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Liam knew them all, flirted shamelessly with them all. He’d spent so much time in the office with those women that Steve had threatened to fire him several times.
Not that Liam dated any of them—he knew better than to date anyone who might have his life in her hands—but at any given moment he’d be leaning on their desks chatting, and keeping them from their work.
Liam smiled. Steve’s main office was one of his favorite places in the world to be.
But not today. Not right now. He could not go in there and flirt with those beautiful women with Vanessa’s voice still filling his head.
Steve’s door opened.
“Hey, Liam. Come on in.” Steve said, still reading from a file in his hand as he returned to his desk. “I didn’t even think you knew this door existed. Hell, I wasn’t really sure you knew any offices existed outside those belonging to my assistants.”
Derek Waterman and Joe Matarazzo—both Liam’s colleagues and good friends—were sitting in chairs across from Steve’s desk. They held similar files.
“Hey, Goetz,” Derek murmured. Joe muttered something unintelligible without looking up from the file in his hand.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, Steve,” Liam said.
“It’s no problem. What’s on your mind?”
“I’m going to need a few personal days.”
Now the guys looked up from their files. Liam was pretty sure he’d never taken personal days except to go on actual vacations planned well ahead of time.
“Everything okay?” Steve’s concern was also evident.
“Yeah.” Liam shrugged. “Everything’s fine. I just have a friend who called needing some help back in the Outer Banks. My friend said this might be a little sticky with the locals so wanted some outside help.”
“You grew up there, right? You haven’t been home in a long time.”
“Yeah, not since my grandmother died. Not much there for me.”
Steve nodded. “Is your friend’s trouble serious? Do we need to send in a team?”
“Nah. I’m sure I can handle it.”
“What sort of trouble?”
Liam sighed. “To be honest, I’m not exactly sure. My friend called my old DEA contact number. They forwarded it to me.”
“Has anybody else noticed Goetz’s complete lack of pronoun usage?” Joe said, leaning back in his chair.
Damn it. This was about to become a thing.
“As a matter of fact, I did,” Derek responded, grinning. “So are we to assume this friend is of the female variety?”
Liam realized he should’ve just mentioned that from the beginning. “Yes, she is.”
“Um, Joe, do you ever recall Liam being shy about mentioning a female friend to us before?” Derek quipped.
Liam knew his reputation. He’d worked pretty hard at making sure everyone knew he was a ladies’ man. Girl in every port. Shameless flirt.
At times he almost believed his own press. Because it was a hell of a lot easier to believe that he was some sort of modern-day Casanova than that he still pined over a woman who’d left him cold eight years ago.
“A female from his hometown, no less,” Joe responded. “I’ve never heard him mention any such creature before.”
“Very curious, indeed.” Derek waggled his eyebrows.
“All right, enough, you two,” Steve cut in. He turned to Liam. “Like I said, is there anything we need to know about your friend or her situation?”
“Not as far as I know,” Liam said. “She didn’t provide much detail. If it looks like something I can’t handle, I’ll let you know.”
“You’re not going to call her first? Get more details?”
“No, I’m just going to go.”
Thankfully none of the three men in the room pointed out what Liam already knew: dropping everything and traveling from Omega headquarters in Colorado Springs to the Outer Banks of North Carolina because of a vague phone call from someone he hadn’t talked to in nearly a decade was overkill.
But from the first moment he had heard Vanessa’s voice, figured out she was asking for help, Liam knew he would be doing just that.
“Okay, I think one of the Omega jets is heading out to DC in the next few hours if you want to catch a ride there,” Steve responded. “Be safe and keep me posted as to when you’ll be back.”
Joe and Derek didn’t say anything, although they were both staring at Liam with mouths slightly agape. Liam ignored them.
“Okay. Thanks, Steve.”
Liam just left. He didn’t want to explain himself to his friends, especially when he could hardly understand what he was doing himself. All he knew was that he had to see Vanessa.
He wasn’t really surprised that she was still living in the Outer Banks. The two-hundred-mile stretch of land, a string of barrier islands running along the northeast coast of North Carolina, held a great deal of prime property and the Eppersons owned a good chunk of it.
And Vanessa was princess of it all. She had been her whole life.
Liam had found out the hard way that her love for her pampered way of life outweighed any promises she might make to any poor sap fool enough to fall in love with her. Fool enough to believe her when she said she loved him, too.
Did she think of him when she felt the sand of the Roanoke Sound on her feet? On her back? Think of all the many hours they’d spent there together?
Did she ever think about him asking her to run away and marry him right there in that sand? About saying yes?
About not showing up where they were supposed to meet? About refusing to talk to him at all when he’d come by to see why she had changed her mind?
Probably not.
The address she had given him in the message was not her family mansion in Duck, which was slightly north of Nags Head and the preferred location for million-dollar mansions. It was some hotel he didn’t recognize at Mile Marker 13, pretty much in the middle of nowhere.
Liam drove to his apartment and packed his things. He’d try to catch a ride with the team going to DC as Steve suggested. If not, he’d drive to Fort Carson, the army base in Colorado Springs. Omega worked pretty closely with the military when needed, and Liam had lots of contacts there from his days in Special Forces.
The commanding officers might lock their daughters away when Liam was in sight, but they would gladly welcome him on board an aircraft to give him a lift wherever he was going.
The thought brought a quick smile to Liam’s face. His playboy reputation was well deserved. He’d certainly earned it since he’d been in Colorado.
Except for the past couple of years when he seemed to have lost his taste for fun, fast hookups. Yeah, he still flirted with all the gals—young or old—and kissed just about every woman he came across. But he wasn’t particularly interested in more than that.
The thought of pseudo intimacy with another woman whose face he’d fondly remember but name he’d probably forget? Not as interesting anymore.
Maybe it had something to do with watching two of his best friends—and fellow Omega agents—fall in love with strong, beautiful women over the past few months. Jon Hatton and Derek Waterman’s love for the women in their lives was downright palpable. Liam wanted something authentic like that for himself.
Then it struck him. That was why he was going to Nags Head. Because until he could put what had happened there behind him, he was never going to be able to have something real with any woman.
It was time. He was going to lay the ghost of Vanessa Epperson to rest once and for all. Her call was finally the excuse he needed.
* * *
LIAM WASN’T GOING to call.
Vanessa had accepted that reality when she woke up this morning, sleeping in a pretty dingy hotel, a traumatized teenager curled into the tightest of balls in the bed next to her. He’d had all evening, all night and some of this morning to respond, but hadn’t.
Maybe he hadn’t gotten the message. Maybe he was off on some important mission with the DEA or something.
Maybe he still hated her.
The reasons why he wasn’t contacting her didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that Vanessa was on her own in helping Karine.
That was okay. Vanessa had learned in the hardest way possible that she was capable of handling on her own almost anything that came her way. This situation was no different.
But Liam’s lack of contact still stung a little bit.
She dragged herself out of bed, careful not to wake Karine. She knew from the girl’s whimpers and cries throughout the night that she couldn’t have gotten very good rest.
Karine needed help. Probably medical and definitely psychological—both more than Vanessa could provide. If the hospital and police weren’t safe around here, then Vanessa was going to have to talk her into leaving the Outer Banks, at least for the day.
Vanessa poured water into the cheap four-cup coffeemaker on the bathroom vanity. Once she had coffee, no matter how bad it was, she’d be able to figure out a plan.
While she waited she turned on the local morning news. Although she doubted it, she was curious to see if there was any mention of Karine.
At first nothing, just weather and tides—an important part of life on a string of islands. But then the breaking news...
The sheriff’s office had set up roadblocks at the bridges on both sides of Nags Head. They were looking for a federal fugitive—considered armed and very dangerous—and were stopping all cars leaving the island to search them.
Since there was only one road leading off Nags Head at the north and south bridges, she knew the police could, in essence, search every car attempting to leave the island.
The rest of the news report was about the traffic havoc the car-by-car search was creating. No one from the sheriff’s office seemed willing to comment.
Vanessa turned the television to mute and just stared at the screen.
Dangerous federal fugitive, her ass. Vanessa was one hundred percent certain the “dangerous federal fugitive” was curled up on the bed whimpering in her sleep every few minutes. But it meant that it would be impossible to get Karine off the island, at least today.
Not to mention that it confirmed that someone, at least one person pretty high up in the sheriff’s department, was definitely a part of what had happened to Karine and the other girls.
The thought made Vanessa downright sick.
She grabbed her coffee, looking around. They weren’t going to be able to stay here all day. They would need food—God only knew when Karine had last had a decent meal—and some other supplies. She’d given the girl a pair of shorts and a T-shirt she’d grabbed from her house, but they were too big.
She couldn’t leave Karine alone while she went to get food, so she’d have to wait until she woke.
Vanessa needed to come up with a plan pretty darn quickly. But right now her options were limited.
A soft tap at the door startled her. She rushed to it but didn’t say anything. She put her ear against the door. Maybe whoever it was—housekeeping?—would go away. She’d put the do-not-disturb placard on the doorknob.
“Vanessa, it’s Liam. Open the door.”
Chapter Three (#ulink_6c8cf8d3-5b88-50a8-9371-6c4a2a931e5e)
Liam tapped on the door softly again. He was almost positive he had the wrong place. This was the address of the hotel Vanessa had mentioned on the voice mail, but this could not possibly be right.
Was it some sort of trap? Liam pulled his weapon from the belt holster attached to his jeans, but kept it low to his side. Had one of his enemies—and he had made plenty of them over the years—found out about his past with Vanessa and planned to use her against him in some way?
Because if that was someone’s intent, it had succeeded brilliantly. Here Liam was, completely out in the open, at every possible tactical disadvantage, all because Vanessa had called.
But his history with Vanessa was long ago and buried pretty deeply. He hadn’t even told his best friends about what had gone down between them. So he didn’t really think there was any devious master plan, such as someone forcing her to make a phone call against her will.
But he still didn’t put his weapon away. There was no way in hell Vanessa Epperson would be staying at a hotel like this if she had any other choice.
You really couldn’t call it a hotel. It was more of a run-down motel, with all room doors leading directly outside to a parking lot that desperately needed repaving. There was no room service, spa or concierge.
Ergo—and obviously he’d been hanging around too many overthinking profilers at Omega if he was using words like ergo—no Vanessa.
He must be at the wrong place. He eased his weapon back into the holster and was turning to leave, not wanting to disturb whatever non-Vanessa person was sleeping in the room, when the door cracked open just the slightest bit.
“Liam?”
It was her. He couldn’t see her through the crack, but he would know her voice anywhere, even if he hadn’t heard it in her message recently.
“Yes. Are you okay? Let me in?” He took his weapon out again.
For a minute he didn’t think she was going to do it, but then she stepped back and opened the door far enough for him to enter.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered. The room was dark because of the pulled shades and he could hardly see her.
Liam looked around but didn’t see anyone else that could be threatening Vanessa in the darkened room. He reholstered his weapon. “What do you mean, what am I doing here? You called me, needing help. That’s what I’m doing here.”
“Oh,” she whispered again. “I thought you’d just call me back and leave me the contact info of someone in the DEA or something similar. Were you in the area?”
“Something like that.” Absolutely nothing like that. “Why are we whispering?”
Vanessa turned and pointed over her shoulder. “Her.”
There was a very small person balled up on the bed.
Okay. This was definitely not what he’d expected. The dumpy hotel. The hiding. The kid sleeping in the bed. “Vanessa, what the hell is going on?”
