Page 50 of Honor ’N’ Duty

“That’s not the point,” she snapped, then realized he was only trying to make her feel better. “I’m sorry, I’m just so…so…pissed.” And with no possible way to vent her fury on the man responsible because he was dead. “What will you do with that baggie?”

“Incinerate it.” He put the gear shift in park but didn’t shut off the engine.

After using a test kit he had in the back of the SUV to confirm the drugs were indeed cocaine, Kade had assured Jennifer Sanderson that the baggie had probably been hidden there long ago by one of the previous owners. Josh.

Smoke shoved his head through the opening between them, and Laia absently began stroking his ears, letting the soothing comfort of petting a dog ease some of the tension and anger that had been whipping up inside her head. “I feel like an ignorant idiot. A wife who didn’t know a thing about her own husband until it was too late.”

Kade unbuckled his seat belt and turned to face her. “My brother was one of the smartest people I’ve ever known. If I had a dime for every secret he kept from our parents, I’d be a rich man. Trust me, if Josh didn’t want you to know what he was doing, there was no way you would ever find out. Don’t beat yourself up over it.” His expression darkened. “Everyone has secrets.”

Laia had to look away, so great was the mammoth-size lump in her throat. Everyone did have secrets. The only question was what would happen when hers was revealed.

“C’mon.” He shut off the engine. “We’ve got company, and I want to log in and run the tag on the cable company van.”

Another SUV sat in the driveway, one with a Colorado license plate. She’d been so thoroughly distracted she hadn’t even noticed it until now. “Who’s here?”

“Deck, the DEA agent you met yesterday. He and Thor must have some down time on their schedule.”

“Oh, right.” The tall, handsome agent with the warm brown eyes, and his huge Belgian Malinois.

Laia followed Kade and Smoke to the front door. As soon as he pushed it open, the alarm began beeping. Smoke bounded inside while Kade punched in the code.

“Why would they set the alarm if they’re home?” she asked. A sliver of apprehension crept up her spine as Kade’s brows bunched. Aside from Smoke slurping water in the kitchen, the house was eerily silent. No TV blaring. No music from Rosa’s karaoke microphone. For that matter, no Rosa and no Jamie.

Her worry ratcheted up tenfold. “Kade?” She grabbed his forearm, the muscles of which were as taut as a bowstring.

“Stay behind me,” he whispered and pulled his gun from the holster hidden beneath his shirt.

Oh God, no. How could they have found them again? And how could they have gotten past Jamie and Deck?

Even the slurping sounds from the kitchen had stopped.

With the muzzle of his gun aimed at the floor, Kade moved through the kitchen. Smoke wasn’t there.

Laia put her hand at the small of his back, then his shirt, twisting the fabric in her fingers—the only way she could think to keep from screaming her panic at the top of her lungs because neither Rosa, Jamie, nor Deck were anywhere in sight.

Slowly, step by step, they moved into the living room to find Smoke standing at the door leading to the beach, his thick black tail whipping back and forth.

To her shock, Kade chuckled. Actually chuckled. Then he tugged the holster from his belt and stuffed the gun inside before placing it on top of the high shelf.

“There they are.” He pointed at one of the large picture windows.

Laia rushed to the window, the breath whooshing from her lungs in a giant gust of relief. Jamie and Rosa stood next to a seriously complex-looking sandcastle compound, but their attention was focused on the water.

She squinted, trying to understand what she was seeing. A man was bodysurfing and next to him, doing the same, was Thor.

Kade fist-pumped. “Surf’s up.” Grinning, he tugged a black wallet from his back pocket and tossed it on the TV console. He whipped off his shirt, giving her a look at his gloriously wide, magnificently male, and muscled bare back. “C’mon, Laia. It’ll put you in a better mood. Smoke! Let’s do this!”

Smoke barked and danced in circles as Kade opened the door. The two of them charged down the steps onto the beach with Smoke barking the entire time. They tore at break-neck speed into the surf, then dove in.

Laia kicked off her sandals, then made her way down to the beach where Jamie and Rosa stood cheering on the men and dogs as they swam out to catch a wave. The dogs paddled furiously to hit the crest like trained surfers. In the distance, the bells and whistles from the nearby carnival carried over on the wind.

When she reached Rosa and Jamie, Jamie hitched his head to the water. “Do you mind?”

“Go for it.”

“Yesss.” Jamie, who already had his shirt off, revealing more cut muscles than she could count, raced into the surf and dove in.

For the first time all day, Laia smiled. And what was it with these K-9 guys? She guessed being gorgeous, well-mannered, and hunky must be a prerequisite for the job.