Depths of Salvation (Love on the Edge) by Molly E. Lee Page B

begged me to reach out and touch this man in more ways than one. Wake him up, shake him up, something.
    He turned his gaze back to me, and the heat behind it was enough to make me take a step back. “No,” he said, his voice sharp.
    “Then what is bothering you?”
    “Who said anything was?”
    “You’re uncharacteristically broodier tonight.”
    He shook his head. “Don’t act like you know a thing about me.”
    A sharp twinge hit my chest. “Don’t I?”
    He huffed. “Because of a few nights drinking and a few days working together? Please.”
    I turned my eyes to slits. “Sure. Act like I don’t get you . . . like I can’t understand your passion for the ocean or the job like you do.”
    He shrugged but didn’t take his gaze off me.
    “Are you mad because I’m faster than you?” I finally asked, curious if his pouting was over some wounded ego bullshit.
    He scrunched his eyebrows together. “Are you fucking serious?”
    I arched an eyebrow. “Are you?”
    “No!” he yelled, and I was shocked at how much the tone stung my insides. I took another step back as he uncrossed his arms and stepped toward me. “Today? That was reckless!”
    My eyes popped in shock. “You’re mad because I was reckless ? You know as well as I do the stakes that come with jobs like ours; act like you would’ve done a damn thing differently. We were joking about all our close calls last week, what makes this one any different?”
    A muscle in his jaw ticked and I reveled a bit at the obvious way I had gotten under his skin. Emotional Connell was better than completely closed off Connell. At least this way I may get beneath the surface of who he was.
    I took a step closer to him. “Exactly. You and I may have different titles, but we’re the same.” Ryan’s earlier words echoed in my head. “We know that the end game is worth whatever risk it takes to get there. And Nemo’s life was worth it. I’d do it again if I had to.”
    “You could have died!” He flung his arm to the side, pointing at the ocean as if he could still see the scene.
    “Well, that would’ve made Slade do a victory dance. No one to stand in his way, and he could plow right through my site and save a hundred and twenty million—“
    Connell’s advance cut off whatever else I’d been about to say. I retreated until my back hit the wall. He placed an arm on either side of my head, caging me in with his arms. The fire in his eyes was back, and the breath stalled in my lungs.
    “You are worth more than that.”
    I swallowed hard, my blood pulsing fast and hot through my veins. “How much more?”
    His eyes trailed to my lips. “Everything. You’re worth it all.”
    I blinked, and his lips were on mine, his tongue parting them and slipping inside. I gasped before my eyes shut and I took him in. My heart raced as he pressed his hard body against mine, and I tangled my fingers into his hair, yanking him to me. I didn’t realize how badly I’d craved his touch, his kiss, until he’d crossed that line, and I was so fucking glad he did. He tasted amazing, like warmth and salt and the sea and it made the ache between my thighs throb.
    He kissed me like he was angry and happy with me at the same time. Like he wanted to devour and savor me. Like the battle deciding which one to do first drove him crazy. He trailed his tongue along the edges of my teeth before taking my face in his hands and angling it back to expose my neck. He set his mouth on the sensitive flesh behind my ear, slowly working his way down to my collarbone.
    I arched into his body, needing to feel him, needing to know he wanted me as badly as I wanted him. I slipped my hands under his shirt, running my fingers over the sharp ridges of his abs before grabbing the muscles in his back.
    “Sadie,” he whispered my name in my ear, the word more like a promise than a sigh. He claimed my mouth again, slipping his thigh between my legs, pushing against me with a glorious pressure I wished