Love Bites: A Sugar City Novella (Entangled Bliss) (5 page)

And why was
that
completely sexy?

He wore a dark blue T-shirt that brought out the color of his eyes when he turned her way. It could’ve been the light in the bar last night, but she hadn’t realized how tan he was. Maybe from having a career that kept him outdoors. His faded jeans gave her eyes many angles of interest.

“He’s not usually so abrupt.”

Sharona forgot Manny was a few feet away, trimming the mainsail or battening down the hatches or whatever captains did. Her experience on the water was pretty slim—unless you counted the swimming pool at her condo—and she knew even less about the workings of a ship the size of the
Mad Hatter
.

She cursed herself for not spending more time studying up on nautical life. Then again, if she hadn’t ventured to the bar last night, she wouldn’t have met Jeff or kissed him and felt so alive and brave and wanted all in the space of two hours. She’d needed that…to drum up the courage to make the first move on him. If nothing else, he’d helped her bust out of the comfort zone she’d been trapped in ever since breaking off her engagement. Because of Jeff, she knew passion was still alive in her, and she was grateful for that.

Too bad there couldn’t be anything more, not with what she was there to do. It was a pretty glaring conflict of interest. Plus, he lived in Australia and she obviously didn’t. Weren’t relationships hard enough without putting a twenty-hour plane ride between you? She bit her lip and set her gaze on him again.

“Was he abrupt?” she said, turning to smile at Manny, who was smiling back even wider.

Jeff was suntanned, but Manny was dark. He had a different kind of accent, too. Musical. It made everything he said sound jokey.

“You being here was a surprise to him,” he said, hitting a button on the console. The boat’s engine made a revving sound and took on speed.

At the sudden motion, she exhaled a tiny squeak, then gripped the ledge on the front of the console. “I was surprised, too,” she admitted.

Manny’s eyebrows lifted. “So you
do
know each other?”

Her heart slammed. “Um…no, I…I meant—”

“Yeah.” Manny grinned, turning his gaze forward, a victorious smile on his mouth. “I thought so.”

Crap. “Please,” she whispered
urgently. “We
don’t
really know each other. We kind of met at the hotel, and before that, there was all that turbulence in first class and the Bloody Mary, but that’s
all
.” She glanced out the window at Jeff. He was talking to Pax, near the edge of the boat on the right-hand side. Starboard bow, she reminded herself.

Just then, Leo the reporter walked out on the deck and joined the other two. She shook her head. “Needless to say,” she continued to Manny, “it wouldn’t do Dr. Cruz or myself any good if that information were known. As innocent as it sounds.”

“As
confusing
as it sounds.” Manny chuckled. “Don’t worry, I shall be as quiet as the Outback on a Sunday.”

Sharona exhaled slowly, feeling the muscles in her shoulders release. Though she didn’t completely understand his reference, she decided to believe Manny and not stress.

“Thank you,” she said. “This has turned into an awkward assignment for everyone, I’m afraid. I didn’t mind taking a last-minute trip to Australia—it’s beautiful country. But my boss was kind of hasty about it. Which is typical, I guess, considering our history.” She felt Manny’s piercing black eyes on her. “To tell the truth, we used to be a couple—engaged.”

“You’re not anymore?”

She shook her head. “But I really believe in what we do. I know people think auditors are the bad guys trying to thwart progress, but that’s not what I’m doing. I’m here to help. More often than not, I’ve found ways to save researchers money and I’d like to think we’re all on the same team and—”

She took a breath when Manny’s laugh cut her off.

“What?”

“You sound as passionate as Cruz.” He glanced at her for a quick second. “You two are more alike than he knows, I reckon.”

Seriously doubtful
, she thought.

Sharona asked Manny a few questions about the mechanics of the ship and he even managed to help check off some items on her list. “Thanks again,” she said and slid her tablet and glasses into her bag and blew out a breath, mentally preparing for the first true test of her sea legs.

The air felt warm and the wind was crisp. She took a deep inhale, trying to get used to the stingy smell of ocean. The rubber soles of her shoes gripped the deck. It was a good thing she’d Googled the proper ship footwear before she’d left home. Her usual strappy sandals would have sent her overboard.

She walked toward the unoccupied foredeck. When she stood still, it was kind of a rush, how the waves kicked up spray, shooting up the occasional splash. Only a few times did she find herself teetering.

Hold on, stomach
, she pleaded.
Be a good girl for me today
.

“I hope you’re not waiting for someone to hold you from behind and declare ‘I’m the king of the world.’”

Sharona couldn’t help laughing, as Jeff came up beside her. “That movie always bugged me,” she admitted, happy for the distraction from the rocking waves.

“Reckon you better not let
him
hear that.” He nodded toward Leo.

Another giggle escaped her lips. “So it’s not
only
last night that you’re charming. I wondered if I’d imagined that.”

He cocked a brow, looking exactly as he had in the bar when he’d met her eye over their drinks. “Not everything changes when the sun comes up,” he said in a low voice.

For a second, she hoped she was finally getting the chance to explain what had happened last night…that her chickening out had nothing to do with him. But the moment disappeared when Jeff jerked his head to the side as one of the deckhands approached from behind.

“Yeah,” Sharona replied, feeling weighed down and deflated. “Um, would you mind telling me what those are for?” she asked, gesturing at a box that Pax was unloading.

“They’re cameras.”

She rolled her eyes. “I know they’re cameras. There are ten on the audit list. Are they all used?”

Jeff rubbed his stubbled yet firm jaw, not answering right away. “We’re here mostly as observers.”

“Okay,” she said, pulling out her tablet to make a note. “That’s what I was told when I was assigned this, but I have to think there’s more. Especially since Garry—he’s my boss—was hell-bent on me dropping everything and catching the first flight to Sydney.”

“I can’t imagine why he’s so curious about what we’re doing today.”

“
Right
.” Sharona didn’t know Jeff very well, but she knew he was holding something back. He had the same look in his eyes now that he’d had last night when he’d kissed her, pulled away for a second, then
really
kissed her.
Yes, definitely holding back
.

She was about to demand to know what he was trying to hide when Jeff said, “Do you know anything about these animals?”

“Um.” She looked down at her tablet, like it might just happen to contain a shark glossary. “Not a whole lot.”

He leaned on the gunwale running along the inside edge. “For starters, they’re one of the most mysterious creatures on the planet. Particularly great whites. Because they’re so difficult to track, we don’t know a lot about their patterns. Technology’s grown exponentially over the last decade, so we’re learning more now than ever.”

“That’s exciting,” Sharona said.

Jeff lifted his eyebrows. “You think so?”

She sighed in exasperation. “Look, just because I was sent here to make sure funds aren’t being misspent doesn’t mean I don’t believe in science and progress. Because I
do
.”

She hated the way her voice rose to that shrill level that always happened when she got overly emotional. Nonetheless, she did
not
like the idea of anyone spearing anything through its fin.

“Nice speech,” Jeff said. His voice had a hint of respect in it. Also a hint of amusement. She didn’t like not being taken seriously, either.

“So?” She waved a hand. “Continue.”

“Right.” He ran a hand through his dark hair and looked toward the oncoming waves. “One of the most elusive things about the white shark is their, uh…” His eyes moved to hers and he held them there.

“Their what?” she asked when he didn’t finish, a bit rapt by his expression.

He kept his eyes locked on her. “Their mating.”

“Mating,” she repeated, feeling a flutter in her stomach at the way he was looking at her…then suddenly
not
looking at her.

“We don’t know if individual animals spawn in a certain spot every time—kind of like a human might go to a particular
pub
if she wants some action. Just an example, mind you.”

She folded her arm, feeing her cheeks heat up. “Pub. Uh-huh.”

Jeff leaned against the railing, his expression looking smug at her embarrassment. “For all we know, sharks are just, ya know, doing it everywhere.”

“Like the Kardashians?”

He stared at her for a beat, then that tight expression relaxed into a smile as he slid his hands into his jean pockets. “And probably just as reckless,” he said. “Or so I’d like to think. That’s one of the reasons we’re intrigued about why we’ve tracked these sharks back here. The gestation period is twelve-to-eighteen months. It’s been about that long since we last saw them in these waters.”

“You’re thinking this could be like a favorite pub for sharks? A mating ground?”

“Dunno. But it’s certainly worth finding out, don’t you think?”

“Have you ever seen two sharks doing…?” She shrugged. “You know.”

“It’s extremely rare.” His accent had grown heavy as he leaned forward, his arm brushing hers. Goose bumps broke out across her skin. “But who knows. Maybe, if we play just the right mood music, you and I will get lucky, Sharona Blaire.”

Was he talking about shark reproduction…or human? And…was he flirting? Earlier, he’d gone cold and hostile when she’d tried to apologize. The man was a ball of contradiction. A very sexy, very nice-smelling contradiction.

“Well.” She swallowed, staring into his eyes. “I’m all for getting lucky.”

Chapter Four

It was like a spell was broken the second Pax called his name from across the boat, shaking him awake. He hadn’t meant to talk about sex—marine or not—with Sharona. Since the second they’d met, she brought out the cheesy singles bar in him. They’d been on the boat for an hour and he’d already imagined kissing her a million different ways and on a million parts of her body.

If he didn’t keep his head in the game, today would go to shit.

“Yeah, Pax. What is it?” he asked, after breathing out a long exhale and stepping away from the tantalizing bait at his side.

“Got our first sighting. They’re faint but…”

Jeff sent one glance Sharona’s way then strode to where Pax stood by the side, pointing toward the water.

“See.”

“I’ll be damned,” he said, catching a quick sight of the telltale black triangle along the horizon. “How far?”

“Kilometer and a half, I’d wager.”

“Close enough.” Jeff felt a healthy shot of adrenaline in his blood. “Manny!” he called toward the helm. “Drop anchor.”

“You got it,” Manny returned. The noises of the engines cut.

“What’s happening?” Sharona was suddenly at his side, looking a little pale, a little green, too. Was she seasick already? “Why are we stopping?”

“That’s why.” Pax was pointing dead ahead.

Sharona squinted into the sun, shading her eyes like a sun visor. “I don’t see anything.”

Jeff moved to stand behind her, rested his hands on top of her shoulders, and lowered his face so their cheeks touched. “There,” he said, moving her to angle in the correct direction. He could tell she was holding her breath, because he both heard and felt when she finally inhaled and her breath hitched. It had hitched in exactly the same way last night after she’d first kissed him.

At the memory, he dropped his hands, stepped back, and cleared his throat. “See it now?”

She nodded but didn’t look at him. “Um, yeah. The black fin?”

“It’s coming this way,” Pax said. “Lemme check the database to see if it’s one of—yep.” He gestured at the computer screen. “Jeff, mate, she’s one of our females.”

Jeff grinned, another boost of adrenaline hitting. “Which one?”

Pax consulted the screen for a moment. “Matilda.”

“Waltzing Matilda.” Jeff remembered this one. She wasn’t the largest female he’d ever tagged, but man was she feisty. He dug feisty—in sharks and in women. He tried not to recall the sexy way Sharona had pulled him into that first kiss last night. Talk about aggressive. “You got her on the monitor, Pax?” he forced himself to say.

“Sure do,” Pax replied. “Here she comes.”

Sharona made quick notes about the three unopened boxes outside the helm and a small recycling receptacle that looked like it had never been used. She’d ask about those later because, due to the sudden excitement of the crew—the sighting of Waltzing Matilda was huge news. From what she’d read about the purpose of this research trip, they were retrieving information from tags.

But what kind of tag? And would she be able to get a look at one? More importantly, how the hell did they plan on getting something off the dorsal fin of a moving great white shark? Flashes of that scene from
Jaws
when the shark ate half a fishing boat and all of Robert Shaw popped into her mind. But that was only a movie, right?

This was way above her pay grade.

Once the anchor dropped, the big ship slowed, then stopped, rocking back and forth. Sharona’s stomach rolled with the waves, and she gripped the railing, trying to steady both her legs and stomach. She was not about to miss seeing her first shark in the wild because she was blowing chunks overboard.

“Look!” one of the crew shouted.

Everyone rushed to the other side, staring out at the distance. She glanced at Jeff, who was also at the railing. As she gingerly crossed the deck like a newborn colt, she wondered if it would be totally inappropriate to ask Jeff to point her in the right direction again.

Yeah, that had been very nice, the way he’d slid in, his strong, solid body taking up the space behind her, the touch of his cheek against hers, his big hands on her shoulders. Her thoughts had instantly drifted to their moments outside the elevator, those same hands wandering up the inside of her dress.

“Here she comes—whoa!” Jeff was obviously keeping his mind on work, which was what Sharona should’ve been doing, too.

Why was this man such a distraction?

With careful steps, she moved down the side of the ship, sliding in beside two deckhands, who were paying no attention to her, but at something in the water twenty feet out. One of the other guys threw something overboard. Whatever it was sank but it was attached to an orange buoy.

Buoys
… Dozens of those were on her audit list. But now was not the time to consult the database. If she accidentally dropped her iPad in the water, Garry would make her pay for it. She let go of the railing long enough to make sure the bag holding her tablet was strapped securely across her shoulder, then she shaded her eyes and gazed out to sea in the same direction as the others.

She could make out only the fin, which was moving toward the boat at a pretty fast clip. It was hard to see anything below the surface, but after a few seconds, her focus adjusted. At first she thought it was a shadow overhead, of something huge…like a small airplane? But then she noticed the aerodynamic head, then…about mile behind that…the tail.

The damn thing had to be fifteen feet long. And coming straight at them like a torpedo.

All she heard was the excited exclamations of the guys on either side of her at the railing. All she felt was a confused kind of heavy buzz inside her head. All she saw were teeth.

The analytical part of her brain understood that the boat wasn’t suddenly rocking on top of the waves, but that the momentum and wake of the two-ton animal breaking surface, then veering away, gave the
sensation
of rocking up and down…and up and down…up and down. Or maybe
she
was rocking. Either way, it was a perfect storm.

With one hand, she grabbed her stomach, then grasped the railing with her other hand, only halfway aware of the string of curse words flying from her mouth. Many of which her Navy SEAL brother would be proud of.

She shut her eyes, hoping to calm the internal tidal wave of nausea, and bent forward to lay her forehead on the railing, groaning aloud. Through the haze of queasiness, she didn’t realize she was hanging onto the railing with a death grip until she was being pried away.

“Don’t touch me,” she tried to say.

“Hey.” She heard a soft voice but didn’t know where it was coming from. “Let go.” Someone was peeling her fingers off the railing, then she felt an arm around her as she was being pulled from the edge. Without thinking, she leaned in and clung to the front of the shirt, allowing her wobbly legs to be half dragged away.

Within a few steps of walking into the cooling breeze, she felt better, though her head still hammered hard behind her ears. The next thing she knew, the bright sunlight was shaded and she was propped against a wall.

“You’re safe.”

She blinked once, then forced her gaze to focus on the pair of intense blue eyes staring back at her, brows arched in concern.

Jeff reached out and pressed his palm to her cheek. “Just breathe,” he said, soothingly, running a thumb across her skin. “Hey…there you are.” A corner of his mouth pulled back into a real smile, the first she’d seen on him today. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she said after a swallow, noting the quiver in her voice. Her head was still pretty fuzzy, too. “What was that?”

“I think you were going into shock.” He tilted his head like he was examining her from another angle. “Still might be, I’m afraid.”

“It’s not
shock
. It’s my…” She didn’t speak the word but pressed a hand against her stomach in pantomime.

“Your first time seeing a shark breech? Wasn’t she a beaut?”

“You could say that.” Her pulse was thrumming behind her ears so she closed her eyes, trying to stop the imagined rocking of the heavy boat.
Seasickness is all in your mind,
she inwardly chanted
. Give it a second and it’ll pass
.

Jeff shifted his weight, and she felt his thumbs stroke across her cheeks. “Sharona, it’s okay. You’re in a ship surrounded by eight hundred tons of steel.”

Please don’t talk about the boat
…

“Matilda is in the water.
Outside
. You’re safe.”

She opened her eyes and looked at him. Why was he explaining that to her? Yes, she had a normal fear of sharks, completely illogical and unfounded, of course, fueled by bad movies on the SyFy channel with fake blood and guts and…

Not good.

Inadvertently, she clamped her eyes shut and jolted in a full-body shudder. It was like she was being choked from the inside; oxygen couldn’t reach her lungs like it should. But at least she wasn’t nauseous anymore.

Jeff’s body moved closer, both hands cradling her cheeks. “You’re moaning again.” His voice was lower and closer than before. “Stay with me.” She felt his breath fanning her face, soft like a breeze off the ocean, such a nice, gentle breeze.

The next second, his lips crashed against hers.

If there had been air in her lungs, she wouldn’t have known what to do with it. He kissed her fiercely, making her head spin wilder than a whirlpool, knocking every last puff of breath from her body. His hands slid down the sides of her neck and she swayed back, only to find she was being steadied by the steel wall of the helm.

At the first break in their kiss, she sucked in an audible gulp of air, then grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him in. As one of his hands cradled the back of her head, the other pressed into the small of her back. Her heart pounded, faster even than when she’d seen Matilda in the flesh.

Jeff pulled back, but only to move to her jaw, his mouth trailing to her ear, sending sizzles of pleasure up and down her spine. She released her grip on his shirt to slip her arms around him, palming the hard muscles along the way. His breath tickled her ear as he rested his lips on her hairline. Traces of last night’s cologne and today’s sunshine on his skin awakened a new hunger. She arched toward him, needing to be closer, needing his lips on hers like she needed air.

“Good. You’re breathing again.”

“Again?” she whispered, lifting up on her toes.

When Jeff moved his face away, her skin felt cold, missing the sunny warmth that accompanied him. She peeled her eyelids apart, focusing on his blue eyes. They weren’t watching her with that intense concern anymore. He actually looked…cocky. That Han Solo crooked grin.

“You’d stopped for a minute,” he explained. “Before.”

Her heart was racing too fast now; she didn’t understand what he meant. Stopped? Why had she stopped breathing? And what did that have to do with him stopping in the middle of their kiss? Was he trying to get back at her for last night?

“You appear to be breathing fine now,” he added. Humor colored his thick, sex-on-a-stick accent. “Though, maybe a little…heavier than normal.”

Heat rose to her cheeks when she noticed how loud and jagged her breathing was.

“Sorry,” he said, moving back another few inches. “I thought you could use a shock to the system. You were losing it there for a minute.”

And the hits keep on coming.

“You thought I was about to faint?” she asked, wishing she were at the bottom of the Pacific.

“As I just explained, you weren’t breathing, so—”

“And that was your idea of mouth to mouth?” She lifted an eyebrow. “Do you do that every time a member of your crew is about to pass out?”

Jeff laughed, and let his arms drop to his sides. “I’m no MD, but I’ve always been good at…thinking on my feet.” The way his eyes flashed to her mouth made her blush all over again. “Did you call Natalie?”

“What?”

“Last night, you mentioned…” He paused to lower his voice. “You said it was your best friend’s birthday and you were reminding yourself to call her.” He tilted his head. “Though you were also confused about the time difference, afraid you’d missed her birthday.”

A gush of warmth washed over her. Of all the things they’d talked about last night, this was what he remembered. It was one of the things she’d liked about him—he listened, he was thoughtful. So many of the good-looking men she’d met lately skipped over honing that personality trait.

But not Blue Eyes from the bar last night.

Not Jeff Cruz, the guy standing in front of her now. The guy who’d kissed her completely breathless once, then kissed her again so she
could
breathe.

“I haven’t called Nat,” she admitted, allowing a tiny part of her brain to feel guilty about that, while the rest of her brain was doing its best to keep her hands from tearing off Jeff’s T-shirt so she could get a look at that firm chest she’d been pressed against. “When we get back tonight, I will. Thanks for the reminder.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, lifting a smile that made her toes curl. “Let me grab you some water. Don’t move.” His big, capable hands—that had been holding her face just moments ago—gently swayed her so her back rested against the wall. Then he disappeared around a corner. She was glad she had the wall to rest against; otherwise, she was quite sure her knees would buckle to the floor.

Medicinal or not, in her whole life she’d never been kissed like that.

Despite the obvious complications of their jobs and her craptastic split with Garry and the small fact that Dr. Great White Han Solo Jeff Cruz could be such an
ass
…she wanted him to kiss her like that again.