Taken By The Shark

Chapter 4

Chelsea tucked her hand into the crook of Mark’s arm and smiled shyly. “Alone at last,” she sighed as she leaned her face on his shoulder.

“What are you hiding for, Chels?” he wanted to know.

“Who says I’m hiding?” she lied.

“I know you better than that,” he chuckled. “You’ve got something on your mind. Why don’t you tell me what it is, get it off your chest?”

“Only if it’ll get you on my chest,” she muttered under her breath.

“What was that?” he asked, tilting her face up so she was looking at him.

“Nothing,” she said, blushing harder than ever. To change the subject, she asked him, “Hey Mark, what are we going to do about Erik? He seems awfully obsessed, doesn’t he?”

“If he keeps it up, I won’t hire him no matter how good he is,” Mark said, then pulled her into his arms. “But I don’t believe that has anything to do with what you just said.”

“Then you did hear it?” she asked.

“My hearing is exceptionally good, sweetheart,” he told her with a chuckle. “Is it just the chest you wanted me on, ‘cause I could easily oblige.”

“Oh no, trust me on this one, you are not,” Mark assured her. “But the last thing we need to do is make a baby right now or I would have to leave you topside. The effects of underwater living haven’t been tested on a pregnant woman as yet, and I’m not willing to endanger you or the baby like that. Don’t get me wrong, though, I’m more than willing to do all that sometime if it’s what you want. I’d hand you the world on a silver platter if I thought it would make you smile.”

“God, that’s corny!” she giggled.

“Well, we couldn’t exactly keep going right here in the clearing in any case,” Mark reminded her with a smirk.

Realizing they were out in the open where anybody could have seen them, Chelsea was shocked at her own behavior. Because if he would have tossed her down and taken her right there, she would have been a willing participant. She really needed to get a hold of herself and be thankful that Mark, at least, was level-headed enough to stop before it was too late.

“Come on, Chelsea, maybe we should just go to the inn,” he said. “I’m feeling much too tempted by you right now.”

“All right,” she agreed, and they did.

*****

“I can’t believe it,” Nancy said, shaking her head yet again. “You two get the perfect opportunity to be alone and you don’t even take it. But don’t say I didn’t try my best.”

“Oh wow, it’s a good thing they came back,” Angel gasped, jabbing Nancy in the back as she spotted Erik and Ross stepping through the door. “Since I think the people they were trying to dodge have just come in.”

“Wow, you came back just in time,” Nancy said. “If you weren’t in here right now, we’d have to think up a reason, and they probably wouldn’t believe it anyway. You really should tell Erik if he doesn’t like the way it is he should just buzz off back to Bulgaria, or wherever it was he’s from. He may have been hoping to claim her, but Chelsea never once said she wanted anything to do with him. The guy acts like you dumped him or something. You should really just put him in his place.”

“I want to get through this training session without a blow-up,” Mark told her. “I fully intend to lay down the law, but I had planned to do it when we have three days left instead of eight weeks.”

“Good thinking—if he manages to behave himself that long.”

“True that,” Angel agreed. “I’d say sooner might be better than later in this case.”

“Why don’t one of you try to catch his eye?” Mark asked with a smirk.

“No thanks,” Nancy said right away.

“Angel?” asked Chelsea hopefully. “Could you do a girl a favor?”

“Well, I suppose he is kind of cute,” she said. “But he’s got an obsessive streak a mile wide. I’d be afraid he would think I was his property and start treating me like a dog instead of a date.”

“Yeah, there is that,” Mark agreed. “Better not risk it, I guess. We’ll just have to think of another way. Because I’m sure as hell not going to give up the girl.”

“That’s so romantic!” Nancy cooed, and everyone else laughed at her for it. “But it is. I wish I could find a guy who felt that way about me!”

“You will someday,” Mark said with a smile. “I’m surprised you haven’t already.”

“Thanks,” she said appreciatively.

“Damn, looks like those guys are coming over here,” Angel said, pointing towards them with her thumb.

“Hey, looks like we managed to find you guys after all,” Erik scoffed. “I thought you’d gone off for a kickin’ foursome or something, but I guess not.”

“Nice,” Chelsea muttered, shaking her head in disgust.

“That’s really no way to talk, Erik,” said Mark sternly. “You know, you really should try to remember that the final decision of who gets to go down to the underwater facility rests with me. No matter how good your skills might be, there’s no way that I’d ever choose to bring along a discipline case. And so far, your attitude hasn’t impressed me one bit. You might want to modify that behavior if you hope to succeed.”