Sea Haven 01 - Water Bound

boat.”
    “Rikki.” His voice was gentle. “That’s just silly. Let me help you. I won’t touch anything unless you tell me to. You trust me with your body, you can trust me with your things.” He could see she was already becoming agitated, thrown off by the change in her routine. “Give me something to do.
    One thing. Diving is exhausting work. I can do the menial things.”
    She slipped into the bottom half of her wet suit while she thought it over. “I’ll hook the bag to my hose and send it up. When it hits the surface, you can pull the bag in— slowly —which will pull me up as well. When the bag gets to the boat, secure the hook to the urchin bag and disconnect the hose. I’ll either come aboard to rest and eat, or I’ll want another bag. If I ask for a bag give it to me before you haul the uni aboard. Fill the urchin hole with the bags first. Once the urchin hole is full cover the bags on the deck with the silver tarp—silver side up.”
    “I can do that.”
    She dragged her T-shirt over her head and folded it as neatly as she had her jeans, uncaring that she was bare-breasted, the morning sun playing over her slender curves with a loving hand. She didn’t seem to notice her state of undress, but he couldn’t help himself, his gaze drifting possessively, drinking her in. She was his . This wild, independent woman was a mixture of vulnerability and courage. There would be few people in her life who appreciated her quick mind and bravery facing the challenges of a world she was born too sensitive to function in properly—yet she managed, carving out a life for herself against impossible odds.
    Lev found himself with his mouth dry and his heart pounding. The light spun around her, turning her skin to soft cream and making her enormous eyes appear even blacker and more mysterious and exotic than ever. She had the adorable little frown on her face he’d come to know meant she was concentrating, wrestling with her inability to cope with change in her routine. He liked that he was one of the few people she trusted into her life, and he loved that he was the only one she would allow on her boat or in her bed. She belonged to him exclusively, and there was satisfaction and even pride in that.
    “Slowly,” he agreed when he could find his voice. “I pull the bag in slowly. Urchins in the hold first and then if they’re on deck cover them with the silver tarp, silver side up. Nothing more, nothing less, and take my time.”
    She rubbed baby shampoo over her upper body, her fingers gliding over her skin, her breasts, her small, tucked-in waist. It was more erotic than anything he’d ever seen.
    220

    “It’s possible someone will see us here, Fish and Game, and they’ll check your license. A tender makes certain other boats stay out of a diver’s territory. Keep track of where your diver has gone so other divers don’t enter my territory.”
    Smirking, he glanced at the sky. That part would be easy enough. No one was getting near his diver.
    “And stop looking at me like that.”
    “Like what?”
    “Like you’re about to eat me.”
    Now his smirk was all for her. “I could, you know. Every morning for breakfast. Right here on the boat. Doesn’t matter. I could be as addicted to your taste as you are to peanut butter.”
    She sent him a look from under her lashes that made him want to kiss her. He folded his arms and regarded her steadily as she pulled on her tight shirt and then hooked her belt around her waist. Her eyes had gone bedroom sexy. She liked the idea as much as he did.
    “You’re just a little perverted, you know that, don’t you?” she said.
    He shrugged, unrepentant. “Fortunately you like me this way.”
    Her answering smile was slow, but it came. “All right,” she conceded,
    “maybe that’s true. I’ve got to go to work.”
    “You like this, don’t you?”
    Rikki nodded. “This is my world, Lev.”
    She didn’t look at him again, engrossed in her routine, meticulously going over every piece of equipment. He watched her prepare for her dive, each separate step, committing it to memory, so that he would be able to anticipate anything she might need if she ever allowed a partnership between them. He noted her hoses were wrapped in a loop, each length of the circle exact. Her rake had a knife welded to it, but she didn’t carry any other weapon on her person, a concept completely foreign to his nature.
    Once again he could see he was completely forgotten. He