Page 5 of Joel
“Wedidcome to your rescue,” Joel says, locking his gaze on me. My nipples pebble beneath my layers, and suddenly I have the urge to rip off all my clothes. To let this sexy-as-sin coastguardsman have his very dirty way with me. What the actual fuck has come over me? I’ve lusted after a man before, but never like this.
It’s so…primal.
“So I owe you?” I ask, my words thick with suggestion.
One corner of his mouth lifts, and he takes the bait. “There’s no telling how long you might’ve been on the water if we hadn’t been doing a routine training mission. If I hadn’t jumped in tosaveyou.”
“Please?” Captain Steel says to me.
His plea is certainly nicer, but I prefer the way Joel’s playing dirty. It’s the real reason I stupidly agree to this local interview. Isure as hell hope he’s being truthful about the viewership. With any luck, Todd will never have to know this interview happened.
“Just aquickinterview,” I relent.
“See Petty Officer Pierson?” Captain Steel says. “Was that so hard?”
We follow Captain Steel into the hangar. I walk beside Joel, desperately aware of the heat swirling between us. Oh there’s attraction all right. But agreeing to this interview is already skating a thin line. Fucking my Coast Guard rescuer might create suspicion I don’t need. Not if I want to finally be freed from the shackles my stepfather tricked me into wearing all those years ago.
Too bad.
I bet the sex would be absolutely electric.
“Who’s that?” I ask Joel as we approach a woman dressed in a flannel shirt and Carhart pants holding a microphone. She’s certainly not the reporter I expect, and her casual Alaskan outfit helps me relax. It’s a very small town in the middle of nowhere.This will be okay.
“Nancy Jennings.” Joel leans closer, as though we’re conspiring. His hot breath tickles my ear, causing shivers in some wickedly delightful places. “She’s North Haven’s only news anchor and reporter.”
“They’ll do it?” Nancy asks Captain Steel.
He nods.
Nancy’s expression lights up as though she just won the lottery, and she sets her sight on us.
There’s a knot in the pit of my stomach that warns me this is a bad idea. But I’m in this now, and somehow, having Petty Officer Pierson beside me makes me feel…safe. Safe in a way I haven’t felt safe before.
It’s an odd, unfamiliar feeling, and I quickly shake it away to focus on the brief interview.
“Kylie Robinson, how grateful are you that the Coast Guard was on a routine training mission when your boat sank?”
“Very grateful, Nancy,” I say, glancing at Joel. He looks a little pale. I resist the urge to reach for his hand. We are on camera, after all. “I really didn’t feel like swimming three miles back to shore.”
This earns me a laugh from Nancy and her cameraman. And a slight shake of the shoulders from Joel.
“Whatwereyou doing out on the water all by yourself, dear?” Nancy asks.
I feel Joel’s gaze locked on me, and I force a smile through the nerves that my answer could very well be my downfall. I did not come this far to have everything fall apart now. “I was sightseeing. Alaska’s been on my bucket list since I was a little girl, you see.”
“Out on a boat, by yourself?”
“It’s not my first time,” I say with a carefree shrug.
“Is it the first time you’ve had to abandon ship?”
“Yeah, that was a new one,” I say, forcing a laugh I hope she buys.
“You could have drowned,” she pushes.
“Thankfully, the Coast Guard was nearby.” I mentally pat myself on the back. I’m better at this than I thought.Fucking Todd.
“Petty Officer Pierson, this is your twentieth save as a rescue swimmer. How does that feel?”
