After several minutes, their erratic breathing and the pounding of their hearts were the only sounds in the tiny bathroom. Teal opened her mouth over where his neck jo ined his shoulder. He tasted salty, sexy. Zane shuddered as she touched her tongue to his sweaty skin. Impossibly, her heartbeat reverted to rapid and out of control again.
Í slept with you the night of your father·s funeral,µ she said, her breath heavin g hard through her lungs. He was stil hard, stil deep inside her. Her internal muscles pulsed from the last climax, and she felt another building. The marble counter was cold on her bottom, but Zane·s body blazed hot and burned her skin as the climax start ed rol ing toward her like an out of control bul et train.
He paused on the withdrawal. Ńo « What?µ He pushed inside her slick sheath. ´That·s ³
impossible.µ He withdrew slowly, showing his remarkable control.
Teal tightened her ankles in the smal of his back to pul him closer.
´You weren·t at³the³Jesus, woman, let me³µ He thrust hard and kept pumping until she was on a pinnacle of the highest mountaintop. Í didn·t see you at the funeral.µ
The orgasm pounded over her like surf after high tide. Deaf, dumb, and blind, she held on as Zane rocked her world.
While she lay limply against his chest, he reached out and turned on the shower. Teal started to burble³something. But Zane just laughed and swooped down to kiss her.
Ĺater.µ
´Good,µ she muttered against his chin. Í·m an amoeba.µ
Teal was pretty sure she blanked out as they showered. She suddenly found herself ³damp and limp³lying on Zane·s crisp white sheets without quite knowing how she·d gotten there.
Eyes closed, she inhaled the unique fragrance of his skin, her fingers tangled in the hair on his chest. ´You have super powers,µ she sounded drugged.
He smiled against her wet hair. Clean and exhausted, Zane drew her against his chest. He couldn·t lose this. God, he couldn·t lose
her
. ´You should sleep. I want to dive at the first hint of daylight.µ
Śleep? Are you crazy? And miss a second of this? No way.µ
He ran his fingers lightly down her back. Her spine of steel. It stunned him how strong she was and yet, how incredibly fragile. Śo you took advantage of a man three sheets to the wind?µ He ran his fingers up and down the hil s and val ey of her sweet ass and felt the butterfly kiss of her lashes against his chest.
´My flight was late.µ Her fingers combed through the hair on his chest, then played with his nipple until he nearly took her again. He couldn·t quite manage it again that fast however.
He captured her busy fingers and flattened her hand against his chest.
Í got there when it was over. I went to your house«µ
´Jesus, sweetheart«µ He·d been a complete and utter fucking mess. The booze hadn·t helped his melancholy either. He·d sobbed like a damned baby.
Her lips brushed the underside of his chin. Comfort. Love. Warmth. Í just wanted to comfort you. To
do
something « But you were so smashed, you didn·t know or care who I was.µ
´Why didn·t you say something sooner?µ
´You didn·t need someone to give you platitudes. You didn·t want to talk. You needed me that night. And I wanted to give you whatever you needed.µ
He played with the wet strands of her hair clinging around her nape. ´Your hai r was long.µ
Í cut it after I left. My divorce was final. That·s when I final y managed to elude Denny. I went to Alabama after that. Started fresh.µ
He brushed a kiss to the top of her head. ´Thank you.µ
´For putting out? It was sex.µ
Ńo. It helped me cope with what I was going through. To be honest, I don·t remember you, per se. Just a vague memory of silky skin and long hair. What I do remember was warmth, and compassion, and someone giving without the expectation of getting anything back.µ
She nipped him on his bicep. Óh, it wasn·t
that
altruistic.µ Her voice was fil ed with laughter. ´Make no mistake. I got back
plenty
.µ
Zane lazily rol ed her warm, pliant body under him and kissed his way from her ear to her mouth. Í feel so used.µ
´Feel free to pay « me back. Hmm « a little to the left³ah. Right there«µ
The ocean was warm despite the gray, colorless, early morning light. What Zane real y wanted was natural sunlight instead of the powerful, yet artificial, aluminum dive lights they were using.
Fortunately, they had flat calm. Visibility would improve as the sun rose. Zane angled his light to see Teal. She gave him a thumbs-up. He gestured toward the blurred white shape of the plane below them.
Maybe if they used their powerful beams together the damn red box would glow or something. The way his luck was going, a shark probably ate it.
This was insane. Mission fucking -wel impossible.
He had never felt the vastness of his underwater world as much as he did this morning. It seemed huge. Dangerous. Unfriendly. He resented feeling that way about a place he·d believed magical his whole life.
He nudged the insidious niggle of fear away, con centrating on being pissed off instead. He had everything to lose, not just the
Vrijheid,
but people he cared about ³
Teal
³were al in danger unless a fucking miracle occurred and they found this Alphachip by six o·clock that night. He shone the light on hi s watch. Barely eighteen hours to find a box barely the size of a loaf of rye. The odds on this bet were stacked a mile high against him.
Zane felt sick as they approached the broken plane, its shattered windshield reflecting murky light back at them.
The thing was a fucking abomination, that·s what it was. And there wasn·t a damn thing he could do to fix the situation. Other than systematical y search and pray like hel he found that tiny box in time.
Before the sun had even been a hint on the horizon he ·d gathered everyone in his cabin and laid out how he wanted them to search. Slowly, systematical y. He had Saul help with mapping out a grid. He·d keep track of the search pattern from his onboard computer.
They·d each have their own section, then switch, double-checking each section off the grid.
This was how they worked a wreck. The real estate was smal er, but the principle was the same. There was comfort knowing he·d walked this walk before. Stil . Zane didn·t want Teal with him down there³a lot.
He sucked up the fear and frustration and headed for his section of the cockpit. He·d already searched around the body of the plane, but decided to take a second look in case he·d missed something. Thank God the area around the downed plane was shadowy and sti l murky. He could barely see in this light that the cannon were once again buried, that his glory hole was gone as if it had never been. And he could avoid seeing the sheared off ribs of his
Vrijheid
buried, once again, beneath the sand and silt.
He drew a mental breath and reminded himself how dangerous it was to get pissed off a hundred feet underwater. Air got used up in the tanks fast when your breathing got beyond a slow, relaxed pace, which meant wasted trips back to the surface. Better to be calm. Deadly calm. And find that fucking box. Teal headed around the nose of the plane to start her search. She was a natural scavenger, searching each grain of sand. Each shel . The doors were both crushed, impossible to open without other tools. But as far as he could see, there was nothing of a personal nature inside the cockpit.
Ninety minutes later, they headed to the surface. Zane read the tension in the line of her back as she climbed the steel ladder into the boat.
Ánything?µ Ryan asked before adjusting his mask.
Ńot yet.µ Teal removed her tank. ´Maybe we could use the crane and lift it a bit. See if there·s anything underneath?µ
´Maybe.µ Zane gritted his teeth. ´This is shit. But be thorough.µ He clapped his hand on Ben·s shoulder. Éven when you want to kick sand.µ
Ben·s eyes narrowed as he tossed a glance over his shoulder toward the guards. Í wanna kick something al right, but it isn·t sand,µ he muttered before he jumped into the water, closely fol owed by Ryan.
Teal didn·t want to talk, but for once, neither did Zane. They sat side by side, staring at the water. The sun·s bright greeting as it final y woke didn·t take away the chil creeping over his bones. He combed his hair back with his fingers, wishing for the impossible.
Ryan and Ben climbed on board, silent as two mourners at a funeral. Ńothing except a crab,µ Ben told them.
Ryan pointed at the map weighted to the table with a conch shel . ´Been there, been there.
There. Maybe here?µ
Teal·s brown eyes grew dark with focus. ´We·re going t o find this, guys. See you in ninety.µ
She went to the edge of the platform and slipped over the side.
Zane jumped after her.
Frustrated and empty-handed, he and Teal returned to the surface ninety minutes later.
Ben and Ryan took their turn. Ninety min utes under, ninety up top.
Zane and Teal went down again.
As he drifted down through the golden shafts of morning sunlight, he opened his mind to the Universe. To God, or Poseidon, or goddamned Zeus. Hey, this mess sucked so bad, why the hel shouldn·t he go for the boss of al the gods?
Help me find that box. Just show me where it is.
In response, he heard the blips and knocks of fish, and the Darth Vader sound of Teal·s aerator as his ears adjusted to the depth. She was as focused and determined as he was.
Undeterred by the enormity of the task. Zane was ridiculously proud of her, and grateful that she·d final y relented. Her agreeing to come on this salvage had literal y changed his life.
What a woman. Knowing what she·d done for him after his dad·s fu neral humbled him.
She·d wanted to comfort him and she had. More than she would ever be able to understand.
Maybe more than
he
would ever be able to understand.
He·d told himself that it was his father·s death that had left him feeling so empty after the funeral. Now he could see that that had only been a part of the problem.
The other part had been missing that generosity of spirit Teal had shown him. His only regret about the whole situation was that she·d ended up hurt by his lack of recal . Seriously dumbass behavior on his part.
Damn it, he needed time with her. Time without al this fucking tension and danger and distraction. One thing he knew for sure, no matter what the danger to herself, she wasn·t going anywhere without him. As long as he was in danger, she·d be stuck like Crazy Glue to his side. And he had no choice in the matter. Zane seriously considered knocking her out when they got back on board. He·d knock her out and have Saul take her to St. Maarten and Maggie « Crap. He was losing his mind. He could no sooner hit her, than he could ³
Holy
shit, what·s that?
He swam closer to the side window and shone the powerful light into the mangled controls on the dash.
Red.
No way. He·d visual y searched every square inch of this section.
Red. Smal . Square. Shit! Yes,
way
! He tried to angle his body between the crumpled door frame and the seat. He was just too big, bigger with his gear on. The gap was maybe a foot wide. He braced a foot on the bottom edge of the cockpit and used both hands to try and pry the mangled door away from the frame.
The body gave an ominous screech and groan as if it were some beast waking up.
He rapped on his tank, but there was no need, Teal was already zooming over to him, supple as a fish, her eyes wide with fear at the sound. He gave her the okay sign, then shone his light through the shattered side window so she could see the interior. See that corner of red, barely visible behind shattered wood and glass, metal, and strips of leather seat swaying in the current like black seaweed.
She put one hand and flipper into the narrow opening, trying to wedge her knee into the gap. Impossible.
He tapped her on the shoulder. The aluminum frame had sharp, jagged edges that could slice through neoprene or one of her hoses, he didn·t want her hurt. No use wasting time.
This required the kind of underwater cutting tools
Decrepit
didn·t carry.
Zane pointed up, his heart hammering like jungle drums. But at least they now knew where the box was and what they needed to retrieve it.
Yes!
Sixteen hours to spare. Time to go to St. Maarten, find the tool needed, and be back.
Turnaround time, a couple of hours. Three at the most. The relief he felt was staggering.
Almost euphoric, his magic cape firmly back in place, Zane headed up to report the good news to the others.
* * *
Spectators. Not to mention female spectators, especial y when his relationship with Teal was stil fragile, and her trust in him shaky at best.
Zane shoved back his mask, then removed his weight belt. He recognized the
Slow Dance
as a rental out of St. Maarten. He·d attended several parties on her over the years. A hundred and forty feet of top-of-the-line luxury, no expenses spared for the people with big bucks who could afford to rent it.
Half a dozen skimpily clad woman leaned over the railing. Áhoy there! What are you diving for?µ an attractive Chinese woman yel ed across the space between the two boats.
Petite and curvy, she looked like a porcelain dol dressed in a tiny red bikini.
Ńothing yet,µ Zane smiled with effort as he helped Teal with her tanks. A leggy brunette, wearing just the bottom half of a white bikini, joined the China dol at the rail. ´Hi.µ Her smile was as white as her barely there suit. Ćan we watch?µ
Ńothing too exciting happening, but sure. Be my guest.µ
Ćool. Are you al alone over there? Would you like some company?µ
He sure as hel wasn·t going to tel anyone how many people were on board the
Decrepit
. As innocuous as a boat ful of scantily clad woman might be, he had no idea who·d rented that yacht. He might have guessed that Teal wouldn·t take their treating her as if she was invisible lightly.