Ride the Tide (Deep Six #3) - Julie Ann Walker Page 0,37

one of those classic faces that, no matter the decade or era, was always considered beautiful. Such perfect proportions. Such symmetry and harmony. Wolf could’ve spent the rest of the night staring at it, using the moonlight to catalog the different striations of blue in her irises, or count every hair in the perfect arches of her eyebrows, but he was going to have to file that under Another Damn Time because things were about to get dicey.

“It’s complicated” was all he said as he searched for a way to warn Mason that—

“Mason!” Donna squealed.

Too late, Wolf thought as Donna’s shriek hit his ears like grinding metal. Cue the drama.

Donna skirted the gate in a flash of Daisy Duke shorts, long hair, and bouncing body parts. Wolf thought it a wonder she didn’t come out of her halter top when she jumped on Mason, wrapping her arms around his neck and her shapely legs around his waist.

She planted a loud, smacking kiss beside his ear before saying in a single, urgent breath, “The island is buzzing with news of what happened. And when I found out you were involved, I ran straight over here. I’m so happy you’re okay.”

“Donna,” Mason wheezed, sounding like he’d swallowed a tea towel. Looking like he wanted the sky to open up and flash down a thunderbolt to strike him dead.

Meat growled low in the back of his throat, and Donna, still stuck to Mason like a cocklebur, laughed at the dog. “Jealous as always, huh, Meaty?”

“Damn it, damn it, damn it,” Wolf hissed to Chrissy. “Look at Alex’s face.”

Alex’s eyes, usually filled with mirth and mischief, were as brittle as green glass. And her expression, usually so open and earnest, was contorted into a mask of disbelief and… Yup. He was pretty sure that was hurt.

“I’ll kill him,” Chrissy muttered, hands planted on her hips Wonder Woman style. Her stare was sharp enough to cut glass as it sliced violently in Mason’s direction.

Alex did that to people. Brought out their protective streaks. Probably because she was so friendly, so eager and sincere in everything she did.

Everyone who knew Alex grew to love her. And to a man—and a woman, given the deadly smile that crept over Chrissy’s face; like, seriously, it was the kind of smile that ended in a body bag—they would defend her honor as if she were a medieval maiden.

“Hi!” Donna, completely obvious to the chaos she was creating, held out a hand to Alex. “I’m Donna Crestone. Pleased to meet you.”

Alex looked at the woman’s hand and blinked as if it didn’t make any sense. Then she clenched her jaw as if she were girding herself and firmly shook Donna’s hand. “Pleased to meet you, Donna,” she said in a voice so flat that had Wolf not been watching her lips move, he’d have sworn up and down the sentence hadn’t come from her. “I’m Alex.”

“Alex!” Donna squealed. “I’ve heard so much about you!”

Wolf could tell by Alex’s face that she was holding back from saying Well, that makes one of us.

“Donna.” Mason squeezed the woman’s firm thigh. Wolf saw Chrissy’s right hand clench into a fist and knew she was envisioning planting it into Mason’s nose. “Hop down. I had a wicked-sharp hunting knife sticking out of me not ten hours ago.”

“Oh my god!” Donna unwrapped her tan legs from Mason’s waist and gaped at the bandage visible beneath his shirt. Then she cooed “Oh, baby!” and grabbed his face so she could pepper his jaw with more tiny kisses. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

Alex looked like she might throw up.

“Time to kick some ass.” Chrissy took a step in Mason’s direction.

“Don’t bother.” Wolf hitched his chin toward Doc, who was quickly striding Alex’s way. “The cavalry has arrived.”

“Alex!” Doc boomed in his deep Montana-boy bass. His muscular arms were open wide. “Come to Papa, Baby Bear!”

Doc and Alex had been spending a lot of time together since the shit went down on Garden Key. No doubt because Doc, who’d joined the Navy SEALs when he was a mere three months away from completing his medical residency to become a doctor, knew a thing or two about helping people cope with the aftermath of trauma.

“Doc!” Alex broke into a run and threw herself into Doc’s arms. One of Doc’s big, work-worn hands came up to cup her head. The other splayed firmly against the small of her back. His wide palm completely spanned the