by Lee,Molly E.
He shrugged but didn’t take his gaze off me.
“Are you mad because I’m faster than you?” I finally asked, curious if his pouting was over some wounded ego bullshit.
He scrunched his eyebrows together. “Are you fucking serious?”
I arched an eyebrow. “Are you?”
“No!” he yelled, and I was shocked at how much the tone stung my insides. I took another step back as he uncrossed his arms and stepped toward me. “Today? That was reckless!”
My eyes popped in shock. “You’re mad because I was reckless? You know as well as I do the stakes that come with jobs like ours; act like you would’ve done a damn thing differently. We were joking about all our close calls last week, what makes this one any different?”
A muscle in his jaw ticked and I reveled a bit at the obvious way I had gotten under his skin. Emotional Connell was better than completely closed off Connell. At least this way I may get beneath the surface of who he was.
I took a step closer to him. “Exactly. You and I may have different titles, but we’re the same.” Ryan’s earlier words echoed in my head. “We know that the end game is worth whatever risk it takes to get there. And Nemo’s life was worth it. I’d do it again if I had to.”
“You could have died!” He flung his arm to the side, pointing at the ocean as if he could still see the scene.
“Well, that would’ve made Slade do a victory dance. No one to stand in his way, and he could plow right through my site and save a hundred and twenty million—“
Connell’s advance cut off whatever else I’d been about to say. I retreated until my back hit the wall. He placed an arm on either side of my head, caging me in with his arms. The fire in his eyes was back, and the breath stalled in my lungs.
“You are worth more than that.”
I swallowed hard, my blood pulsing fast and hot through my veins. “How much more?”
His eyes trailed to my lips. “Everything. You’re worth it all.”
I blinked, and his lips were on mine, his tongue parting them and slipping inside. I gasped before my eyes shut and I took him in. My heart raced as he pressed his hard body against mine, and I tangled my fingers into his hair, yanking him to me. I didn’t realize how badly I’d craved his touch, his kiss, until he’d crossed that line, and I was so fucking glad he did. He tasted amazing, like warmth and salt and the sea and it made the ache between my thighs throb.
He kissed me like he was angry and happy with me at the same time. Like he wanted to devour and savor me. Like the battle deciding which one to do first drove him crazy. He trailed his tongue along the edges of my teeth before taking my face in his hands and angling it back to expose my neck. He set his mouth on the sensitive flesh behind my ear, slowly working his way down to my collarbone.
I arched into his body, needing to feel him, needing to know he wanted me as badly as I wanted him. I slipped my hands under his shirt, running my fingers over the sharp ridges of his abs before grabbing the muscles in his back.
“Sadie,” he whispered my name in my ear, the word more like a promise than a sigh. He claimed my mouth again, slipping his thigh between my legs, pushing against me with a glorious pressure I wished was something else.
“Boss?” Nemo called from outside of the bar entrance, and I froze in Connell’s embrace.
He quickly pushed off the wall, putting so much space between us I shivered from the drastic change in temperature.
“Yeah?” I said, and Nemo turned his head in my direction. “You two good? We’re about to head back to the lab, sleep there tonight instead of returning to the site.”
“Yes. Thanks, Nemo. I’ll be along in a bit.” My eyes cut to Connell’s, and while I had hoped I wouldn’t be around until much later, something about his stiff position told me I’d gotten my hopes up a little too soon.
“All right,” Nemo said and lunged at me. He wrapped me in a huge, bone-crushing hug. “Thank you.” His words were still slurred but tears bit the backs of my eyes at his gratitude.
I patted him on the back. “Go get some sleep. We still have work to do tomorrow.”
He nodded. “Night, Connell,” he said as he walked off.
My shoulders dropped as he made it out of sight.
“Connell?” I asked, reaching out for him.
He didn’t back away from my touch, but he didn’t react to it either. The coldness filtered deeper into my bones which only made me yearn for the heat I knew he was capable of.
“Shouldn’t have done that,” he finally said, the muscles in his forearm tightening underneath my touch.
“Why?” My voice was barely a whisper.
He reached up and pushed some hair out of my face, cupping my cheek in his hand for a few moments, his eyes never leaving mine. They were more open than I’d ever seen them, teasing me with the hope to find out who he really was, what he really felt.
Then he blinked, and the wall I easily recognized had returned.
He stepped backward and walked past me, in the opposite direction of my lab. I watched him until I couldn’t see him anymore, a mixture of hurt, want, and anger twisting in my blood.
I wanted to run after him and slap him, make him talk to me, make him give me an explanation for what the hell had just happened, and what he’d meant when he’d said I was worth everything.
Instead, I sucked in a deep breath and took the hot kiss for what it was.
A mistake brought on by his own fear of nearly seeing me die.
“Should we wait?” Liz asked from on board the ship, her oversize black sunglasses covering half her face. She hadn’t raised her voice, but I winced from the pain. My entire team was feeling last night’s celebration, and while I’d contemplated calling today’s exploration, I sucked it up and had everyone on board and waiting . . .
For Connell.
He was twenty minutes late.
Our kiss burned hot and heady in my mind, my entire body responding to the mere memory of his lips on my skin. I’d hoped he’d at least show up to “work” and pretend like what had happened between us hadn’t.
“No, we’re already off schedule. Let’s move,” I said, turning on my heels to sit on one of the cushioned benches at the farthest end of the ship. I leaned my head back against the cool metal railing and closed my eyes, willing the sharp pain behind them to subside.
The breeze from the ship’s movement helped, and I sucked in long, deep lungfuls of air, each breath calming the tension twisting my insides, and fueling the anxiety that now turned every thought I had sour.
What if my actions last night cost me everything I’d worked for?
I pinched the bridge of my nose. How could I have gotten so careless? Wanting the one man I should stay away from, at least until the decision was made in two months. But he’d kissed me. I hadn’t stopped it, though. I’d practically begged for more. He’d filled every void I didn’t know I had and ignited all the cravings I never knew were possible. One kiss and I was hooked, even now, knowing what I may have cost my team and me, I still wanted him. And I wanted more than just the feel of him above me, in me. I wanted to break through that big-ass wall he had around his heart, because I was sure there was one hell of a man waiting there.
“Ten minutes to dive?” Nemo asked, gently touching my shoulder.
My eyes snapped open, and I jolted underneath his touch. He flinched, and I chucked. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you walk up.”
“Lucky. I tried to catch a nap on the way out here, but I couldn’t get the axe out of my head.” Nemo smiled and walked a little sluggishly to the storage cabinet, grabbing his gear.
I crossed the distance to him, taking his mask out of his hands. “Why don’t you keep trying?”
He tilted his head. “Boss?”
“I can handle this one alone. I’ll stay exterior. You should sleep it off.”
“I’m fine. I’m not afraid if that’s what you’re thinking.” His eyes found the floor, and I sighed.
“I don�
��t think that, but I really can’t have you diving today. I’m sorry. I can’t risk your reaction time because of the hangover.”
He shook his head. “I knew it. I told Liz I’d had too much.”
“It’s fine. You deserved it. Seriously, I’ve got this. Go take a nap. You’ll be back under with me tomorrow.”
“You want me to grab Todd? He could at least watch your back down there.”
“No,” I said a little too quickly. Todd was more skilled in the biological testing we needed and only dived if he absolutely had to.
“I thought you told me never to dive alone.”
“I did tell you that. I’m not you.” I winked at him. “Don’t worry about me. Go. Tell Liz the plan and then hit the bed.”
He hesitated for a few more moments before finally heading to the pilothouse.
I geared up in less than two minutes and quickly dropped off the side of the ship, eager to get to my site, to spend some time where I felt most at home. I refused to believe Slade would win due to my rash decision, but it was hard not to picture him demolishing the Falconer to make a straight path for his pipeline.
The ocean welcomed me with open arms, as usual, and the rising pressure that hugged me felt comforting the deeper I descended. Golden rays of sun hit the white sandy floor, the vibrant green, blue, and red coral that clustered around my site sparkling underneath the beams that hit it. A school of yellow and black striped fish darted in and out of the reef, their zigzag motions making it look like they played tag. Larger fish, like the ever sought-after grouper, swam behind the site and above it, each species integral in the ecosystem that had formed around the Falconer.
The seaweed that grew in long green strands and flapped lazily against the boat received its food from the sun’s rays, as did the purple algae, which then itself became food for the crabs and smaller fish, who were food for the larger fish that supplied the island with sixty percent of its food source. Without any medical benefits being taken into account, that should’ve been enough to save the Falconer.
If I could only make Slade and Henrick understand that and believe the severity of the situation, instead of simply thinking that an ocean as big as the Atlantic could sustain everyone forever, no matter what they did to it, without any consequences.
My multicolored beast of a boat seemed bigger today, more so than normal. Maybe it was because it had protected me yesterday from the sharks, or maybe it was because I feared losing it more than ever before. Either way, I hovered there, cutting my arms slowly through the water, steadying myself so I could simply take it in.
There would be other ships, I assumed, other sites with ecosystems just as important, but this one had my heart, and it wouldn’t be the same without her. If we saved her, and finished our tests and explorations, and I had to leave to take care of another place that needed preserving, at least I’d know she was intact. Untouched and safe. Just the way she should remain until the ocean decided to let her go. A natural death.
A large barracuda with its pointed snout as long as my arm swam a foot in front of my face, jolting my thoughts. I blinked the worry away, sharpening my focus even though my head still hurt like hell. I pushed toward the ship’s entry point, sparing a glance to the surface before going in.
I’d told Nemo I wouldn’t explore the interior alone, but he wouldn’t have left me to it otherwise. Besides, I’d done this dozens of times, in all sorts of different scenarios. I knew it went against code, but right now I really didn’t give a damn. My time with this beauty was limited—the reality of that fact hit harder than ever before after my slipup with Mr. Broody—and I couldn’t drag my flippers. I had to act fast and extract every ounce of potential from the source that I could, or all our work would be for nothing—hell, we’d ran so many tests in the lab this week alone my head was still spinning.
I alone wasn’t enough to stop the powers that be from destroying the species that thrived here, but I did have the ability to hunt and discover any medicinally advantageous plants that may reside within the unexplored chambers and crevices. And I wouldn’t let a little thing like no partner or a headache stop me for one second of the precious time left.
Fueled with this knowledge, I surged forward, determined as ever to uncover something new while I desperately waited for my secret weapon—approval for testing on human cells—to come through. My flashlight lit the area just ahead of me, and I decided to take a different route than my usual, opting to swim upward through a large hole in the ceiling above the cafeteria. The jagged pieces of metal covered in sediment were threatening, the opening just enough for my gear to clear, but I didn’t have time to wait for a welder to open up a safer path. My stomach twisted at the thought of Connell never coming back to the site because we’d crossed a professional line, and I chided myself for ruining such a useful connection. He was an experienced underwater welder—the best, if I believed Ryan—and that could’ve streamlined the exploration of this ship.
I resisted the urge to face palm myself for letting my attraction to him get in the way of something as great as his skill set was for my site and pushed upward. The level above the cafeteria was a vast open room but cluttered in a bad way. It had to have been used for storage because there were hundreds of broken wooden crates strewn about the area, some still stacked on top of each other, and others half cracked open, showing some intact articles of clothing, or cleaning supplies.
Barely moving my flippers up and down in slow, smooth motions, I carefully navigated around the mess, my eyes sharp as a hawk and trained for any trace evidence of thriving plant or sea life. It was a long shot, this far away from the seafloor, but I wouldn’t let assumptions hinder my determination to find something to hit Slade over the head with.
A glint of orange underneath my flashlight caught my eye, and I swam toward it, passing between four crates stacked on top of one another, to try to see where the bright, lively color had come from. Nearly clear of the crates, I moved to turn to the right where I’d seen the out-of-place orange—which turned out to be a fish—and instantly stopped when I felt a sharp tug from behind.
I quickly craned my head around, my heartrate kicking up a few notches. It had taken a few swipes of the flashlight before I discovered what held me frozen in place. A broken steel support beam—mostly hidden from the stacked crates—had ensnared a piece of my tank’s tubing. The pieces jutted out from the crates, larger in areas, smaller in others, and the black tubing happened to get caught in between a section that basically “forked” it in.
I tried to turn entirely around so I could carefully untangle it, but each attempt only tightened the tube and risked severing it. I took a deep, steadying breath.
Work the problem. Don’t panic. Don’t think about the fact that you’re in here alone, in a fully enclosed area you don’t usually explore.
I clicked my push-to-talk button. “Liz?” I asked, my voice cracking.
No answer. My shoulders dropped. It was a long shot. The radios always had difficulty connecting when inside the ship. I knew that and still came in here alone. I could be a real stubborn, overconfident bitch sometimes.
Adrenaline made my hands tremble, but I reached behind me, arching my head at an unnatural angle in order to keep my eyes on the tube while I tried to free it. The damn beam’s edges were sharp underneath the sediment that clung to it, and each movement dug into the thick black rubber. I stopped for a moment, calculating if I could make it to the surface on one full breath.
I was fast, but I wasn’t that fast. Not to mention it would hurt like a bitch even if I did make it. My best possible option was detaching the tank and using it free of any gear. It wasn’t pretty, but I’d done it before. Not in a crunch like this but it would work. And I had plenty of time to safely detach it. If I didn’t rush and did it properly, this would just be another story I told at the bar when sharing our best I was an idiot tales. Now, as long as those sharks didn’t come back to find me, I’d be totally fine.
As if I
’d done something personally to piss off God, a huge dark shadow darted across the area where I’d entered, and I jumped so hard I dropped my torch, and successfully cut into my tubing more.
Connell
“WHAT DO YOU mean she went down alone?” I didn’t have to yell at the kid; he knew how furious I was from my sharp tone.
Slade had kept me tied up in an agonizing long meeting regarding Sadie’s site and my involvement in it, showing me the contract he’d had me sign the first day he’d offered me the twelve million. The son of a bitch was thorough and covered his ass more than mine, but he wanted to remind me how ironclad it was, how any impediment on my part would mean the end of my career, and quite possibly me owing him money I’d never have.
I didn’t know if he could easily read the struggle on my face, or if I wore my growing feelings for Sadie like a pulsing, neon sign, but he’d chosen today to reiterate our terms. And he’d made me late, but I’d taken the jet ski and booked it out of there as fast as I possibly could. I wasn’t going to let a thing like kissing Sadie get in the way of twelve million dollars—even if it had turned me on more than any sex I’d had in the last decade.
“She said she was just going to sweep the outside of the ship. She wouldn’t go in.”
I suited up faster than he could blink. “You really believe that? Do you know her at all?” I asked before jumping flippers first into the ocean.
A tightness in my chest had me barreling downward, slicing through the water like I was in a fucking Olympic race. Sadie could hold her own in the ocean; I knew that, seen proof of it, but there was still a huge part of me that screamed out to protect her, even from herself.
I didn’t have a damn clue why, but I was nothing without my instincts, and they told me to stay as close to Sadie as possible. And I failed in that sense today.
Approaching the site, it didn’t take long to confirm my earlier assumptions.
She went in. Alone. Without telling anyone.
She’s more reckless than I am.
That kind of confidence was sexy as hell, but it could also get her killed.
