Free Depths of Salvation (Love on the Edge) by Molly E. Lee

material.
    “I’m on call. Emergencies, or jobs too big for the welders he has on site.”
    “Are you getting paid less since you’re splitting your time?” A wave of guilt hit me with the thought.
    He shifted in his seat and glanced down at his beer. “No.”
    I sighed in relief. “Well, that is a good surprise from him.”
    Connell nodded, and I waited.
    Then waited some more.
    As much as the closed-off personality was intriguing, it was also infuriating. I wasn’t used to having to work so hard for some easy chitchat, not that I conversed with a ton of people outside my team, but still.
    The waitress set down my burger and sweet potato fries, and his same order of fish tacos he’d had last night. I stopped her before she could leave. “Could you bring us four shots of top-shelf rum, please?”
    The girl smiled. “Absolutely.”
    “Thank you,” I said and then scooped up my burger, chomping down on it with the ravenous fury that was my stomach. When I did long dives like today, I could almost never slake the insane hunger that hit me afterward. I peered over the massive thing, grease dripping down my fingers.
    Connell raised his eyebrows. “You want to get drunk?”
    I swallowed the oversized bite in my mouth and wiped my face with a napkin. “Maybe. Maybe I just want to get you drunk.”
    He snorted. “Why?”
    “Experiment.”
    “I don’t like being toyed with. I’m not one of your plants to run tests on.”
    “Or perhaps you just haven’t been played with in the right way?” Good Lord, I’d only had half a rum and OJ so far. What was it about him that made my mouth sound so dirty?
    “Shots!” the waitress said, setting the shot glasses on the table with a giddy smile. “My kind of people. Check on you in a beat,” she said and went to attend to her other tables.
    I picked up a shot glass and raised an eyebrow at Connell. The sun had fully set, leaving the wooden patio lit up by the fire-torches that lined the sand just outside its perimeter. An indigo sky hung above the ocean, which looked like wine in the moonlight.
    After a few moments, he finally scooped up a glass of his own.
    “Progress.” I clinked my glass against his before tossing it back. The sweet-heat of the rum hit the back of my throat and felt good all the way down. I hissed from the final burn and turned the glass upside down, slammed it on the table, and immediately picked up the next one.
    Connell followed suit, his eyes lit with an orange glow. He clinked my glass this time, and we took the shot in sync. He raised his eyebrows at me. “You know it would take more than two shots to get me drunk, right?”
    My head buzzed with a pleasant fuzzy sensation already. I wasn’t a heavy drinker, but I was for anything that would fast-track my getting to know Connell. He was too important to my site to keep up the wicked silent game for two months.
    I nodded and took another bite of my burger. When our waitress passed our table, I told her to bring four more.
    Connell shook his head between bites, and I gulped a good amount of water to help pace myself. The girl was back in a flash with more rum.
    “Thanks!” I said a little too enthusiastically. Maybe my brilliant plan wasn’t so sharp? Oh well, I was nothing if not committed. I reached for another shot, but Connell snatched it out of my reach and tossed it back before I could blink.
    “Easy, darlin’,” he said. “This is one area I know you can’t keep pace with me.”
    I sat up straighter.
    “That’s not a challenge. Just a fact. Now eat,” he demanded, taking another shot.
    I smiled and nibbled on a fry. After he’d taken the third of the four, he sat a little deeper in his chair.
    “What was your worst close call?” I asked, deciding to start with something easy. A question about his job should earn me some conversation.
    He licked a few drops of rum off his lips, and my eyes were slow to leave them.
    “Got stuck underneath a ship once. Umbilical twisted around