Page 152 of Kai
“That’s great news, Cece.” He looked down at his watch. “Food, drink, and then debrief. But…” Dash tilted his head and studied my face. “You and Kai?”
I poked a finger on his rock-hard chest. “Don’t you dare give me shit about it.”
“Cece-never-love.” He smirked. “Did you change your mind?”
“I changed my mind,” I admitted, even though it was more like a change of heart. “But I’ll have you know I had good reasons. Kai’s a prince of a man.”
“That he is.” Dash nodded in agreement. “You’ve chosen well.”
“Dagger!” A voice called out from atop the tower. “This ain’t a pleasure cruise. We’ve got air in the banks, shit in the tanks, and water all around. We ain’t got all day.”
“That’s the captain of this undersea predator,” Dash informed me, waving at the man. “He’d rather be three thousand feet under the sea, and I don’t blame him. Now that he’s surfaced and shot his missiles, he’s gonna have to work hard to disappear.” He took my elbow. “Time to go inside.”
“Before we go, we brought you a present.”
A frown deepened the lines on Dash’s forehead. “A present?”
“I know it’s not your birthday, but it might as well be.” Holding on to him, I cocked a thumb to whereSerenityfloated undisturbed. “Look in the spare anchor hatch and you’ll see.”
“You mean…?”
“Jack Levine. In the flesh.”
Dash’s eyes widened. I had always believed no one could surprise him. I was wrong. He looked shocked. “You and Kai…?” He couldn’t even finish the sentence.
“We did,” I said proudly. “Levine’s sedated at the moment, but he’s a bitch to control and hard to fight, so this is your warning.”
“Cece.” Dash opened his mouth and closed it. “YoufoughtLevine?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. “I can feel the captain’s eyes burning a hole in my back.”
“We need to get underway. Bozeman, Guzman!” Dash called out.
The two men hurried back from the hatch where Kai—and his surfboard—had disappeared.
“She got the fucker,” Dash informed the other two.
“Kai and I got the fucker,” I amended.
Javier stared at me, his eyes sparkling with shock. “You got Levine?”
“ShefoughtLevine,” Dash repeated, still in disbelief.
“You’re a double-backboned badass.” Javier’s grin splithis face.
“She’d charge hell with an ice bucket, that’s true,” Dash grumbled. “Micah, notify the cleanup crew thatSerenityhas a gift for us.”
“Right away, sir.” The giant spun on his heel and headed to the hatch.
“Oh, and tell them to retrieve my photo box,” I called after him. “It’s in my berth. And my laptop!”
“Understood,” Micah called back in his low bass before he disappeared down the hatch.
“Jesus, Cece.” Dash shook his head, and betraying a slight limp, led me to the hatch. “Do you know how many times we tried to get that son of a bitch?”
“Too fucking many,” Javier put in. “Between you and Kai, you’ve got more guts than anybody could hang on the longest fence in Texas,” he added, before he grabbed the ladder’s handle and slid down, also disappearing into the hatch.
“Where’s Kai?” I asked.
