Page 3 of Austen

Her timer beeped, and they ascended up the line to their fifteen-foot safety stop.From here, the white hull of the boat dipped in the water, and Hawkeye had already put down the ladder.

Elise seemed to have calmed, but Austen’s gaze swept the depths, her breaths hard.A glance at her O2 levels said her tank had emptied faster than usual.Well, no duh.

The alarm dinged and Elise shot to the surface, Hunter behind her.Austen hung on the line, floating up slowly, watching.

Elise pulled off her fins, unsnapped her BCD, and let her tank float in the water.From above, Hawkeye fished it out of the drink.

Hunter did the same, disappearing next, and Austen was just reaching for the ladder when she spotted him.

Tiger, back, and maybe angry.

He darted from the depths, hot for the surface, probably attracted by the splashing.She kept her eyes on him, her hand on the ladder, her heartbeat in her throat.

Stay calm.

She put him at a good eight feet, so not the monster great whites she’d seen in Hawaii, but big enough to inflict damage.

She preferred to keep all her appendages.

There was shouting above her, but she sank in the water and put the ladder between her and the tiger.

Then she hung below it, waiting.

He came at her faster than mere curiosity would explain, but not in full attack, so maybe intending to bump her again.She hung on to the ladder with one hand and set her other cupped hand on his snout.He reared up, and she rode with him, her elbow stiff.

Her hand dislodged.But she flipped above him, moving over him, and pushed him away.He shook his tail fin and darted away.

She chucked off her fins and dove for the ladder.Scrambled up, still wearing her vest.

Hands grabbed her and hauled her onto the boat, dumping her into the bottom.

A splash and a scream, and she guessed the tiger shark had found a fin still floating in the water.She unsnapped her BCD, then rolled out of it and lay, breathing hard, the sun hot on her dive skin.

“You okay?”Hawkeye stood over her, then picked up her vest and set it in the rack at the back of the boat.

“That just might have been the bravest thing I’ve ever seen,” Hunter said.

She pressed her hands over her face.Closed her eyes.

There was a vast difference between bravery and desperation.

She finally scrubbed away the shaking and sat up against the side of the boat.“Anybody see my fins?”

“Sorry, Austen.I think they’re at the bottom.”Hawkeye had started the boat, probably not wanting to stick around.

She scooted up to the bench, the adrenaline still ripping through her.

“Wow.That was...”Elise wiped her hands across her face, clearing more tears than saltwater.“Thank you.”

Austen held up her hand, nodded.“It’s my job.”

Hunter shook his head.“Declan said that you were some sort of shark expert, but I didn’t...I guess I thought it was a euphemism.”

Declan.The urge to ask about the philanthropist rose inside her.He’d hired her to lead a dive expedition for his big charity event earlier this summer on the island of Mariposa, and she’d thought...

Well, she’d been a little stupid, really.The man had the body of Henry Cavill, including the jawline, and his dark-gray eyes could turn the ground under a woman to sand.Clearly, all the sunshine and seafood—not to mention how he’d handled unexpected trauma—had gone straight to her sun-bleached head.Plus, the man helped fund an orphanage while managing to run a large tech firm.According to her sister, Boo, he was worth billions.

So there was that too.

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