Maybe it simply came from a life lived on the water. Maybe it came from sharing a love for marine life with those so close to her. She might have decided to go her own way with her career in law enforcement, but she had never lost that feeling for the water, never lost the bone-deep need and appreciation that drove her to places where she could visit the wonders of the ocean time and again.
“And you?” Paul finally asked, turning to level an intense glare on Brandon. “What is it you want, Brandon?”
Brandon looked at the ceiling and pushed an audible breath from his lungs. “I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
“Figures,” Paul mumbled and stepped onto the steel grating that circled the top of the tiger shark tank.
Megan stepped to the edge of the tank, her gaze falling instantly on the long, lean figure swimming alongside the fourteen-foot tiger shark. The corded muscles of Drake’s shoulders and biceps flexed as he stroked through the water, his attention focused on the shark. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from his broad shoulders and big, strong hands that were obviously made to hold a woman as he brought her to orgasm after orgasm.
Electric fingers of sensation tickled through her, beading her nipples and slickening her pussy. She watched as he moved one powerful arm and lovingly splayed his hand on the shark’s side next to its dorsal fin. She wanted to feel that hand on her flesh. She wanted to writhe against him as he skimmed that hand down her body, feeling every inch of her heated skin.
“Come on, Paul.” Brandon’s pained sigh snapped Megan from her lustful thoughts. “You know how much I love this place. I don’t want to see it close, but lately, it’s becoming ludicrous to think we can keep it open. I’m busted, man. I don’t have a penny left to sink into it. Profits are barely covering the overhead. There isn’t enough to spare for improvements. If Joan and Walter decide to pull out, we’re screwed.”
Megan watched as Paul kneeled beside the tank and gripped the edge, her mind reeling. There had to be something they could do.
But what?
“Walter and Joan are not going to pull out as long as there’s still a chance they can make money,” Paul said, sounding far more confident than he looked.
“No, they won’t,” Brandon agreed. “But they’ve also realized the only way that’s going to happen is if we all agree to sell, and we know you aren’t going to give in.”
“This place is my life, Brandon.” Paul’s voice actually cracked, and a band twisted around Megan’s heart. “I’ll figure something out. I just need some time.”
“Time is something we’re running out of.” Brandon threw a frustrated hand in the air. “Did you think your affair with Joan would change her mind?”
Megan’s jaw dropped. Paul had an affair with Joan Baxter?
Holy shit.
Paul glanced at her, and she saw the truth and a truckload of guilt in his somber expression.
He kept his gaze on her but, when he spoke, his words were obviously directed at Brandon. “I would have preferred it if you hadn’t made that public knowledge right now.”
Brandon shot her a cursory look and sighed. “I’m sorry, but damn it, Paul, what the hell were you thinking?”
“Believe me, I’ve asked myself that question plenty of times since it happened. What I can tell you is what Joan and I shared had nothing to do with this place. We never talked business.”
“Well, maybe you should have.” Brandon turned to Megan, his posture one of pure irritation and utter defeat. “Can you talk some sense into him? Because no one else can.”
Megan didn’t know what to say. She had stopped by the aquarium for a quick visit and some time with an old friend. What she had gotten were clouds of information that were rumbling in her head in a dangerous storm of confusion.
Water splashed inside the tank next to her, drawing her attention. Drake broke the surface mere feet from where she stood, his sharp blue gaze instantly slamming into hers. His too-kissable lips tilted in a sexy grin that had embers of heat raining through her body.
Confusion over Paul and the aquarium weren’t the only things she had gotten from this visit. A wicked desire had reawakened inside her that she had barely managed to get under control and, as she stared into the ocean of Drake’s eyes, she got the feeling that restraining that craving again would play hell on her.
* * * *
The vision of Megan standing at the side of the shark tank stayed with Drake long after she left. He hadn’t quite understood his infatuation with her at first. Though pretty, she was far from a
Penthouse
centerfold. Except, okay, from the neck down with her sexy-as-sin curves he suspected would be equally delicious, she could easily grace the cover of the men’s magazine. The neck up, however, painted a different picture. Her long bleach-blonde hair hung in waves around a narrow face with big hazel eyes, high cheekbones, and a nose a smidgen too large.
No, not quite cover model material but, after barely a week of knowing her, he had understood. Her personality drew him to her like a magnet. She was smart, vivacious, ambitious, independent, shared his love for marine life, and he wanted her. The trouble came in not knowing exactly how he wanted her.
Facedown on a dining room table, pinned against a wall, tethered to a bed beneath him…Drake grinned. Yeah, that would work for starters. He wanted her under his control, wanted to shatter that independence with a serious bout of good ole sport fucking. But something told him it wouldn’t end there.
“Am I going to have to bust your chops, too, for getting sidetracked on the job?”
Drake blinked, his grin fading as he turned and found Paul standing a few feet from him, one brow raised and an expression of part irritation and part amusement on his face.
“We both care for that tiger shark, but she’s never put a grin like that on my lips.”
Drake wiped the water from his face with the towel hanging around his neck. “Sorry, Paul. Did you say something?”
“I’ve always enjoyed seeing young people with such motivation. It’s what this world needs, more people with the drive to go after what they want.” Paul pursed his lips and rocked back on his heels. “Of course, when that go-get-’em attitude isn’t directed in the right direction, how can you expect to get what you want?”
Drake chuckled. “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.” It was a lie. He knew exactly what Paul was talking about. He just didn’t want to discuss the bone-deep lust surging through him for Megan Pontius.
Paul rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you do. I’m talking about Megan. Do you want to try to tell me you weren’t off in la-la land thinking about her just now?”
La-la land, no. His mind had been boarding a fast-sailing ship straight to fuck-her island. “What makes you think that?” He decided to play dumb, if for no other reason than to tease his old friend.
Paul tapped his temple. “The very intelligent brain in my head. I’ve seen the way you look at her, the way you’ve
always
looked at her. And I’ve seen the way she looks at you, too. She was dating that officer when you first met her but, to the best of my rather extensive knowledge, that’s been over for close to a year.”
Yeah, Drake knew that and damn if that fact hadn’t kept him awake for a night or twenty, taunting him with possibilities. He had often wondered what happened to end her relationship with Jerry Cusack. He considered it likely the other man’s promotion to sergeant had something to do with it. Then again, maybe not. Drake sure as shit wouldn’t have given up a woman like Megan for a higher rank in the police force.
Jealously could be the key.
Yeah, Cusack was definitely a jealous man and he didn’t like Drake one iota. The man had practically gone into cardiac arrest when he had caught Megan around Drake. Cusack had hidden it fairly well, from Megan in any case. He damn sure hadn’t hidden it from Drake, though.
Not that he kidded himself into believe he was the reason Megan and Cusack had called it quits. When it came down to it, all he could do was speculate and give her a mental pat on the back because she was no longer with the son of a bitch.
“The temperature in the tanks is close to normal again.” Drake hoped by changing the conversation Paul would get the hint he didn’t want to talk about Megan. He didn’t want to think about her either, but damn if he could seem to stop himself. He knew women. He rarely understood them. What man did? But he could recognize the signs, sense when a woman craved a different kind of satisfaction than what she had allowed herself to explore before. Megan’s hunger was off the charts, but a night or ten under his command wouldn’t curve her appetite. Call it male egotistical confidence or plain stupidity, but he believed she would want more. A whole hell of a lot more, as in the forever kind of more, and he just didn’t know if he was ready for that kind of commitment.
“The sharks seem to be doing fine,” he continued, noting the enjoyment sparkling in Paul’s eyes and ignoring it. Yeah, the old man knew why he was changing the subject. As much as Drake liked to see Paul smiling again, he didn’t care for it being at his own expense. “Another hour or two and everything should be fine.”
Paul nodded. “I still want to monitor them through the night.” The older man lifted a shoulder. “Just as a precaution.”
Drake agreed, knowing Paul’s decision was based as much on his love for the sharks as it was the sharks’ value to the aquarium. “I’ll stick around, stay with them through the night.”
Paul slapped the back of Drake’s shoulder. “We both will. I’ll take over for now. You can see to the rest of your duties and come back when you’re done.”
Drake hesitated, not liking to leave Paul alone with the sharks. He didn’t doubt the other man’s capabilities. If anything, Paul was his greatest mentor. But, despite the too short glimpses of happiness he had seen in Paul’s eyes when the man teased him about Megan, the sadness and stress that had become a routine fixture in the man’s expression lately remained. One wrong move, one stray thought while he was in that tank with the tiger shark could spell danger and, if Drake was across the building when something happened, he would never make it back to Paul in time.
Chapter Two
Megan closed the lid on her laptop and sighed. Her week vacation had started twelve hours ago.
And you’re already bored out of your mind.
Maybe she should have stayed at the aquarium longer. It wasn’t like she had to go into work tomorrow. As a matter of fact, she didn’t have any plans for tomorrow. Cusack hadn’t given her time to make plans. He had been dogging her to take her vacation, and she had been putting it off. She didn’t need a vacation, didn’t want it. Working kept her sane.
She glanced at the clock on the cable box across the room. It was barely midnight. At one time, she would have gone out for a walk on the beach, cured her boredom with a couple of hours of sand, the scent of the saltwater, and the sounds of nature. The casinos along the coast had taken that option away. There were still places where she could feel the sand between her toes, but the saltwater smell would be tainted by the aromas of food and pollution, the sounds drowned out by the constant traffic and commotion of city life.
You could join that commotion tonight. It’s been a long time.
Yes, it had, and she would be smarter to keep it that way. She had spent far too many nights after her breakup with Cusack at those damned casinos, and often lost far too much money for comfort. Instead of taking to the water to clear her mind after their relationship had gone south, she had allowed herself to become wrapped up in the video poker machines.
And let your bank account take a hell of a hit.
No, heading out to a casino now would be completely
in
sane, especially if she went alone.
So call Drake.
She barked an audible laugh at the thought, set her laptop on the sofa beside her, and got to her feet. Drake Allen was the reason her relationship with Cusack fizzled out in the first place. He was the reason she had ended up on a stool at the video poker bar inside the Grand Casino all those nights when she should have been at home.
All because she had wanted him. Desperately. It was the kind of hunger a woman should never feel for a man when she had promised herself to another. That’s when she had known she didn’t love Cusack the way she had thought she did. Finding another man attractive was one thing. Wanting so deep in her soul to be with that man was a clear indication that her heart, mind, and every erogenous zone in her body were not where they were supposed to be.
So she had broken it off with Cusack and buried herself in her job. It had put a strain on their working relationship for a while, especially after Cusack was promoted to sergeant, but they had made it through it.
You didn’t.
She stretched and closed her eyes, knowing that to be the truth. She hadn’t made it through it. The few moments she had spent ogling Drake like a horny teenager this afternoon had proved that. She still wanted him, still craved his touch, hungered to taste, to experience, to
be
with him. It simply didn’t make sense. She had spent time with him at the aquarium, even gone out for a drink with him once. Even that hadn’t been a date.