Dark Ties (Made Men 9)

“After you, Ms. Brooks,” he said with a wave toward the yacht.

“That’s okay. You go firs—”

“I insist.” Any hint of sympathy was now gone. His voice held that demanding grip that was usually present as he placed a light hand on her shoulder before giving her a push forward.

Prick. It was, in fact, the father who was the rich asshole.

Being last to get on the boat wasn’t in her escape plan. While she shakily got onto the boat, she also failed at trying not to seem like she struggled doing so.

The nerves in her belly began to stir as they started to undock and set sail. Dante staying one foot away from her at all times was going to make it tricky to escape if he didn’t give her space.

Watching the dock begin to get smaller and smaller, she knew her window of opportunity was closing. It was now or never, if only this asshole would take one step away from he—

* * *

The suddenness of Nadia’s hand being thrown up to cover her mouth had all three Caruso men looking at her as she ran to the edge of the boat.

“She’s going to blow,” Amo warned, and that was exactly why Dante didn’t follow close behind her. He didn’t need to see what she ate for breakfast.

Plus, they were so far out now that it wasn’t like she was going to jum—

Splash!

“Holy fuck!” Amo shouted.

Leo looked around at them. “Did she just fall in?”

They quickly ran to where she had flipped over the ledge, with Dante leaning his head over the water. He didn’t see her drowning. Nope, Nadia was trying to swim away.

“Well …” he said, looking at his soldier, who was just staring down at her, “are you going to get her?”

“Hell no!” Amo told him truthfully. “I’m built like a boulder; I’ll just sink.”

Turning, he looked at his son, but Leo clearly wasn’t eager, either, needing to only point at his nonexistent eye to say, “Not it.”

“Goddammit!” he grumbled, throwing off his jacket. What is the fucking point of having an army of men at my disposal for a time like this?

“You’ve got time,” Leo informed him nonchalantly as Dante quickly slipped off his Italian leather shoes. “She can barely doggy paddle and isn’t getting very far.”

Oh, how he desperately wished Lucca or Nero had come. Hell, he was sure his daughter, Maria, would have fucking jumped in, heels and all. Instead, he was stuck with these two.

Climbing onto the ledge, he took a single deep breath before expertly diving off. He cut through the water like a freshly sharpened knife cutting into paper before he rose back out of the depths. Shaking the water off his face, he adjusted his eyes to see that she, in fact, hadn’t gotten far at all. Hell, he wasn’t even sure you could call what she was doing a doggy paddle; that would be disrespectful toward canines who actually had the instincts to fucking swim.

Hearing a plop behind him had him looking to see that Amo had actually done something by throwing the life preserver over.

Dante had half a mind to let her ass drown right here and be done with her. Unfortunately, he found his arm hooking through the red and white ring to save the now-beginning-to-sink woman.

* * *

Okay, maybe I didn’t think this through.

If the devil were on her shoulder right now, he’d be saying, “Gee, you think?”

Hitting the water had knocked all the breath out of her as she made herself fall like she had passed out instead of properly jumping off. But that certainly wasn’t all, because she was certain she could swim as a kid.

All thoughts, however, were beginning to escape her, except for one, as water started to fill up her mouth and fatigue started to set in.

Fucking Florida!

She had taken one long dunk underwater, afraid this might be the end, when she felt a strong grip on her arm pulling her back up. Coughing up water from her lungs, she found her arms placed on something that floated, and she was able to put all her weight on it as she tried to catch her breath.

“Are you fucking crazy?” Dante’s harsh voice cut through the end of her coughing fit. “You could have hit your head and killed yourself falling off the boat like that!”

“Well, I was trying to get away from you!” Her hoarse voice cracked as she yelled back at her rescuer, who was still holding her to the floating device.

“Yeah, well, you were doing a great job at that.” His sarcastic tone couldn’t be missed over the sound of the water lapping against them.

She tried to push her wet hair out of her face. “Well, I swam this far, didn’t I? I wasn’t expecting anyone to jump after me, let alone that person being a faster swimmer than me.”