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Deep. Dark. Dangerous.

Towering waves crash against the ship, the spray joining the rain, soaking our bodies.

Where is he? Where the fuck is he?

People yell around me—commands, worries, I have no clue. I can’t hear them.

Spotlights sweep the waters, the temporary brightness illuminating endless stretches of black.

I don’t see him. I don’t see him anywhere.

“Rex!” I cry, but it’s useless, my voice no match for the surrounding ruckus.

Tears gather in my eyes and acid churns in my gut. I grip the railing for dear life when another rogue wave crashes against us.

Please. Please don’t take him.

I sob, a devastating loss stabbing my chest, shocking me with how much I feel toward him, telling me the wretched man has stolen something inside me without me noticing.

And now…now I don’t know how I can survive without him.

I can’t lose him.

“Rex!” I scream again.

I’d give anything to hear his voice, his ridiculous jokes, and his inappropriate comments. To have him drag me on some adventure I didn’t ask for, trade truths with each other. To hear him call me bewitching, little Olive, or good rule follower. I’d give anything to be back in the office with him, to climb onto the recliner and wrap him in my arms.

How did it get this way? How did he sneak inside my heart? What if I’ve lost him for good?

Agony I’ve never experienced before rams into my chest, a serrated knife twisting and twisting until I keel over in pain. Images barrelthrough my mind. His teasing smile, his arrogant smirk. Then I think of Mia, her spark and energy, snuffed out suddenly without warning. Her face, just like mine, colorless the morning I found her.

I can’t do this again.

A shrill whistle pierces the air, followed by another. Then more screams—joyous cries.

Heart pounding wildly, I whip my head toward the commotion, and finally notice what’s drawing everyone’s attention.

Two heads bobbing in the water. Rex has one arm wrapped around an unconscious woman, his free hand gripping a rope thrown at him.

Personnel work together and wrench them up, fighting against the ocean that clearly wants to claim them for good.

Within minutes, they pull them up and over the railing. Rhys hurries over with a few nurses and they load the woman onto a stretcher.

I barely notice the quizzical stare he levels my way because I’m already flying toward the man I have no business thinking about.

The man I shouldn’t want to kiss or touch, or know every single facet of his complicated mind.

The man who has reached inside my chest and fisted my heart in his large palm without my permission.

Tears stream down my face and I throw myself at the devil, not caring he’s dripping wet.

A deep oomph reaches my ears as Rex’s arms automatically wrap around my back, holding me close.

His reassuring heartbeat riots in my ears as tremors rack my body as if I were the one who took a frigid plunge.

I wasthis closeto losing him.

He shouldn’t have survived it.