“What song?”
Crouching down, he whispers huskily into my ear. “Play the song you played that night at the bar. The one I can’t get out of my head.”
He sits next to me, gently clasping the chain around my neck before letting it go.
“Play it for me while I touch you.” He brushes the back of his hand beneath my chin.
I gasp. My fingers run across the keys, creating the first notes as Scott slowly slides his fingertips down my back, murmuring as he savors the softness of my skin. He moves his hands back up to the back of my neck and removes the blue silk ribbon tied around it. The pretty bow falls to the floor. Revealing his birthday present. My nipples are hard, and I whimper when he squeezes them. He curses and removes the towel, moving behind me and putting me on his lap. I pause, which prompts him to command.
“Keep playing. Please, baby.” I focus on my place in the music and keep going until Scott moves his hands around me to my center and he plays music of his own.
This is impossible. His hot breath moves along my neck as he tilts my head and takes my lips. The piano is forgotten as he kisses me urgently and moves himself inside me. Grasping my hips, he guides me up and down. I try to take over, but he isn’t having that. He takes my breasts into his hands and squeezes them hard in warning, playing with my nipples as he rolls his hips.
“Do you feel that?” He groans into my back. “Tell me. Do you feel that?” he repeats, louder this time.
I let out a needy whimper.
Pounding into me now, our movements become so frantic we tumble off the bench.
Laying in a cluster of limbs, we laugh.
After we catch our breath, Scott picks me up and gently puts me on the rug, taking one of my legs and wrapping it around his neck. I follow his lead. He hisses in pleasure and thrusts. Gradually, he picks up speed and urgency. I pull him closer, then gasp in surprise when I clench around him. I cry out as Scott finishes with a deep groan.
We lay there, silent and content in each other’s arms, breakfast forgotten.
“Happy birthday.”
Scott kisses me tenderly. “I love you.”
He looks down at me with his beautiful eyes, open wide with his love for me. My heart skips.
“I love you.” Tears stream down my face, their soft trace pulsing off my skin.
We both believe what we’re feeling right now will never change.
Chapter 27
Maddie
I’m beneath the water’s surface, double-checking my dive computer monitor and adjusting my face mask. My heart rate picks up as we get closer to the entrance to Carter’s Drop. Hovering a few feet away, Wes gives me the OK sign, his green eyes bright behind his mask. We’re using hand signals for me to get the practice and will only use our comms if there’s an emergency. He gestures toward the opening. I take a deep breath through my regulator, my pulse quickening. This is the moment I’ve been training for.
For weeks, Wes has pushed me through endless drills. I’ve trained in the dry suit and rebreather, completed countless line-following exercises, and performed emergency maneuvers to address all kinds of failure scenarios. His relentless yet patient teaching method has brought me to this point. I trust him completely, but now I need to trust myself. I can do this.
Scott weighs heavily on my mind. It’s like I’m living a double life. At home, I’m 100 percent committed to him and our little canine family. We’ve each fallen into the roles that make ourhousehold hum, and we’re so happy… and in love. But then there’s this training behind his back. It’s wrong. The truth will hit him hard. But I still can’t stop. I’m compelled to finish Nathan’s work and to bring him justice. Just this one cavern dive. After I do this, I’ll be prepared for deep cave diving and I’ll come clean to Scott. I have to believe he’ll forgive me after these weeks we’ve been together and how much we love each other.
Wes and I enter the cavern, and it’s like we’re in another world. The water cools significantly. I follow Wes, and my movements are controlled. Just as we had practiced.
The deeper we go, the dimmer the light becomes. However, it’s not complete darkness. In the cavern, sunbeams still sneak through cracks in the rock, creating shifting, ghostly patterns. The walls widen, rough and jagged, with patches of algae giving them an alien texture.
Wes signals for me to stop near a cluster of limestone. He unspools a dive line and secures it to a pointed rock edge. His hand signals are clear: Watch. Learn.
He’d drilled the mantra into me during my training: “The line is your life. Never lose the line.” I repeat the words silently, holding myself still for a moment. My line reel hangs at my side, its presence quiet reassurance that I’m in control of what happens next.
As we move deeper into the cavern, it opens into a large chamber with multiple tunnels branching into darkness. My heart races as I recognize one feature from Nathan’s maps. A distinct arch. I motion for Wes’s attention and point toward it. When I move closer, he clutches my arm.
His other hand points to the sign bolted near the tunnel entrance. It’s the grim reaper sign. Its deathly image and words are stark and sobering. A chill runs through me as I read the words.STOP! Prevent your death! Go no further. There’s nothing in this cave worth dying for.Below thegrave warning, a bulleted list of cave dangers is printed. Wes shared a history of how various professional dive organizations collaborated to craft the signs in the late 1980s to reduce the rising number of deaths associated with cave dives. I respect the danger, but it won’t stop me. I look back at Wes, who shakes his head firmly. Not yet. We’re going to take one step at a time.
We continue the cavern dive without incident, focusing on my buoyancy, breathing, and the drills we’d practiced endlessly. Wes gives me anOKsign every once in a while, the approval in his eyes boosting my confidence. He’s proud of me. For a moment, I allow myself to believe I belong here. And that I know what I’m doing. But the darker tunnels pull at my curiosity, Nathan’s clues murmuring in the back of my mind. Where do they lead? Go see.
