Waterfall Kisses (The Kisses 9)

“What's going on?” I asked, the pit of my stomach suddenly falling. Cold dread swept over me. Something bad had just happened.

“Leo!” Murdoch shouted into the headset. He shook his head and looked at me. “The radio just went dead. It's probably just a glitch in the system. It should be back up in a minute.” He held out his hand to stop me, but the flicker of terror deep in his eyes told me the truth.

“Leo...” I whispered. Cold dread filled me and I shivered in the tropical heat, getting goosebumps up and down my arms. Something bad had happened to him. I prayed it was just my imagination getting the better of me, but deep in my heart, I knew.

He had crashed.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The sun slow lifted her radiant head out of the dark ocean, sending light to cast out the shadows of night. I knew it would be warmer soon, but I was still cold with dread. I hugged my arms around me tighter, watching the rays of light bounce off the water and shimmer with hope. Maybe with the dawn they would find him.

I stared out at the water, watching the waves and trying really hard not to think of sharks.

The coast guard will find him, I told myself, repeating like a mantra. If I said it enough times, it had to be true. They would find him, sitting there grinning in his boat, totally fine- just with a dead battery. Not scattered across the ocean with the debris of his shattered boat.

He wouldn't leave me alone. He wouldn't. Leo loved me. He wouldn't do the thing I feared most in the world. He wouldn't leave me, especially not after telling me what he had done.

I needed to talk to him. I needed to tell him that I forgave him. This empty, hollow, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach was terrible and all I knew was that I wanted him safe. I didn't care what he had done anymore. I just wanted him back with me.

I closed my eyes, the sun now to bright to look at. I was so tired. After Leo's radio signal stopped, Murdoch immediately called the coast guard. I'd spent the rest of the night pacing the docks, waiting for a boat to find him. Unfortunately, Speed Demon was a very fast boat. There was a lot of territory to search.

I could hear the conversation of the command center over the sound of the water. It was still quiet on the docks with just the sea birds starting to cry that the day was here, so it was hard not to hear the searchers' conversations. Their words floated through my mind. I didn't want to understand the depth of their meaning, because nothing they said gave me hope.

“He was only going fifty knots, and the water was smooth...”

“We found the GPS transponder. It appears to have broken off and gotten caught in the current. It'll take some time to find him...”

“If he crashed going sixty-five miles per hour, that's still a hard crash...”

> “He's an experienced captain, perhaps he bailed out in time...”

I thought again of asking Murdoch for the keys to the Silver Lightning, but I knew it wouldn't help. I wasn't trained and I'd just get in the way of the coast guard. They had asked me to stay here, to be a point of contact if they did find him. I couldn't just take a boat I didn't know how to drive out into the ocean with no idea what I was doing. Then they'd just have two people to look for. As much as I hated it, I had to stay on land. Even as useless as I felt, it was where I needed to be.

I turned away from the voices. I just wanted to wake up and find this was all a dream. A horrible, terrible nightmare of a dream. I wanted to just wake up in Leo's bed and find it was yesterday. No blackmail, no missing money, no fight, no crash.

“Here,” Murdoch said softly. I opened my eyes to see him holding out a blanket. I stared at it without moving and so he unfolded and carefully wrapped it around my shoulders. “You're shivering. You look exhausted. Go to the Silver Lightning and lay down. I'll come get you as soon as there's any word.”

“But...” I turned to look back at the command center the coast guard had set up to centralize the search. I didn't want to leave. What if something happened? I needed to be here.

I looked up into Murdoch's eyes, expecting to find hardness and anger. Instead, I found big brown eyes that were warm and gentle. There was a hardness to his face, but a deep well of kindness bubbled deep within his dark eyes. I'd always seen him as cold and intimidating, but in this morning sun, he had a warmth I hadn't expected. Especially from someone who bet all of our friends that Leo and I would never be a couple.

“He would want me to take care of you,” Murdoch said quietly, putting his hands on my shoulders and gently steering me away and toward the Silver Lightning. “You need to rest.”

“Okay,” I relented, letting my feet move without thinking. Everything in my brain was foggy and distant from trying not to think and worry, yet still failing. I moved on autopilot because if I thought about what was happening, I would break down.

I couldn't break down yet. Not until I knew for sure.

“Do you know why I bet that the two of you would never get together?” Murdoch asked after a moment. The sounds of the command center were fading to the gentle bumps and splashes of boats tied to a dock.

I shook my head. “No.” Something deep in my chest started to ache.

“It's because I have to win,” Murdoch stated. “I'm an ex gambler- that's how Leo found me. I used to work security at some rather disreputable gambling establishments. I was in a bad place until Leo got me a real job and out of gambling. He saved me.”

“I didn't know that,” I said, fighting against the lump in my throat. I wondered just how many others Leo had saved that I didn't know about. Knowing that Leo had helped him out of a terrible position suddenly made Murdoch's unwavering loyalty make more sense, but not why he wouldn't want me in Leo's life.

“He's a good man.” Murdoch looked at me, his eyes telling me that he believed it far more than words could. “That's why you were my last bet. I bet that you and Leo would never be a couple.”

My stomach clenched. He didn't think I was good for Leo.