“The kind Alita and Flynn are?” Onboard lovers. Right now, it sounded really good.

“Way better.” He kissed her again, a little more potent this time, enough to intensify the need between her legs and make her whole body want to rise up and meet his.

He opened his mouth, breathed into hers, and kneed her legs open one more inch. Every cell screamed more. Every inch of her wanted to bow her back, and feel all that hardness against her.

He rose just a little, as though tempting her higher, luring her.

Glancing down, she saw the tip of his hard penis threatening to burst out of the half-zipped jeans. Her mouth almost watered.

Very slowly, he stood, his abdomen clenching as he straightened, his gaze right on hers. He put his hands on the zipper and her eyes dropped, watching, waiting, anticipating the scrape of the teeth as he freed himself. She tried to breathe, but all she could do was watch his fingers, his flesh.

He was going to do this. He was going to…

Zip up.

He closed the jeans, snapped, and reached out a hand to her. “You better get some rest, Lizzie. We dive early. And late.”

She let out a breath and relaxed her elbows enough to drop an inch. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”

“What? Change your game plan?”

In one move, she rolled off the bed, away from the trap of his legs and steel slice of his gaze. “Don’t tease me. I don’t like it.”

She was halfway into the hall when she heard him whisper, “Neither do I.”

Speaking of changing the game plan… Con hadn’t called Lucy once since he got on this boat.

Puffing a breath full of frustration, he double-locked the door and waited until Lizzie’s footsteps disappeared and the ache in his groin lessened a little. Very little.

Let’s see, Lucy had, what? Four rules for this assignment?

Check in every day. Nope, hadn’t called once.

Report anything suspicious. Everything was suspicious.

Turn in anyone he found stealing. Or, just steal it back.

Inform the client of any crewmember who might know the wreck they were diving was El Falcone. Not aid and abet her plans to ruin Judd Paxton’s recovery effort by assisting in a secret ploy to steal the most coveted artifact on the dive, remove it from the premises, and hide it on the mainland.

After blowing every rule she’d set out for him, sex with a target who had a personal vendetta against the client and a plan to ruin the entire dive probably wasn’t going to make a dent on his already battered employee evaluation.

But that wasn’t what stopped him from doing what he-and Lizzie-wanted to do. At least he could admit that truth.

Running his hand through his hair, he grabbed the satellite phone, dropped onto the bed, inhaled enough to get a whiff of Lizzie’s perfume, and dialed.

She answered on the first ring. “You didn’t call yesterday.”

He laughed softly at the greeting. “So that rumor’s true.”

“There are a lot of them. Which rumor are you testing?”

“That Lucy Sharpe answers her private line 24/7.”

“For now it is,” she said. “But you’ve probably heard the rumor that my 24/7 days are numbered.”

He’d heard she was pregnant but doubted that would slow her down much. “Until they are, I’m afraid I have to take advantage and wake you to tell you what’s going on here.”

“It’s about time. I told you to check in daily.” “Trust me, Luce, that’s the least of the regs I’ve been wrecking.”

“Great.”

In the background he heard movement and a soft comment from a man. Jack Culver, her partner in every way. He waited, imagining the lithe, long-haired woman leaving her bed to walk down the hall to her office.

“All right. Talk to me, Con.”

“There is someone on this boat who knows we’re salvaging El Falcone, and she’s already located one of the diamonds, kept it for herself, is planning to do the same with the scepter it was separated from, then is going to take it to the mainland and hide it until the other is found.”

“Whoa. Good work. Nice and fast, too. Who is it and what’s your plan?”

“Elizabeth Dare.”

She waited a beat. “And your plan?”

“My plan is to help her recover the scepter and help her hide it on the mainland.”

She was stone silent.

“Because she’s not the person he’s looking for.”

“She’s not? Sounds like she is.”

“She’s not. She does have an agenda and it isn’t friendly to Paxton, but she’s not stealing any treasure.”

“You just said she has one of the diamonds and scepters.”

“Any other treasure. The leak of treasure and information is Flynn Paxton, aided by Alita Holloway. I just went to great pains-swimming in cold water and testing my exemplary ‘recovery’ skills-to prove that, taking something back that he’d stolen earlier this evening.”

It was quiet, but for a paper shuffling in the background. “Elizabeth Dare is the daughter of the late Malcolm Dare,” she said.

“She’s not our target, Lucy. Her issues are personal and family driven. I can keep an eye on her.”

“Sounds like you already have been.”

Resentment bubbled. “Not to the point of blindness,” he shot back. “If I don’t work with her, she’ll do what she wants anyway. This way, I know exactly where the treasures are and have her under my thumb.”

“That’s a plan, although not my first choice. What about Flynn?”

“Depends. How will our client take finding out the thief and traitor is his stepson?”

“Hard to say. They have a volatile history, and Judd’s trying to mend fences with him. They’ve had a rocky relationship since Judd married Flynn’s mother about ten years ago. Giving him responsibility for this dive is Judd’s way of showing he thinks Flynn has potential to run the business, but in my opinion, Judd has no real intention of leaving his fortunes and reputation to his stepson.”

“Flynn probably knows that and is taking what he can get, when he can get it,” Con said, encouraged by Lucy’s willingness to see the whole story and not jump to the obvious conclusions. “If anyone has an outside contact and is selling items taken from this dive before they get logged into the Paxton system, it’s Flynn.”

“But you’re certain it’s not this lovely blonde with big brown eyes and a sexy body?”

“You have a picture or you taking an educated guess?”

She laughed softly. “I guessed on the body.”

“And correctly. What’s probably not in that file is why she’s doing it, of her family’s connection to the ship. El Falcone was captained by Aramis Dare, her great-times-seven or so grandfather. She’s on a personal mission to finish her father’s life’s work. Nothing nefarious.”

“Except stealing a priceless treasure and taking it off the boat to hide it.”

“Okay, a little nefarious. But I don’t want you to get all bent out of shape over Lizzie when the real target is Flynn. I just need a little more time to prove it, since Judd will undoubtedly want a lot of irrefutable evidence against a family member. While I’m at it, I think it’s smart to be sure that diamond gets off this boat, along with the scepter, and that I know exactly where it is so I can return it to the client when we’re done.”

Lucy was quiet for a moment. “Compelling argument.”

“Just a smart one.”

“Still, I’m going to dig a little into Lizzie Dare’s background, check out her story, and her family.”

“Good idea.” He doubted she’d find anything.

“And I agree with you,” she continued. “By knowing exactly what she has and where she’s hiding it, we’re actually doing a service for our client. But Con, if that diamond and scepter are not returned to Judd Paxton, you will be held responsible.”

So she still didn’t quite trust him. How come Lizzie was so certain he was one of the good guys, and Lucy was still on the fence?

Because Lucy was a better judge of character.