He’d jumped over the side of the yacht after Whiskey, and a scream caught in my throat as a splash sounded.
People around me erupted in shouts and cries, sending my blood pressure skyrocketing as we rushed toward the railing. Mac’s grip stopped me from scrambling over the ledge to jump in, leaving me to frantically search the water’s surface.
“Let me go, Mac!” I fought against him, but he caged me against his hairy chest—making me extra thankful for this robe.
“Not happening,” he said grimly, strapping down my flailing arms with both his steel ones. He was too freaking strong. “Cade will kill me if I do that.”
“But Whiskey’s out there!” I gasped through the adrenaline. “And Cade. They’re…”
Terror paralyzed me. I couldn’t see anything in the harsh, dark waves crashing against the boat. Not Cade or Whiskey or?—
“Oh my god, oh my god,” I whispered through tears, pushing with everything I had against Mac’s arms.
He didn’t budge.
Everyone else shouted over each other, calling for Cade as the crew shouted orders. Panic clawed at my chest, and I redoubled my fight to get free of Mac, until Dr. Lovejoy cried out, “There he is!”
“Look, Ellie!Look.He’s fine.” Mac shook me hard, jabbing a finger over my shoulder. “See? They’re both fine.”
A floodlight flipped on from lower on the ship, bathing the waves in light and revealing Cade’s dark head of hair and broad shoulders cutting through the water toward the boat. One arm clung to a drenched and yowling Whiskey, but it didn’t look like he slowed Cade down.
Someone from a lower deck threw out an orange life preserver ring attached to a rope, and my heart caught in my throat as Cade swam toward it before latching on.
The people around me cheered, while I could finally breathe again.
I slumped in dizzying relief, and Mac’s arms quickly went from caging me in to being the only thing keeping me from falling.
Cade was okay. Whiskey was okay. Everything would be okay.
I repeated those thoughts over and over in my head like a prayer.
The next few minutes were a blur. Mac refused to let me go to the lower deck, claiming Cade was already on his way up.
“I’m not gonna run around the ship in my underwear, so you need to chill,” he grumbled. “The boss man will be here in a minute.”
The sulky bodyguard was right. Cade appeared at the top of the staircase—drenched to the bone, hair dripping, and with a mountain of towels wrapped around him.
And with a squirming, yowling Whiskey clutched to his chest.
My heart stumbled over itself.
“You idiot!” Harrison was the first to jump forward, practically tackling his brother in a hug.
Whiskey wasn’t too pleased about that.
Cade pried his brother off him with a grunt. “I’m fine, Harry. Get off me.”
When Mac finally let me go, I froze. Cade was slowly pushing through the crowd toward me with Whiskey in his arms. I wanted to run to him and jump into his arms. To tell him how much it meant that he hadn’t hesitated to jump off the ship to save Whiskey. My heart felt so full it might burst.
But I couldn’t move my feet.
Everyone else rushed to Cade with hugs and praise. He forced a small smile at all the attention.
It felt like an eternity but must’ve been seconds before he stood in front of me, presenting Whiskey to me like a newborn baby. A wry smile tugged at Cade’s lips. “He’s a little wet, but still his charming self. No harm done.”
He handed me the towel-wrapped cat, and I squeezed him to my chest. He wiggled and fussed, but his claws were swaddled in the towel like a little kitten burrito. I stared down at him with my heartbeat roaring in my ears, having no idea what to say or how to properly thank Cade.
I swallowed around the lump in my throat, searching for words. Any words.
