we can get to work?”
The irritated voice scraped down Knox’s spine. He tossed a glance over his shoulder, even though he knew exactly who was going to be standing there.
She was just as gorgeously untouchable as Knox remembered. Every bright red hair on her head perfectly in place. Hell, the woman had even put on lip gloss. He didn’t want to notice how shiny, wet and utterly kissable it made her mouth, but he was human after all.
Knox took a deep breath, preparing for the battle he fully expected. He’d faced terrorists, bombs, men with machetes and machine guns. He’d been shot, stabbed and had various body parts nearly blown off in explosions.
It had been a long time since anything or anyone had unsettled him.
Avery Walsh scared the shit out of him.
“Welcome aboard, Firecracker,” Asher said.
Firecracker. It was the perfect nickname for the woman standing in front of them, and not simply because her hair was a deep, dark red, the sun popping bursts of copper off the mass pulled into a tight knot at the top of her head.
Knox didn’t want to admit, even to himself, just how much he wanted to reach up and pull every last pin out of the mass just to watch it tumble around her ivory face.
Avery Walsh struck him as the kind of woman who was wound so damn tight that at the first sign of friction she could simply spark up and ignite—and not necessarily in the good way.
He much preferred women who knew how to roll with the punches and wouldn’t hesitate to explore a good time. The kind who were up for any adventure as long as it had fun written all over it. Something told him Avery wouldn’t know fun if it bit her on the ass, and was more likely to maintain the ice-queen persona than explode with lust.
Which was a crying shame.
Asher let his gaze travel up and down Avery’s body in an open invitation that the man didn’t even realize he was making half the time. It usually had women melting into puddles at his feet.
Reinforcing Knox’s impression, Avery simply stared at Asher, her mouth thinning into a tight line before she completely dismissed him. “Mr. McLemore, I understand you’re in charge of the Amphitrite.”
Knox leaned back against the railing crossing his ankles. “I sure am, doc,” he drawled.
“Avery.” Her icy eyes snapped with annoyance. They were gorgeous and clear, unbelievably pale, which only added to the impression that she could cut you with nothing but a laser glance.
These next couple of weeks were going to be brilliant.
“Remind me to murder Jackson the next time I see him,” Knox muttered at Asher out of the side of his mouth.
“Loralei might have an objection.”
A few months ago, Jackson and Loralei had been at odds, racing to see who could find the Chimera first. It turned out they’d both won. Not just finding the ship, but each other as well.
Shaking his head, Knox pushed away from the railing, sauntering closer to the good doctor.
The self-indulgent part of him wanted to set her off-kilter. To ruffle her feathers just to prove he could. But even as he crowded close, towering above her despite the heels, Avery simply stood her ground.
Knox was the guy the SEALs had called on to crack the most difficult men, to interrogate and terrify. On the surface he might seem laid-back and unconcerned, but he’d broken some of the most stubborn and highly trained enemy operatives in the business without resorting to tactics that skirted legalities.
Dr. Walsh didn’t even flinch as he came within an inch of brushing against her body. She kept her eyes trained completely on his, her face perfectly blank as she stared up at him.
“Let me know when we’re finished with the pissing contest,” she said, her voice smoky and even.
All right. Apparently they weren’t going to dance around this thing. “I don’t want you here, Doctor.”
“Avery. And you made your position abundantly clear during my interview, Mr. McLemore. But here I am.”
A smile bloomed across her face. What did she have to smile about? They were locked in a battle of wills, one he was beginning to worry he might actually lose.
But even as that thought flashed across his brain, her damn smile distracted him. It changed everything, taking her from remote and untouchable to downright breathtaking. It didn’t just brighten her face, the twinkle in her eye revealed the first insight he’d gotten into how she ticked.
She was enjoying this, even if she’d never admit it. Getting off on the tension and antagonism between them.
Interesting.
“Just so we’re both clear on where we stand,” he said.
The corners of her lips lifted higher. “I know exactly where I’m standing—on the deck of your ship. So I guess I win.”
Knox couldn’t stop his own lips from twitching. “For now.”
It bothered him, her flat-out determination to be a part of this project, even in the face of his obvious lack of enthusiasm. That only made more warning bells clang deep inside his brain.
Why had she pushed so hard to be involved, to the point of contacting Jackson several times even after meeting with the Trident team? Was it simply ego and a drive for another line on her résumé, or was there something more behind her eagerness?
His instincts told him it was the latter, he just couldn’t prove it. Yet.
Cocking her head, she said, “In a few hours we’ll be in the middle of the Caribbean. I don’t think you can change the status quo by then, especially considering you lost that fight the first time around, but feel free to try.”
* * *
INSIDE, AVERY WAS a quaking mess. She was bluffing, but then most of her life had been a bluff.
The problem was, this time someone was waiting to call her on it.
Anderson McNair had her trapped and there
