“Only because I’d be afraid you’d drown.”

She turned into him, pressing to her toes, her soft curves molded to his, her lips teasing his ear. “I won’t drown. I promise.”

His chest tightened at a promise that had nothing to do with his promise to throw her overboard. He wrapped an arm around her and buried his face in her neck. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Ignacio’s heavy steps warned of his approach. “And neither will I.” If they survived this, he’d be damn sure to tie her up and keep her safe, and that was a promise she could bank on.

He pulled back and motioned her forward. She glared at him, obviously reading between the lines, but Ignacio, with his men behind him, successfully ended their banter, stopping beside them. Kara stepped onto the boat, where another goon waited for them.

Blake followed Kara on board with Ignacio on his heels and things went downhill from there. “You two go into the cabin below,” Ignacio ordered, stepping to Blake’s side.

“Not a chance,” Blake said, all kinds of alarm bells going off.

Blake could feel movement behind him, more people joining them on the boat. Ignacio crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You won’t be allowed to see your destination, plain and simple.”

Going below deck with Ignacio above was beyond foolish. “We’ll ride on top.”

He flicked a look at Kara. “She’s freezing and topside isn’t an option.”

Blake was all about giving Kara his coat, but it was huge and heavy and he wasn’t so sure he wasn’t going to have her running here in a minute. “I’m claustrophobic,” she offered. “I’d rather be cold and topside.”

“We have a schedule,” Ignacio said, his tone clipped. “Inside the cabin, both of you.”

“Then Kara isn’t going,” Blake said, no compromise in his voice.

Kara opened her mouth to insert what was sure to be an objection, but was silenced by the sound of several guns being cocked from behind them. A gun pressed to the back of Blake’s head. “She stays,” Ignacio said, evil satisfaction in his eyes. “And while I’d hate to have to deliver you to Alvarez bleeding from a leg or shoulder, don’t think I won’t.”

Blake ground his teeth. Beneath the deck, they were blind. They wouldn’t know if they’d traveled a mile up the bay or headed out to sea, and the tracking device in his boot was short range at best.

“I’d like you to make my day special,” Ignacio added. “Stay where you are for another sixty seconds and give me a reason to put a bullet in you.”

Blake accepted the inevitable. He was going into that cabin and, damn it to hell, so was Kara.

Chapter Twenty-Four

CHAPTER

TWENTY-FOUR