Moonlit Mirage: A Cook Islands Romance (ebook)

Chapter One

Cade

A loud crack sent a shot of adrenaline through me as a vehicle swerved into my lane. My hands tightened into a death grip on the steering wheel. There was no movement to my car, no change in how it drove. It must have been a rock from the other car’s tire. Rather than risk an accident, I eased off the accelerator while crossing the bridge. The surge of energy slowly dissipated, and I again fought to stay alert.

“Rise Against” by Savior blared from my speakers, and I tapped my finger against the steering wheel to the beat. With a slow blink, I took my gaze from the road for a split second and lowered the windows to let in more of the cool August air, which I hoped would help me remain awake. It had been hot as hell during the day, but by nearly midnight, the temperature had dropped to a chilly sixty degrees. I was glad for it.

Despite my intentions to leave at a reasonable hour, I’d stayed at my dad’s company to finish some extra work for my grad-school internship, which meant I’d fulfilled my requirement. It was a relief, but all I wanted was to fall into bed and sleep for hours.

After the bridge—and I was almost at the end—I wouldn’t have much farther to drive to get home.

Light glared in my rearview mirror from an oncoming car. Averting my eyes, I concentrated on the road, staying in my lane. They were coming fast. The bridge had two lanes bound to Long Island, and I was going slowly enough that they could go around me.

Chills swept down my spine and along my arms, awakening a sixth sense of some sort, and I glanced again in my rearview mirror. Shit. The car was flying, barreling down on me. I punched the accelerator. It didn’t look like they were going to change lanes. Sweat broke out on my forehead as they rode my bumper. My grip tightened on the wheel. Come on, pass me. I was going seventy miles per hour. If they hit me…

Their turning signal went on, and I almost sagged in relief. They were going around. Goddamn. That scared the hell out of me. I was suddenly wide awake.

I maintained my speed. I heard the roar of their engine as they punched the accelerator. Whoever that is must be drunk. My gaze switched from my mirror to the road in front of me.

The car shifted to the left, leaving my lane. My grip on the wheel didn’t ease. There was nowhere else to go, and it was too late for me to switch lanes with them straddling both. The guardrail was on my right. Come on. With excruciating slowness, they inched partially into the next lane, far too close. I pushed the accelerator down, giving them more room to get over.

The blinding light in my mirror eased, and a minuscule amount of tension left me. I could see them inching to my left from my side mirror. I kept up my speed, so close to the bridge’s exit. Once the other car moved over, I would ease off the pedal, but not yet.

Metal crunched in a cringe-worthy explosion. The world spun as the wheel jerked in my hands. Pain lanced across my chest as the seat belt bit into me and locked tightly. Tires squealed. My head crashed into something. I fought for control. The car spun anyway. My vision tunneled at what was ahead. There was nothing I could do. The car slammed into the guardrail, and the airbag deployed only to deflate with a hiss. Shit, the rails—they couldn’t withstand the impact of a car going this fast. Please hold.

It didn’t.

I was trapped, held in place by the seat belt, staring out the side window. Then the car tipped. My stomach dropped with the car as it fell. I could only watch in horror as the car rushed toward the East River.

The impact of hitting the water was like a second car accident. It sounded almost like an explosion as the car collided with the river. Water instantly poured through the tops of the windows as darkness smothered my vision. I felt warm liquid trickle over my eye as the car slowly sunk. My heart was beating a million times faster than it should have been. With my right hand, I struggled with the seat belt. Do not panic.

It was stuck.

Water flooded into the car from the partially lowered windows. I was screwed. I didn’t think the car that hit me had stopped. No one was coming. So late at night, the traffic wasn’t heavy. I clicked on the overhead lights as a biting cold lapped at my knees.

Someone will stop. I had to believe it. The car kept sinking, and I struggled. With more room, I pushed at the seatbelt button then yanked on the strap as hard as I could. Who made these things? It didn’t budge. I fought with it while gasping for breath. The water was at my chin and climbing. I took a deep breath then ducked underneath the surface, searching for anything to cut the belt away.

I wouldn’t last much longer once the car was fully submerged. I tipped my head back, elongating my spine. My lips cleared the waterline but barely. I took in as much air as I could. My lungs burned as I yanked hard on the belt, but nothing happened.

Movement on my side of the car spiked a thread of hope, and I turned my head in that direction. The light from one of my headlights illuminated someone swimming toward me. I squinted through the inky darkness. It was a woman—no, a girl, maybe. She was small. As she neared, her dark hair billowed around her heart-shaped face. Her forehead creased, and I tugged at the belt so she would understand that I was stuck. My lungs burned. A small burst of air bubbled from my lips. Am I hallucinating?

This is it. I couldn’t hold my breath much longer.

She positioned herself with her hands on the door handle and one foot on the side. Then she kicked the half window of glass. Her heel made contact with a clink of something metal, and glass shattered and floated around us. Not wasting a second, she reached inside and manually slid the lock to open. My mind was chaos. More air slipped past my lips. She gave a hard tug, but the door stayed shut. I tried too. Nothing happened.

She left my sight. I strained to see where she went. Please don’t leave! But I didn’t want her to die down there too. The car stopped sinking when the front end hit the river’s murky bottom.

When she reappeared, the last of the air I’d been able to hold escaped. Half her body fit through the open window. I went to gasp, but she grabbed the back of my neck and then fit her lips over mine, like a seal. I fought to stay calm. She shoved her tongue in my mouth, and tiny zaps of electricity exploded through my body at her touch. There were worse ways to die. I went with it.

My eyelids drifted shut, and I let myself feel her softness. My fingers ached to be buried in her hair, but I didn’t want to scare her or for her to think I’d hold her down there as she ran out of air too.

I parted my lips at her insistence, intent on taking over the kiss when she pushed the air from her lungs into mine. With a tap against my chin, my slow brain processed what she was doing. I couldn’t waste the gift she’d given. My eyes opened, and I closed my mouth, holding in the precious oxygen. She pushed away from the open doorway.

She’d bought me time by sharing her air until help arrived. I could only assume she’d left to get someone. I looked up but didn’t see her ascending to the surface. Where the hell had she gone? My mind had latched onto her rather than my predicament. She looked younger than me. Had to be seventeen? Hopefully eighteen? God, I hope she made it out.

When she reappeared, my brows furrowed. I waved my hand to the surface. She shook her head. Once more, she grabbed the back of my neck and fitted her lips over mine. I didn’t waste time with confusion. She fed me oxygen. It tasted flat, stale, but my straining lungs greedily accepted it.

I leaned as far as I could and glimpsed her feet by the front tire. That’s where she was getting the air? Smart.

As I waited for her to return, my mind spun. Is she the one who’d hit my car? Had to be. Why else is she here, helping me so soon after I’d gone over the bridge?

When she returned, I looked her over. There wasn’t a scratch on her. She was beautiful, ethereal. I committed everything I could to memory in the dim glow of my interior lights.

A faint sound echoed through the water. Her hands gripped the side of my face, and she forced more air into my mouth, more than last time. Unable to stop myself, I lifted my hands and cupped her face. Her touch left me. There was a tug on the strap holding me in place. The belt gave away, then she broke the seal she had over my lips. She glanced up, and her delicate features hardened. Twisting, she pushed off the side of the door and swam away in the direction from which she’d come.

Light shone in a beam through the water as I worked free of the severed belt. Why had she fled? I glanced up. Red and blue lights danced over the water in addition to the floodlights in each of the two rescuers’ grips. I shoved away from the car and swam upward.

One thing I knew was that the girl had gone, and there had to be a reason for it. The only thing that mattered was that she’d saved me. I owed her my life.

* * *

Nadia

My head broke the water’s surface as I stepped onto the rocky bank. Flashing lights drew anyone within range to the side of the bridge where Cade’s car had busted through and then fallen into the water.

Beneath the water, noise had been muted. Out of the river, sound returned. It was New York, after all, the city that never slept.

He’d been my mark, one I’d let myself get involved with—even if from afar—outside the mission. My fingers pressed against my swollen lips and considered the reaction I’d had to touching him under the water. It’d been to keep him alive, nothing more. But it was so much more, and I was shocked. He wasn’t for me, if anyone was. I had a job to do, and there was no time for foolish thoughts.

Relief coursed through me in a steady stream, mixed with anxiety over the next part of my mission. Darting my gaze around, I emerged from the river once I caught sight of the icy blonde, Hannah. She was a defector-flipped-sleeper-agent who scared me to death but had also offered salvation. With her help, I had a chance to escape.

I slogged through rock and mud until I stood before the small grouping of trees where she waited. Just out of view, I joined her within the cover. My teeth chattered, and she handed me a blanket. After I wrapped it around myself, I willed the physical discomfort away. Her icy gaze narrowed. I knew what she was thinking. I was better than that—I shouldn’t let the temperature get to me. I had been trained by Russian operatives, and I could withstand much more than a short duration in chilly water.

Squaring my shoulders, I met her gaze with determination. I let her see the steel inside of me. I could do it. No emotion flashed across her face, and I schooled mine to match.

“Did you get them?” she asked.

At her clipped, no-nonsense question, I notched my chin. “Did you stop them?”

If I hadn’t been staring so hard, I would have missed the minuscule tilt of her lips. I’d amused her. That was better than anger. She awarded me with a brisk nod. All the fight left me. The two people I’d lived with for the past twelve years were no longer my problem.

“And the girl?” I asked.

“She’s safe.”

I dug in my pocket and tugged the keys loose that I’d swiped from Cade’s car. I dangled them between us. Her fingers closed around them before she dropped them into the purse at her side. “Let’s go.”

A burst of hope shot through me. This is it. For my assistance, she would take me away from there. I couldn’t help myself—I took one last glance toward the bridge. Then I turned, shedding the life I’d had and the obsession I’d developed for the person I was supposed to kill.

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