Devil and the Deep (The Ceruleans Book 4) - Julie Ann Walker Page 0,51

hurt, is he?” The roar of her heart sounded like a waterfall in her ears.

“No.” Now his eye was twitching.

“Madison Powers? Is she okay?”

“Yes.”

“And the girls?”

“Fine.”

“So what is it?” she demanded. “Why do you look like someone shoved a porcupine up your ass?”

“Don’t,” he said, reaching behind his back to unhook her ankles. Then he unwound her arms from around his neck and gently pushed her away.

“And Monsieur Monosyllable strikes again!” she said, frowning and treading water beside him.

“I need to get to the catamaran and try to use the marine radio to call back to Wayfarer Island.”

“But—”

“No buts.” He cut her off, wading further into the sea.

“But aren’t you going to tell me what’s going on?” All those happy, sparkly feelings she’d been having were starting to wear off. She was reminded why she and Mason didn’t get along. It was because he was the most impossible man. “After almost an hour and a half, I think I deserve an explan—”

“Later,” he muttered, stroking toward the sailboat.

“Wow!” she called after him. “How is it you’ve never been voted Mr. Personality? I mean, with conversational chops like that?”

He didn’t turn back. Didn’t stop swimming. Simply ignored her and kept stroking across the tops of the waves, his huge arms and massive shoulders making the exercise look effortless.

So…same ol’, same ol’.

And why that should cause an ache to form somewhere in the vicinity of her heart, she didn’t know. Or maybe she just didn’t want to know.

Yup! And there they are. Right on schedule.

All her conflicting feelings were back in full force.

Chapter 13

8:51 p.m.…

“It’s empty,” Alex said after peering into the park ranger’s refrigerator, causing Bran to bite the inside of his cheek.

After he and Maddy rescued the missing girls—thankfully, they’d been precisely where the masked asshole said they’d be, scared but unharmed and terribly happy to see Maddy—they’d trudged from the fort and across the bridge, intending to gather Rick and Sally Mae before heading back to the fort to keep watch. But about halfway down the beach, they saw Alex wading onto the sand.

After the introductions had been made and Alex had been brought up to speed on the events of the night, she proceeded to do what she did best: jabber nonstop and make herself right at home.

“I mean, I’ve never seen a fridge this empty,” she said, shaking her head in wonder. Her riot of curls was drying and poking out every which way until it looked like she’d gone through hell in a high wind.

“It’s not empty,” Ranger Rick assured her, leaning against the Formica countertop. “It’s just…slim pickings.”

“Slim pickings?” Alex glanced from him to the refrigerator, back to Rick, and then back to the refrigerator. “It’s like The Grapes of Wrath in here.”

Bran snorted, happy for the levity Alex brought to the situation. It helped him feel more like his usual self. The monster having been safely tucked away. Its claws sheathed. Its fangs filed.

He blew out a deep breath that immediately strangled in his throat when Maddy walked over to him and laced her fingers through his. She’d passed out water bottles and comforted the teens as best she could. But now, to his complete dismay, she gravitated toward his side and acted like that whole hand-holding thing after the standoff by the gunpowder magazine house wasn’t a onetime deal.

He’d allowed it then because she’d seemed to need it, seemed to need his physical touch for reassurance. But now? Well, now, if he let her hold his hand it would mean…something it shouldn’t.

“What do you usually eat?” Alex asked Rick, dragging Bran from his thoughts. He extricated his hand from Maddy’s by pretending he needed to check something on the side of his M4. Cowardly? Sure. But at least it got the job done. And never mind that the skin of his palm missed the feel of hers against it.

“Mostly PB and J,” Rick said.

“Oh, good!” Alex beamed. “One of my faves.” She reached into the refrigerator and grabbed the jar of strawberry jelly from the middle shelf. Turning, she brandished it triumphantly and asked, “So where are the PB and the bread to go along with this J?”

Rick opened the breadbox and pulled out a loaf of classic white Wonder Bread. He passed it to Alex and opened a cupboard door to take down a half-empty jar of Jif.

“Thank you.” She gave him a toothy smile that, unless Bran was mistaken, made Rick blush. It hit Bran then… Alex was pretty. In a