Her Moonlit Gamble (9 page)

The cage rocked, gently first, then again, harder. And then it tilted. Joslyn grasped at the handle inside the cage as other snorkelers tumbled into her, sending her crashing against the side. Her arm slipped through the bars and she snatched it back as fast as the water would allow. Even so, she felt the scrape of the shark's skin along her forearm. At the same time, her snorkel filled with water and she choked, pushing toward the surface.

The water churned with panic. She shoved the mask up and cast her gaze about for Andrew. But in the corner of the cage where he'd been, the water was red.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Joslyn dropped the mask back in place and held her breath, diving beneath the water and pushing through the other divers until she saw a strong familiar arm. She grabbed it and tugged it toward the surface, but he yanked free.
 

Great. Now was not the time to be pissed. She grabbed, tugged and again he yanked free.
 

Her lungs were about the burst, so she surfaced, just as a wave slapped her in the face. She was about to dive again when he broke through right in front of her.
 

"Joslyn. I need your help."

Her pulse thundered. Was the blood his? And suddenly, all she could see was shark fins slicing through the water. Panic flared, and she fought it. If he was bitten, if he was hurt, she was going to have to center herself. This was her job. She could do this. But to have Andrew as a patient...

He pointed down and she took a deep breath, then dove after him. She saw the problem right away.

The little blonde in the pink bikini had her arm caught between the cage and the handle, where the cage had bent from what had to be an impact with the sharks. Her arm was bleeding, darkening the water around her and drawing the attention of the predators. The girl's wide eyes reflected fear and pain, and shit, she couldn't surface. Joslyn smacked Andrew's arm and mimed taking a breath, then pointing to the girl. Andrew nodded, rose briefly to the surface, then returned to blow breath into the girl's mouth.

Joslyn tamped down the surge of jealousy when his lips sealed over the girl's, and she worked the young woman's arm loose. Finally, she was able to slide it sideways and free, clamping her hand hard around the upper arm to staunch the flow of blood. Andrew wrapped his arm around the young woman from behind, holding her against his chest, and swam upward.
 

The three of them reached the surface together, where the crew was waiting to lift the injured girl into the boat. Joslyn scrambled after her, only vaguely aware that most of the tourists who'd been in the cage were on board now. She called for a blanket and the first aid kit, then ordered the crew to call 911 so an ambulance would be waiting at the dock. Then, blocking out the other tourists and the commotion of raising the shark cage, she turned her attention to the girl.

Andrew dropped to his knees in front of her. "What do you need me to do?"

Just then one of the crew members returned with the first aid kit and blanket. She snapped on a pair of gloves. "Hold her arm above her heart to slow the bleeding."

He did as she asked, holding the girl's arm perpendicular to the deck. Joslyn quickly assessed the damage. The wound was too bloody to see clearly. She needed to clean it up.
 

"Wrap her up in the blanket, Andrew. She's going into shock."

Again, he did as she asked, tucking the scratchy blanket snugly around the girl's slender body and holding onto her while Joslyn cleaned the wound with bottled water to get a better look. Surprised by the straight line of the gash, she looked over at Andrew.

"She's not bitten."

"No. She reached a hand through the cage bars, and when the shark got too close, she snatched it back. The shark bumped into the cage hard enough to bend the aluminum and she cut her arm on that."

Joslyn shook her head. "She did a damned good job of it. She's going to need stitches beyond what I can do out here." She ripped open a roll of gauze and wound it securely around the injury, applying as much pressure as she dared. The bleeding had slowed, but still soaked the bandage.

"How far are we from shore?" she asked the crew member who hovered over her.

"About ten minutes."

"And the hospital from there?"

"Another ten. Is she going to be okay?"

"She lost a lot of blood. Can we punch it?"

"You're hurt," Andrew said sharply, grabbing Joslyn's wrist and pulling it across the girl's body to inspect Joslyn's scrape.

"I'm fine." Though the injury did need to be cleaned. "My arm fell out of the cage when it tilted, and a shark scraped by."

"I see," Andrew said, plucking a pyramid-shaped scale from her skin and holding it up in front of her.

Now, Joslyn was a nurse, and the sight of a shark scale in her wound shouldn't make her woozy, but it did. She swallowed hard and wished for a fresh bottle of water.

"Want to keep it as a souvenir?" he asked, with a flash of his familiar grin.
 

Her heart tripped. Could he maybe forgive her for her thoughtless words last night? He seemed to have pushed it out of his mind, for now. If he could do that, there was hope.

"Hell, yeah." Then watched as he tucked it in the pocket of his trunks.

***

Joslyn stood on the dock and watched the ambulance speed off, sirens wailing. The shivers started in her arms and spread until her whole body shook with the aftermath of the adrenaline rush--nearly drowning, fear that Andrew was the one who was hurt, then shifting into trauma mode.
 

A soft towel dropped over her shoulders. She looked up at Andrew beside her, still grim-faced, a stranger. She'd made him that.
 

"Thank you," she managed through chattering teeth.

"Let's get you back to the hotel," he said, not particularly friendly, but not as cold as earlier, either.
 

He guided her to the car, arranged the towel beneath her so she wouldn't soak the seat, and walked around the other side of the car. By the time he got the engine started, she was visibly shaking. He glanced over in alarm and cranked up the heater, aiming the vents on her.
 

"No heated seats in Hawaiian rental cars," he apologized, then dragged his bag over the console and dug out a t-shirt for her to wear over her bloody bathing suit.
 

She had trouble putting it on, and he had to help her, guiding her hands through the armholes. The giant cotton shirt swallowed her, and she tucked her legs under the hem, wrapping her arms around them, and burst into tears.
 

"Aw, hell."
 

He shut off the engine and sat there while she shuddered and sobbed, gulping for air as the tears poured out of her, the distress of last night, the lack of sleep, the uncertainty of seeing him, the danger, the girl. Finally he reached across the console and put his arm around her, drawing her against his side, patting her shoulder awkwardly.
 

"Jesus, Jos, everything turned out okay. She'll be fine."

"But...will...we?" she sobbed, wiping tears off his bare shoulder, then starting to cry all over again. "You wouldn't...even...let me...talk."

He sighed. "I heard all I wanted to hear."

"But I was just...thinking aloud. Thinking things...I hadn't had time to think. Everything happened so fast when you came home, when we came here." She sat back and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. She winced to see a streak of mascara across it. She hadn't thought any mascara remained after last night. "I've only dated doctors lately because I like the way they treat me. I mean, they know what I can do, what I'm capable of in the ER, but they still treat me like I'm delicate, if you know what I mean. Sometimes a girl likes to feel that."

He scowled. "You are the least delicate woman I've ever met."

"Which is how I'm different with you. A different person."

"Unsophisticated. I get it." He bit out the words.

"But you didn't let me finish thinking it out before you walked out. I figured it out. I'm
happy
when I'm with you. I'm me. I don't have to pretend to be something else, even though I like that they think of me as something to be protected."

He stared out the windshield, hand braced on the steering wheel so hard that the heel of his hand was white, jaw tight. "That's great, but that doesn't make a damned bit of difference if you can't feel the same way for me that I feel about you."

"But I do, you big idiot. I've been so terrified all week of doing something that would tear us apart. I thought it would be sleeping with you. I thought sex would mess everything up, but it only added to it, added this wonderful new layer to what we've always had. The one thing I couldn't bear when everything started changing was the idea that I might lose you, that I might never again have you in my life."

He slanted a look at her. "Needing me isn't the same as loving me."

"I'm afraid. I've never loved anyone. What if I do it wrong?"

His eyes burned into her, his hands clenched. "

"But I do love you. I just don't think I realized how much until I thought I'd never have you in my life again. It felt like a piece of me was missing, a piece so integral that I didn't want to go on without it." She shifted onto her knees. "Everything we've done this week is a risk. But I'm going to ask you to take an even bigger risk and give me a chance to show you how much I love you."

His jaw was tight for a long moment, his gaze averted through the front windshield. Terror that he'd refuse, that he'd boot her out of his life, took over. Then he turned back to her and gave her that half-grin. "That might be the scariest gamble yet."

Relief rushed through her, better than any orgasm, and she started crying again. "But worth it," she said, winding her arms around his neck. "I promise it will be so worth it."

THE END