“Then come back up here to the pilothouse and keep your head down!”
“Do I need to get ‘Like hell I will’ tattooed across my ass?” Her chin set at a mulish angle.
Something somersaulted low in his belly. He wanted to blame it on the adrenaline coursing through his bloodstream. But he figured it probably had more to do with the thought of seeing her naked ass, tattooed or not.
“Alex…” he began in exasperation.
She pointed to his nose. “Stop looking at me in that tone of voice.”
He could’ve pointed out that he wasn’t sure how a person couldlookat another person in a tone of voice, but…again…ticktock.
“Give her the pistol,” Wolf said.
Mason swung around to gape at his former swim partner. “You can’t be serious.”
“What if we’re not able to stop them?” Wolf’s words had Mason’s blood turning as cold as glacier water. “If we’re boarded, the women will need a way to defend themselves.”
Mason indulged in a three-second curse-fest before finally gritting from between his teeth, “Fine. Go take care of the sails. I’ll give Little Miss Weaponless a quick, dirty lesson in firearms and hope like hell she doesn’t end up shooting off her own face.”
“That’sMissWeaponless to you. I’ll thank you to avoid aspersions about my size,” Alex muttered with a teasing gleam in her eye, proving she had more spec-ops soldier in her than he could have imagined.
For the forty billionth time, he was tempted to pull her into his embrace. In fact, he glanced down and found his hand reaching for her. But to his great relief, Wolf distracted him by asking Chrissy, “If I say ‘I’m sorry’ one more time, will you forgive me?”
Not taking her eyes off the low waves slapping against the hulls, Chrissy frowned. “This is no time to—”
Wolf cut her off. “Will you?”
She spared him an exasperated glance. “Considering the dire straits we’re in, and the fact that you’re about to go risk your neck in an attempt to save mine, this feels a bit like extortion.”
“Chrissy.” There was genuine entreaty in Wolf’s voice. “Willyou?”
Mason saw the instant Chrissy gave in. She took one hand off the wheel to shoo Wolf away. “Yes. Fine. You’re forgiven. Go lower those sails.”
“See?” Wolf winked at her. “Knew I’d win you over if I just kept at it.”
She harrumphed before turning back to the wheel and the water. After Wolf exited the pilothouse, Mason motioned Alex close so he could go over the mechanics of his pistol. How to thumb off the safety. How to eject the clip and reload. How to squeeze the trigger and not jerk it.
It felt sacrilegious. Alex was a historian, for fuck’s sake. She should be nose-deep in one of her books, not learning how to kill. And if he ever needed proof his life wasn’t normal, thathewasn’t normal, this was it.
What should have been a beautiful, sunny sail back to Wayfarer Island showed every indication of turning into a bloodbath. He just hoped like hell it wouldn’t betheirbloodbath.
Andthatwas the only thing that kept him talking, kept him explaining. The thought that maybe, just maybe, Alex could use the information he was giving her to save herself.
If it came to that.
Of course, he’d do every single damned thing within his power to make sure it didn’t come to that.
“You don’t happen to have the owner’s manual for this thing handy, do you?” Alex asked, weighing the weapon. It looked massive in her small hand.
“You won’t need it. It’s real simple, just point and pull. And if worse comes to worst, don’t hesitate. Put a hole through whichever cocksucker comes through that door as easily as you’d eat a Girl Scout cookie.”
“Which flavor?” Her green eyes blinked up at him.
“What?”
“Which flavor? Because if you’re talking about Samoas, I tend to savor them. But Peanut Butter Patties? Oh, I can’t help myself. I think I actually forget to chew.”
He was smiling. He couldn’t believe it, but he was. “There you go being a smart-ass again. Is this your way of hugging me?”
