Dont do it, Steig bit out. The water will be full of debris and its too dark to find her.
This is what I do. Who I am.
But, sir
He was already shirtless, so he merely tore off his pants and dived directly off the bridge of the yacht to the sea below.
Aiden! someone shouted behind him as his body knifed through the air and into the welcome embrace of the sea that was his true home. He swam with powerful strokes toward the last position of the New Dawn. The silence and pressure closed around him, and with them came the peace he always found in the ocean. A jagged piece of white-painted timber came into view.
He surfaced near where the boat went down and shouted, Hello! Where are you?
No response. The Sea Nymphs spotlights came on, illuminating the wreckage in harsh light. He made a quick visual search of the debris field. No sign of any human clinging to a piece of the New Dawn. He took a big breath and dived under the surface. His ears popped as he reached a depth of fifteen feet or so, but the rest of his body absorbed the crushing weight of the water with something resembling relief.
No sign of the girl. He swam in a wide circle that encompassed most of the debris field. She had to be here somewhere. He kept a time count in a corner of his mind. Two minutes. Three. He widened his search area, worry setting in. If he didnt find her soon, it wasnt going to be a search and rescue anymore. It would be a corpse recovery.
He kicked harder. Spotted a flash of white waving softly in the current like a piece of fabric. He pulled powerfully toward it. A shirt. A pale face flashed in the scant light from overhead.
The girl. Unconscious and drifting down toward the depths. Angling deeper, he came up underneath her, catching her slender body in his arms and kicking mightily toward the light above. Four minutes.
He swore mentally. If shed been down here four minutes, she could be very close to brain death. He stopped kicking to plaster his mouth against hers tightly. Angling her head down so he was directly below her, he blew into her mouth enough to clear the water out. Then, he exhaled hard into the air pocket hed created, forcing air into her lungs. Underwater mouth-to-mouth wasnt exactly the ideal way to prevent drowning, but he couldnt just hold her in his arms and let her die!
He closed her mouth with one hand, while his free arm went around her once more. He resumed kicking hard toward the surface and air.
After sacrificing his own oxygen reserves to the girl, he actually began to feel the burn of it in his muscles. Thankfully, his body was extraordinarily efficient at processing oxygen. Although he was getting close to his limit, he had enough gas left in the tank to save the girl.
They burst up out of the depths, and he took a long, gasping breath. He looked around frantically for something big and flat and buoyant, and spotted a portion of the destroyed boats hull not far away. Pinching her nose shut, he breathed another lungful of air into the girls mouth. Then he dragged her over to the hull and quickly up onto the makeshift raft. He clambered onto his knees beside her and commenced CPR.
Come on, he growled. Dont you die on me.
Hed been compressing her chest for about thirty seconds when, without warning, she threw up a bunch of seawater. He rolled her over onto her side fast. She coughed and more water came out of her mouth. She drew in a rasping breath and coughed some more.
At least she was alive.
Steig had obviously seen him surface with the girl because the Sea Nymph was making painstakingly slow progress through the debris field toward them. Several of the crewmen were leaning down over the prow with long poles in the water, shoving debris aside as the yacht crawled forward. When the yacht pulled alongside, the crew lowered a backboard to him on a pair of ropes, and Aiden horsed it underneath the unconscious girl.
He was huffing hard by the time he got her strapped onto it. He swore. Not now. But he should have known. Hed just spent a long time underwater and then surfaced and exerted himself hard. That wasnt how his gift worked. Now he got to pay the price of it. As the crew hoisted the girl upward, his chest tightened until it felt like a massive anvil was parked on top of him. He lay down on the makeshift raft.
Inhale slowly. Exhale fully. Relax. Dont freak out. His nebulizer was just a few yards away aboard the Sea Nymph. Hed be fine in a few minutes. But in the meantime, he got to endure the mother of all asthma attacks.
He vaguely heard voices shouting from above.
Aidens down!
send a man to him
help him up the ladder
dont think hell make it
And then all was darkness and silence around him.
He dreamed of a mermaid with warm brown hair streaked honey-blond. Her tanned skin was dewy and flawless, her eyes a golden-green hazel that matched the sensuous warmth of her voice. Her lips were bee-stung and rosy, her body slender but juicy enough to promise sinful delights. Her aquatic lower half was covered in golden-green scales that glittered exactly the color of her eyes.
She hovered easily in the water before him, her elegant tail fin waving just enough to hold her position. She reached for him with a dazzling smile, her slender arms beckoning him into her eternal embrace. She was the sea. And he loved ithermore than earthbound life itself. He swam forward, surrendering himself to her.
Her arms closed around him with surprising strength, and she turned, kicking with controlled violence, shooting them downward toward the inky depths of the abyss. His lungs felt strangely tight, and the clock in his head ticked past six minutes. Seven. Eight was about his normal limit.
Nine minutes. Ten.
If she didnt turn around pretty soon, his beautiful mermaid was going to kill him!
He struggled in her embrace trying to tear free. But she was too strong. Completely disinterested in his silent pleas to let him go. Down, down she went with him. The pressure was too much. Every cell in his body screamed for relief. For air. He thrashed violently. He had to break free or die!
Wake up, Aiden. For Gods sake, quit flailing around! We just got your breathing settled back down.
Disoriented, he opened his eyes. Bright lights blinded him and he squinted against the painful glare. Something plastic descended to cover his mouth and nose, and he sucked in the aerosolized bronchodilator medication desperately.
The pressure in his lungs eased. His panic receded. Exhausted mentally and physically, he sagged back against the pillows. Memory returned. The girl? he rasped.
The ships medical corpsman answered, Alive. You got to her in time. Gemma doesnt think she suffered any brain damage, but we wont know until she wakes up. Gems got her sedated and on antibiotics.
Aiden relaxed. Dr. Gemma Jones was the best. He took belated note of his surroundings and recognized one of the yachts cabins. As he recalled, it was outfitted with two twin beds. He turned his head on the pillow and spied the occupant of the other bed. He lurched.
His mermaid.
Except she was pale against the white sheets, her glorious hair dry and spread out across the pillow like honey-streaked silk. Her eyesif they were the golden-hazel of his dreamwere closed, her breathing light and slow.
He took the nebulizer off his face and sat up, swinging his legs carefully over the side of the bed. He felt as if hed gone a few rounds in a boxing ring against the Champ and lost.
He stood long enough to shift his weight to the edge of the girls bed. He couldnt resist running his fingers through the soft strands of her hair. Who are you? he murmured. What were you doing out on the open sea by yourself?
Her eyelids fluttered slightly.
Can you hear me? he said more urgently. Can you open your eyes?
Her eyelids fluttered again and then opened. They were his mermaids eyes. Except right now they were confused. Frightened.
He spoke gently. Youre safe. Youre aboard the Sea Nymph. I rescued you when your boat sank.
The girl frowned. Water, she croaked. Dark. Cold. Dying.
His recent nightmare of nearly drowning vivid in his mind, he didnt have to ask what she meant. I dived for you and pulled you out, he explained.
Her gaze filled with tears and her hand slid across the sheet to touch his. He jolted at the touch of human flesh against his. It had been so long. So very long
She whispered hoarsely, Thank you.
Sleep now. You need rest.
Be here? When I
As her eyes drifted closed he answered low, his voice rough, Ill be here when you wake up.
Sunny drifted in a white world that was safe and warm and blessedly bright. And always her rescuer was there with her. Anytime she opened her eyes, his was the only face she saw before she drifted, comforted, back into her cocoon. But eventually the demands of her body began to intrude. Thirst. Hunger. An ache in her chest and raw soreness in her throat.
She opened her eyes. The small, mahogany-paneled room was familiar as if shed seen it before, but she had no memory of it. She turned her head and spied another bed. With a person in it. More specifically, a man. The one whod saved her from a watery death, apparently. A bronze and godlike hunk of a man with muscular arms and a sculpted chest above the white blanket. Wavy blond hair with the electric shine of a frequent swimmer fell back from a strong face. He wasnt exactly beautifulhis face was more about character and strengthbut it was a compelling face nonetheless.
She lifted her own blanket and looked down. Whose tank top and shorts was she wearing? At least she was decent. Startled at how wobbly she was, she climbed out of bed. How did she get here? She cast back for details, but it was foggy.
And then a piece came back to her. Something big and black bearing down on her. The shock of cold. And then darkness. Abruptly, she remembered the terror. Suddenly, she was in the water again, panicked, unsure of up or down, knowing that her time was running out and that she desperately wanted to live. She stumbled toward the door, bumping into the sleeping mans bed, but not caring in her panic. She had to get out of here! Outside. Into the open air. Sunlight.
The mans eyes opened. He asked sharply, Whats wrong?
Have to get out, she gasped. Claustrophobic
He jumped out of bed quickly. Holy cow, he was tall. Even more imposing upright than hed been in bed. He put a hand on her back and whisked her toward the door. A dim, narrow hallway beyond was no comfort, but the man moved down it swiftly, his big hand propelling her forward.
Up a short flight of steps, and then they were outside. Blessed sky, big and open and blue and bright, opened up above her. She breathed deeply as her pounding heart slowly returned to normal. She became aware of her surroundings and got her first good look at the vessel she was on. Good grief. This yacht was huge.
Who are you? she asked her rescuer. Whose yacht is this?
Im Aiden McKay. And the Sea Nymph belongs to a friend of mine. Im borrowing it for a little deep-sea fishing expedition.
What are you fishing for Moby Dick?
He smiled briefly, and his face transformed from striking to mesmerizing. Wow. Apparently, Im fishing for mermaids. He paused and then blurted, Whats your name?
Sunny. Sunny Jordan.
He nodded awkwardly. How is it that ship ran over your boat last night? Was it an accident?
She stumbled as last nights terror rolled over her and she managed to practically fall into him. She didnt plan it, honest. But all of a sudden, she was plastered against his chest as his surprised arms came up to catch her. He froze and went statue stiff. It was like cuddling up to the Rock of Gibraltar.
Are you going to, umm, faint? he mumbled.
I never faint, she retorted indignantly. But her whole indignation vibe was ruined by the quaver in her voice and trembling of her knees.
His arms tightened fractionally as if to say he had her now and she was safe. She snuggled deeper into his rigid, but somehow comforting, embrace.
A sobbing breath escaped her.
Who was on that ship? he persisted. Did you get a good look at it?
She glanced up at him and he was staring fixedly over her head at a distant point on the horizon. He looked acutely uncomfortable. And yet, his arms stayed wrapped around her.
The ship was all black. And so big. It came at me so fast. She shuddered.
He repeated more urgently, Was it an accident?
The answer scared her almost more than being run down in the first place. Almost more than nearly drowning. She whispered hoarsely, I dont think so.
He drew back to stare down at her. Who are you? Why would someone try to kill you?
Chapter 2
Aiden waited expectantly for the woman to answer, but instead she merely shivered in his arms. Who wants to hurt you? he insisted.
Eventually, she sighed and relaxed, her slender body shifting against his and making his chest tightenbut pleasantly. Far too belatedly, dismay flowed through him. He knew better than to indulge himself like this. Hed sworn off women. Changed his ways. Turned over a new leaf and apparently been lying to himself like a big dog that hed actually changed.
Im a filmmaker, she announced as if that answered everything. I was collecting footage for a documentary on the commercial deep-sea fishing industry.
An uncomplimentary portrayal, no doubt. But uncomplimentary enough to kill her over? He frowned. He didnt recall seeing the giant cranes used for deploying and hoisting fishing nets protruding from the silhouette of the vessel that had sunk her boat. Are you sure it was fishermen who ran you down?
Im not sure of anything except my boat is gone, and Im really glad you came along when you did and saved my life.
So was he.
The moment threatened to become intimate as a sexual charge started to build between them. He was desperate to lean into it, to lose himself in the feeling he knew so well. But he wasnt that guy anymore. He didnt party his way into the bed of every hot chick he laid eyes on. He had a purpose now. Focus. At long last, he had some self-respect. Still. This particular hot chick felt pretty fantastic in his arms
A voice intruded from behind him. I see my patients are up and about.
He stepped back hastily from the girl. Whether he was more chagrined at the interruption or abjectly relieved by it, he couldnt say. Hey, Doc, he mumbled.