He’d turned me useless and legless as he’d scooped me up, folded me reverently into the submarine, then climbed in after me. He didn’t say another word as he sealed the portal, buckled me in, then cracked a pained smile as his long legs and big bulk struggled to find a comfortable position in the pilot seat.
Had that moment truly happened?
Did he truly kiss me that softly? Whisper that ardently?
Was that all it took to make him fall for me? To share a few inconsequential titbits of my past? Did I hold the magic all along to make him weak-kneed and besotted just by telling him I didn’t like traditional breakfast foods?
For the hundredth time, I shook my head in a mixture of awe and obsession. How stupid was I to think I loved this man? How naïve to believe someone could fall with barely any information. If Elder kept revealing different sides of himself, showing the chivalry behind the warrior and compassion behind the thief, I was utterly destroyed.
I would trade my life for his.
I would never again think of suicide no matter how bad things got because ultimately, I no longer lived for me…
I lived for him.
The bucket seat’s moulded plastic stuck to my naked skin uncomfortably. Why had he made us wear swimming gear in this dry machine? Had he planned ahead in case it leaked? Would we drown in here?
My thoughts finally left romanticism and focused on the new world we entered.
The sky vanished, the garage door sealing back into position as down and down we floated.
Elder grabbed the radio. “This is Viperfish clear from the Phantom. Door is closed. Resume engines at slow speed.”
“Right you are.” The crackled response filled the pressurised cabin.
I didn’t speak as Elder fiddled with levers and switches, activating different whirring sounds and propulsion. Once we sank low enough to make me feel crushed by the amount of liquid, he shot me a smile. “Look up.”
I gasped as the entire length of the Phantom floated above us.
Slowly, as the captain resumed speed, the rudders and propellers woke from their nap and turned into ginormous sickles, slicing the ocean into pieces, pushing the majestic floating home toward a new destination without us.
Elder kept his eyes pinned on his yacht’s belly, his face in shadow from the ship blocking what little sunrays managed to make it this far. “It’s hard to believe we sleep and eat and go about our lives believing the Phantom is so sturdy and strong, yet from here, it looks so fragile.”
My brain heard him but my heart still heard ‘you stole my heart.’ I never wanted to forget the power and shock that small sentence delivered.
‘You stole my heart.’
But you, Elder Prest…you stole my everything.
Everywhere I looked, crystal blue water cushioned us. From our vantage point, the ocean had no bottom—just a deeper blue that stretched eternally downward. Large schools of fish swam too far away to distinguish.
It wasn’t like any snorkelling I’d done. There were no coral or anemones; no clown fish or angelfish. Just us…suspended in aqua.
I jolted as his hand touched mine, sending fiery need straight to my core. I’d told him I would be his friend, sailing partner, and cello confidant. And I would be all those things. I’d tell him anything he wanted to know; I’d go wherever he set course. I’d even suffer through classical music and terrible memories—all for him.
But if I believed I could keep my promise that I didn’t need him touching me, kissing me, loving me, or if I thought I could survive without having sex with this man again, I would end up combusting in utter agony.
Pushing down such desires, I curled my fingers around his only for him to pull away. “Dolphins?”
I nodded slowly. “Dolphins.” The one thing I’d been beyond excited to see had now paled in the repetition of ‘you stole my heart.’
His brow dropped over heated eyes resembling burnings pieces of coal. He heard everything I’d tried to keep hidden. Biting his lower lip, he fed some speed to the sub. “Dolphins and then we’ll talk. Deal?”
I let out a huge sigh—I didn’t know if it was relief, frustration, or gratefulness. “Talk?” How could I tell him talking would only make me fall harder and falling for him meant my awakened sexuality became harder to deny?
The answer was, I couldn’t. I already made his life a living hell.
He nodded gently. “Talk. Like two people. A date.”
I blushed. “You want to go on a date with me?”
It was his turn to sigh heavily. “More than anything.”
What untainted air remained in the sub quickly switched to lust-drenched fog. We might as well have been trapped in a bubble of sexual thirst. The small cab throbbed with it, threatening to burst the waterproof seals and let gallons of cool seawater gush in to put out the fire.