by Laura Kaye
He was grateful when pulling into the marina gave him something else to think about. All hands were on deck as they docked, secured the DSV, and checked in with the harbor master so they could refuel. It would be their last night with a hot, leisurely meal and sleeping in a soft bed on dry land for a few days, and Jesse was looking forward to both as they made their way to Captain Joe’s, which was famous for its Maryland crab cakes.
The restaurant was one of those places that appeared to have been there for decades, with weathered wood paneling, colored-glass light fixtures, and a bar surrounded by old timers. The team pulled some tables together in an otherwise quiet corner and settled in.
As was a CMDS tradition, Boone treated them to a couple of pitchers of beer and raised his glass in a toast. “To going deep and getting it done.”
“Here, here!” everyone called as they raised and clinked their frosty mugs.
Jesse took a long pull of the cold beer, relishing the malt on his tongue.
Jud made the next toast. “And here’s to welcoming Jesse to the island of misfit toys, otherwise known as this team.”
Laughing, everyone raised their glasses again. Including Tara, who gave him a little smile when their mugs touched. He was glad for it, but definitely didn’t know what he’d possibly done to earn it.
“Thanks,” Jesse said, pulling his gaze away from her. “If y’all are misfits, I should fit right in.”
“That’s the spirit,” Jud said, clapping him on the back.
The next hour passed over a fantastic meal and storytelling about the stupid shit various team members had done over the years, including Tara being famous for singing Alvin and the Chipmunks songs after decompressing from dives deep enough to require mixed air—a mixture of oxygen and helium.
Jesse grinned at her. “I can’t wait to hear that.”
Tara shrugged. The wind had pulled more than a few tendrils of curls down from her braid, and they framed her face so perfectly. “It’s pretty epic, honestly.”
“I bet it is,” he said, thinking that everything he’d learned—and experienced—where she was concerned had been pretty epic. Which was going to make working and sleeping in close quarters interesting for the rest of the week. But at least it didn’t seem like she wanted to stab him with her fork, so he was counting that as a win.
Hell, Jesse Anderson had learned to take wins where he could find them.
Before long, they were checking into a no-frills hotel close to the marina. Everyone begged off hanging out given their five AM underway time. After two days of not sleeping great, Jesse wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed. Boone randomly passed out key cards, and they made for the elevator as a group.
The doors opened at the second floor, and Boone and George got out with a wave.
“See you on the flip side,” Jud said when he and Bobby stepped out onto the third floor, leaving him, Mike, and Tara behind.
Jesse flipped open the little envelope that held his key. Room 401.
The elevator doors rolled open on four, and he and Tara made for the opening at the same time. Hiking his duffle up higher on his shoulder, he gestured for her to go first.
“’Night, Mike,” she called.
“’Night,” the man replied. Jesse threw a wave over his shoulder.
He turned left. So did Tara.
She threw a skeptical look over her shoulder, one eyebrow arched.
Jesse couldn’t help but chuckle. “Promise I’m not following you.”
“Didn’t think you were,” she said.
They passed a bunch of rooms, yet both of them were still heading toward the end of the hall.
Tara looked over her shoulder again. “What room are you in?” she asked, her tone a mix of exasperation and humor.
“Uh, four oh one?”
“Oh, for crap’s sake.”
She muttered it under her breath, but he heard it all the same. “Why? Where are you?”
Stopping in front of 403, she peered up at him. “This is me.”
There was only one door left in the hallway—the room right next to hers. His room. “Guess we’re destined to be neighbors.”
Her gaze went from his eyes to his mouth to the floor. “I guess. Well, good night.” She turned toward her door.
Jesse swallowed hard, because her gaze had been hungry, and it’d left his body hard and wanting. “G’night,” he managed, forcing his feet to keep moving. This was work. And Tara was a colleague. That was all she could be.
All she wanted to be. She’d made that clear.
He stuck his card in the slot.
“Hey, Jesse?”
His gaze whipped toward her, and his heart was a sudden bass drum in his chest. “Yeah?”
“Just try not to throw any wild parties over there or anything.” A ball-busting smile played around her mouth. A mouth he’d tasted. And that had tasted him. Jesus.
“Shit, T,” he said, liking everyone’s nickname for her. “The DJ’s supposed to be here in like five fucking minutes.”
For a split second, her eyes went wide, and then she smirked. “Smart ass.”
“Uh huh, but I got you. For just a second, you fell for it. Admit it.” This teasing between them was good. Natural. Maybe he hadn’t fucked things up too bad after all.
Her expression went soft, almost wistful. She nodded. “Yeah, I guess I did fall for it. ’Night.” Then she was gone, closed inside her room, the door locking mechanism clicking loudly between them.
Jesse was left standing there, half certain her parting words had been about more than just his joke. And those rocks took up residence in his gut once again.
* * * *
Tara had made a grave, grave mistake.
Except she didn’t realize it right away.
It took her not one, but halfway into a second movie starring Keanu Reeves to realize that she’d spent her night with one incredibly sexy, tall, dark, and brooding loner with an air of hurt around him…to avoid knocking on the door of another man with damn similar traits.
“That wasn’t even subtle, id,” she said as she pushed her computer off her lap and onto the mattress—paused at a scene where Keanu went down on his sorta love interest like a man who’d skipped way too many meals.
Which had Tara remembering that Jesse had looked the same freaking way. Big shoulders spreading her thighs wide. Hands holding her down. Mouth ravenous against her skin. Dark eyes absolutely alive with lust.
Jesus. And now she was sweating and horny—not necessarily in that order. And the object of her lust was way, way too close. As in, just on the other side of the wall right behind her headboard. Where he needed to stay.
Because she was mad at him. And they were co-workers now. Annnd awkwardness.
Well, she wasn’t really mad at him anymore. The day spent on the Going Deep, hands and mind at work, had helped. A lot. Because he was on her team now, and he was a hard worker, more than competent and conscientious, too. She respected all of that. So she’d determined to let everything he’d said go. Not for his benefit, but for hers. Having nearly died, she didn’t want to make time in her life for anger and resentment. By the time dinner had ended, Tara had felt like the weirdness was finally dissipating between them.
At least, it had been until fate had made them wall-sharing neighbors. Thanks for nothing, Holiday Inn.
Huffing, she pushed out of bed, went to the bathroom, and performed her nighttime routine, hoping it would chill out her libido. Except, nope. Toothbrushing versus horniness—no surprise, but horny won.
Tara doublechecked the locks on the door and shut out all the lamps, leaving her laptop to cast the only light in the room. She slipped between the sheets and reached to close it. Oh, she’d just watch the oral sex scene one more time.
Da-amn, Keanu.
Yeah, okay, that didn’t help her situation at all.
Crap, Mama needs some porn.
She put the name of her favorite site into the navigation bar, and soon a po
rnucopia of sex acts filled her screen. She scrolled through a few pages and then finally succumbed to searching: up against a wall.
By this point, she was totally judging herself, but some things couldn’t be helped.
And then, oh baby, she found one that looked perfect. Dark-haired man. Woman with long brown hair. Up against a wall.
Tara went to click play and then it occurred to her.
Shared. Wall.
Yikes. Right.
On a grimace, she made a dash for her earbuds, and then she was back in bed again, hand roaming over her body as her eyes drank in the unfolding scene.
It started with the couple making out against the wall just inside their house, like they hadn’t been able to get further than the front door before needing each other. They kissed deeply, hungrily, only parting to shed clothes in a messy heap. And then the man put the woman on her knees, her back against the wall, and used her mouth in a way that made it impossible for Tara to resist sliding her fingers between her legs.
She was already wet. The friction of her fingers was so good she had to close her eyes at the sheer pleasure of it. But in her mind’s eye, she saw Jesse there, peering up her body as he ate her out.
Her eyes flashed open again as she tried to force her brain to concentrate on the man and woman on the screen. The man pulled the woman up, ripped her panties, and lifted one of her thighs into the crook of his elbow. And then he guided his cock inside of her, both of them groaning and cursing.
Tara’s fingers moved in harder, faster circles. God, she needed this. Needed him.
She clenched her eyes at the thought, but the couple’s moans made her look again.
The man pulled out and spun the woman to face the wall, and then he grabbed her hips and buried himself deep. The woman cried out so loud it was nearly a scream.
And the scene was so perfectly reminiscent of what’d happened with Jesse, that so did Tara. She slapped her free hand over her mouth as the orgasm wracked through her so hard that she couldn’t stop trembling. Her fingers circled her clit again and again, drawing out the explosive sensations until every one of Tara’s muscles had gone taut and tense.
A full minute later, occasional tremors made her shake like she’d caught a shiver. Her whole body went limp as exhaustion absolutely swamped her. She tugged out her earbuds and closed her laptop. Stumbled in the darkness to use the bathroom again. Collapsed completely satisfied into bed.
Satisfied enough that she could avoid thinking about the fact that just her memory of Jesse Anderson had given her one of the best orgasms of her life.
Chapter 8
“Hey, wait for me!”
Jesse’s gaze cut to his right, and he found Tara walking toward him, fresh-faced and smiling, her hair pulled back in a tight braid. She wore a long, baggy navy sweatshirt over her black thermal undersuit.
“Hey,” he managed, holding the elevator door for her—while trying not to think about the fact that he’d heard her cry out last night. Since he’d borne witness to her orgasms before, he knew exactly what he’d heard. He would’ve put money on it.
She thanked him as she joined him in the elevator. Jesse leaned against the side wall, because that was literally as far away from her as he could get in the ten-by-ten box in which they were once again trapped.
Tara smirked at him. “I feel like we ride in a lot of elevators together.”
Jesse nearly swallowed his tongue. At her cheek. At her addressing the elephant in the room. At how fucking happy she seemed at oh dark hundred, and with probably not much more sleep than he’d had himself. “I’ve noticed.”
Her sleep last night was unfortunately something he knew about firsthand because he hadn’t been able to sleep either. He’d been up late reading, chiding himself for the fact that he was going to feel like shit in the morning if he didn’t get some shut-eye. Which was why he’d still been awake at 12:15 AM to hear it—the unmistakable sound of Tara’s pleasure from probably three feet away. Close enough that, had the wall not been there, he would’ve been able to reach out and touch her.
And fuck if that wasn’t exactly what he’d wanted to do.
Her ecstasy in his ear, it’d been so damn tempting. He’d literally stumbled out of bed, his mind already carrying his feet out of his room to pound on the door to hers. But he’d said they were a mistake. And she’d said nothing should happen between them again.
So he hadn’t touched Tara. He’d touched himself. He’d shoved down his boxers, braced a hand on the fucking wall they shared, and jacked himself so hard and fast that he’d gone to his knees.
The image in his head the whole time? The way she’d looked when she’d come while his mouth sucked her off.
The thing that kept him awake for another hour? Wondering if there was any possibility that she’d come with the same memory in mind.
“Sleep okay?” she asked.
Jesse chuckled at the ridiculousness of their situation. “Okay enough.”
“Ugh, I hear that.” She tilted her head to one side, then the other, obviously trying to work out a kink. Her stretches gave him a close-up view of her scar, making him realize how deep the cut must’ve been. God, she’d been lucky to survive whatever had caused her injury.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, just….” She shrugged as the doors opened onto the lobby. The rest of the team was congregated there waiting, everyone in various types of thermals, and a round of greetings rose up as they stepped out, leaving Jesse curious about what Tara had been about to say.
Before long, they’d made their way to the Going Deep, finished supplying it for the trip, and were getting underway with no more chance to talk privately—probably a good thing, all things considered.
“Goood morning, Atlantic Ocean!” Jud called out, standing out in the light rain with his head back and his arms held wide, then he joined everyone on the bridge wearing a big smile.
Jesse looked at the guy with whom he’d be doing a lot of his underwater work. George laughed. “Jud’s one of those annoying morning people.”
“No shit,” Jesse said, chuckling. But truth be told, excitement was filling his gut, too. It’d been too long since he’d last been in the water. In a way, he felt like he was coming home, which was a refreshingly good thing to feel.
About an hour later, they were at the edge of the survey site, a little over seventeen nautical miles offshore. In the rainy distance, they could just make out the silhouette of the Atlantic Wind Energy ship with whom they were working. They dropped anchor and made for what Jud referred to as the war room.
Located just behind the bridge, the room was part onboard conference room, part mission control. A bank of monitors lined one side, which would allow them to see multiple reports from their dive computers and any digital surveying they did.
“We’re gonna touch base with the AWE team and then come up with our game plan,” he said, making contact with the other ship. He put the receiver to his mouth. “This is the DVS Going Deep. Over.”
The captain of the other ship introduced himself, and then both team leaders took a moment to introduce the entirety of their crews.
As both teams enumerated the plans and challenges, Jesse felt—for the first time in a long time—that he was right where he was supposed to be. On the water. In his element. Doing things he knew he was good at doing.
The company owned a lease for the potential installation of sixty turbines, and they still had a quarter of the area to survey. So they carved up the remaining area into two zones, with CMDS handling Zone 1, with waters ranging from fifty-five to eighty-five feet deep, and AWE handling the deeper waters of Zone 2.
All there was left to do was kit up—and Jud was up first. Because of maximum diving time limits, Jesse and Jud would be taking turns and diving in cycles—one of them on the bottom while the other rested on the surface until they off-gassed enough to dive again.
Tara served as Jud’s tender, assisting him with dressing in the comp
any’s black and yellow neoprene dry suit. As Jesse checked the valves on his own suit, he watched the two of them work and shook his head at Jud, because the guy just couldn’t resist joking around with and teasing her. She gave as good as she got, though, and clearly was more than able to take care of herself. And it made Jesse like her even more. Made him feel even more at home, if he was honest. Because even though not everyone on their team was prior military, their shit-talking had the same feeling of camaraderie, the same sense that people had your back as being in the navy.
Once Jud was fully kitted, he waited on the diving stage to allow Mike to perform a series of systems checks. Tara shed her sweatshirt, leaving her in a form-fitting black undersuit. It was similar to the clothing they all wore, of course, but Jesse had seen the gorgeous curves beneath, and the mix of sexy and badass she was rocking was a fucking appealing combination. Since Tara was Jud’s standby diver, she slid a gray neoprene beanie onto her head, then stepped into her suit next, turning so Bobby could zip her in.
Jesse and Bobby kitted up after her, even though they’d be waiting upwards of an hour for Jud to return to the surface. Stepping into his dry suit ratcheted up Jesse’s anticipation. As he closed Bobby’s back zipper, the guy jutted his chin at Jud. “They’re always like this. He should just ask her out already.”
Competing reactions whipped through Jesse. One colored by the way he and Tara had met and the night they’d shared—full of a desire he had no real right to feel and that was inappropriate at any rate. And the other, irritation on Tara’s behalf.
“If you don’t think it’s challenging being the only woman on this team, you’d be wrong again…”