by Lee,Molly E.
I arched an eyebrow at her.
“Just because I haven’t spoken to my son since . . . well, it doesn’t mean I don’t know him inside and out. He believed your life . . . not just your career . . . your life was in danger, so he kept up the act. Still, in the end, he couldn’t betray your site, the one thing you love most.”
“I understand that now.” I sighed. “I need to see him. See if what we had was real or just an act.”
Ryan had told me a couple of weeks ago he’d left the island shortly after the meeting with Henrick. Said that he didn’t have any reason to stay. It hurt, but I hadn’t given him one to either.
She nodded, her sharp black hair brushing the edges of her chin. “I’m not certain, but Connell out of a job? He’ll head to the deepest, most dangerous place he can find. Not to work but to—“
“Think,” I cut her off.
She grinned. “Yes.”
“There are at least a dozen places off the top of my head that could give him the dangerous edge he’s craving.” I shook my head, adrenaline filling my veins at the thought of the chase ahead of me.
“I’d start at the closest and then work my way out, heading to the States somewhere in the middle.” She jerked me into a hug, an awkward as hell one at that, and then looked me in the eye. “How far do you think you’re willing to go before you give up?”
She really didn’t know a thing about me. “I never give up.”
The currents in the Atlantic sixty nautical miles from Nantucket were much stronger than those I’d left behind in Nassau. And I didn’t have time to wait and adjust to the massive amount of weight pressing against my body from the force of the currents as I dove as fast as I could—the Andrea Doria had been dubbed the “Mount Everest” of shipwrecks, and its resting depth ensured I’d only have about sixteen minutes of proper breathing time before I had to start my ascension again.
Luckily, Connell—or whichever lone diver attempted to do this without a partner—had left a mooring line with strobe lights attached to guide the way both down and back to the small speedboat that had been empty when I’d positioned the one I’d rented next to it. The effect of the flashing lights made my skin tighten and chills race down my spine, the slight funhouse-effect sending my survival instincts into overdrive. I wasn’t used to this kind of dive—dark, an epic degree of dangerous, and just this side of haunting.
I propelled myself downward, forcing myself through the water that was cloudier than the ocean surrounding the Falconer, and I silently prayed the diver in question was Connell. I’d already been to four diving spots, all rumored for their difficulty levels, but it was when someone told me about the Doria—and how many divers’ lives it had claimed—that I’d felt close to finding Connell. Of course, I didn’t have a clue what I’d say to him, or how I would know if he’d be happy or pissed that I’d tracked him down, but the drive to be near him again, feel him again, was too overwhelming to ignore. Maybe I needed closure. Or maybe I just needed him to touch me again.
My pining thoughts ceased as the ship came into view—a glorious, mostly intact ship sprawled out on its side on the ocean floor, the entire upper deck a mangled mess of broken, corroded wood and metal. The area around it wasn’t teeming with marine life—plant and animal—not in the way the Falconer had been, and I wondered how the species chose which places to accept as one of their own, claiming it, and which ones to leave cold and barren.
I forced myself to focus, knowing my minutes were precious, and this was no site to get lost in—no matter how badly my body itched to poke around its interior. Too many talented divers had lost their lives that way, losing track of time or getting lost in the structure, and I wasn’t here for the ship. I was here for the diver I could now see moving debris where the bow used to be.
I knew it in the way he moved, the way he hefted a broken piece of pole and discarded it to the side, searching ruthlessly for who knew what.
Connell.
I glanced down at my watch, noting the seconds ticking away. He must have dived just as I pulled up. Though I would’ve been content to watch him explore, I couldn’t waste the air. I could already feel the effects of the unique gas mixture taking their toll on my brain—loose and fuzzy like I’d had a couple rum and OJs—so I clicked the nob on my mask, tuning into his frequency before pressing down the push-to-talk button.
“I heard they kept the gold in the captain’s suite,” I said, and his body instantly froze.
My heart thudded against my chest, the blood rushing in my ears louder than the whooshing of oxygen from my tank.
He slowly turned around, a trail of bubbles following his fluid movements as he used his entire body to close the distance between us. When he came near enough, I locked onto those gorgeous hazel eyes of his and took a wonderful full breath. Somehow, I hadn’t been able to breathe properly since I’d last seen him.
“You’re too late,” he said, and my heart sank. “This ship is already saved.”
I grinned at his smirk, hope blooming in my chest. “I’m not here for her.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “No?”
I shook my head. “I needed to ask you something.”
“Yeah?”
“When did I stop being a paycheck?”
He licked his lips. “The minute you saved Nemo from the Trio.”
I nodded, the memory fresh in my mind. He’d kissed me for the first time that night.
“No, that’s another lie,” he said, and my blood ran hot.
“The second I saw you under the water.”
“Connell,” I said, my voice breathless. I glanced at my watch. Three minutes left . . . three minutes of time with Connell when he was at his most open—one hundred and eighty feet beneath the ocean. “Tell me it was real. Tell me I wasn’t the only one who fell that hard that fast.”
He reached out and took my hand, tugging me upward in the silent way only he could manage. I let him, my body sighing from the relief as we ascended, leaving the bone-crushing pressures and strong currents behind. We surfaced slowly, expertly, and in unison. We were a team who worked perfectly without having to speak, could predict each other’s moves without having to see the other, and yet, I still felt like there was so much I didn’t understand about what we were to each other.
I pulled my mask off and tossed it over the side of the boat I’d rented, holding on to its side railing as Connell did the same. His black hair was plastered to his face, and before I could stop myself, I pushed the wet strands back so I could see his eyes.
He didn’t break my gaze but leaned into my touch. “Conner used to say he’d pity whatever woman I loved because I was as possessive as he was addictive.”
I pressed my lips together.
“Is that what this dive was about?” I asked. “Talking to Conner?”
He clenched his eyes shut, taking my hand, which was tangled in his hair, and moving it below the water to rest on the center of his chest. “God, Sadie. No one has ever known me like you do.”
“So it’s real?” Tears threatened to blur my eyes, but I kept them back. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed touching him until he’d let me do it again.
“More than real. What I feel for you . . .” He bit his lip as our bodies bobbed in the motion from the waves. “It’s deeper than my love for the sea and stronger than those currents.” He motioned his head downward and smiled. “I’ve never loved anyone the way I do you, and I’m not going to lie, it terrifies me. The depth of it, what it would make me capable of.”
I moved closer to him, our legs tangling in the water below.
“I seriously contemplated murdering Slade, and then the investor . . .” His eyes turned to slits. “Did you go on a date with him?”
I shook my head. “It was a business dinner. He helped me handle Slade. You saw that.”
“I saw the way he looked at you.”
I snaked my arms around his neck, my lips an inch from his. “Yeah, well, for some insane reason, despite
having my heart crushed, it still only answers to one man.”
“I’m sorry—“
“Don’t,” I stopped him, not needing to hear his apology again. I could see it in his eyes, feel it in the way he gently held me against him. “You warned me.”
“What?”
I smirked. “You told me that once you laid claim to me you wouldn’t let go.” I crushed my lips against his, gasping at the sheer rush from the contact after what had felt like forever. His tongue slipped between my lips, heating my entire body with a few expertly placed flicks. I pulled back, looking at him through hooded eyes. “So? Was that lie or truth?”
“Truth,” he said, reclaiming my mouth. He grabbed a handful of my ass and yanked me to him, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, the water splashing around us. His kiss was hot and salty from the sea that surrounded us, and I couldn’t drink enough of him. “You’re mine,” he practically growled as he cupped my cheek, pushing me back to look at me.
His words were possessive, just enough to make my thighs clench, but his eyes were questioning, just enough to make my heart swell.
I nodded.
Connell grinned, the real smile he only ever showed me, and it stole my breath away.
“I have one more question for you,” I said, and his happy face melted to stone.
“Yeah?”
“You think you’d be willing to work for a reckless boss with a heroine complex?”
He chuckled, an audible sigh relaxing the tight muscles of his shoulders. “After my last one? I think I can handle it.” He kissed me quickly. “Where are we headed?”
“Home.”
Connell
“YOU TAKE ME to the nicest places,” Sadie said, her finger pushing the button on her mask as she swam beside me, her hand linked in mine.
I squeezed her fingers. “Only you would say that about this blue hole.” I shook my head, my heart pumping gallons of adrenaline through my blood. It had taken me months of diving with Sadie to realize, and come to terms with, just how much better she was under the water than me—but I couldn’t flip off the protective switch when we did anything dangerous, which was more often than not.
Today was recreational, but Sadie couldn’t be wowed with a simple snorkel over a vibrant coral reef. Not my girl. She needed the pulse-pounding tension only the most challenging dives could provide, and it was one of the many reasons why I loved her.
“Would you have me any other way?” she joked, moving through the water in the graceful way she did.
“I think it’s safe to say I’d have you any way I could take you.” I slowed our pace. “We’re about to come up on it. You remember what I told you?” The teasing left my voice, replaced with nothing but seriousness. One wrong move down here and we’d be gone in seconds.
“Yes, sir. I won’t go near the vortex.”
I sharpened my gaze on her, that beautiful face half covered with her mask.
“Even if there is a mysterious plant growing just behind it, I won’t go near the vortex,” she repeated, wrenching a smile out of me.
Before Sadie, I hadn’t thought my need to explore the ocean’s depths could ever be shared with anyone else, let alone enjoyed. It took an enormous amount of trust to work as closely and as long as we did—and at the depths we did. We had said goodbye to the Falconer two months ago, after working on it for over a year. Today was a special day, our two-year anniversary, and I had pulled out all the stops to make sure it was a day she’d never forget.
There were a variety of blue holes to explore in the Bahamas, but this one held everything I needed to wow Sadie. The woman was easygoing topside, but if I wanted to impress her under the water, I had to really push myself. Taking her to one of the most dangerous blue holes, guiding her toward the exact spot an underwater vortex resided, at the precise moment when the tide would cause it to suck thousands of gallons of water deeper into the hole, was by far the stupidest thing I’d ever done . . . but I knew she’d be blown away by it.
“Look!” she said, pointing to a group of barracudas swimming past us. “Not your super pod of dolphins, but they’re gorgeous in their own way, right?”
I tilted my head, glancing at the predatory-looking fish with long, pointy snouts, and burst out laughing. “Seriously, Sadie. The things you see beauty in never cease to surprise me.”
“What?” she asked innocently.
“Nothing. I’m beyond glad you see past harsh exteriors to find inner beauty.”
She stopped our momentum completely. “All right, now I know something is up.”
“What?” I repeated her question in the same tone.
“Even after all this time together, I can count on one hand how many times you’ve gone poetic on me.” She smirked, but I only saw it in her eyes as the mask covered most of her face.
I pulled her closer to me, her body moving easily through the water. “I love you,” I said, the words fresh and full on my lips. “You know that.”
“I do.”
I motioned my head toward the cave we needed to enter in order to see the vortex. “This way, darlin’.”
She swam in sync with me, keeping pace and double-checking our retrieval line several times as we wove through the vast expanse of rock. Some portions of the rock jutted out further than others, the jagged edges creating the perfect opportunity for a snared line, or potentially lethal weapon if we were swept into the current and slammed against one of them.
I gripped Sadie’s hand a little tighter, knowing full well she was a better diver than me but unable to quell my protective urges. She was mine. And I would not let anything happen to her. Ever.
“Any second now,” I said, double-checking the time on my watch. I’d timed the tides for weeks in preparation for this trip, for this moment. It would be the exact moment in time where our lives changed—for better or worse, well, that was up to her.
Something stilled inside me the moment before the tides were sucked into the blue hole’s immeasurable depths—like an electric current in the atmosphere warning me of the danger we’d purposefully sought out—an echo with a warning.
Sadie looked from me back to the very nonthreatening looking hole in the bottom of the cave, no bigger than a sewer grate. I pointed upward, showing her the massive opening in the top of the cave that looked like a sunroof.
I grabbed the pole-like piece of rock that was next to me, firmly attached to the cave wall, my other hand firmly intertwined in Sadie’s. One more breath and the area around us transformed, the entire place roaring with a waterfall-powerful sound of suction and rushing water.
The tide had come in, just like I knew it would, and the placement of the blue hole in this particular location created a massive vortex—tons of water from the tide above was sucked down into the smaller hole just before us—creating a massive, powerful underwater whirlpool.
Sadie gasped next to me, moving quickly to wrap her arm around my waist, securing herself to me as we felt the pressure of the suction tug playfully on our bodies. If we moved too close, or if I let go, we could be sucked downward with the rest of the tide. We’d be dead in minutes.
“It looks like a tornado!” she said, her voice full of that giddy excitement that only happened when we were near danger, or if I was inside of her. I fucking loved it, but it also terrified.
I grinned at the light in her eyes. It did look like a tornado—a wet, clear one that had just as much power to destroy. The momentum built, my heart racing as we watched and listened to the water swirl before us with the force of the ocean’s most powerful vacuum. We bobbed up and down with the motions of the waves inside the cave, Sadie clinging to me, me clinging to the cave, and after a while, I simply watched her watching it.
The space in the center of my chest had grown more full every day I’d spent with her since she’d tracked me down in the States, but today . . . today it overran with the joy of loving her. She had broken into my closed-off life, unlocked all my doors, and let me breathe. How did I g
et so lucky? And could I possibly press it?
As the tide slowed and the vortex faded until it was no more, I unzipped the small bag clipped to my belt.
“That was incredible!” Sadie said, breathless. “I can’t believe you brought me.”
“Why?” I asked, fiddling with the object in my bag.
“You’re always trying to keep me away from my ‘reckless desires’ as you call them.” She chuckled.
“Please. I’ve never kept you away from any of that. I merely want to be with you when you do it.”
“Noted. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She motioned toward where the vortex had just been. “Did that make you homesick?”
“Why would it?”
“Tornado. Oklahoma. Just figured it’d take you back. Did you ever see one?”
I nodded, thinking of the massive tornado that had nearly taken our home when I was twelve. It had stolen Conner’s bike—which he never put up in the garage where it belonged—and left it in a tree five blocks south of us. “I had a couple of close calls. Never seen one this up close. I did meet a couple storm chasers once, though. Now, you want to talk about people with reckless desires, that is them. They’re way worse than you.”
“Gee thanks.” She laughed again, looking up to the cave’s sunroof as a giant sea turtle lazily swam over it like a massive tide hadn’t rushed through two minutes ago. “That makes me feel loads better.”
“How does this make you feel?” I asked, finally showing her the ring I held firmly between my thumb and forefinger.
She froze when she set eyes on the custom-made band—a white gold ring with the black pearl I’d found her the day we’d swam with the dolphin pod. My heart lurched when she stayed silent for a full thirty seconds.
“I can get you a diamond, if you’d rather . . . I just thought this would mean more. I’m sorry, we’ll pick one out when we’re topside.”
“Shut up!” she said, but she still held a stiff position. “Connell, if you drop that my heart will break.”
“I’m not letting go.”
“I love it. Please, put it back in the bag.” She eyed it like it might slip from my grasp at any moment. I guess she had a point. If I dropped it, we would absolutely never find it.
