7. Garrett #2
“I think you should come along,” Braddock said, locking eyes with me. “It’ll be useful for you to see a live humpback in the water. It’ll give you a much better sense of the scale of the skeleton you’ll be recovering.”
Every muscle in my body locked. Dexter looked at me with wide eyes.
Only the two of us knew about my fear of water.
But I couldn’t back out now. Not in front of everyone. Not when Braddock had just handed me a perfectly reasonable professional excuse to join them.
It wasn’t a full-blown phobia. I just… preferred land.
“Of course,” I heard myself say.
Braddock nodded once. “You’ll be with me in my Zodiac.”
Then he looked at Dexter, and his expression transformed. With a big smile, he said, “You’ll be in the second Zodiac, Dex. Let’s go!”
Dexter whooped. Everyone, including my brother, bounded out of the data suite, leaving me behind alone.
* * *
For several seconds after the door closed behind everyone, I remained where I was. The data suite had emptied so quickly that the quiet left behind felt unnatural. I looked toward the door. Everybody else knew where they were going.
That was the part that got under my skin.
They knew what gear they needed, where the Zodiacs were launched, what to carry, what to expect. They had moved as one practiced unit without anybody needing to explain a damn thing.
I didn’t like feeling like the odd man out. All my life, I had been the man who knew how things fit together, how to fix broken systems. But this wasn’t my workshop. It wasn’t Waypoint or Texas.
Out here on this science ship, I didn’t know the first damned thing. I swallowed and looked toward the blinking red dot on the wall. Maybe I should never have come aboard this ship.
The door opened. Braddock stepped back into the room alone and closed the door behind him. He looked at me steadily for a long moment. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” he said, “but I’m guessing it’s been some time since you were last out in a Zodiac.”
I stared at him, trying to see if he was gearing up for another fight. Was this a jab? Had he come back to needle me about my ineptitude?
But he seemed… different. His voice was careful.
I shifted my weight. “You could say that.”
He studied me another second. “Okay. And I’m also guessing field trips aren’t normally part of your work at Waypoint.”
I could have lied. For half a second, I considered it. But what would be the point? I could save my ego and still have no idea where to go.
“No,” I said. “They aren’t. I work in my garage on land. When someone needs something, they come to me. I design and build parts that don’t require me to go into the ocean.”
Braddock nodded once, as though I had confirmed something he already knew. “Yeah. That makes sense. This project is unusual. Most tradesmen don’t need to go out with the field teams. All right.” He folded his arms over his chest. “Then I’m going to assume you need someone to walk you through this.”
My spine stiffened before I could stop it. His eyes sharpened immediately.
“I’m not insulting you, Landry.”
“Didn’t say you were.”
His nostrils flared, and that part of me that seemed to perpetually want to duel with him responded.
If he wanted to fight, I wouldn’t back down.
But then he exhaled and glanced briefly toward the wall of screens.
“I… I would feel shitty too if I had to be taught the basics by a guy I didn’t particularly care about.
Look, I know you hate me. But I don’t want us wasting time arguing. ”
He looked back at me. “If you’d rather I leave you to work it out yourself, I will.”
Something shifted low in my chest. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I opened them, I had put aside my feelings. “I need instructions,” I said. Then, because I had been raised this way, I added, “Thank you.”
The mask on Braddock’s face slipped. He looked surprised. But he quickly collected himself. “All right.”
He stepped farther into the room. “What are you wearing under your shirt?”
I choked on air. “Wh… What?”
My gaze dropped without permission to his chest. He was still wearing that pink-orange-salmon sweater, fitted close enough through the chest and arms that I had already spent far too much of the day imagining what was underneath it.
Braddock cleared his throat.
My head snapped up.
His mouth had curved. There it was. That damned smirk. His pale green eyes fucking twinkled. “I don’t know where your head went just now,” he said, “but I’m asking because we’re about to dress for open-water fieldwork in Antarctica.”
My face went hot. I glared at him.
The smirk widened.
I wanted to wipe it off his face. I also wanted to keep looking at it, which was substantially more irritating.
“Nothing under the shirt,” I grunted.
“And under the jeans?”
“Uh… nothing.”
I wasn’t about to explain to him that I had packed in a hurry, had run out of underwear, and hadn’t had time to find the laundry facilities aboard the ship.
Braddock’s expression faltered again, and this time it was my turn to watch as his eyes immediately went to my crotch as if without any conscious thought.
I was a big guy and I had a big dick. I was proud of it. Did Braddock like thick, fat cocks?
As soon as the thought occurred, I started getting hard. I groaned in frustration.
The sound seemed to startle him. He looked up to my face and…
Oh.
His pupils were dilated and he was breathing a bit faster.
“I… right… Uh.” He wiped his face with a hand.
“Base layer. Insulation. Outer protection.” He slipped into some kind of instructor mode.
He went to the conference table and started rearranging random shit.
“You… ah, you’ll need a moisture-wicking thermal layer against your skin.
Long sleeves and leggings. No cotton if you can avoid it. ”
“I brought thermals.”
“Good.” He wouldn’t meet my eyes, his cheeks still flushed. One look at my crotch and the guy with two big-ass degrees was hyperventilating, and, hell, if that didn’t make me feel like a king.
“I do live in Antarctica,” I deadpanned. I was enjoying this.
He paused in his rearranging and his mouth twitched. “I had noticed.”
Our eyes locked. His lips parted slowly while he stood frozen against the conference table. I had the irrational urge to bend him over that table, stuff him with my cock, just to see that smirk wiped off his face. I took a step toward him before my brain could catch up. His breath hitched.
A voice boomed through the overhead comm system. Both of us jumped. “Paging Dr. Braddock. Zodiac team one is assembling in the staging area. Repeat, paging Dr. Braddock. Your team is waiting in the staging area.”
Braddock swore. “Let’s go, Landry. We’ll stop at your room so you can change into your thermals.” He opened the data suite door and took off on a jog. I followed.
“You’ll also need an insulating midlayer,” he explained as both of us pounded down the corridor. “We have insulated trousers on board. We can change into those in the staging area.”
“Okay.” I ran alongside him.
“Lastly, we’ll add the outer protection.”
“What kind of outer protection?”
“A flotation suit.” He turned the corner and we ran down the stairs together. “It’ll keep the spray off you and give you some protection if you end up in the water.”
My stomach tightened. If he noticed, he gave no sign. “Anything else?” I asked.
“Don’t forget your sunglasses. The glare is worse on the water.”
We reached my room and we paused at the door. “Go change into your base layer. I’ll do the same and meet you here in three minutes.”
With that he sprinted off, leaving me staring at his fine ass before I opened my door and hauled my own ass inside.