“Nothing could be further from the truth. You know what I think?” Cam said.

“What?”

“I think we should go back to DC a little bit earlier than we’d planned. Weather reports say another big storm is moving up the coast. We won’t have to worry about flights if we leave tomorrow.”

“You’re sure? I mean, it’s our honeymoon, sort of.”

“We can have a sort of honeymoon in DC. I’m not sleeping at the White House, though.”

“Oh, really? And I so love being there with the press corps, and the valets, and the officers in the halls.”

Cam grasped Blair’s hand and resumed walking. “I’m sorry, baby. There are some things I just can’t give you.”

Laughing, Blair fell into step. “That’s okay, darling. I still adore you.”

Chapter Seventeen

Cord hadn’t been kidding when she’d said there would be currents. Wes was a strong swimmer, but in a wetsuit and gear, pulling an inert body through the water against the swirling tides that wanted to drag her under took all her strength and concentration. The instructor assigned to play POTUS wasn’t as big as Gary, but he was heavy. The third time she pulled him from beneath the surface, hooked an arm around his shoulder and over his chest, and kept him afloat while a Coast Guard helicopter dropped a rescue basket, her arms and legs were trembling and her heart hammered in her ears. Evyn circled in a dinghy nearby, waiting to assist in the transfer to the lift basket. When they got the patient secured, the helicopter lifted off, the churning wash from its rotors blasting her with icy froth. After the first time she’d gotten a faceful and nearly choked up a lung, she’d learned to turn her head away and keep her mouth closed. Wearily, she fought the water’s relentless pull, threatening to carry her out to sea.

“How you doing?” Evyn called.

“Great!” She caught a wave wrong and coughed out a mouthful of brine.

“Head in. Take a break.”

“Roger.” Wes stroked toward shore while Evyn docked the dinghy on Cord’s boat. When she made it in close enough, she stood up and waited for the rest of the team, letting the blue-green ocean swirl around her calves. Despite the painful trembling in her shoulders and thighs, she felt great. She’d managed to keep her patient alive, gotten him transferred to the medevac chopper, and avoided drowning. Not once but three times. She considered that a damn good day.

“Looked pretty good out there.” Evyn jumped out of the boat into the surf beside her. She unzipped the neck of the wetsuit, and Wes caught a glimpse of smooth pale skin framed between her breasts.

“I feel like I’ve just run twenty miles with a full pack.”

“Tough work. You did a lot better than a lot of first-timers.”

“Thanks.” Wes looked around at the small ORS building and the mostly empty beach. Gary stood talking to Cord and Jeff, the other rescue instructor, at the boat dock. “Anywhere nearby we can grab lunch? I’m buying. Gary and the others too.”

“Jeff and Gary played football together in college,” Evyn said, “so Gary will probably hang here with Cord and Jeff.”

“Just you, then.” When Evyn hesitated, Wes wondered if she’d broken yet another rule of training no one had bothered to inform her about.

“I know a little taco place not far from here,” Evyn finally said. “Mexican okay with you?”

“Sounds great.”

“Let’s change, then, and get out of here. We’ll need to be back at fourteen hundred for open-water rescue.”

Wes sighed. “I’m going to need a lot of tacos.”

*

“‘One’ does not qualify as ‘a lot of’ tacos,” Evyn said as Wes pushed her plate aside. They’d both dug in when lunch arrived and hadn’t paused for more than casual remarks while devouring the very good food.

“If I have to be back in the water,” Wes said, sipping iced tea, “I don’t want to cramp.”

“We’ll have at least an hour until we get everything loaded up and out to the rendezvous point.” The rest of the day ought to be a little easier than the morning, and so far Wes was acing the training. Not that Evyn was surprised. Wes was solid—uncomplaining, focused, fit. She’d handled the recovery drills with calm competence, the way she seemed to do everything. “How are you feeling?”

“Not bad for a desk jockey.”

Recalling her not-so-subtle put-down of Wes’s teaching creds, Evyn managed not to blush. She really hadn’t made a very good first impression, not that she usually cared. With Wes, she did—but she couldn’t very well apologize for speaking her mind. “Okay, so maybe I was wrong about you instructor types.”

“The day isn’t over,” Wes said lightly. “Are you and Gary the only water-certified agents on the detail?”

“No. When POTUS is in or on the water, two water-certified agents are with him at all times. The medical staff usually remains on shore, available by radio.”

“I prefer to be on the water—close by him,” Wes said. “Being on shore is too far away.”

Evyn nodded. “I agree. When possible, we’ll set you up in the patrol boat.”

“Good enough. What about general security?”

“We clear the airspace, the surrounding water, and the shore.”

“And transport?”

“Usually Coast Guard, but again, depends on where we are and the location of the closest medical facilities.”

Wes’s phone buzzed and Wes slid it from her pocket to check the readout. She shook her head. “Sorry. My mother.”

Evyn laughed. “Go ahead. I’ll get the bill.”

“I’ll just tell her I’ll catch her later.” Wes tapped the screen to take the call. “Mom, I’m at work. I’ll call you as soon as I can, probably tom—what? No, I’m fine. Denny exaggerates, you know that. Really. Nothing. I’ll call you. I love you. I’ve got to go. ’Bye.”

Color rose in Wes’s face and Evyn hid her smile. The calm, unflappable doctor was embarrassed. “Mothers. They never get that we aren’t always available to talk when we’re working.”

“Oh, she gets it. She just thinks whatever she has on her mind is more important.”

Evyn laughed. “Isn’t it?”

“Of course.” Wes took the bill the waitress had left on the table stood and they walked to the cashier.

“Does she know about your new post?”

“Some—I didn’t really have time to discuss it with her.”

“Everything okay?” Evyn asked as casually as she could. She couldn’t pretend she hadn’t overheard the conversation, and while it was none of her business, she cared if Wes was having a problem. After all, personal issues affected performance, and Wes was not only a key part of the team now, it was her job to see she settled in smoothly. She might tell herself that, if she wanted to blow smoke in her own face. She cared if Wes had a problem because she didn’t like the idea of Wes being unhappy. If Wes was unhappy, it most likely had something to do with the new job, and she was a big part of that new job.

“She’s doing the mother thing.”

“You mean the part where they try to get you to share? And as soon as you do they tell you all the ways you screwed up?”

“My mother usually doesn’t pry,” Wes held the door open while Evyn went through, “but my sister ratted me out. My fault—I forgot what a little tattletale she was when she was younger.”

“You’ve got three, right? You’re in the middle?”

“I’m in the upper middle—one older, two younger. Denise—Denny—she’s the baby.”

Evyn rounded to the driver’s side of the Explorer and waited while Wes climbed in. “You all must be pretty close in age—didn’t you say your father—sorry, never mind.”

“My father died when I was six. There’s about a year and a half to two years between the four of us.”

“So what did your sister know that she immediately told your mother?” The street in front of the cantina was clear and Evyn pulled out.

“Nothing. Not really. I just happened to talk to her in the middle of the night—she’s a nurse in Philadelphia. I maybe mentioned I was having trouble sleeping, but not because of any problem. Just”—Wes shrugged—“a lot of changes. That’s all.”

Evyn glanced at her, then back at the road. Wes looked a little tired, but they’d been hitting the exercises hard for hours. She was obviously in great physical shape—she looked as good in a wetsuit as she did in the jeans and long-sleeved T-shirt she’d walked out wearing that morning. Rangy and lean and strong. Evyn put that image aside. If Wes was having trouble adjusting, she ought to know. She wanted to know. She wondered if she was part of why Wes wasn’t sleeping, and the idea didn’t sit well. “This isn’t what you expected, is it?”

“I had no idea what to expect.”

“Very politic of you.”

Evyn shot her another look and their eyes met. Wes had gorgeous eyes—the kind of crystal green that reminded her of summers in the park, of fresh-cut grass, of carefree pleasures. She had to drag herself away from her eyes and the memory of freer, simpler times. She stared at the road. “I don’t know why it is, but every time we’re together, we end up talking about stuff I never talk about with anyone else.”

“Like what?” Wes said gently.

“Like…personal things. I know more about you and your family right now than I know about Gary, and he and I have been partners on and off for a couple of years.”

“I know what you mean,” Wes said.

“Got an explanation?” Evyn asked half playfully, but her heart stuttered, waiting for the answer. She hadn’t meant to voice that crazy feeling of being totally exposed whenever she was alone with Wes and expected Wes to understand even less. Now she wasn’t sure what she wanted to hear.

“Not yet,” Wes said softly.

A wave of disappointment heavily laced with relief washed over her. Refocusing the conversation on something safe, she said, “So? What’s keeping you up at night?”