Page 9 of Spencer

Buddies, however, was the last thing Tabitha had in mind when thinking of Spencer.

Sin.That’s the word that popped into her brain. Pure, unadulterated sin.

Horizontal, vertical, in her supply closet, on the floor of her sub… Tabitha didn’t care how she got him, she just wanted the man’s intimate attention on every nook and cranny of her body. And seriously? She’d focus just as enthusiastically on his.

Those broad shoulders. That five o’clock shadow she just knew was perpetual. That spark in his deep, dark eyes.

Focus.Right.

Dumb-ass. She wasn’t here to kick-start her libido. She had work to do, which right now meant activating the hydraulics that opened the hatch to Endora.

Shaking off her unaccustomed distractedness, Tabitha got back to the task at hand, swinging herself out through the side hatch of the Atlaua’s hull and onto the ladder leading down to her sub while the deck hands well-above her whistled and catcalled encouragement.

She knew it was all in good fun. She had this crew’s number. Every one of them were actually pretty great guys.

Using her remote to activate her automatic hatch, she heard the series of hisses and clunks that preceded the opening of the air-lock, which at this point didn’t need to be flooded to accommodate her, since she was entering dry.

As soon as the hatch opened, Tabitha easily jumped aboard from the rope ladder, and stood at the ready, near to closing up. Giving a quick thumbs up to Pietro—the crew member who had followed her out onto the ladder to cast her vessel off—she ducked inside and battened Endora up tightly.

She went through the protocol of making sure everything was sealed tightly before reveling in the thrill she always experienced prior to a dive. She never tired of knowing she’d be submerged for hours, getting a charge out of the way her imagination took flight over exactly what she’d see once she was below the water-line.

Simply being beneath the waves was exciting for her. She was her own boss and could make her own schedule. She could ogle the sea-life to her heart’s content and meander the depths at will, as long as she completed her job and did it within the confines of her employer’s timetable, of course.

Yes. Her employer.

Tabitha, taking on the mantle of consummate professional, sank down into the center bucket seat in front of her console, switched on her communications, then started her diesel engines.

“Endora to Atlaua launch personnel. Do you copy?” she asked.

“Loud and clear, Endora, my sweet,” Pietro teased from just outside. “Give me one more minute to remove all the lines, and you’ll be cleared for launch.”

“Roger that, Atlaua. Ready to take wing.” She didn’t need to encourage Pietro with any returned sweet-talk. The man had a fine opinion of himself without her feeding his ego.

“Atlaua clear,” his voice eventually came back. “You’re ready to roll, carina.”

“Thanks, Atlaua. Underway.”

She engaged the engines and pulled slowly away from her proximity to the ship, slipping easily through the waves. Once she was completely outside the hull’s hulking presence, she checked her gauges to make sure all was well, then opened the vents on her ballast tanks, effectuating a dive.

“Viaggio sicuro,” Pietro called out.

Tabitha translated that to mean safe journey.

Always.

Switching from diesel to the electric motors that would control her pump-jets, she set her ducted propellers into motion and easily cut through the sea. Using her fins to steer and take her to the proper depth—which in this case was just around thirty feet—she quickly approached the long pier she’d already begun to survey the previous day.

On that first trip down, she’d taken a leisurely route around the structure in question, snapping pictures of the columns holding up the beam-bridge-like jetty and the seabed around the pylons. Today, she’d be maneuvering her sub beneath the quay to check out the condition of the deck itself from that vantage point.

In her opinion, from what she’d seen so far, it looked like the wharf wasnotgoing to be a feasible option for the company who’d hired her. For the project they’d mentioned, Tabitha understood that shipping in equipment and supplies by boat would be the cheapest and easiest solution for them. But not at the cost of losing everything should this, their landing stage collapse. Another option, which she would highly recommend for them, would be bringing things in by helo. It was certainly the more expensive choice, but safer, by far.

Tabitha had been workingfor four hours—about half the time she’d be submerged in total—when her growling stomach told her it was past time for a lunch break.

She piloted back to a spot that was next to, but not underneath the pier, adjusting her trim tanks to keep her in place so she could eat the sandwich that the ship’s cook had prepared for her.

Giving a big sigh of contentment, she moved over to the passenger seat and unwrapped her meal, taking a big bite. And yes, now that she was relaxed, she had to admit once again that her mind hadn’t been completely on the job over the course of the morning. Thoughts of Spencer had intruded steadily throughout the hours, and…Dammit. Was it extra warm in the sub’s cabin today?

Tabitha snorted.Yeah. Right. She knew that wasn’t the case. And she understood exactly what the problem was.

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