Page 18 of Crash Over Us

He shifted in his chair. “Enough about me. Come on, city girl. Tell me about you. Tell me something my brother doesn’t know.”

I smiled. He was good. Very good. I imagined he had broken the heart of every girl on the island at least once.

“It is weird we haven’t met until now, isn’t it?” I avoided answering his question directly.

“Yeah. It is. What was it seven years ago?” His eyebrows lifted.

Before I had a chance to respond, an alarm sounded. I gasped.

TEN

Margot

I looked at Jacob when we heard the siren. I didn’t wait to ask him what it meant, I took off running. Out of the break room. Down the long, narrow corridor. I pushed through the door to the outside. Jacob was behind me. He didn’t try to slow me down or tell me to stop. He was the only person today who hadn’t tried. Thank God for that.

The sirens blared and echoed off the water and buildings. My legs carried me faster and farther toward the boat slips. Somewhere along the way, the bandage came loose, and my knee started bleeding again.

Nothing mattered, except that there were at least five boats heading into the cove. It was dark. I could only make out the red and green running lights.

Where was he? Was he okay? Oh my God. I closed my eyes together. Was he alive?

I took a step onto the boardwalk. I had broken my promise to stay out of the way and not interfere. I was in the middle of the commotion. I pushed past men in uniform. I squirmed by a medical staffer. I kept going until I was at the end of the pier by the very last boat slip.

“Come on, come on, come on,” I whispered. He had to be okay. He had to be on one of these boats. “Where is he?”

That’s when the Coast Guard cutter floated from the shadows into the light cast from the overhead pole.

As soon as I saw him, my knees nearly buckled. I choked on a sob. There was a heavy, solid hand on my shoulder. But I didn’t bother to look to see who it belonged to, I knew it was Jacob there to steady me.

The commotion on the docks was chaotic. The siren hadn’t stopped. More boats were streaming into the Coast Guard marina now. People ran up and down the piers, but I heard nothing. My eyes and focus were fixed on only one thing.

As soon as the cutter coasted to the pier, I jumped on board. There were shouts and screams meant to stop me.

“Caleb!” I barreled headfirst to him. There was a grin on his face, accompanied by a rough bandage and streaks of blood.

“Oh my God,” I whimpered.

His arms wrapped around me. I buried my face into his neck. I inhaled him. I shook. I breathed harder than I ever had. I didn’t know if I didn’t believe I’d hold him again or if my body was unprepared for how overwhelming it felt to smell him. Taste him. Be held by him.

“I’m okay,” he whispered, cupping the side of my jaw. “Everything is all right.”

“I—” I couldn’t get a word out. My throat had clamped shut.

“Shh.” His mouth covered mine. I didn’t need to speak. This was a language we both understood. We’d always shared this language.

My hands ran up the back of his neck and into his damp hair as his lips crushed mine with the ferocity of a wave crashing on the shore. I wanted to scale him. Devour him. Love him endlessly and hopelessly, no matter who was watching. The sirens could scream all they wanted. He was home. He was safe. He was alive.

It was the kind of kiss that warmed my scared, cold body limb by limb. Caressing my tongue with lashes so deep the warming effect spread through my blood, reaching my toes. His thumbs pressed against my cheeks, holding me to him. I craned to get closer. To have the friction of his lips burn my skin.

Someone on the dock coughed and cleared their throat. “Officer O’Connor? Excuse me, sir?”

Caleb drew my hands away from his neck for a second. He kissed my cheek. He turned to the dock with a scowl. “Yeah. I’m kind of busy.”

“Sir, we need you to see medical.” One of the younger sailors wriggled uncomfortably, knowing he had caught us in our reunion.

I glanced up and studied the bandage on his cheek with a more discerning eye, even though I was still dizzy from that kiss. I hadn’t caught my breath.

“He’s right, Caleb. It looks like someone taped a tissue to the side of your face.”

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