Free Undertow by Cherry Adair Page B

hand he combed through the hair near her temple, feeling the heat of her scalp and the silky coolness of the strands spil over his fingers like silk.
    Her tongue glided against his, hot and sensual. His body responded, but he tamped i t down.
    This was al about Teal. Al about just one glorious, sensual kiss.
    Her shaky sigh rasped his nerve endings, but he didn·t exert any more pressure, didn·t delve any deeper, not until Teal pressed closer, tilting her head back and opening her mouth to him. He felt the rapid, manic beat of her heart against his chest as she kissed him back, her palm on his chest.
    His fingers tightened around her back, tangled in her hair as he swept his tongue inside the hot cavern of her mouth.
    Zane couldn·t remember ever getting such a high just kissing a woman. He wanted to devour her right there on the deck outside the salon where anyone could see them. He deepened the kiss, reading her desire by her equal y avid responses.

    He wanted³
    She jerked her head away, stepping back. In the sparkling fairy lights he saw the rapid pulse at the base of her throat and noticed that her breathing was uneven as she stood there paused for flight.
    Ńice to be of use,µ she said, gasping for breath. Í·d hate to see you lose any of your considerable skil s just because your choice of partners on board is limited.
    No point getting out of practice. I see where you get your nickname,µ she said cool y, p atting his chest as if he were a wel -behaved dog. ´You·re good. Very good.
    Night, Ace.µ
    She turned around and strol ed inside, leaving Zane shaken and very much stirred by her response.
    Heart pounding, his body wired, he sagged against the rail. ´Holy shit!µ

    * * *
Teal was having a wet dream. Not the good old hot-and-bothered sexual kind, but one where she was soaked to the skin while ful y clothed and the boat was sinking. Zane didn·t feature in it, but she just knew he was involved.
    She rol ed over, hugging her pil ow. It squelched.
    Her eyes sprang open as the cold permeating her shorts and tank top pierced the dream. It wasn·t only the feel of water lapping at her toes that got her attention, but the pulsing blast of the general alarm.
    Ten short bleats. Silence. Ten short³
    The ship was taking on water. Fast.
    Hot and cold prickles of adrenaline-laced fear shot through her body as her heartbeat picked up the rapid pulse of the emergency alarm. She went from prone to standing on her bedrol in seconds. The dim amber glow of the LED light near the door glinted on the rippling sheet of dark water surrounding the island of her bedrol .
    Śhit!µ
    Seawater pipe leakage? Probable. Rust was a given on any vessel as old as the Decrepit. An overboard valve rupture? That was a strong possibility as wel .
    Water inched higher. Even once she found the source, it wasn·t like she could pul a plug and let the water out. It was il egal to discharge any liquid that had oil particles suspended in it out to the open sea, and she could see the iridescent sheen on the surface of her new indoor swimming pool.

    ´Think, damn it!µ
    The rising level of the bilges would damage the shaft generator, and if she didn·t do something right that damn second, the pumps in the bottom platform would stop functioning. She couldn·t wait for help. Knowing the alarm would alert the others, Teal stepped off her bedrol , which was already covered in inches of dark water. The cold water hit her mid shin. Right now pumping out the bilges immediately was her only thought. She plunged her hands into the dark liquid, her fingers questing for the valve handle, her mind spinning furiously. The injection valve could bypass the main sea chest in case of emergency. If she could just get it set so that instea d of the sea, water would be drawn from within the ship itself, it·d help. She·d checked the valves ³al the valves³just that morning.
    Thank God.
    She quickly and efficiently connected the emergency bilge injection valve as the