He shook his head with a crooked smile. “No one is dying today. We’re not going to sink.”
Easy for him to say.
He turned to Colton. “Where’s Drake?”
“Patching leaks.”
Greyson nodded and took her hand, sending a zing of awareness through her entire body. “Stay close.”
She followed him down the stairs, and the ship tilted so far to the starboard side that she squeaked, dropping to her knees. Holy shit. She sucked in a breath, bottling up her anxiety. She’d faced down monsters before, but this was her first storm at sea.
He helped her up, his expression more focused now. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah. I think so.” She searched his eyes. “You’re sure we’re not going to sink?”
The ship groaned in answer, tipping the other direction. This time, her sea legs stayed underneath her, but her stomach twisted. Not having a window or fresh air was throwing off her equilibrium.
Greyson shook his head. “We’ve come through worse storms. This is nothing.” He squeezed her hand. “But we have a job to do. Come on.”
This didn’t seem like nothing to her. They hustled down more narrow stairways until her feet splashed through cold standing water. Her heart pounded in her ears. They were sinking. She had to get out of here. Panic licked at her insides.
As if he’d sensed her hesitation, Greyson turned around and held up the pump in his hand. It looked like a long cylinder, similar to a bicycle air pump, only this one had a hose on either side—one for intake and one to send it back out.
He lifted one of the hoses. “This sends the water back out, and while we get rid of the standing water, Drake is stopping the leaks. We do our job and let him do his. The Sea Dog is not going down. Not tonight.” He scanned her face. “But I need your help.”
She pulled in a determined breath and nodded. “Tell me what to do.”
He led her to the port side and handed her a hose from one of his shoulders. “Attach it to this side of the pump.”
She did as he asked, relieved to see her hands were still steady. He held the pump and attached another hose on the other side. After she’d finished, he set the pump and her hose into the water gathering at the bottom of the bilge and then carried the other hose to a porthole.
“I need you,” he grunted.
For a moment, her brain digested his words with an entirely different meaning.
He pointed to the porthole over his head. “I’ll lift you up so you can get the hose out.”
“Oh.” Heat rose to her cheeks. Why couldn’t she keep it professional with this pirate? She never should have kissed him. Too late now. She sloshed through the standing water, to his side, and took the hose. “So how are you going to…”
He suddenly bent over, sliding his head through her legs, and gripped her thighs. She gasped, grabbing his head as he straightened, so she was up on his shoulders.
“Now toss the hose out!” he shouted.
She should not be enjoying having her legs wrapped around him. The damned ship was taking on water. She slipped the hose out the porthole and looked down at him smiling up at her from between her legs. He was too damned sexy.
“Okay, it’s outside,” she said.
“Good.” He reached up to grab her waist, then lifted her over his head like she weighed nothing and set her feet back into the water. “Now, we pump.”
But her brain heard hump. Heat coiled low in her belly at the thought. He bent down and started pumping the handle up and down.
Her eyes widened. “We’re seriously saving the ship by hand?”
He chuckled and looked at her over his shoulder. “We have an electrical one, but there’s too much water here for that one. Don’t want to risk electrocution.”
“I thought you were immortal.” She cocked a brow.
“Aye, but it still hurts like hell.” He met her eyes. “And you’re not.”
“True.” She nodded. “Do you need me to take a shift?”
“Not yet.” He switched hands, keeping the pump arm moving. “Distract me.”
The veins in his chiseled forearms were starting to rise, distracting her without even trying. She was supposed to be doing the distracting. “With what?”
His wicked grin almost made her laugh. The ship pitched again, and she sloshed through the water, struggling to stay on her feet. A jolt of adrenaline sped through her bloodstream, but Greyson seemed unfazed.
“Did you always want to work for the government?” he asked.
His question gave her something to focus on other than drowning in a sinking pirate ship, and she was grateful, eager to think about something else. “No. I wanted to be a detective. When I was little, my cousin was killed by a hit-and-run driver. They never caught the guy, so I thought I could make sure other families got the justice we were denied. I worked for the NYPD for a few years.”
He switched hands on the pump again, sweat shining on his face, but to his credit, he wasn’t out of breath yet. “How’d you end up chasing after paranormal beasties?”
The rest of the crew either hid, or had lost, their piratical accents for the most part, but Greyson’s turns of phrase were brazen and unapologetic. She shouldn’t find it so sexy.
The ship rocked, groaning around her like a wounded animal.
She blurted out, “My partner in the police department turned out to be a demon. You can’t unsee something like that, and I couldn’t tell anyone.”
God, had she ever admitted that out loud before? She blinked, wishing she could reel her words back in.
Greyson didn’t deny that demons existed, or toss out a snappy comeback—he just kept pumping the water. “Must’ve been a shock. Was he yer friend, too?”
“I thought he was.” She shrugged, crossing her arms. “We used to watch movies at my place sometimes.”
He switched hands on the pump again, looking over at her for a second. “How’d you get away?”
She reached up to her face, absently wiping over the scar on her cheek. “I had already called for backup before he revealed himself. He must’ve wanted me alive? He ran when the sirens showed up.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I didn’t want to chance seeing him again, so I quit my job and started digging into FBI and CIA cases involving unexplained phenomena. Agent Bale must’ve discovered all my snooping or something. He approached me about working for Department 13.”
Never in her life had it been so easy to talk to someone.