Page 21 of Skull

The rules of water polo were simple. The game started with a swim-off, no pity hand-offs. The first team to reach the ball got possession. Players threw the ball to teammates or pushed it ahead. They scored by throwing the ball past the goalkeeper. In this case, Taylor and Kodiak manned the goals. Players couldn’t touch the bottom of the pool and could only hold the ball with one hand.

Realizing that Eva was watching her with a steady, reflective look, Walker prepared for battle. Skull was whispering to the dog, devilry glinting in his eyes, and as far as she was concerned, Bones was a ringer. He could move faster, and everyone knew how much dogs loved their balls.

When GQ counted down to three and shouted “Go,” Skull unleashed the dog. Bones made a beeline for the ball, got there before GQ, nudged it, and swam back to Skull at rapid speed. With a bad-boy grin, he swam toward Bones, grabbed the ball, and scanned for his teammates.

Breakneck was already near the opponent’s goal as the other team chased Bones. Skull heaved the ball, and Breakneck caught it. He swam impressively, popped out of the water like a dolphin, and chucked the ball over Kodiak’s head. It landed in the net.

They were on the board!

“Bones one, our opponents, a big fat zero,” Walker crowed.

In the next play, Taylor manned the net and shouted something in German. Before GQ could score, Bones grabbed his swim trunks in his teeth and pulled. His bare white ass broke the surface, forcing him to drop the ball in a hasty scramble.

That gave Bones the opening to seize the ball once more and dash back toward Skull. When Skull got it, he threw it to Walker. She caught it, turned toward the goal, but Preacher was there. Before she could throw, Preacher grabbed her in a headlock and wrestled for her arms. But he made a mistake. He only grabbed one hand, and she used the other to strike him right under his armpit, hitting a pressure point that sent her free. Soon she was off, swimming like a fish, and when she reached the goal, she faked Kodiak out and slammed the ball home.

Score!

Boomer took control next, lunging at her with a gleam in his eyes. When she dove, he came in with all the power of a SEAL using his fins. He swam under her, surged for the goal, and even though Bones pulled his trunks off again, Boomer didn’t hesitate this time.Boom, he scored on a thoroughly distracted Taylor.

Everyone burst out laughing. The cute German blushed deeply, and Boomer swam on his back to retrieve his floating trunks. When he popped back up, chaos broke loose.

The fight was on. There were only down-and-dirty moves everywhere. Skull grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her onto his shoulders. The feel of his hard body beneath hers distracted her as he swam toward the goal. He threw the ball up to her with one-armed precision, and she hammered it toward the net. The other team tried to come back hard, dunking them, restraining them, covering their eyes.

When the splashing finally cleared, everyone was breathless from wrestling, laughing, and swallowing pool water that made them feel like their lungs were seizing up. Exhausted after a sleepless night chasing leads, Walker pulled herself out of the pool. Laughter still bubbled in her chest as she leaned over, wringing water from her hair and bracing her hands on her thighs. Man, it had felt so good to laugh like that, to be carefree for a bit. Her nipples hardened in the cool air, and she shivered from being cold and wet.

A towel appeared in front of her face. She straightened up, dragging her hair back and meeting Skull’s flat expression. “You’re showing more than I think you want to,” he whispered, nodding toward her exposed breasts. She glanced down and saw her rosy nipples visible through the wet, white fabric. It struck her that he cared about her modesty. She really didn’t have much, but it touched her that he did.

He was towering over her, and he made her feel so delicate and protected. Such an odd sensation. His chest glistened with droplets as they coalesced and ran down all that lean, segregated muscle to soak into the waistband of his trunks.

“You are a beast,” Breakneck said, bumping his fist against hers. She pulled the towel around her shoulders and obliged Skull. Breakneck grinned and whooped.

Her heart rolling over in her chest, she pulled the towel close, laughter still bubbling up inside her.“I don’t think I’ve ever been called a beast. Does that make you Beauty?” She’d say so. He was so damn gorgeous that she couldn’t drag her eyes away. Why did he have to ruin it with his chivalrous ways? Damn, sex was so easy. This? What was happening between them was dangerously complicated.

Holding her gaze, he shook his head, his eyes glinting with humor. “I think I can safely say there were serious breaches in the rules here.”

She managed a shaky laugh, though her chest ached. She didn’t think she could want him more than she did at that very moment, but it wasn’t smart. More than anything, more than her next breath, she wanted to step into his arms and rest her head on his shoulder. She wanted to hold that feeling and never let it go.

She shivered, not from cold and wet, but from the emotions welling up inside her. He lifted his arm but then let it drop. She was sure he was going to slip it around her shoulders, but she thought better of it. Comforting her might have been the last straw in the weight of his character, enough to break more than her back.

She had always felt safe in her job—the isolation, the travel, the work—pushing feelings aside. She’d never felt threatened by any man when it came to her softer side. She had done away with that, or so she thought. Until him. Until Skull made her feel too vulnerable. All her scars were hers to keep, buried deep, and she had no desire to let anyone get close enough to unearth them. As a result, her relationships were nonexistent, short-lived, purely physical, and empty.

Opening her heart? Never on the agenda. That would expose her to too many emotions. She felt crowded and scared. And that realization shocked her—Cooper Sullivan had a power that seemed to slip past her walls, and it shook her to the core.

“Walker,” he whispered, “why are you looking at me like that?”

She didn’t want to answer. She looked away and pulled the towel closer, searching for warmth and escape.

“Debrief in fifteen! Get cleaned up!” Iceman shouted from the open door of the pool house. Then he was gone. She was so relieved that she bolted, telling herself she needed a hot shower. She decided to use Eva’s room instead. There was no way she wanted to explain anything to him. No way could she remain as closed off as she wanted to be.

7

He hadno idea why Walker had looked at him like that but fuck him if he didn’t love it. He rarely saw that soft light in her eyes. He couldn’t fathom what he had done that had gotten to her, but he wanted to find out.

That wasn’t going to be possible. Anna had a target package for them, and it was time to make headway and get closer to finding out where they were keeping Hazard and Leigh. When he got to the room, he expected Walker would be there, but she was nowhere to be found. Her wet clothes were on towels in her room. He frowned. Where was she showering, and why wasn’t she here?

Another mystery to solve. He didn’t have time to speculate about it and headed for the shower with Bones trailing behind. He and the dog often shared the shower for expediency. After taking care of his hair and body, he lathered up the dog and made sure he was thoroughly rinsed off. Chlorine could dry out his skin. They finished in record time. It went much faster when he didn’t have any sensual, tactile distractions. Before he dressed, he wiped down Bones, enduring several full-body doggie shakes, and then dried him off with a towel.

They went directly to the mess hall, and he grabbed a bunch of power bars to refuel, filling Bones’s Kong with peanut butter. He walked to the conference room munching on one and when he got inside, he tossed two apiece to his teammates, then put Bones through a few drills. It wasn’t good to reward the dog with the Kong without some work involved, although he did a great job in helping them win the chaotic water polo match. Yet there was a calm that stayed with Skull especially within the mayhem.

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