Romeo grunted when Mia’s butt inadvertently landed atop his dangly bits.
And Doc cursed as the first aid kit fell from his grip, bounced in the bottom of the raft, and then went sailing overboard.
Mia didn’t think.
In fact, she was working on pure instinct when she let go of the safety rope and lunged for the escaped equipment. Two water bottles fell from the top of her shirt when she dove an arm into the drink, barely catching the handle on the first aid kit before it disappeared into the deep.
She wasn’t prepared for how heavy it was. She squeaked her alarm as it tried to wrench her over the side of the raft. But a second later, she felt Romeo’s big, strong hand catch the waistband of her shorts.
In a flash, she and the first aid kit were dragged back into the watercraft.
It was only after she brushed her hair behind her ear with a shaky hand that she realized what a colossallystupidmove it’d been to go after the medical supplies.
She expected Romeo to say something to that affect, but he only touched the scratch on her chin, looked deep into her eyes, and asked, “You okay?”
Her voice was a harsh rasp when she nodded. “I think so.”
“Good catch,” he told her, but she thought she detected a slight tremor in his voice. He wasn’t as unmoved by the last twenty seconds as he was trying to pretend.
“You too,” she assured him, and watched his Adam’s apple travel up the length of his tanned throat.
After blowing out a deep breath, he turned and asked the other two, “You both okay?”
“Define okay,” Doc grumbled as Cami carefully let go of the safety rope, dropped the flare gun case, and once again situated herself on the side of the raft. Before Romeo could answer, Doc added, “Let’s get to that damned island before another one of those suckers rolls by.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Romeo dipped his chin, grabbing the oars and resuming his position at the front of the boat.
Mia realized just how shot her nerves truly were when she began emptying her shirt. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t contain the tremor in her hands.
Cami must have been feeling the same way, because she blew out a deep breath and said, “Okay. I was serious about needing a distraction. Only now I need a distraction from thoughts of enormous, man-killing waves as much as I need a distraction from thoughts of giant, toothy sharks and from the toast that’s sitting in the bottom of my stomach like a soggy loaf of...erp.” Her hand jumped up to cover her mouth.
Mia waited for Cami to hang her head over the side of the boat. But after a second or two, the lawyer lowered her hand and took a deep breath.
“Let’s get to know each other,” she said. “I’ll go first. I was born and raised on Staten Island. My favorite color is green. I enjoy a good Old Fashioned. My mom forced me to take piano lessons when I was a kid even though what Ireallywanted was to become a ventriloquist. My sister broke this tooth”—she tapped one of her front teeth—“when she threw a rock at me in middle school because I told Jimmy Russo she liked him. So now I have a crown. I got my undergrad in political science from NYU and—”
“Aha!” Doc pointed at her nose, and Mia was gratified to hear his voice was a bit scratchier than usual, proof that hers weren’t the only nerves that’d come a little unraveled.
They said bad luck came in threes. So far, they’d survived a plane crash and a rogue wave. She didn’t even want tothinkwhat their third trial might look like. And she was glad Cami had offered up a distraction.
“Iknewit!” Doc added. “Youdohave political aspirations.”
“Ididhave them,” Cami corrected with a lift of her chin. A chin that was a little wobbly. “And then I volunteered one summer for a councilwoman and realized I’ll never have what it takes to make it in politics. I’m not bloodthirsty enough. And that’s when I applied to law school.”
“I bet your dad was disappointed you switched gears,” Doc speculated. “Given what he was involved in, I’m sure he’d have liked nothing better than to have a New York politician in his pocket.”
Cami bristled at his assumption. “I wouldn’t know if he was disappointed or not. I haven’t had anything to do with him since I turned twenty and found out where he got the money for my ballet lessons. And believe me, I have the student loan debt to prove that.”
Mia watched Doc’s eyebrows arch. Cami’s admission obviously surprised him. Although Mia couldn’t sayshewas all that shocked. In the little time she’d known the lawyer, she’d gotten the impression Cami had a strict moral and ethical code.
“Anyway,” Cami continued, “after law school, I was offered a position at Leeman and Lester in Miami. It was there I began to specialize in property conflicts, especially disputes between individuals and state and federal governments.” Without missing a beat, she turned to Doc. “That’s me in a nutshell. What about you? What’s your story?”
“Not much to tell.” Doc’s expression went instantly enigmatic. “Grew up in Montana. Won a scholarship to Yale. Then the Navy. And now I’m here.”
Cami’s mouth flattened. “There you go being all succinct again. I’m having a flashback to this morning’s apology letter.”
Doc gave a grunt. Which Mia had learned was typical of a man when he didn’t have anything else he wanted to say.
Cami sighed, having come to the same conclusion. She turned to Romeo and asked, “And you?”
