In Too Deep (10 page)

“
Yeah, and I could tell right away
Zoe’s a tough cookie, too.”

“
She’s had to be—dealing with
leukemia and missing the love of her grandparents because they
thought me a gold-digging bitch—” Kezia broke off, shoving shaky
fingers under her armpits and hugging herself. “Sorry, I’m ranting.
I don’t usually dump my life story on people within minutes of
meeting them. Gav’s rattled me a little more than I
thought.”

“
It’s okay. I’m very
dumpable.”

“
Thanks.”

“
My only regret is I should’ve
rattled the prick for you—then afterwards you could’ve kicked him
in his boy-bits.”

“
Next time?”

Piper pointed a finger at her. “If
there is a next time you’ll be talking with Noah
Daniels.”

Kezia pulled her shoulders back
and smoothed down her dress. “Gotta get my mojo back before we go
out again. What’s with the toilet brush comment,
anyway?”

“
Invite me around for a beer
sometime and I’ll tell you.”

“
You’re on.” Kezia returned her
smile, a genuine one this time, and casually slipped her arm
through Piper’s, like they really were friends or
something.

Heck. How had that
happened?

***

Piper spent the rest of the
afternoon and evening elbow-deep in lemon and grease scented
dishwater.

She’d pretty much decided her
sister’s career choice in the culinary industry sucked when Bill
told her, “Go back to West’s. You look like something Donny puked
up on the rug.”

After drying her prune-wrinkled
hands, she snagged her lightweight hoodie off the hook by the back
door. Forcing a friendly note into her voice she called out, “See
you tomorrow, Bill.”

She received a surly grunt in
reply.

The temperature had dropped like
the night before, but it wasn’t raining. Piper tugged on the
hoodie, glancing down at the soft whine from at her feet. Curled in
his bed by the kitchen’s back door, Donny looked up at her with a
woe-is-me sheen in his eyes. When she held the dog’s gaze, he began
to shake.

“
Poor baby.” She squatted and
scratched behind his remaining ear. “Did your mean old master leave
you out here in the cold?”

“
He’s got fur so he’s totally
faking it.” West’s voice came from behind her in the open
doorway.

“
Jeez, will you stop sneaking up
on me?” She sprung up and spun around. “It’s not closing
time—haven’t you got your little empire to oversee?”

Donny clambered out of his basket
and sidled over to West, his tail thwacking against her
legs.

“
I’ll walk back with you. Dad’s
closing up tonight.”

“
For once,” came Bill’s
disembodied shout from somewhere within the bowels of his kitchen.
“You’re a bleedin’ workaholic. Always first in, last to leave. Ya
must be coming down with something.”

“
Yeah, yeah, old man. Just lock up
and keep out of trouble.”

A muffled but audible, “I’m not
the one headed for trouble, sonny-boy.”

West shut the door on his father’s
continued grumbles. “Ready?”

Once again his proximity sent
shivers rippling through her system. He had no idea about personal
space, or maybe her awareness of him caused her to squirm like a
gawky teenager again.

Should she insist she’d rather
walk alone? She couldn’t very well confess her plan to sneak back
to his spare room to avoid another confrontation. Better to play it
cool. But the woodsy-scented body heat rising from his long sleeve
tee shirt, the way his jeans clung to every clingable bit of his
lower body, and just the sheer, sexy bulk of him was almost enough
to make her risk being rude. She spotted the gleam of his teeth in
the semi-darkness. Almost, but not quite.

“
Yep.” She crossed her arms over
her breasts, as her nipples pebbled under her hoodie. A natural
consequence of the cool night air. Uh-huh.

“
Let’s go.” He gestured for her to
take the lead.

They rounded the side of Due South
and headed along the empty road. Donny trotted ahead and paused
frequently to sniff along the ground. Maybe they wouldn’t end up
snapping each other’s head off again. Maybe they could remain
civil. And since they were being civil, she’d ask him a
civil
question.

“
How long has Gavin been after
Kezia?”

Their footsteps echoed in sync on
the asphalt, the hiss of small waves foaming along the beach to
their right a watery complement. Finding their natural rhythm
together had never been the problem.

West shoved his hands into his
jean pockets and slowed his steps. “Why? Jealous he’s not panting
after you any more?”

“
Right.” She snorted a laugh.
“Like you’re not a little bit green.”

“
Nah. Gav’s not my
type.”

“
But Kezia is.” The words popped
out of her in an explosive bubble.
Damn
.

“
She’s stunning, that’s for
sure.”

Her pace sped up, cold slicking
through her blood.

What had she expected? Someone as
pretty and feminine as Kezia wouldn’t catch his eye? That he’d been
celibate for the past nine years? She sensed his gaze skim down her
hoodie and the cargo pants, which scored an A for comfort and an
easy D-minus for sex appeal. She’d never done pretty dresses or
dainty heels, and up until West broke her heart it hadn’t dawned on
her that girly stuff may top his list of turn-ons. Piper’s backbone
straightened, each muscle contracting around her vertebrae a
reminder of her resolve. Shaye and Kezia loved their girly stuff,
but she would
never
be a girly-girl.

“
You practicing speed walking
here?” He lengthened his stride to keep up. “Or maybe a spot of
jealousy yourself.”

“
You always did have a big ego to
compensate for your small dick,” she sniped, not letting up her
pace.

“
I don’t recall you complaining
about the size of my dick. You seemed pretty happy to get your
hands on it.”

Heat flashed through her. What
their lovemaking lacked in sophistication was compensated for with
passion and a deep connection. Well.
She had
experienced
passion and a deep connection.

“
Back then I had nothing to
compare it to. I’m older and wiser now.” And not dumb enough to get
entangled with him a second time.

“
And maybe we’ve both grown since
then. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

The grin in his tone said the
bastard was laughing at her again. They both knew he only slept
with her for convenience and curiosity—he’d clarified that nine
years ago. So why tease her in a sexual way? To highlight the
humiliation that she’d always been more into him than vice-versa?
“I’m sure you’d rather show your dick to women who’ll give it the
adoration you so erroneously believe it deserves.”

“
My dick is quite adorable. Sure
you don’t want a peek?”

A clear picture popped into her
mind. West in board shorts earlier in the day, the wind blowing the
thin fabric against him, outlining his large—
hello, not going
there
. “Can we not continue this asinine conversation? I’m
surrounded at work by men who love talking about this sort of
crap.”

“
We men do find it an endlessly
fascinating topic.”

“
So I’ve discovered.”

Past the last of the streetlamps,
West produced a flashlight and switched it on. Donny, spotting the
thin beam of light, loped back and trotted at West’s heels. “Gav is
interested in any female who hasn’t twigged he’s an asshole.
There’s not many left on the island.”

“
Puts me off his radar then—and
Kezia thinks he’s a butthead.”

“
Did something happen at your
girls’ lunch today?”

“
Nothing we
girls
couldn’t
cope with. Kezia turned Gav down on a date and he didn’t handle the
rejection with diplomacy. It’s no big deal.”

“
No big deal—just like you
panicking in the cage was no big deal?”

“
Are you always so contentious?”
She slid him a sidelong glare, which probably got lost in the
gathering dark. “I told you, I didn’t panic.”

“
Because you’ve done
three-and-a-half weeks training with the Navy.”

Crap! He had listened to her
tirade on The Mollymawk. Piper kept her jaw clamped shut and
walked.

“
Cat got your tongue,
hmm?”

She hoped, even when hope was
useless, that West would drop the subject. Like that’d
happen.

“
So why all this dive training? I
thought you were just a cop?”

A beat passed while her brain
sifted through frantic excuses. Nothing helpful caught and she
sighed. “I am a cop.”

“
And?”

“
And I’m a damn good
cop.”

He stopped. Right in the center of
the road. Tipped his head to the side and folded his arms, the
fingers on his right hand drumming a tattoo on his left bicep.
Donny dropped his butt to the ground beside him and blinked
accusingly at her too.

“
I’ve read something before about
the navy diving course. You’re not an ordinary cop, you’re a police
diver.”

Busted. And pointless denying it.
But she fisted her hands on her hips and stared him down. She’d
worked hard to earn her place on the squad. “Yeah, I am. The only
female on the squad at the moment.”

“
Your family doesn’t know about
this, do they?”

“
They don’t need to know.” She
hesitated, thinking of her mother. “It would only hurt and worry
them—you can’t tell.”

“
Dammit, Pipe, it’s not right.”
Her heart gave a pathetic hop at the sound of her old nickname on
his tongue. “This kind of…work. It can’t be good for
you.”

Murray O’Neill. The name of the
seventeen-year-old she’d recovered at Lake Tikitapu. Her work.
Murray’s mother had wrapped her arms around Piper, thanking her for
bringing her boy home. The woman’s tears left damp patches on the
stiff collar of her uniform shirt. Murray O’Neill built another
brick in the wall of redemption she started constructing nine years
ago. Not just work.

“
I’m good at what I
do.”

“
Why, of all areas you could
specialize in, did you choose police diving? After what you went
through with your dad…” He moved toward her, extending his
hand.

Piper stepped back fast. No way.
She’d rather he grab her in temper like this morning than touch her
with big-brotherly gentleness. She didn’t want his pity. Or his
platonic caresses.

“
I’m not talking about this. My
career has nothing to do with you, or anyone else.”

He dropped his arm and shoved his
hand into the pocket of his jeans instead. “Still the original
island who doesn’t need anything from anyone.”

“
Precisely.” Piper turned and
walked away.

West was right. She didn’t need
anything from him or anyone else.

Especially him.

Chapter 6

West glided
through the pool, the liquid sensuality of the water flowing over
his bare torso soothing the rough edges of the last few days.
Everything felt better beneath the surface. Somehow the day to day
problems faded when his focus concentrated on every precise
movement, the slow thud of his heartbeat and the burn in his
lungs.

One more fifty-foot length and
he’d beat his personal record of seven, on one breath of air. He
swept his arms forward again, pulled them back in one fluid motion,
his body arrowing porpoise-like and perfectly aligned. He preferred
the free immersion discipline of free-diving, descending vertically
into the deep rather than coasting along horizontally, but since
Ben was out of action as his safety diver, pool lengths would do
for now.

The national free immersion
championships at Lake Taupo were two months away and he needed to
be prepared. Not just for the chance to take home the cash prize,
but for the satisfaction of being the best in the
country.

He touched the end of the pool and
surfaced, resting his arms on the rough concrete edge and gulping
in air. West pulled off his mask and checked his dive watch. Seven
fifteen. He could spare a few more minutes in the pool before he
needed to grab breakfast and head into Due South.

“
Ford?”

His friend looked up from his
Kindle and turned the device off. “Uh-huh?”

“
You’re a useless safety buddy,
you know. I could’ve suffered a shallow water black out and you
never would’ve noticed.”

Ford tossed his trademark black
dreadlocks over his shoulder and stood up from one of the spectator
seats. “You pay peanuts, you get a bored monkey. And I would’ve
noticed and gone all Baywatch on you.”

“
That’s an unpleasant image. I’m
just going to swim another couple of laps—you can head off now and
go back to Star Trek or whatever trash you’re reading.”