Page 74 of Risky Desires

Old Smithy squinted against the glare, and I wondered why he didn’t wear sunglasses. “Don’t do anything stupid down there.”

I assumed he was talking to me, and I nodded. “I won’t.”

“Be careful, Indy,” he said in a tone that suggested that he was almost nervous about saying it.

“As always, Dad. Don’t go to sleep,” she shot back before turning to me. “Let’s go. Forty minutes max. Keep right beside me.”

“I’ll stay glued to your hip.” I pulled my mask onto my face and took a giant stride off the back of the boat into a world where I was not the apex predator and where my detective skills meant very little.

The chilly water hit my face like a slap, catching me by surprise. Indiana had insisted that we wear wetsuits, and I was glad she did. The cool ocean seeped through the neoprene and stole the warmth from my skin. The cool bite sharpened my senses, and as my ears filled with the sounds of swooshing water, I inhaled my first breath underwater in over a decade.

Indiana waved in front of my mask, and I gave her the okay signal.

It was weird to hear my own breathing, and it took a few minutes for me to get a handle on my buoyancy with my integrated vest. But I only had to fiddle with minor adjustments before I was able to stick to Indiana’s side.

As she led me around and underneath Rhino, she took me through a few drills.

Indiana moved with an ease that made me look clumsy. The dim light filtering down from above highlighted the sun-bleached tips of her hair that trailed behind her like whisps of silk. She was strong, yet graceful. Although she kept watch around us, her gaze never drifted too far from me.

I caught glimpses of her pale pink lips parting ever so slightly as she adjusted her regulator in her mouth. The scar on her forehead, usually hidden under her thick bangs, was prominent, like a badge of honor. Knowing what little I did about her, I imagined it would be a scar she didn’t regret. Despite being concealed in her wetsuit, her toned arms and long legs looked incredible.

My wrist scraped against Rhino’s barnacled hull, and I snapped my arm back, chiding myself to focus on what I was doing. My eyes betrayed me, drawn to her smooth movements as she swam alongside me. She was at home here in the ocean.

I didn’t have anywhere that would give me the look of pleasure she was displaying.

The trailer home I lived in was a temporary one, and other than my coffee machine, I didn’t have any special comforts. I didn’t even know how long I would stay in Rosebud.

Indiana was so relaxing to watch that I forgot about the fact that I was breathing underwater and enjoyed the freedom of feeling weightless.

She tested me with a few hand signals, and after I signed my replies, she indicated up, and we rose to the surface at the dive deck.

I tugged my breather from my mouth. “How did I go, boss?”

She splashed water over me. “I’ll give you boss.”

Wiping water from my face, I grinned. “I’ll take that as an A plus.”

“Okay, I’ll admit, I’m impressed. Your buoyancy is good.”

“Wow, I bet that hurt to say.”

She jumped onto my shoulders and pushed me under the water.

Laughing, I resurfaced, and she was talking to her dad.

“. . . have another thirty minutes on the clock, so we’ll check out that plane. Okay?”

He saluted. “Okay. Don’t get distracted down there.”

She turned to me. “Make sure you equalize your ears early and regularly. You remember how to do that?”

I pinched my nose and pretended to blow air out my ears.

“Good. If they hurt, just rise a bit until you fix them. You ready to go again?”

“Let’s do this.” I put the breather into my mouth, and releasing air from my vest, I lowered beneath the surface with her.

Keeping at her side, I dove deeper. The afternoon sunlight gradually diminished with each kick of our fins.

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