Diving Into Trouble

by Shona Husk

  She glanced around until she saw Smithy. He was drinking with Chief Oliver. Both of them seemed to keep their home lives separate, proving it was possible. Her gaze drifted back to Kurt.

  He gave her another toe-curling smile. ‘You got any plans for the weekend?’

  She had plenty of ideas about what she’d like to do, but in the same heartbeat knew that it wasn’t going to happen. She wished they were able to walk out of here together. ‘None. You?’

  He looked at her as if he was thinking about saying something, then turned his head and replied to the conversation happening on the other side of him.

  Tasker sat back down, the cold and scent of smoke clinging to him. ‘It is pissing down out there.’ He flicked some rain off his jacket sleeve.

  Kurt finished his beer. ‘I’m done for the night or I won’t be able to drive.’

  ‘You might as well stay now until the storm has passed.’ Tasker ordered a beer.

  ‘Some of us want to go home.’ Kurt stood and placed a hand on Tasker’s shoulder. ‘I’ll see you on Monday for two weeks of hell.’

  ‘Looking forward to it.’ Tasker said without smiling. Then Kurt was gone.

  Rainy refused to watch Kurt leave. She sipped her beer and tried to think of conversation. ‘So how long have you been quit for?’

  Tasker touched his pocket. ‘Five months.’ He closed his eyes and drew in a breath before opening them. ‘Longest five months of my life. You’re lucky you’re single. Submariners don’t have relationships.’ He looked over at the two chiefs. ‘The old saying what happens up top stays up top isn’t true. Someone always tells. And the mouse always plays while the cat is away.’ He took a long swallow of his beer. ‘Perhaps it’s different for women.’

  Rainy looked down. ‘No, it’s not. The last boyfriend I had moved his other girlfriend into our flat while I was away.’

  She’d never suspected. They’d spoken on the phone as if nothing were wrong. But when she’d gotten home early and walked into their flat she’d known immediately that someone else had been living there. It had only taken her a few hours to drag the truth out of the bastard. Apparently he couldn’t manage for three months without sex. He’d blamed her. Told her if she hadn’t left he wouldn’t have cheated. She’d packed up and been out that night, then living onboard before posting over to HMAS Stirling.

  ‘Well, he was a dumb fuck, wasn’t he?’ Tasker raised his beer in mock toast.

  Rainy couldn’t help but smile. ‘Yeah, he was.’ Their glasses clinked and she took a drink. After the initial sting of the break-up was gone, she’d decided to apply for subs. It was something she’d always wanted to do, but he’d never wanted to move to Perth. He’d done her a favour without even realising.

  In her pocket, her phone buzzed. She was tempted to ignore it and grab another beer, but something made her reach for it.

  A message from Kurt flashed on the screen.

  I owe you breakfast.

  Then his address.

  She slid the phone back into her pocket, but her heart was already pounding with excitement. Not that she would accept. She couldn’t. She wanted to.

  Relationships might be a bust but sex was just, well, sex.

  No, she couldn’t sleep with a crewmate. It was wrong in so many ways. If it got discovered … How many of the guys on the boat paid for it while alongside in Thailand? How many cheated on their partners or were cheated on? All she wanted was a few nights of fun. They wouldn’t do anything on the boat. And they’d proven they could be work-focused around each other.

  If nothing else, she could go to his place and they could talk without fear of being watched or overheard.

  ‘I need to get going.’

  ‘Better offer?’

  ‘My sister wants a babysitter.’ The lie slid off her tongue and she immediately felt guilty. That she couldn’t tell the truth was a bad sign. A warning she was walking down the wrong path.

  Tasker shook his head. ‘What’s she going to do when we sail?’

  They hadn’t really discussed that, even though they both knew it was coming. It had been nice to be with her family again. ‘The same as she did before I moved back to Perth, I guess. But at least while I’m here I can take the load off my parents.’

  He looked at her for a moment, as if he had no idea what to say. For a moment he looked lost. Then he picked up his beer. ‘One beer for every mistake next week. I’d prefer not to have a hangover. And because you’re my trainee I was forced to bet that you were better than Hessey. Please don’t cost me fifty, Milly.’

  ‘I’ll do my best.’ Not because of any bet, but because she took pride in her job. She was there to learn and earn her dolphins. Going to see Kurt wouldn’t help her reach that goal.

  She’d go and tell him that they couldn’t.

  ‘Have a good weekend, Blue.’

  He nodded and gave her a smile. Then he was moving toward the chiefs before she’d taken a few steps away. Yeah, he didn’t want to spend his evening hanging around a trainee. Hessey was chatting with the other trainees. She raised her hand in farewell, even though they may not be paying attention, and stepped out into the rain.

  She ran for her car and slid in, slamming the door on the foul weather. For a moment she sat there, then she pulled out her phone and read the message again. There was no mistaking the intent. What was he thinking? She already knew the answer to that, but how was he thinking this was a good idea?

  Her teeth pressed against her lower lip. She could say no. Say it had been great but anything further was out of the question. But that sounded harsh by text. She could call and have that conversation, but some things were better face to face. After all, she still had to work with him and she didn’t want him spitting in her food, so she texted back.

  On my way.

  Then she typed his address into the maps on her phone, waited for directions, and then started her car. She had about fifteen minutes to work out how she was going to say no.

  ***

  Kurt was regretting sending the text message almost as soon as he’d hit send. By the time he was halfway home he was kicking himself for thinking with his dick. Two beers and a smile and he was willing to break all the rules because he wanted to get laid again.

  That wasn’t entirely true. If he’d just wanted sex he could’ve driven all the way into Rockingham and hung around at a bar until he eyed a likely woman. But he didn’t want any woman. He wanted the one he couldn’t have.

  The only reason he couldn’t have her was because they were on the same boat.

  That he was going to have to choose to stay in or get out very soon reared up. He still had no idea. But he didn’t want to make a decision that would affect the rest of his life based on what had been a one-night stand.

  His phone chimed from the cup holder. Keeping one eye on the road through the rain, he glanced at the screen.

  She’d accepted his invitation.

  The worry turned to victory and anticipation. He didn’t bother trying to suppress the growing hard-on. If Blue knew what Kurt was doing, he’d call him cunt-struck.

  And he’d be right.

  But around Rainy he felt less trapped. She brought the sun into rut that had become his life. Seeing her was a risk he was happy to take, he could always request a change. And he was sure he was due some shore time, so they’d only have one trip together. That wasn’t that long really.

  But even if they were both in the navy they’d end up on different boats, and the odds of them spending any decent time together was limited. It was never going to work. Even if he got out it was never going to work. He was back to regretting sending the text. They’d both done so well in moving on over the past two weeks. Why had he gone and fucked it up?

  He pulled into his driveway and waited for the garage door to roll up. She’d be here very soon. Lust was rough in his blood and he couldn’t blame the beer. He’d thought about her for the last two weeks. And not just the sex.

  The enormity of
what he’d done began to settle.

  Her response was equally unnerving.

  She knew the risks. Why had she accepted? While rejection would’ve stung, he could’ve admired her for being smarter than him. Now it appeared they were both keen on living dumb and dangerously.

  He left the garage door open and went inside to turn on a few lights. Rain hammered on the metal roof and echoed through the house. Unlike the place Rainy shared with her sister, his house wasn’t warm and inviting. There was the bare minimum of furniture and at the moment he was the only one living here as the other navy guy he rented with was at sea. He had a house, not a home.

  But then he hadn’t lived in a home since he was fourteen. While his mother hadn’t had a lot, it had felt like they lived well. His father’s house, on the other hand … Kurt glanced around … was a lot like this but with more beer cans lying around.

  He had the horrible suspicion that he was slowly turning into his father, without the alcoholic streak.

  There was a knock on the door that connected the garage to the house and then Rainy stepped in and closed the door behind her. She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets and took a slow look around the living area. The main feature being a large screen TV and a couple of recliners complete with drink holders.

  ‘Rental?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said.

  She knew how it worked. He was willing to bet most of the furniture in her house was her sister’s. How many times had Rainy moved states because she had a new posting? At least with the subs, once you moved west that was it as all of the boats were at Stirling.

  ‘How many others live here?’

  ‘Just me at the moment, other guy is away.’ He pressed the button on his keychain and the garage door rolled down, concealing both their cars.

  The tension left her features. If there had been any navy person here he would’ve never invited her over. He didn’t want people knowing any more than she did.

  ‘So …’ One of her dark eyebrows arched up in question.

  He shook his head and looked at the ground. ‘I don’t know. I really wanted to see you without being watched, or watching what I was going to say.’ He wanted it to be like it was on their first date. Right now he’d never wanted anything quite so much.

  She sighed and gave a one-shouldered shrug. ‘We can’t do this.’

  ‘I know. And yet …’ he actually didn’t give a damn. Let them run him in on fraternisation charges. If they threw him out, at least his decision would be made for him. And if civvie life didn’t go well he could blame the navy, the same way his father blamed his mother and him and anyone except himself for his life or lack thereof.

  No, the choice had to be his.

  ‘Did you want a drink or something? I have wine and beer.’

  ‘You should be telling me the text was a mistake and I should go.’

  Yes he should, but he couldn’t. ‘Do you want to go?’

  Rainy shook her head. Then she smiled, the kind that invited trouble. ‘It could be dangerous driving all the way to Freo in this weather.’

  ‘Well, have a drink and we can talk and see if the storm blows over. We can’t get in trouble for that.’

  ‘True, and we can only get in trouble in we are caught.’

  ‘That is also true.’ He walked into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of red wine out of the cupboard. ‘Merlot okay?’

  ‘Lovely.’ She paced over to the living room and turned the reverse cycle air conditioner on. Warm air started spilling out. He should’ve done that straight away.

  ‘Your TV and chairs?’

  ‘Yes.’ The other guy is a skimmer and had even less furniture than him.

  ‘How come you haven’t bought a house? Prices have levelled off.’

  He handed Rainy her glass of wine. Their fingers touching for less than a heartbeat, but the lust in his blood grew warmer. They could be friends, not lovers. ‘I thought about it more than once. But somehow buying a house meant committing to living in Western Australia and I’m not sure I’m ready to do that.’ Not that he really wanted to go home either. He hadn’t even gone back last Christmas.

  ‘So you won’t be staying in forever.’

  ‘No.’ He almost told her he had about seven months left to run, but the words didn’t form. He didn’t want her to laugh. He wanted it to appear that he had a plan. ‘I joined because I lost my apprenticeship when the economy tanked. There were so many out-of-work apprentices in all trades … it was either drive trucks like my father. Or join the Defence Force.’

  Rainy nodded. ‘I hear that was the only time the navy had more people applying than they needed.’

  ‘I know I wasn’t the only one.’ But many of those people had gotten out after their four-year minimum and gone back to being a civilian. He was still in. Afraid to make that jump because he could still hear his father laughing and telling him he’d never amount to anything the day after he’d lost his apprenticeship. He’d proven his father wrong. He was a submariner and that took effort. It wasn’t a job that everyone could do. ‘Why did you join?’

  ‘To get away from my family at first. I was always the odd one out. While they were growing veggies and reading fortunes, I was pulling apart my bike, the lawn mower and anything else I could get my hands on. It was only once I was away that I realised how much I missed them.’

  ‘Is that why you joined the boats?’

  ‘No. I wanted a new challenge. I’d thought about it when I first joined but at the time I chickened out. Last year I decided that I had to give it a shot. If they rejected me, so be it, at least I’d tried. And here I am. Were you a skimmer?’

  Kurt sipped his wine. ‘Never. They didn’t need cooks on ships when I went into the recruitment office, but they needed cooks for the boats.’

  ‘You always wanted to cook, then?’

  ‘I don’t think I always wanted to cook. I wanted to play cricket for Australia at one point, but frankly I sucked so I gave that up before high school.’ He’d always helped his mother in the kitchen, and enjoyed it. When she was sick he’d cooked because she couldn’t. After her death it was a way of keeping her memory alive and he spend whatever he’d earned or been given as pocket money on cookbooks. It had given him a small amount of enjoyment that his father had hated it. His father had been a bitter man, determined to ruin everyone’s enjoyment of life because he hated his. Walking in and telling him he’d joined the navy as a cook had been a wonderful moment.

  Back then he’d taken whatever the Defence Force was willing to give him; hell, if they hadn’t had any cooks jobs going he still would’ve joined to get out of home and be doing something. It was a choice he wouldn’t change as he’d landed on his feet, but he was much more cautious now as he was older and had more to risk. It wasn’t as easy to start over when thirty was rapidly approaching and he didn’t want to live on his savings.

  The silence expanded as they watched each other. Was she weighing up everything the way he was? He wanted to put down his glass and kiss her. But he’d already done the wrong thing in inviting her over. He needed to try and do the right thing.

  If she were a guy they’d be having drinks and a movie. But because she was female, if anyone knew she was here, they’d immediately wonder what was up. At that moment he hoped no one stopped by on a whim. It had happened before. Or when Blue had an argument with Kylie.

  Blue he probably trusted more than the others, simply because Blue had trusted him when he was in trouble.

  Giles and Watson, not so much. They couldn’t keep a secret if they were bound and gagged. They’d tap it out in Morse code or die trying.

  ‘Did you want to do something? Watch a movie?’

  ‘That’s not why you invited me around.’

  ‘That’s not why you came either.’ This meeting wasn’t entirely his fault.

  ‘I wasn’t going to. Then I was coming to tell you that we can’t repeat what happened.’ She finished her wine and put the glass down on the kitchen
counter. ‘Now I’m here …’

  He leaned in and kissed her.

  Chapter 9

  Rainy closed her eyes as soon as his lips touched hers. She wanted to be able to hold onto the feeling even as the warning bells sounded the alert. Ignoring them would be disastrous, but instead of stepping away and calling it a night, she moved closer. His hand cupped her cheek as his tongue swept over her lip.

  It would be so nice to blame the alcohol. To blame Kurt for inviting her over. But the simple answer was she shouldn’t have accepted even though she wanted to be here.

  ‘No one needs to know.’ She whispered against his lips.

  ‘Only friends on the boat.’ He took another kiss and pulled her closer so her body was flush against his.

  ‘Agreed. It’s just sex.’ She undid his belt and started tugging open his jeans. It had been too long. While she could feign indifference at work, out of hours and out of uniform was a different matter.

  ‘Just sex.’ He murmured, pushing off her jacket and then undoing her shirt.

  She returned the favour, pulling at his clothes until he had to kick off his shoes and step out of his jeans. He made sure she got undressed just as fast. It wasn’t careful the way their first time had been. This was rougher and hungrier and far more exciting. Desire heated her blood as her hands slid over his skin. His kisses stole her breath.

  ‘No fancy underwear today,’ he murmured.

  ‘Sorry.’ While she’d thought about being with him again, this wasn’t exactly planned.

  ‘No, that’s good. I don’t want to picture you in lace under the cams.’

  She grinned—that would never happen anyway—and ran her fingers along his hard length. He was as up for this as she was. His fingers trailed over her thigh and eased between her legs, touching her clit. He didn’t need to get her ready she was already wet. ‘I’m good to go.’