“Yes, but where’s the boat?”
“Boat?” he laughed, shaking his head. “No, man. See, I knew your plane went down. According to your tracking, you were going very fast, and then very slow. And you were still breathing, so I knew you were out here. Yeah, I had a guy fly me out here and then I jumped. I’ve been swimming around for the better part of the morning, and then I found you!”
“You were swimming around?” Max asked.
“Navy SEAL,” I muttered.
“Makes sense.”
“Question,” Max asked, leaning forward. “Why the shark fin?”
“To confuse the sharks, of course. It’s like when you put up those stuffed mice to scare the other mice out of the house.”
Max looked at me. “Have you heard of this?”
“Never.”
“And you actually think that worked? Did they teach you to do that in the Navy?”
Fox tossed his head back in laughter. “No, they’re not that clever.”
“And while that story is really great, what exactly did you plan to do when you found us?”
Again, he looked at me in confusion. “Well, save you. I thought that was the whole point of a rescue mission. Unless…was there some other reason you’re floating around out here?”
He looked at all of us for another explanation, which none of us had. Then he nodded at Scottie. “What happened this time? Was it another bird?”
“I wasn’t flying the plane, asshole.”
“Really? Cuz, when Cash showed me your vitals…let’s just say it was pretty clear what was happening.”
“And you just assumed I was flying the plane. It couldn’t have been anyone else?” he exploded.
“Well, given your history and the fact that you ended up in the Caribbean instead of Florida, it wasn’t that far-fetched an idea…”
“It was me,” Max sighed. “Give the guy a break. He was just a passenger.”
“Oh, that sucks, man. Tough break.”
“Well, you know, that’s what happens when you’re saving lives,” Max shrugged.
“I don’t fucking believe it!” Scottie snapped. “It’s okay for him to crash and you feel bad for him, but it’s a given when it happens to me?”
Enough was enough. I just wanted to get the fuck out of here. “Can we get back to how the hell you planned to rescue us once you found us?”
Fox grinned at me and I knew it was going to be bad.
19
SARAH
“We’re taking a fishing boat?” I asked as Eli helped me climb aboard. “Doesn’t your company have the money to…get us something nicer?” It was huge, but way too dirty for my liking. And after spending way too long in a raft, I thought maybe we’d get a luxury ship or something.
Fox walked over, slapping Eli on the shoulder. He was already pissed at him, so I wasn’t sure why the guy was pushing it. “Man, this is gonna be great. I got us a sweet deal. They’re giving us free passage. We just have to help with the fishing shit.”
“Fox, we’re all tired and hungry,” Eli said through a wonderfully chiseled jaw. I should have stopped staring, but his speech made me swoon just a tad. I didn’t care what the guys said. I thought he was damn near perfect.
“Yeah, I know, and we’ve got all this fish around us. Pretty awesome, right? Fresh catch!” He wiggled his eyebrows at us before walking away.