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“A friend gave it to me—Barry Clifford.”
“It’s from the Whyda?” she asked, eyes going wide. “Oh, wow.” Shit, that was one of the most famous wrecks ever found. An actual pirate ship. How fitting that Dylan had a coin from it and that he always wore it close around his neck considering he looked like a pirate himself, she thought. “Can I see?”
Dylan pulled the chain out from beneath his wetsuit and Hollis reached for it. Her fingers wrapped around the coin.
“A piece of eight from an actual pirate ship,” she said, voice full of awe.
When she looked up at him and smiled, he realized that he’d been holding his breath. He exhaled slowly, gaze caught in hers, hyper-aware of her every detail-- the wet strands of copper hair along her temple, the soft curve of her jaw, the pulse throbbing at the base of her throat.
Fuck, he wanted her. He couldn’t deny it. When her fingers released the coin and lightly brushed over his chest, his heart stuttered. He’d never wanted to kiss anyone so badly in his entire life.
Why had he spent so much time fighting it? There was obviously something between them and she felt it, too. Dylan reached out, slid his hands over her hips, around her back and yanked her forward. Then, he leaned down, mouth slanting toward hers.
Hollis pressed into his hard body, pushing up on her toes, mouth tilting up to his, and just as their lips were about to meet-
BOOM!
The cavern shook and rumbled around them and they jumped apart. Hollis grabbed his arm. “What was that?”
Another BOOM! Followed by another. Suddenly, a deluge of water surged up through the chamber from below, flooding the cavern. Hollis and Dylan found themselves flailing in the upward swell. As they struggled to pull their masks on, the swirling waters rose to a dangerous level.
“C’mon! We have to get out of here,” he said. Hollis nodded and followed him back down under the surface.
They swam back the way they had come in, headed toward the tunnel where they’d entered earlier. But now a pile of rubble blocked the entrance. A fucking collapse, Dylan realized and signaled for her to look around for another way out. They searched for several fruitless minutes, but the only other tunnel out was too narrow for them to fit. Dylan pointed up and they swam back to the top.
They broke the surface and, by now, the water had almost flooded the entire cavern and they found themselves pressed up against the rocky ceiling. Hollis spit out her regulator and sucked in a panicked breath. The water hovered just below their chins, rising fast, and they hung onto a stalactite.
“We have to swim out through that hole down there,” Dylan said.
She shook her head, eyes wide. “It’s too narrow.”
His dark eyes met hers. “We need to leave our equipment, Hollis.”
“What?” A look of horror filled Hollis’s face and again she shook her head, but this time more vehemently. “What if there’s not another chamber that way? We’ll drown.”
The water lapped at their chins and Dylan spit a mouthful out. “If we stay here, we’ll drown.”
“We could try to dig ourselves out. Keep our tanks on...” But, she knew escape that way was unlikely and their air would eventually run out. Oh, my God, she thought, they were trapped and either would drown in here or drown trying to escape through the submerged cave.
“That was no cave-in,” Dylan said, his voice ominous. “That was an explosion. We have to keep going and move away from the way we came, in case there are more.”
She forced a nod, started to breathe harder, struggled to stay calm. When Dylan began to strip off his gear, Hollis grabbed his arm, her nails digging into his wetsuit. Terror shone in her dark eyes and he reached for her.
“If we don’t make it-” Her voice caught.
“We’re gonna make it,” he promised and gripped her shoulders hard.
Dylan helped lift the tank off her back and then let it go. Hollis watched her only air source sink, lost in the dark, swirling water and her stomach churned.
“Hold your flashlight and follow me,” Dylan said.
When the water hit her cheekbones, Hollis gasped and tilted her nose up, trying to suck in air. But, her forehead scraped the top of the cavern and she began to claw at the rock, fins kicking madly, trying to stay afloat as panic gripped her.
Dylan grabbed her shoulders, dragged her toward him where there was an extra inch or two of ceiling left, and pulled her against his long length. “Hollis, look at me,” he ordered. She stopped flailing and met his gaze.
And, for a moment, everything seemed to slow down and it was just the two of them looking into each other’s eyes. “Calm yourself and take as deep a breath as you can. Like this,” he instructed and demonstrated for her. She sucked in a long breath, copying him. “That’s it. In, out. In, out. Good girl.”
Hollis continued to follow his lead, forcing herself to take deep, clarifying, lung-expanding breaths. When Dylan felt like she was in control again, he nodded. “You got this,” he said. Then, he placed a quick, rough kiss on her lips. “See you on the other side, Doll.”
