He opened his mouth to assure her there were no sharks in the moat now. But before he could say anything, she blinked and made a face. A weird gurgling sounded at the back of her throat.
“What?” he demanded, all his protective instincts jumping to the fore. His M4 was strapped to his back, but his muscles bunched, ready to swing it over his head.
“Something just touched my foot,” she whispered, and a line from that old English rock band sprang to mind:a whiter shade of pale. That definitely described what had happened to her complexion. Before Bran could tell her it was probably nothing—a fish or an eel or even just a piece of seaweed—she was splashing toward him like a lunatic, her eyes wide, her mouth contorted in a grimace.
“There it was again!” she croaked, climbing on top of him, her bare feet finding footholds on his knees and hip bones, her hands clawing at his shoulders and head until he was shoved under water.
Now usually, he would welcome a woman’s legs going over his shoulders and her breasts smashing his nose. But not while he was treading water. For a couple of seconds, they sank into the dark void before he had the wherewithal to kick and stroke toward the surface. He came up sputtering and sucking in oxygen that was heavy with the berry-sweet scent of her lotion and the subtler aroma of luscious, warm female.
“Little help here.” His words were muffled by Maddy’s sopping T-shirt and the soft cushion of her boobs. Her calf pressed against the barrel of his M4, digging the metal into his back.
“You’re on your own with this one, bro,” Mason said. And even though Bran couldn’t see Mason’s expression—what with Maddy attached to his head like one of those facehugger creatures from theAlienmovies—there was no mistaking the exasperation in his teammate’s voice.
So much for having a brother’s back, Bran thought uncharitably as he doggy-paddled to the side of the fort. He managed to get a toehold in the mortar and a handhold on a piece of cracked masonry above the waterline.
Once he secured them and caught his breath, he muttered into her chest, “So you’re telling me you don’t bat a lash when a gun is aimed at your head. And you don’t hesitate for a second to stitch up a gnarly-looking wound. And swimming through a pitch-black underwater tunnel doesn’t give you a moment’s hesitation. But something brushes your foot and suddenly you go all girlie on me?”
“What can I say?” Maddy’s whispered words were muffled since her thighs were suctioned against his ears. “Things in the water, especially slimy things or scaly things ortoothythings, rate a ten out of ten on my squick-o-meter.”Squick-o-meter?That was a new one. “And am I the only one who keeps hearin’ the theme fromJaws? Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum…”
She was clutching double fistfuls of Bran’s hair. And every second or so, another follicle pulled loose, causing tears to burn at the backs of his eyes. Then something brushed by his leg. Something big. Something scaly. Something he thought he might recognize given all the hours and days he’d spent in the ocean.
He didn’t jump when a tail fin slapped against his calf. He didn’t panic. But that was definitely an uptick in his heart rate. And he was certainly having a difficult time breathing. Of course, the latter was likely attributed to Maddy.
He carefully snaked a hand between her left thigh and his right ear, breaking the vise she had on his head. “Damnit, Maddy!” he grumbled impatiently, turning his head so asnotto talk into her breastal region. Any other night, he would breathe her in and maybe—okay,definitely—open his mouth and taste her. But right now it made carrying on a conversation, not to mentionconcentratingon the conversation, more than a bit…uh…arduous. To Mason he said, “I think we may have a problem.”
“Barracuda, you think?” Mason asked and Bran wasn’t surprised the ol’ Boston boy had already come to the same conclusion. Obviously the fish was testing them all, nudging and brushing and trying to determine if they might be good to eat.
And the blood on my shorts and seeping through my bandage sure isn’t helping matters.
“If I had to guess,” he agreed.
“Likely it’s been stuck in here for a few days,” Mason speculated. “Since the last storm made waves big enough to carry it over the seawall.”
“Not good news,” Bran said unnecessarily. Barracudas didn’t usually attack humans. But there was no telling what a six-foot, one-hundred-pound, trapped,hungryfish was capable of.
“You gotta get off my shoulders,” Bran told Maddy. “But I want you to stay between me and the fort wall. Be careful of the barnacles.” Because those could do almost as much damage as the fish.
“Did I hear y’all mention somethin’ about a barracuda?” she asked, not budging an inch.
“Could be,” Mason said. “Feels like it every time it rubs against me.”
Great. Way to reassure her,gavone.
“Hey,” he said, trying to offer some comfort. “Barracuda attacks aren’t usually deadly. Not like shark attacks can be.” Of course, with a set of dagger-like teeth made for digging into prey and ripping away chunks of flesh, the fish could score some serious devastation. Justthinkingabout what the creature could do to Maddy’s soft, perfect skin…
He was suddenly sick, the Gatorade he’d had earlier turning sour in his stomach.
“Good, great,” Maddy said, slipping off his shoulders and quietly splashing into the tepid water. “All the same, what do you say to us blowin’ this Popsicle stand and gettin’ our asses inside the fort?”
“You sure you can do this?” he asked.
“Does the Tin Man have a sheet-metal dick?” she responded.
Brave…
Once again the word whispered through his head. Because contrary to what some people believed, bravery wasn’t aboutnotbeing afraid to do something. It was aboutbeingafraid to do something and still doing it anyway.
He would not have thought it was possible for his estimation of Maddy to grow any more. But right then and there, it did. Madison Marie Powers, oil heiress, philanthropist, Texas tornado disguised in a tiny teacup package, was one of the most courageous individuals he’d ever met. Which was saying something considering he’d made a career of working with the bravest sonsofbitches on the planet.
