She’d faced her fears of diving to come for him. In that moment, all his fear and anxiety when he’d gone to her rescue earlier made sense. He loved her. Every quirk, every laugh, every bit of her being.
He’d followed her instructions knowing what she was doing, because it was what he would have done in her position.
But when they’d landed back on the ground, weighed down by the anchor, the real fear had returned. She’d ignored his attempts to get her to surface and when he’d opened his eyes to see what she was doing, he’d seen a bright orange safety marker buoy in front of him.
Genius.
And so like Penelope to have one on her.
He had to tell her how he felt.
“I love you,” he said again as he took stock of the surroundings. The luxury boat was lit up with Nhiari and Dot in the spotlight. Next to it was the empty police patrol boat and floating just nearby was a PAWS boat with Georgie in it.
He turned back to Penelope and dragged her close, kissing her. “Thank you.”
She squeezed him back, but there was a slight wariness in her tone. “How long were you down there? You might have the bends.”
He grinned, not offended that she was questioning his sanity. “Not long. I’m fine.”
“Let’s get you out of there,” Georgie called.
He gestured for Penelope to go first and helped her aboard the PAWS boat before he climbed up and shed his scuba gear. Then he swept her into a hug and kissed her. “You’re my hero.”
She clung to him, her body shaking. “You need to go to the hospital. We didn’t do the safety stop.”
“It’s fine. We weren’t down long enough.” He squeezed her. “We’re all right. You were so brave.”
She shook her head. “I almost couldn’t go down.”
“Almost doesn’t count. You went down.”
He kissed her again and then kept his arm around her as he assessed the situation. Grant lying dead on the floor of the luxury boat and both Murray and Declan handcuffed on the deck.
Murray called, “I told them where you were, and gave them the key.”
“That might count if you hadn’t been the one to chain my feet in the first place,” Sam called back.
Declan stared at the deck, not moving, not saying anything.
“Declan isn’t an innocent bystander,” Sam told them. “He’s as involved as those two were, maybe more so.”
Dot glared at Declan. “Right. We’ll take them into the station. You two are going to the hospital before you come in and give your statement. It’s going to be a long night.” She glanced at Grant and grimaced.
There would be a lot of paperwork for her to fill out.
Sam saluted and Georgie started the engine, heading back to town. He moved over to her. “Drop us at my boat.” It was anchored not far away.
“Are you both well enough?” Georgie asked.
He waggled his eyebrows. “More than well enough.”
She rolled her eyes, then gave him a quick hug. “I’m glad you’re all right. You had me scared for a while.”
“They make ’em tough in the army.” He smiled but couldn’t hide the involuntary shiver at the memory of being underwater with no air.
She squeezed his arm and drove towards his boat.
Penelope was correctly storing the scuba tanks so they wouldn’t roll around. “How are you?”
