Page 19 of Wild Rush
Chapter Six
Reena broke the surface and spat out a mouthful dirty, salty water. “Oh my god!” Grabbing the bottom of the upturned paddleboat, she glanced around searching for Rush. “Rush!”
“Over here.” His wet head popped up on the other side of the plastic hull. “You all right?”
Wiping hair out of her eyes, she glared at him. “Seriously? I’m in Baltimore Harbor, which has god knows what floating in it, and you’re asking if I’m all right?”
As if to prove her point, a clump of indeterminate trash bobbed passed. Shuddering with revulsion, Reena used one hand to scoop water away from her, making sure her fingers didn’t touch the soggy mess.
“Help me tip this thing back over.”
A squeal burst from her throat as she spun around, spraying water everywhere. She wiped her face to discover Rush had come around the boat behind her. “Don’t do that!”
“Stop panicking. We’ll be fine. As soon as we get this right side up, I’ll hoist you in.”
A thought struck her. Something else could be in the water. Something far more terrifying than unidentified floating objects. “Oh my god. Do you think there are sharks in here?”
He laughed.
Totally not the thing to do when her nerves were jangled and her mind was conjuring up all manner of horrible scenarios with her and a great white shark in the lead roles. “Rush!”
“Sorry. Sorry.” He got his mirth under control and said, “No. I doubt there are sharks in here.”
“Doubt?Doubt?” She glanced around, frantically searching the water’s surface for a big gray fin—and spotted a big gray runabout heading right for them at breakneck speed instead. “Oh my god, they’re going to hit us!”
Rush pulled her back against his chest. “It’s the guy from the hire place. He’ll stop before he hits us. He’s probably had to do this numerous times.”
Rush’s reassurances didn’t ease her mind. The only thing that would was getting her out of this water.
“You folks all right? Nobody got any injuries I should know about?” the crusty old man who’d rented them the paddleboat called over the outboard motor noise.
“I thought you said these things were unsinkable,” Reena yelled.
The motor cut out and the old guy leaned over the side of his boat with a wide grin on his face. “Well now, you aren’t exactly sunk there, are you? And they’re fine as long as you don’t crash them into a pylon.”
She spun around and glared at Rush. “I told you we shouldn’t get that close.”
Rush was trying to hold in more laughter and in spite of the fear tangling her nerve endings, Reena suddenly saw the funny side of their impromptu swim.
Lowering her head, she hid her smile and muttered, “Idiot.”
“Come on.” Rush nudged her with his knee beneath the water, causing her to start and squeal. Chuckling, he bumped her again. “Just me. Let go of the boat and take the guy’s hand, Reena. He’ll haul you up out of the water.”
Turning, she found the old guy looking at her with mild concern. “Are you sure you’re all right, miss?”
“I’m fine,” she grumbled. “A little wet but fine.”
Grabbing the man’s hand, she kicked her legs to try to assist him. Except all that did was nail Rush in the chest with her heel, because in spite of the old guy’s frail appearance, he was as strong as an ox—and she flew up out of the water and into the runabout in less than a second.
“Whoa.” She grabbed the side of the boat for balance.
“There’s a blanket there you can wrap around you.” He indicated a pile of folded blankets and Reena wondered how many rescues he expected to do today.
By the time she’d wrapped a surprisingly warm and soft blanket around her, Rush and the paddleboat guy had tied their upturned vessel to the rear of the runabout.
Stepping back out of the way, she caught her foot in the blanket and wobbled before going down on her ass in the bottom of the boat.
Sighing, she closed her eyes. Today wasn’t going to plan at all.
