“What?” Her eyes widened. “Colt.”

“Let me worry for you.” Then he took off, pulling her after him, all the way to the edge of the deck. Shots chipped at their footsteps. He lifted her over the railing. Joined her.

“Oh, Colt—”

“I got ya,” he said, and then he jumped, taking her with him.

The water sucked them down, cold, shocking, but not as frigid as an Alaskan lake. He surfaced, kicking hard, still holding her hand.

“Please tell me you can swim,” he said, spitting out water, pulling her toward his moored boat.

“Now you ask me,” she said. She let him go, pulling hard through the water.

They reached the rental boat, and he climbed up on the ski deck. Shots hit the boat, ripped the fabric off the seats.

Aw, there went his security deposit.

“Stay down. Hold on to the deck. When I tell you, roll onto it, then slide into the boat.”

“No. I’ll get the lines.”

He frowned, but she’d already jumped onto the back, reaching for the back mooring line.

Oh boy. But he rolled into the belly of the boat, crawled to the front, unhooked the line, then launched into the captain’s seat. “C’mon, Tae!”

He reached for the ignition, cast a glance behind him.

She was scrambling over the padded back.

He turned over the motor just as he spotted a man running down the dock.

Please let this thing be fast.

He rammed down the throttle and the boat nearly leaped from the water, the momentum propelling him back against the seat.

A glance at Tae said she, too, had slammed into her seat.

“You okay?”

Shots sounded, but they vanished into the night.

She nodded, her eyes big, her hair glistening, shivering a little in her damp pajamas.

“Missed me, didn’t ya?”

She shook her head. But she smiled.

No way was he letting her out of his sight.

SIX

Tae was drowning. Water filling her lungs, bursting them. Water over her head, her eyes, turning her vision black.

Water weighing her down as she flailed.

So much water, and she gasped for breath, dragging more water into her lungs.

Coughed. Help! Around her, the world was murky. She thought she spotted a light, far away, but even as she kicked in the water, reached out for it, the light blinked, distant, untouchable.

She was going to die.

No! She had more in her. More to give, more to live. She kicked harder, hit something, and felt herself shooting to the surface.

Kicked again.

Heard a grunt, breaking through the water, the light so much closer now.

“Tae!”

Breathe!

She gulped in a breath, broke through the surface.

“Tae!”

Hands pinned her, and she fought, breathing, kicking—

“Wake. Up.”

Her eyes opened.

What?

Her breaths came hard, even as her brain clicked in around her.

Not the ocean. Not drowning.