Depths of Salvation (Love on the Edge) by Molly E. Lee Page B

up what was left of my soul.
    Spouting poetry now? You are so fucked.
    How the hell would I be able to give the go-ahead to destroy her site when this all came to an end?
    Easy, she isn’t worth twelve million, is she?
    The hesitance in my thought process was the final hit. The fact that I even questioned her happiness was worth more than the money at stake was enough to send a mental kick straight to my balls.
    I rebuilt the walls the rum and our shared interests had made a dent in. I couldn’t let her in. I was too dark. I’d ruin her.
    You’re already planning on ruining her. Might as well get a taste . . .
    No. I stopped that shit in its tracks.
    Sadie was off-limits. A paycheck.
    I just had to convince myself of that every time I looked at her.
    It was going to be a long-ass two months.

    “You want a particular room opened first? Or just take them from one end to the other?” I asked Sadie, who swam only a foot ahead of me. I carted my tools with me on this dive—after a week of surface scans and exploration dives I was finally comfortable enough to get to work—and I was hooked up to her control ship through my umbilical. Ryan was topside, monitoring my gas levels and ready to give me amps when necessary.
    “I honestly wouldn’t choose one over the other. Wherever is easiest for you to work is where I’d start.”
    I smirked. “It’s all easy. This is your site.”
    She stopped her motions just outside the entrance to the Falconer , the kid—Nemo—taking point behind her. I couldn’t take my eyes off her when she was on land but under the water? I was a fucking goner. She was graceful yet fierce. Determined and playful. She was every kind of awesome I never knew existed and just out of my reach.
    “All right. Then we work from stern to bow. Sound good?”
    “Copy that.” I decided to take the lead, penetrating the interior first. “Make sure to give the umbilical a wide berth,” I said, though I knew I didn’t have to. Sadie was experienced and wicked sharp, but I couldn’t take chances. Tangles were doable, snares even, but if it got severed? Well, my emergency tank only had a good fifteen minutes of oxygen in it, and at these depths with the umbilical in our way? That would barely get me to the surface, even if Sadie helped me.
    “Of course,” she said, and I could almost hear the eye-roll in her tone. A smile broke my lips.
    “How’s your head?” I asked before I could stop myself. We’d had dinner every night that week, and she continuously tried to uncover everything about me with shots. She’d learned that first night not to go over her limit, but it had to be taking its toll on her.
    I’d lectured myself every morning on all the ways I could properly push Sadie away. Checking on her health wasn’t on that list.
    “Fine, thanks,” she said.
    “You fall or something, boss?” Nemo’s voice cut through the radio, and it was a jarring reminder our conversations weren’t private.
    Sadie laughed, and that annoying itch in my chest pulsed again.
    “Just a case of too much rum, Nemo. Again.”
    “Ha!” Nemo chuckled. “So the big boss lady has a weakness. I always knew you weren’t perfect.”
    Could’ve fooled me.
    I pushed harder through the water. I was used to the pain, the guilt, and hell, even the regret . . . but this? I didn’t know what to call the feelings Sadie forced out of my body, and I seriously didn’t like my lack of control over them.
    “You’re one to talk, three-beer baby,” Sadie snapped back, but her tone was light. “Yes, I’m hungover. No, it won’t affect this dive. Now, can you boys concentrate? Or do I have to send you to the surface and have Liz lecture you two on when and how to tease your boss?”
    Nemo laughed but didn’t reply.
    “You’re not my boss,” I said, glancing back over my shoulder. She smiled that megawatt smile that was borderline devious, and I quickly returned my focus to in front of me.
    “I’d be a better one than