To Kiss a King (Kings of California #11)(19)
Author: Maureen Child

Dragging his hand free of her body, he reached up and smoothed her tangled hair back from her face. Then he cupped her cheek and drew her in close. He kissed her then, relishing the slow slide of her tongue against his.

Alex’s mind splintered under the assault of too many sensations at once. His hands, his mouth, his breath. He was everything. The center of the universe, and she was left spinning wildly in his orbit. This moment, this touch, this kiss, was everything.

And in the aftermath of two amazing orgasms, it was all she could do to breathe.

She had thought she knew what it was to kiss Garrett. Truthfully, though, she’d had no idea. This was so much more than she had experienced before, there was no way she could have been prepared for what she would feel when it was more than a kiss. When his touch lit up her insides like the firework-lit skies over the palace on Cadria’s Coronation Day.

Alex stared into his blue eyes, suddenly as dark and mysteriously hypnotic as the deepest seas, and tried to gather up the frayed threads of her mind. A useless endeavor.

Her brain had simply shut down. Her body was in charge now and all she knew was that she needed him. Needed to feel his skin against hers. Though she was still trembling with the reaction of her last orgasm, she wanted more. She wanted his body locked inside hers.

She traced her fingertips across his cheek, smiled and whispered, “That was amazing. But we’re not finished…are we?”

“Not by a long shot,” he told her before he gave her a quick, hard kiss that promised so much more.

“Thank heaven,” she answered and dropped her hands to the hem of his shirt. As she went to tug it up, though, a deep, throaty noise intruded. A noise that was getting closer. They both turned to see the speedboat, racing toward them again.

Instantly, Alex pulled her shirt down, fastened her bra and quickly did up her pants. The other boat was too far away still for anyone to get a glimpse of bare skin, but the intimacy of the moment had been shattered anyway, and she didn’t want to risk a stranger getting a peek at her.

Garrett’s gaze narrowed on the approaching craft and his mouth firmed into a grim line. In seconds, he went from ravaging lover to alert protector. He lifted her off his lap, slid behind the wheel of the boat and fired up the engine. The throaty roar pulsed out around them and still, the racing boat’s motor screamed loud enough that Alex wanted to cover her ears.

They watched as the speedboat came closer, its hull bouncing and crashing over the surface of the water. A huge spray of water fantailed in its wake as the driver swung in their direction.

“What’s he doing?” Alex shouted.

“I don’t know,” Garrett called out, focus locked on the fast-approaching watercraft.

The boat was close enough now that Alex could see a couple up near the front of the boat and a child standing alone in the back. She whipped her head around, but saw no one else nearby. Just the far away surfers and the jet boat coming ever closer.

“Guy’s an idiot,” Garrett told her as the boat swung into a sharp turn. “If he doesn’t throttle back, someone’s going to—”

Before he could finish the sentence, the child flew off the back of the boat, hit the water hard and promptly sank. The boat kept going, the two other people on board apparently unaware they had lost the child.

“Oh, my God!” Alex stood up, frantically waving both arms at the driver to get his attention, but she went unnoticed. “The boy! He hasn’t surfaced!”

Garrett shut off the engine, yanked his shirt over his head and tossed it to the deck then shouted, “Stay on the boat!” before he dove into the water.

His body knifed below the surface so cleanly he hardly made a splash. Terrified, Alex watched as he swam with swift, sure strokes, tanned arms flashing in and out of the water as he headed for the spot where the boy had gone under.

Alex’s stomach jumped with nerves. With outright fear. She threw a glance at the jet boat, still flying across the water then looked back to where Garrett was swimming purposefully toward the child in trouble. She felt helpless. Useless. She had to do something.

Sliding behind the wheel, she fired up the engine and carefully eased the throttle forward, inching the boat closer to Garrett. She’d never driven a boat before and the power at her hands terrified her. One wrong move and she could endanger both Garrett and the child. Too much gas, she could run over them—if she didn’t hit them outright. And there was the damage the propellers below the surface could do.

Tension gripping her, Alex’s hands fisted on the steering wheel as she fought her own fears and her sense of dread for both the boy and Garrett. She kept her gaze locked on Garrett’s sleek figure slicing through the water. Where was the boy? Why hadn’t he come up? How could Garrett find him?

Fear ratcheted up another notch or two inside her as she inched ever closer. She risked another glance around; she was still alone out here. The jet boat hadn’t returned.

“Do you see him?” she shouted.

Garrett shook his head, water spraying from the ends of his hair just before he suddenly dived deep, disappearing beneath the water entirely.

Alex cut the engine and stood up, watching the ever-churning water, hoping, waiting. What felt like hours ticked past.

“Come on, Garrett,” she chanted, studying the water, looking for any sign of him. “Come back up. Come on!”

How could he hold his breath that long? What should she do? If she jumped in as well, would she make it that much more dangerous? One more person flailing about? She wasn’t a strong swimmer anyway.

She heard a roar of sound and turned her head to see the jet boat hurtling toward them. If they didn’t slow down…

“Stop!” Waving her arms and jumping up and down like a crazy woman, Alex screamed and shouted to get their attention. Idiots. Complete idiots. Didn’t they realize that they could run over both Garrett and the child they must have finally realized was missing?

The boat slowed and when the engine cut off, the silence was deafening.

“Tommy!” The woman yelled as the man on board dived off the stern of his boat. Hanging over the railing, the woman was oblivious to Alex’s presence, her focus concentrated solely on the dark water and what might be happening below.

Alex felt the same.

She didn’t know how long Garrett had been underwater. She’d lost track of time. Couldn’t think. Could hardly breathe. Dimly, she was aware that prayers were whipping through her mind at a furious rate and she hoped that someone upstairs was listening.