beneath them.
Excitement and impatience buzzed through her system, making it difficult to sit still. She wanted to be down there, not stuck on the small boat with Knox.
Avery found herself holding her breath in a mix of anticipation, excitement and guilt.
No, she wasn’t going to go there. She had no idea if the ship below them was really the Chimera and until she did there was no sense in borrowing trouble.
Avery watched Knox work, grudgingly admitting that he knew his way around the equipment. Even if he moved at a snail’s pace while using it. Every shift of his body was deliberate—the way the muscles in his arms and legs rippled as he moved, adjusting knobs, flipping switches, staring at the readout.
The longer she sat and watched him, the more tension seemed to fill her body. The boat was small. The man was big. And he wouldn’t let her do anything.
“Let me help.”
“No,” he said, without even bothering to look up from the data.
“Come on. I’m just sitting here.”
“I told you it was pointless for you to come, but you insisted.” The so sit there and be quiet was implied by his tone of voice.
Avery didn’t appreciate that much either.
Her fingers began tapping on the edge of the boat, a rhythm she couldn’t seem to stop. She wasn’t used to watching someone else work. Being idle drove her nuts.
After several minutes, Knox finally threw her a glare. “Stop that.”
Beneath the weight of his gaze, Avery stilled. For a moment. And then she deliberately thrummed her fingers against the smooth wood again.
It might have been childish to enjoy watching the edges of his mouth tighten with irritation. But there was a part of her—a bigger part than she really wanted to admit—that delighted in knowing she could get under his skin the same way he managed to dig at her.
“Payback is hell,” she taunted.
Knox opened his mouth, she expected a string of unhappy words to flow out, but instead a slow smile bloomed across his face. It crinkled the corners of his eyes. Light and laughter flashed through them, turning the caramel color to something hot and inexplicably making her mouth water.
Leaning sideways, Knox dipped his hand into the water beside them. Cupping his palm, he scooped up a handful. Avery knew what was coming, but there was nothing she could do. Nowhere to go.
“Don’t you—”
He did, flinging the salt water straight at her. It cascaded down the front of her shirt leaving splotches over the cotton. Droplets clung to her eyelashes and the wisps of hair that had fallen down from her ponytail.
“You’re right, doc, it sure is.”
Avery wanted to yell at him. She opened her mouth to do it, but nothing came out. She wasn’t used to men playing with her. Didn’t know how to react. Especially since her entire body was responding as if he’d touched her instead of the water, flaming hot and throbbing in inopportune places.
At least she could blame her tightened nipples on the cool breeze drying her shirt.
Out of nowhere, a low buzz interrupted any retaliation she might have planned. At first it was faint enough that Avery thought maybe Knox had stuffed his cell into his pocket. But as the sound grew, the rumble quickly increasing to a whine that vibrated through her chest, she realized that wasn’t the case.
Then a small plane appeared on the horizon.
“Knox,” she said, pointing to where the speck was quickly growing.
It wasn’t unusual to see planes carrying passengers or cargo from island to island, but this one was out in the middle of nowhere.
“It’s coming in low,” Knox murmured, almost to himself. Abandoning what he’d been doing, he straightened, using a hand to shield his eyes from the glaring sun. “Very low.”
He flipped an assessing glance at her. It didn’t last more than a few seconds, but it was enough to let her know he somehow thought she was responsible for whatever was happening.
What the hell?
The plane buzzed past, banking hard to the right and swinging in a large arc. At a diagonal, it headed away, but managed to drop even lower in the sky.
“What the heck are they doing?”
“McNair.”
It wasn’t an answer, and yet it was. “You think he’s surveying the wreck site?” Surprise crept into her voice, although once the words were out of her mouth, she didn’t know why.
It was exactly the kind of thing McNair would do. Even thinking he had her firmly lodged in his back pocket, he wasn’t the kind of man to leave things to chance.
Or maybe he was just checking up on her.
Anxiety ricocheted through Avery’s rib cage. He needed to back off or he was going to ruin any chance she had of doing what he’d ordered.
Then something tumbled out of the back of the plane and plunged toward the water.
“Oh, my God!” Avery shouted, shooting to her feet. The boat rocked unsteadily with the sudden shift in weight. Knox reached for her hand and tugged, pulling her back down.
As they watched, a parachute popped free of the dark spot plummeting toward the water. Avery let out a sigh of relief, slumping onto her seat.
The dangerous descent slowed. Whatever had fallen dropped out of their line of sight, but there was no doubt it had hit the water.
Knox barely gave her any warning before revving the engine. “Hold on.” He cranked it high and jolted forward, speeding in that direction.
Gripping the edge of the boat, Avery closed her eyes against the spray of water whipping into her face. The boat bounced on the waves, sending her stomach jolting up and down between her throat and toes, until she felt as if her insides were jumbling together. Adrenaline surged into her already spinning system.
It didn’t take them long to reach the object, five minutes at the most. But the Amphitrite was no longer on the horizon. They were surrounded by nothing but open sea on all sides, which normally wouldn’t bother her.
Except someone had dropped something into the water and the parachute suggested it was intentional.
For the first time since everything had started, Avery began to question why they were chasing after whatever it was.
A huge wooden box came into view. The parachute stretched out across the water like a colorful oil slick. On all sides were inflated tubes keeping the cargo afloat.
Avery was getting a really bad feeling.
“Uh...remind me why we raced over here?”
Knox flashed her one hell
