“Thank you,” I said. I still didn’t like the guy, but he’d won a single brownie point with that comment.
Calder laughed. I guess he wasn’t taking Knox seriously. “He took a special liking to Emerson, if you get my meaning?”
“No,” I said.
Knox spoke louder. “Yes.”
What did that mean? Why did it seem like they were having a secondary conversation that I wasn’t completely aware of?
“I’ve got James on it, but I’d like to keep eyes on Emerson until we can guarantee Rex is out of the area.”
Knox nodded. “Good choice.”
“No.” I threw my hands in the air again. Weren’t they listening at all? “I do not need ‘eyes on me.’ I’m fine and perfectly capable of holding my own against the wannabe dinosaur.”
“Now you see why I need your help?” Calder asked.
I stomped my foot but not enough for either of them to notice. “The only thing you need to help here are the manatees. We’ve already discussed that.”
It’d taken me yelling at him and throwing his life jackets over the dock, but Calder had agreed to bring his boats in by another route and slow their speed to monitor for slow-moving manatees.
Calder grinned. “You’ll need to keep Emerson and the manatees safe until further notice.”
“As long as ‘further notice’ is one week,” Knox said, doing that eyes-widening thing again. That was getting extra annoying.
But also kind of hot. The longer we stood on the dock with the humid air hitting me in the face, the more I found myself questioning exactly how much muscle he had under his stretchy black T-shirt. Could he lift me up and carry me down the walkway?
Why the hell did I care?
I didn’t like big, beefy dudes. So far there hadn’t been a Mr. Right for me, but I was sure when I found him, he’d be someone academic, an animal lover, and he’d have to like sushi.
“Do you like sushi?” I asked Knox.
He scrunched up his nose. “No. Who likes raw fish?”
“Normal people.”
See? Definitely not Mr. Right, so it didn’t matter if he had glorious muscles or not.
“I don’t need someone to watch me. Even for a week. I’m perfectly safe, Calder. The only people who have put anyone at risk around here are your guys if they don’t learn proper boating rules.”
Calder sighed. He did that a lot when I was around. Maybe he had a breathing problem. I was too nice to ask.
The air changed. I stopped the tirade I was about to launch into and twisted my head to the side.
Muscles in Knox’s arm twitched as time slowed down.
Light erupted from the ocean.
Then everything sped up again as what felt like a giant hand punched right through us.
Calder swore. Knox jumped in front of me as a violent flash of orange light slammed into my side, burning me up as it knocked us to the ground. Windows in Calder’s shop exploded as I hit the hard wooden planks of the dock, Knox coming down with me. Glass shards dropped onto the dock, pinging off the wood like heavy rain.
Next came chunks of splintered wood as the dock rolled like a wave coming in off the ocean. Knox moved himself to cover me completely as pieces smacked against his back. My legs got the worst of it, as small pieces flicked off my bare skin.
The orange cloud rolled over us, but no one moved.
Thirty seconds passed, which is actually a long time to stay calm on a wooden deck with a hot guy on top of you.
