Saints and Assassins (The Sentinels) (5 page)

“Two.” She repeated the process and continued breathing in deeply trying to clear her head, but a knock at the door startled her.

“Ms. Nash, are you
all right
?” a voice asked.  She stood up and opened the door to find Mr. St. James standing there. He looked concerned, but she didn’t know why, they didn’t know each other.

“Yes, I’m fine thank you.” Eve
hastily
stepped past him
and headed
back to her seat
.
She plopped down and
glared out the window as she tried to focus on the conscious world and not the terrible world of nightmares.
The event had exhausted her, but she couldn’t go back to sleep.

“Do you need anything?” H
e asked as he returned to his seat.
Eve looked up at him.

“Do you smell anything, like something burning?”

“No, I don’t smell anything. Why?”

“No reason, never mind
.
”
She looked away from him.
Eve didn’t think he woul
d smell anything but she
ask
ed
just in case. 
This hadn’t happened to her in months. That
smell
haunted her daily until a few months ago.
She had worked
hard
to get it out of her memories, as it was the most difficult part of losing Michael
.
H
e
had bee
n trapped in the car
and no one could help him.

T
he flight attendants had moved through their cabin sev
eral times with food and drinks and boredom overcame her.
Her curiosity got the better of her and she couldn’t remain silent any longer as she turned to Mr. St. James who was reading the airline magazine for what she thought to be the fourth time.

“So what are you doing here?” She knew the acid her tone might rub him the wrong way, but at this
point,
she didn’t care.

Adam turned his head toward her and smiled. Eve felt her stomach churn as she caught sight of his gleaming, perfect teeth. The sight left her breathless.

“I’m here on business.” Adam closed the magazine and tucked it away in the seat pocket. Eve watched as he turned toward her in his seat.

After this type of an answer from him, she knew finding anything out about h
im would be like pulling teeth. She narrowed her gaze at him as she further examined him. His body language told her that he seemed to be open to a conversation, but he acted as if he didn’t know how.

“What are you here for?” Once again, his question sounded obligatory.

“Just to get away from the city. Don’t you find it odd that we are on the same plane, headed to the same place?” Anxious for his answer she stared him down.

“I would say that it is quite a coincidence.” His short answer irritated her again. He seemed to only have
one-line
answers.

She nodded and turned to look out the window. The coldness of his people skills literally gave her a chill. They didn’t speak again for the remainder of the flight.

Their descent began over the Kahului Airport.  As soon as they
landed,
she got her bag and exited the plane, wanting to get to the hotel as
quickly
as possible.

She went to the rental car counter and processed her reservation
for the convertible
that she wanted, which was the other thing that she splurged on for this trip.  The shuttle dropped her off at the yellow convertible.  She had always wanted one and there was no practicality for it in Chicago.  Eve threw the bag in the seat next to her and revved up the engine, she did wait though until she was on the highway before she floored it.  It felt good to shift the gears and speed around the coastline.  It was about a thirty-five minute drive to the hotel and every minute of it was an adrenaline rush
between the speed of the car and the breathtaking view
.
S
he passed through the sugar cane fields, and around the cliffs and hills of the island.

Eve parked at the Hyatt Regency and checked in.
Her reservation
was just as she had requested
.
The Ocean Suite had a king bed and separate seating area. It was almost as big as her apartment.
She went to her room
and changed
into her bikini.

The feeling of being on the island liberated her. She walked out onto the lanai and took in the breathtaking view. In the
distance,
she could see the bright blue sky meet in a deep breath of the salty air and couldn’t have been happier.

She made her way downstairs and a
s she walked on to the
beach,
she stopped at the Bambo
o Bar to pick up a Mai Tai
.
With
just
o
ne sip of the Mai Tai down, she dropped her towel and sunglasses
at a lounge chair
and then walked into the ocean.  The water was just the right temperature, not too cool and not too warm.  She was alone though
and knew that she shouldn’t wander
out too far by h
erself.  Eve swam just a few yards
out and then back before she went back to th
e lounger and plopped down to soak
in the warmth of the sun and finish her drink. About an hour had passed when she decided to get back inside to get something to eat, but as she headed back toward her room, she caught a glimpse of Adam St. James walking into the hotel.

“No effing way,” she mumbled to herself.
 

Curious again, she decided that instead of going to her room via the lanai that she would follow him.  She walked up
the steps through the open air restaurant after him watching as he took the first right. She closed in on him noticin
g that he too had changed, he wore
a t-shirt,
shorts and flip flops.

Whoa
mama!
His t-shirt fit snuggly showing off the ripp
ing muscles of his upper body, w
hich a
lso exposed some sort of tattoo. S
he could only see what appeared to be a tail that shown below his sleeve.
What sh
e wouldn’t give to see him shirtless. Throwing that image aside she approached him.

“Mr. St. James?”

He turned toward her quickly as if he were caught with his hand in the
proverbial
cookie jar.

“Yes Ms. Nash,” he replied sharply.

“I though
t that was you. It’s Eve please.
”

“Eve, what can I do for y
ou?” The venom in his tone wasn’t filtered at all now.

“Oh.
Um, n
othing, I was just going to say hi. Are you sta
ying here?
”

“Yes
.” He pointed toward a suite on the ground floor.

“How inter
esting.
”
Son of bitch! She imagined that she would just keep running into him.

“Another coincidence I suppose.” He stated
matter-of-factly
.

She wanted to snap at him, but she couldn’t come up with anything intelligent.
Adam arched one brow and smiled at her. That only infuriated her further. What is it with this guy? Does he live under a rock and not know how to have a conversation with someone? And why the hell is he here?

Eve couldn’t believe him. No, she
didn’t
believe him. This was all too weird. The odds of
this were astronomical. They had to be anyway.

Still sensing his evasiveness she
walked passed him. She
felt completely annoyed
with his close proximity and his
offensive
coldness.
Eve rode the elevator up to her room, grumbling to herself the entire way. Luckily, there was no one else
with her or they would have thought she were crazy.

It pissed her off enough that she purposely slammed the door to her room behind her.
He seemed so rude and she didn’t understand why.  Maybe she
came
across too friendly, she thought. It wasn’t like she had planned to come here following him. Eve was stuck with
the knowledge that he was there
so she decided that she would just make the best of it and keep herself busy so that she
could try and steer clear of
Mr. St. James.

With her anger still at its peak and w
antin
g to avoid him at all costs, she
ordered room service.
He had been very short with her and
clearly,
she seemed to bother him so she did not want to put either of them in a position where they felt that we must make co
nversation for politeness sake.

However, she kept finding herself thinking of
his face throughout the evening and her contempt towards him only grew when she caught herself wondering what he might look like shirtless
, again
.

The next mo
rning she woke up
early to the sun just peaking over the horizon. This
might
be the perfect time to
go for a
swim in the pool before
breakfast.
Thankfully t
he pool was empty when she arrived so
she dove in and swam
for several laps. As she ended her swim and rose up out of the water there was Adam, leaning over the edge, their faces were only inches apart when she opened her eyes.

Adam
watched her
and couldn’t believe how graceful she looked as she moved beneath the wat
er. H
is heart pound
ed
erratically to see the water slide acro
ss her smooth skin as she swam.
As if she would every consider being with the
real
him
. Even though Adam was always around clients, he never talked to them very much, except to find out pertinent information regarding their safety.

He knew Eve would never want to be with him and he didn’t know why he kept torturing himself. Maybe Charlie was right after all. Adam shook his head in frustration as he fought this same battle every day as his surveillance of Eve kept him wanting to be near her.

Adam’s mental war paused
,
and h
is provocative thoughts
of her
were only augmented as he watched Eve
bob in
the water
in her purple bikini
.

“Hello Eve,” he said smiling.

“Good morning
.
” Her voice
wa
s melodic to him. Adam felt his jaw clench. Oh, what he wouldn’t give to just dive into the water with her.

Holding onto the side of the pool, Eve look
ed
around qu
ickly as if she were searching for the ladder.

“Give me your han
d, I’ll help you out,” he state
d
.
Extending
hi
s
long arm toward her, s
he took
hold and let him pull her out of the water. Standing fa
ce to
face,
wi
th their hands still linked
he felt
as if an electric current passed
between them. Slowly
,
she
withdrew
he
r hand
from his and started
to dry herself.
He swallow
ed
hard as
he watched
her press the towel
against her body. How he wished
his hands could rub over her skin in place of the towel.

“I believe you dropped this.
”
He held
out her
pla
stic room key.

“I did?” She looked
where her
towel had lain and
back at him.
“How careless of me thank you.”  Eve
took it back from him and wrapped
the towel around her waist.

“You’re very welcome.
” Adam paused and knew his next statement might be his undoing. He knew he had
been a first-class dick to her and he wanted to make it up to her even though she might never know why.

“
Look, I don’t think I made the right impression on you and wanted to make it up to you.
So w
ould care to
join me for
breakfast?
”
He could
only hope that she would join h
im, but he kn
ew
realisti
cally that she probably wouldn
’t. This trip of hers is
going to make his job more challenging on so many levels.