Love Bites: A Sugar City Novella (Entangled Bliss) by Ophelia London Read Free Book Online Page B

his side.
    “Got our first sighting. They’re faint but…”
    Jeff sent one glance Sharona’s way then strode to where Pax stood by the side, pointing toward the water.
    “See.”
    “I’ll be damned,” he said, catching a quick sight of the telltale black triangle along the horizon. “How far?”
    “Kilometer and a half, I’d wager.”
    “Close enough.” Jeff felt a healthy shot of adrenaline in his blood. “Manny!” he called toward the helm. “Drop anchor.”
    “You got it,” Manny returned. The noises of the engines cut.
    “What’s happening?” Sharona was suddenly at his side, looking a little pale, a little green, too. Was she seasick already? “Why are we stopping?”
    “That’s why.” Pax was pointing dead ahead.
    Sharona squinted into the sun, shading her eyes like a sun visor. “I don’t see anything.”
    Jeff moved to stand behind her, rested his hands on top of her shoulders, and lowered his face so their cheeks touched. “There,” he said, moving her to angle in the correct direction. He could tell she was holding her breath, because he both heard and felt when she finally inhaled and her breath hitched. It had hitched in exactly the same way last night after she’d first kissed him.
    At the memory, he dropped his hands, stepped back, and cleared his throat. “See it now?”
    She nodded but didn’t look at him. “Um, yeah. The black fin?”
    “It’s coming this way,” Pax said. “Lemme check the database to see if it’s one of—yep.” He gestured at the computer screen. “Jeff, mate, she’s one of our females.”
    Jeff grinned, another boost of adrenaline hitting. “Which one?”
    Pax consulted the screen for a moment. “Matilda.”
    “Waltzing Matilda.” Jeff remembered this one. She wasn’t the largest female he’d ever tagged, but man was she feisty. He dug feisty—in sharks and in women. He tried not to recall the sexy way Sharona had pulled him into that first kiss last night. Talk about aggressive. “You got her on the monitor, Pax?” he forced himself to say.
    “Sure do,” Pax replied. “Here she comes.”

    Sharona made quick notes about the three unopened boxes outside the helm and a small recycling receptacle that looked like it had never been used. She’d ask about those later because, due to the sudden excitement of the crew—the sighting of Waltzing Matilda was huge news. From what she’d read about the purpose of this research trip, they were retrieving information from tags.
    But what kind of tag? And would she be able to get a look at one? More importantly, how the hell did they plan on getting something off the dorsal fin of a moving great white shark? Flashes of that scene from Jaws when the shark ate half a fishing boat and all of Robert Shaw popped into her mind. But that was only a movie, right?
    This was way above her pay grade.
    Once the anchor dropped, the big ship slowed, then stopped, rocking back and forth. Sharona’s stomach rolled with the waves, and she gripped the railing, trying to steady both her legs and stomach. She was not about to miss seeing her first shark in the wild because she was blowing chunks overboard.
    “Look!” one of the crew shouted.
    Everyone rushed to the other side, staring out at the distance. She glanced at Jeff, who was also at the railing. As she gingerly crossed the deck like a newborn colt, she wondered if it would be totally inappropriate to ask Jeff to point her in the right direction again.
    Yeah, that had been very nice, the way he’d slid in, his strong, solid body taking up the space behind her, the touch of his cheek against hers, his big hands on her shoulders. Her thoughts had instantly drifted to their moments outside the elevator, those same hands wandering up the inside of her dress.
    “Here she comes—whoa!” Jeff was obviously keeping his mind on work, which was what Sharona should’ve been doing, too.
    Why was this man such a distraction?
    With careful steps, she moved down the