by Lee,Molly E.
“Good. Because despite the fact that she is a beautiful woman and is probably using that to her advantage when it comes to you, you signed the contract. And you know if you utter a word of it to her or her crew—“
“You’ll end my career. Yeah, I remember.” I cut him off.
He smiled. “Oh no, not just yours. Hers as well.”
“What?” I snapped.
“I can’t believe you’ve gone soft, the one person I was sure wouldn’t fall for the games of a beautiful woman.” He sighed. “You grow a conscious out of nowhere or have a change of heart, and it’s not just you who suffers. Remember that.”
Heat sizzled in my gut, and I clenched my fingers together so hard my knuckles cracked.
Slade chuckled and shook his head. “Oh man, I severely hope you haven’t fallen for her antics.” He stood up, walking around his desk to stand in front of me. “She’s worked on that site for nearly a year. The woman will do anything”—he raised his eyebrows at me—“and I mean anything to save it.”
I swallowed hard, trying not to let his words in, but unsuccessfully keeping them out. Could she have slept with me only to sway my ruling on her site? I scoffed, feeling like an asshole for not even entertaining the thought before I’d slid inside her.
Maybe the connection I felt with her was one-sided. Maybe all the interest she’d had, all the fight to get to know me better, was a plan from the beginning to sway me.
Fuck.
The pain in my chest shocked me as much as it pissed me off. I’d let that woman in, where I’d let no one in in years.
“You got a job for me today?” I asked, suddenly needing to get underwater, where I knew my head would be clearer. It was the best place to think. The one place on this earth where I trusted myself, my instincts.
Slade nodded. “Yeah, I need you to check those stripped joints you repaired a couple of weeks ago.”
“They’re solid.” I knew my work. It wouldn’t slip.
“I need you to check them.” Slade’s tone was sharp, and he cocked an eyebrow at me. “And then you can check every other joint on the beams surrounding while you’re down there.”
“Grunt work? Are you kidding me?” I had better things to do than lay eyes on joints I knew were completely stable. Like check on Sadie and her site. My body itched to dive with her again, unlock more doors for her, watch her light up like Christmas with each discovery.
Shit. Maybe I did need the bitch work to get my head on straight.
“I’ll expect a clean report when you’re topside again.” Slade dismissed me, and I took off to get my gear on.
The battle inside was enough to make me eager to do his bidding, even if it was pointless. At least this would give me time underwater to think. Because part of me knew what Sadie and I had was real—despite how fast it had happened—but another part, the darker one, whispered that she was using me.
Just like you’re using her. The dollar amount on the contract I’d signed the first day I met Sadie stood out in red ink in my mind.
Shit.
What had I gotten myself into?
An hour and a half under the water hadn’t helped me as much as I thought it would. I was split in half, and I didn’t know which one would win, but I knew how to find out.
I took the jet ski out to Sadie’s site, knowing she’d be there this time of day. When I’d left her with nothing but a sheet on this morning, she hadn’t bothered asking when I’d return, just kissed me and went back to sleep. She had confidence, and it turned me on in a big way. That and her abilities underwater, and with how she could get under my skin like no one else ever had, made me practically bouncing to see her again.
I tried to keep myself in check, reminding myself of the role I had in the destruction of her site. And the fact that she could be doing the same thing to me, I was just on the other side of it.
But I’d claimed her, and I didn’t do that lightly. I just needed to know she was being real with me, and once I did, then I could easily let go of the money promised me. Because I’d meant what I said to her, she was worth more than that. But if she was playing me . . .
An ache in my chest had me kicking up the speed of the jet ski, needing the rush to erase it. I hadn’t been strung up by a woman since high school, and I had no fucking clue how to handle it. I was all over the place inside, my usual cold, calm interior sparking to life, breathing in new, more fulfilling ways, tempting me with hope and ideas for a future—where before I only saw the next job, the next opportunity to put myself at risk.
Pulling up to Sadie’s boat, I quickly spotted her sitting on the deck, her golden-blond hair blowing in the soft breeze. Warmth unfurled in my core, and the only thought on my brain was mine—quickly followed with the curiosity of how fast I could get her tongue in my mouth again.
Turned out it only took minutes.
She leaped into my arms the second I reached her position on the ship, wrapping her hands around my neck. She kissed me before saying a word. I liked this form of communication more anyway. I was better at it, absolutely perfect at it with Sadie. I could read what she wanted physically as easily as if I’d had years to learn it, but her mind? That was a harder one to crack.
“Hi,” she said as she broke our kiss and I set her back down.
“Hey.” I grinned at her. “Miss me?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
I shrugged.
“Glad you made it back out today. I didn’t know if you would.” The uncertainty in her eyes didn’t match her confident stance. It seemed genuine, her hope that I had meant everything I said, everything I did last night.
“Had a few things to handle on the vessel.” Including reaffirming an agreement to help destroy your site. Fuck my life.
She smiled and tugged on my arm. “I have a surprise for you.”
“I don’t like surprises,” I said as she pulled me across the deck.
“I figured as much, but this one you will.”
Stopping at the storage compartment where she kept all her gear, she opened the door and motioned with her head. “Take a look.”
I arched an eyebrow at her before leaning over to peek inside. “No shit?”
She bounced on her toes. “Just came in.”
“When did you order this?” I asked, my mouth watering over the brand new, top of the line, underwater welder gear before me—a dry suit, leather gloves, stinger, and diving helmet.
“The first day I met you. When you stood up for me in Henrick’s office and bought my site more time. I wanted to thank you. You can take it with you when this is all over, but this way you won’t have to cart gear back and forth between Slade’s place and mine.”
The amount and quality of the items had to have taken a huge chunk out of her site’s budget. I couldn’t believe she’d invest in me like that. Especially since she didn’t owe me a damn thing. Not when I’d been planning to ruin her.
I crossed my arms over my chest.
“You don’t like it?” She sank onto her feet, losing the excited bounce. “Did I get the wrong kind?”
I shook my head, pinning her with my gaze. “What’s this really for?”
She tilted her head at my tone, and I flinched inside, hating the fact that I couldn’t fucking tell if she was in this for me or in this for her site.
“I’m not following,” she said.
I walked passed her, stopping when I’d gotten to the stern of the boat and could see nothing but ocean in front of me.
“Connell?” She touched my shoulder from behind, and I turned around. “What is it?”
“I’m just trying to figure out if last night”—I nodded toward where the brand-new gear was—“and that is about you and me or if it’s about me saving your site.”
Sadie’s mouth popped open, and she took a step back. “Are you serious?”
I shrugged.
She ran her fingers through her hair, a wrinkle creasing between her eyebrows. “You think I’d fuck you just to
save my site? Is that the type of woman you think I am?”
The sting in her voice hit every cell in my body, and I wanted to take my accusation back, but it was too late.
She pinched the bridge of her nose before taking a deep, audible breath. Shocking the hell out of me, she took a step closer to me, instead of storming off in the opposite direction. She reached up and placed a hand on my chest. “You know, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I can see where you would think that. This”—she moved her hand to the back of my neck—“has happened fast, and it’s not my norm, I promise you. I can’t explain it, Connell, you just . . .” She bit her bottom lip. “Fit.”
I sighed, the genuineness in her eyes undeniable. Either she was the best actress in the entire world or . . . she actually cared about me. I don’t know why it was so hard to believe, but after years of pushing everyone away, it was easier to believe the worst. Easier to think I was unlovable instead of hope for something as real as I felt with Sadie.
I bent my knees, sliding my hands around her waist and hefting her up against me. I pressed my lips to hers, claiming her mouth as she willingly opened up to me. She tasted so damn good, and felt equally delicious against me, and my mind quickly settled, quieter and clearer than when I was underwater.
This was real. This was happening.
I tangled my fingers in her hair, gently nudging her head back enough to catch her eyes. “Thank you,” I said. “For the gear. I should’ve said that instead.”
She smiled, her eyes jumping from mine to my lips. “It’s okay. I know you’re still adjusting to this whole talking thing.”
I shook my head. “How can you tell that?”
She trailed the tip of her tongue across my bottom lip, the motion sending heatwaves straight to my dick. If she kept it up, I’d take her right here, topside and in the open.
“Just do.”
I held her to me a little harder. “I’m not used to people knowing me. Let alone trying to break through.”
“I’m prepared to keep discovering, Connell. Slowly, if I have to, I’ll peel you back one layer at a time.”
“Why would you want to?” I asked, unable to understand why anyone, especially someone as incredible as Sadie, would take the time and work to get through my baggage to be with me.
She kissed me quick and hard before pulling back. “I’m in preservation. It’s in my blood to save what’s worth saving before something destroys it.”
“Nothing is going to destroy me.”
She frowned, placing her forehead against mine. “You will, if you don’t let someone in soon.”
I swallowed hard. This woman. She always cut to the quick with me, shaking up my insides so much I was useless against her. She had me, in any way she wanted, all she had to do was ask.
“Come on,” she said and wiggled in my grasp. “Let’s go for a dive. Not work, just to . . . decompress.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “There is somewhere I’d like to take you actually.”
Her eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands together. “Perfect.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the pilothouse. “Tell Liz the coordinates.”
I rattled them off, knowing the place by heart, and took Sadie’s hand as we sat down on the benches closer to the stern again. I traced the outlines of her fingers, listening to the waves crashing around the boat as Liz pushed it forward.
Sadie knew me without knowing everything, knew what I needed without me asking, and knew how to push just enough until I couldn’t take it anymore and then she’d draw back. She was perfection. Everything I never knew I wanted.
Now I had to break the contract with Slade—without jeopardizing Sadie’s career—or I’d fucking lose her forever.
Sadie
CONNELL MOVED EFFORTLESSLY through the water a few feet ahead of me, his muscles adapting to the pressure of our depth with expert motions. He made it look graceful, like slow dancing, and my heart swelled another fraction while watching him.
He’d taken us the opposite direction of my site, to a coral reef I had yet to explore. We desperately needed a nonwork setting, because I was in knots after Connell’s outburst topside. When he’d first accused me of using him for my site, I was pissed enough to slap him. Once I took a breath and wiggled my way into his closed-off shoes, I saw things differently. How could he not think that was why I slept with him?
Everything had happened between us so fast, like a match touching gasoline, and we were powerless to stop the blaze. It didn’t make sense on paper, but where the flames licked the center of my chest? That made all the sense in the world. I just hoped he believed me, and that he’d let me in enough before he burned us both.
I gasped, giddier than the bubbles bursting around me once I set eyes on a super-pod of spinner dolphins ahead of us.
“Check it out,” Connell said, glancing over his shoulder and slowing his speed by waving his arms back and forth in the water.
“How many are there?” I asked, trying to count each beautiful silver creature. They were so playful, darting over, under, and in between each other.
“At least twenty.” He reached for my hand. “Let’s get closer.”
I took his hand and let him propel us forward. A school of tiny, iridescent fish swam above the dolphins, their movements calm and relaxed even as we approached. The dolphins plunged lower as if racing to the sea floor, before darting back up and jumping out of the surface midspin.
Connell stopped us right in the middle of the pod, and we instantly became a part of their games. Several took to circling us in easy, lazy movements, while others leaped over our heads or flicked their tales near our faces. I couldn’t contain my grin and Connell couldn’t either, which shocked the hell out of me.
I’d never seen him smile like this before—so free and open and without any chains. I moved as close to him as possible, using my flippers to steady myself before his face, laughing as a dolphin came up and pushed his back with its long nose.
He grinned, staying steady in his position despite the creature’s attempts to throw him off balance.
“Old friend?” I asked.
He nodded. “Oh yeah, me and these guys go way back.”
“You know, I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”
“Really?”
“Really,” I said. “It would make sense for you to have friends under the water. You spend so much time down here.”
“Like you don’t.”
“True,” I said, reaching out and grabbing his hand. “But our reasons behind it are different, I think.”
“How so?” he asked, not a hint of deflection in his tone.
Hope bloomed in my chest. Perhaps getting him underwater was the key to him letting me in, opening up to me about why he shut people out.
I shrugged, trying not to show how badly I wanted to know him on more levels than what he tasted like and how I felt in his arms. “Seems like you hide down here. I just don’t know what from.”
The easy grin he’d had on his face shifted to something sad; then a darkness washed over his eyes. He glanced to the right, his gaze staying tight on the dolphins still playing around us.
“You don’t have to tell me now, Connell.” I squeezed his hand and let it go. “When you’re ready. I just want you to know I’m not going anywhere, regardless of what it is.”
He grabbed my hand back. “You have no idea what that means to me, Sadie. I just . . . I have to do this slowly. I’m not used to . . . being intimate with anyone.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. We’d been all kinds of intimate less than twenty-four hours ago.
He shook his head and smirked. “I’m not talking about my familiarity with how you feel surrounding me. Which is fucking amazing, by the way.”
A thrill rocketed through me seeing the lust blare in his eyes. In the ocean, even with all manner of diving gear on, I still wanted to strip myself bare to him and let him have his way with me. Good Lord, this man had claimed me in every w
ay possible and I didn’t even know how he liked his coffee.
The intensity was just shy of overwhelming and I assumed the only way to remedy that was learning more about him—what made him laugh and cry and scared—as fast as possible, but if the man needed time, I’d give it to him. He was worth every hour, day, week, month, whatever he needed. I knew that in my blood, and in the end, that was all that mattered. My instincts had never let me down before, and every cell in my body called for Connell on a level I’d never experienced before. And I damn sure didn’t want it to end because I pulled the girl card and pushed him harder than he could handle. Especially with how closed off he’d been for who knew how long. I couldn’t imagine what did that to him; I just hoped to God he’d let me share the weight with him someday.
The dolphins grew bored with us after we didn’t participate in their games and fluttered off to new adventures. They were so much more fun to watch than the sharks, naturally, though both were beautiful in their own ways. I was glad we hadn’t run into any more trouble with the Trio since the incident with Nemo, and the thought of them being close sent a cold chill up my spine.
Fear was a good, tangible thing that helped me survive in more instances than I cared to admit, but it wouldn’t keep me out of the water.
Connell tugged on our joined hands, taking me further down the reef, the red and orange coral vibrant against the blue of the water, the sun coating it in gold. We swam in silence, not awkward or weighted, but completely comfortable, and it suited us. My urge to ask questions about his life before the water took him died with each lazy stroke; each colorful fish that swam by helped erase the need to know and let me simply be with him.
And it was a damn fine place to be. Our strokes mirrored each other, our pace matched. We fit as much under the water as we did above.
“Hold up,” he said, dropping my hand and propelling downward, closer to the reef. His movements caused a slew of black and yellow striped fish to bolt from where they’d been relaxing in the long green strips of seaweed that sprouted near the reef.
