by KaLyn Cooper
He loved the woman who treaded parallel to the wall, gawking at fish smaller than his thumb. He’d tell her. Tonight.
He would pull her further into his life of flying and diving and prove to her that she belonged with him. Forever. Luke smiled around his regulator as he swam toward her. He needed to be closer. Touch her. He wished he could kiss her, but he’d teach her that skill while diving in private.
A green eel shot out at Caroline’s face from its hole on the reef.
“Ack!” The human scream tore through the silence of the undersea world as a huge burst of bubbles rose over Caroline’s head.
Her whole body shot backward five feet.
Right into a lionfish, fully flared in defensive mode.
“Ahhh!”
A second scream stabbed through Luke’s heart. He was pretty sure the eel hadn’t jolted her, simply surprised her. The lionfish on the other hand…
Luke and Jack raced to Caroline’s side as she clasped her thigh, sinking toward the sharp edges of elkhorn coral. Each grabbed her under an arm and kicked hard and fast toward daylight.
They bypassed the safety stop, racing their own bubbles to the surface and help.
As soon as they reached air, Caroline spit out her mouthpiece. “My leg. It’s on fire.” Her pleading voice was controlled, but the pain behind it shot pulsing darts into his heart.
With all the outward cool of a seasoned instructor, Jack ordered her, “Put your mouthpiece back in and breathe.” He pressed the button to inflate her BCD. “We’ve got you, Caroline. I know it hurts, but we’ve got to get you back into the boat.” He and Luke rolled her onto her back.
The tide was rocking its way to shore, kicking two-foot waves in their faces.
“You’re up early,” Jillian called from the boat, which seemed to be a mile away.
Jack gave her the X-Y overhead arm movement that signaled trouble.
“DAN O2?” Jillian yelled.
“Yes,” Luke and Jack answered in unison. They would need the Diver Alert Network Oxygen box and most of the supplies contained in the first aid kit.
The two men grabbed Caroline’s harness and, together, performed a tank tow to the boat, which was fifty yards away.
Luke swam with every ounce of muscle he had to keep up with Jack’s trained strokes and powerful legs. They really taught SEALs how to swim efficiently.
The drop after cresting every wave was followed by a whimper that jabbed Luke’s heart. His Caroline was hurting, and there was nothing he could do about it until they reached the boat.
Twenty yards to go.
Luke spit out his regulator. “Go ahead. I’ll need your help pulling her onto the platform.”
With a nod, Jack swam like an Olympian to the boat. Jillian helped him onto the platform and out of his gear before Luke got there. The second Luke’s hand landed on the wooden slats, Jack jumped back into the water. He slid Caroline’s fins from her feet and tossed them up to Jillian, who flung them with the others on the deck.
Jack popped back onto the dive platform. “Kick hard and push her up while we pull. Then get your ass up here and out of your fins. Jillian isn’t strong enough to lift her over the stern.”
Luke followed the instructions perfectly. Within a minute they had Caroline out of her dive gear and flat on her stomach on the stern bench seat. Jillian placed the clear mask over Caroline’s nose and mouth then turned on the pure oxygen from the DAN O2.
“Let’s take a look.” Jack opened a waterproof backpack once carried by his SEAL team. He pulled out several things, including a magnifying glass and tweezers, latex gloves, gauze pads, and vinegar. “I need some warm fresh water.”
“I’ll get it.” Jillian jogged to the bow.
Luke dropped to the deck next to Caroline’s head, blocking her view of Jack’s ministrations. “How ya doing?”
“Hurts like hell. Like hot pins poking into my thigh.” Her answer was muffled by the oxygen mask.
“You’re doing great, Caroline.” Jack soaked cotton pads with alcohol. “Chest pain? Swelling of your tongue? Difficulty breathing?”
“No.”
Okay. She was doing all right. But Luke was having trouble breathing. There was a definite pain in his chest. His heart ached for what he couldn’t have prevented. He could have lost her. She could have di—
No! He refused to think about that. He needed to tell her that he loved her. Maybe his tongue was swollen. He couldn’t seem to speak.
“The good news is this should only last about twelve hours.” Jack laid a hand on her unaffected leg. “The bad news is you might get really sick before this is over. Nausea, vomiting, fever, dizziness, numbness of your leg, but rarely does it cause temporary paralysis.”
Caroline lifted the mask. “Aren’t you a wealth of good news?”
“Laying it out for you. I want you to know what to expect,” Jack warned.
Jillian produced several bottles of local spring water. “These were in the storage cabinet so they are warm, not hot by any means.”
“Perfect. Thanks, babe.” He slipped on two pair of the thick latex gloves. “The venom is actually on the spines so be sure to keep Addison back. As soon as I’m sure there are no more pieces, we’ll haul ass for home. We need to get her into the hot tub.”
Luke noticed the redness and swelling around the punctures. “Heat? Not ice?”
“Heat actually breaks down the venom. It’ll shorten her healing time.” Jack leaned over Caroline’s leg and examined the skin carefully. “Jillian, call home and have Mateo turn up the temp on the hot tub to about one hundred five. Have Celia fix a room for Luke and Caroline. They’re staying with us tonight.”
“No,” Caroline protested, rising on her elbow and twisting to look at Jack. “I don’t want to put you out. We can go home. I can stop by a hospital and get this looked at. Really. I’ll be fine.”
Luke took her hand. His brave woman. She impressed him over and over again. Still unable to find his voice, he squeezed her hand. He was rewarded with the most beautiful smile.
Damn, he loved this woman.
Jack prodded a reddened area. “No, you won’t be fine for another twelve hours or so.”
She sucked in a breath through clenched teeth.
“Lie back down.” With the steady hands of a surgeon, he removed an inch-long piece of spine and flicked it into the ocean.
“Aspirin, Tylenol, or ibuprofen?” Jack asked.
“I have some Motrin in my bag.” She smiled up at Luke. “The Navy passes out the eight-hundred milligram pills like candy.”
“How do you think I got such a large supply?” Jack asked as he poked around the other hole in her leg. “We called it vitamin M.”
Jillian handed her a pill and sweating bottle of water with a pink straw. “Sorry. I had to use one of Addi’s straws, but given your position, I thought it’d be easier to take it.”
“This is perfect.” Caroline removed the mask, again, and took the pill. “Thank you, Jillian. And you, too, Jack.”
All of a sudden Caroline’s face went white.
“What is it, sweetheart?” Luke’s heart began to pound. He brushed a black strand of hair from her face, running his fingertips over her forehead. No fever. No sweats. She didn’t look as though she was headed into shock.
“Did I…do I…” She swallowed hard then took a deep breath. He watched her gather her resolve before she asked, “Did I pass?”
Jack leaned on his elbow and stared at her. “You did wonderfully.” He patted her good leg. “Caroline, you did better than wonderful. You were awesome. I’ve had Navy SEALs panic when stung, and trust me, there’s lots of animals out there willing to hurt you in every ocean. You kept your mouthpiece in, controlled your breathing, allowed us to get you to safety, and you’re not complaining as I remove the pieces of the spine.” He nodded. “Yes. You passed.”
She moved to sit up and winced.
Luke laid his hand in the middle of her back. “Lie back down. He�
��s not done. We’ll celebrate tonight.” He kissed her forehead.
And tonight he’d tell her how he felt.
After a long soak in the hot tub—and damn it was hot—then the delicious surf and turf at the Girard’s poolside dining table, Caroline was ready to fall asleep. It might have been the three glasses of wine too. They kept toasting. That was her excuse, and she was sticking to it.
Luke rubbed her back. “I think this one is going to fall asleep in her dessert.”
Jack stood and plucked Addi from her high chair. “This one too. They’ve both had a big day.”
The child, who would soon become his daughter, nuzzled into his shoulder. “Story first.” She shifted and laid her head down, closed her pretty blue eyes, and sighed. She was asleep before Jack took a step. Jillian wound her arm around his waist and looked up at him with so much love in her eyes.
Caroline wondered if that’s how she looked at Luke. She stood, wincing at the pain that shot up her leg. She started to hobble toward the bedroom they’d been assigned for the night.
“Oh no you don’t.” Luke was on his feet and picked her up around her back and under her knees, careful to stay away from her injury.
He was surprisingly strong.
“Put me down. I can walk.” But she really liked this show of control. No man had ever carried her to bed before.
“I’ve got you. How’s your stomach?” He strode toward their room.
“Fluttery.” It was the truth. She had butterflies. The anticipation of sleeping with Luke tonight thrilled her on a basic level.
Concern darkened his eyes. “You going to be sick?” He walked faster.
“No. I think it’s something altogether different. I feel fine.” Better than fine. She hugged his neck and kissed his jaw.
“Good, because I have something I need to tell you.”
“Me too.” She reached down and opened the sliding door to their suite. Over her shoulder, she called out to their host and hostess who were almost to the pool house where they now lived. “Night.” She waved as Luke stepped into the room.
He laid her on the bed then closed and locked the door. Quickly he drew the heavy curtains closed.
Standing at the end of the bed, he stared at her. And stared some more. His eyes traced every curve from her feet to her hair.
Her heartbeat doubled while she waited for him to say something. She scanned her body for a problem. Other than the bandages on her thigh, she thought she looked all right. “Is something wrong?”
“Not a thing.” His smile was as hungry as that of a big cat on the prowl as he crawled up the bed. He stretched his tall body over hers, capturing her mouth with a kiss filled with constrained desire.
Damn leg. Damn lionfish.
She’d wanted to show him how she felt about him, about them, right after she said the words she’d never told another man, to truly make love with him. But that couldn’t happen tonight, not with her leg injecting pain that seared throughout her whole body if she moved wrong.
When he broke the kiss, he slid to her good side and propped his head on his hand. He gazed down at her, holding back, even though his body was ready to take them both to the moon.
“You know I want you, Caroline.” With a gentle finger, he brushed the strand of hair from her face then traced the outline, past her ear, down her jawline, and up the other side. It ignited every nerve in her body.
Her heart flipped over and over.
“Not just tonight.” He continued to her eyebrows, first one smooth arch then the other. “Always.” He outlined her lips, which were now as dry as her throat. “Not just in my bed, although the last few nights have been fantastic.”
Yeah. They had been more than fantastic for her. The best sex she’d ever had. But it was more than just orgasms. It was him. And her. Together. What they had was unbelievably good. She needed to tell him how she felt.
He smiled. “I want to spend every minute together. Forever.”
His deep blue eyes begged for a response. She couldn’t get it out. The words were stuck in her throat as time seemed to pause. Neither spoke.
Tell him. Tell him now, her brain ordered her mouth.
He shifted a fraction of an inch.
“I love you, Luke.” The words came out on a rush of air. She must have been holding her breath.
Before he could speak—rejecting her, accepting her—she pulled his face to hers and kissed him. She knew she was demanding as she tried to crawl into his skin because he was certainly under hers. He’d embedded himself deep in her heart, and there was no way in hell she’d let him go this time.
Breathless, heart pounding in her ears, she dropped her hands from his neck. Prepared to do whatever it took to keep him in her life, she faced him. Eye to eye.
“Oh, Caroline. I love you so much.” He kissed her forehead, working his way down her face to her cheeks. “I’ve never been so scared in my life as I was today.” He kissed her jawline from one end to the other. Lifting up, he stared down at her. “I don’t ever want to lose you again.”
“Never leave me again,” she warned.
“You’re the one that has to leave me this time. In ten days.” He pressed his lips gently to hers for a soft kiss. “But I’ll be right here.”
“I’ve only got six months left.” As far as she was concerned, it was a promise…to them. “Plus, I’ve got thirty days leave accumulated.”
“I can come to San Diego,” he offered. “It’s where my helicopter was made. That makes it a business trip.”
“What about your company? The tours you have scheduled?”
“Van loves flying my helicopter.” He gave her another quick kiss. “Besides, if I tell him you’re moving here, he’ll do anything in his power to make it happen. As long as you fly for him now and again.”
“Every chance I get.”
Van had been disappointed when she had to cancel for tomorrow, but he’d offered her more flights now that she was staying an extra week.
Everything would work out. It had to.
She loved him.
In just a few short days, he’d conquered her heart, one kindness at a time. But then again, maybe her heart had always belonged to him.
Epilogue
May, three months later
Caroline loved the feel of Luke’s warm hand possessively on her bare back. She was wearing another sparkling halter dress, one of her many new club outfits that now populated her closet at Luke’s condo. Seemed they went to Mayan Nites every time she was in town, and she went to Cancun as often as possible.
He pointed to a large table in the corner with a reserved sign, where a distinguished man was deep in conversation with Jeff “Rock Star” Lennon. She wasn’t sure if Chloe had planned to hook up with him again this trip because she hadn’t seen much of her shipboard roommates in the past two months. Their lives had gone in different directions.
Her friends had walked away with smiles—and great tans—after their week together, but Caroline didn’t think any had maintained communication with the men they’d dated while in Mexico.
She knew first-hand that Luke’s friends had all moved on because she had been back for long weekends at least once a month. She now kept her diving gear next to Luke’s, and they often explored the ocean with the BACats men, and almost always with Jack and Jillian.
They had all welcomed her into their group with hugs and shared friendly conversations about life under the sea. She belonged there and felt it all the way to her soul. The others were more experienced divers, yet seemed to take pleasure in showing her the wonders—and protecting her from the dangers—of the world underwater.
Luke had joined her in Mexico City for her grandfather’s funeral. Meeting her father again hadn’t been the disaster she’d feared after their first encounter back in flight school. Her father loved her and could be over protective, but with one assessing look, he understood the situation. He never said a word when she guided Luke into her hotel room. Over the fo
llowing two days, the two men had talked helicopters for hours while she consoled her mother. Luke had also found time for an important private conversation with her father.
As they approached the table, Luke smiled and held out his hand. “Captain Madden, nice to see you again, sir.”
“‘Cool Hand’ Luke, I didn’t realize you were here too.” The man stood to shake hands.
“Yes, sir. I live here. I own a helicopter service giving tourists a bird’s-eye view of the Mayan Riviera and shuttle people who think they're important back and forth to area resorts. I’d love to take you up if you have time.”
The man seemed to absorb every word and catalog the information. “Good to know. I might take you up on that.”
Luke moved Caroline in front of him. “Sir, I’d like you to meet my fiancée, Lieutenant Commander Caroline Hodges.”
She loved hearing the pride in his voice when he introduced her as his. She held out her hand.
The captain looked into her eyes as if he could see to her very being, as though reading her for truth or lies. The man was intense, but there was a calming familiarity about him. When he took her hand, she knew what it was. He was just like her father. “Nice to meet you, Caroline.”
His gaze rose to Luke. “It’s no longer captain. No need to call me sir. It’s Josh now. My eagles have taken a permanent perch in my closet. I’ve retired.”
At the cacophony of familiar voices, Caroline turned in time to be grabbed into a fierce hug by Lisa. Chloe passed right by them and threw herself into Jeff’s arms. Their kiss was long and sweet before she returned to Caroline for a sisterly hug.
Introductions were made and hands shaken before a waitress appeared and took their orders.
“We need to talk,” Lisa told Caroline and grabbed her by the hand. To the men, she announced, “We’ll be back in a little bit.” All four women headed to the ladies room.
