"No peeking, Zoe." Eric threw a look down to where she sat on the Daphne's deck.

"The entire boat ride?" She was pretending to pout, but he could hear the excitement in her voice.

"Look, you want this to be a surprise or not?"

"I love surprises." She scooted up to the front of the boat and put an arm around his legs. Even this little contact did things to his insides.

The move was eerily reminiscent of that first night and their struggle out to San Elias. He shivered despite the hot sun on his shoulders.

"You know, Eric, if I can't look, I'll get seasick and—"

"Bullshit. You wouldn't get seasick in a bucket in a gale." Just one more thing he loved about her.

"Okay. Fine. I just wanna peek."

"No." He smiled down at her, as worked up as an excited kid on Christmas morning. Which wasn't too far from how he felt, actually. Except today, he'd be the one giving. "Fine. You can look at the sky."

She harrumphed but pulled off the blindfold and immediately shielded her eyes. "You didn't warn me about the sun!"

With a laugh, he handed her sunglasses, swiping a finger briefly against hers, because he never could get enough of this woman. Not even with the amount of time he spent with her. It would never be enough.

Which made this little trip even more of a big deal.

In the past weeks, while they got to know each other better, he'd been secretly planning something he hoped she'd appreciate.

He let out a shaky breath. Please let her love this.

By the time he pulled around San Elias and spotted the rig straight ahead, she'd put on her headset and was doing a horizontal dance to whatever she had playing on there. Some bass-heavy shit he didn't really care for. Or, he should say, he hadn't cared for before. Now, he loved the way it made her dance. So, in turn, he kinda had to love it. He brought the boat up to the rig's southwestern leg and squatted beside her, stroked a hand down her arm, and lifted one of the earphones. "We're here."

She opened her eyes, ran them over his face as sweet as a caress, then focused past him. "A rig."

"The rig. Our rig."

Slowly, she nodded. "Okay. Our rig."

He shut his eyes hard and counted out three seconds, hoping against hope he'd done the right thing. "Ours."

"What do you—"

"I reached out to that company. The one in the Marshall Islands that left this thing here."

Her brown eyes were huge. Massive, a little doubtful, a little excited. He wanted to squeeze her to him.

"It's ours now," he repeated.

"What are you—"

"Come on up."

"You okay, Eric? Are you having a meltdown or something? This seems crazy."

"Only a little." He grabbed the ladder, then reached for her hand. "You first."

Right beside the rig, something bobbed up. A sleek, gray head, followed by the whiskery snout.

"Oh my God!" Zoe's hands flew to her face. "It's Sea Lion Bob! Oh, shoot! I don't have my diving gear to check on the others, or—" She leaned far over the side. "Come here, Bob. Come here, baby!" Eric watched impatiently, but also with a kind of awe while she rubbed her knuckles against the creature's head. Bob, it seemed, liked Zoe almost as much as Eric did.

He couldn't begrudge him her attention. Finally, after a few minutes, the sea lion took off into the water.

"This is the best present ever, Eric." Was she sniffling? "Thank you!"

"No! No, this isn't it. Or at least not all of it." He swallowed. "Climb up. I've got something to tell you."

"O-kay." She tilted her head at a funny angle, narrowed her eyes at him over her sunglasses, and climbed up.

At the top, she spun around, blinking at the changes he'd made. "What's going on?"

He'd done some work on the first deck—and hired a lot of it out, or she might've begun to wonder at his absences, but this wasn't what he wanted her to see.

"There's more. Come on."

He pulled her up another level and inside, down the hall—to that place where they'd confronted those first two assholes—past the living quarters, which he'd had cleaned up, if not redone...yet.

"What..."

Hand in hand, they walked to the end of the hall, where he'd decided to turn the mess hall into something else entirely.

"What...what's this?"

"It's going to be my office."

"Your office?"

"You know that security firm I talked about starting up? To keep me out of trouble, as you like to say?" At her nod, he went on. "Well, I've got three employees already. And this is our HQ—offshore, which gives us mega leeway. But, there's room for more." He eyed her carefully. "Right here, across the hall, we have space for...a nonprofit, maybe?"

"I don't..." She was shaking her head. In confusion, he thought. Or was she turning him down? Crap, maybe he shouldn't have kept this a surprise. "Eric, I can't..."

"I want to give this to you." After a second's hesitation, he put a hand on her waist. "Please think about it. I know there are some messed-up memories here, but it's also what brought us together, you know?"

She nodded, her soulful eyes glazed over with tears.

"You're crazy."

"I know." He wasn't sure whether to smile or not. Was this too much? Probably.

"But I love it."

Oh, thank God.

"And you. I love you, Eric."

"Good. 'Cause it's a package deal, so listen up." She paled and waited.

"Move in with me."

She laughed. "Like I haven't already?"

"Make it official." He leaned in. "'Cause I don't need more time to be sure of something I knew that first night we spent together." He shifted back to get a good look at her face, but also to make sure she knew this was important to him. "You're it for me, Zoe Garcia. You're the end of the line. And, more than anything, you're the beginning. Of everything that matters."

A tear gathered at the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek. He caught it with his thumb.

"I know this is fast, but we went two years before letting anything happen between us. I don't want to do that again. No more wasting precious time. Will you move in with me? Will you...start something here? In the place we first met?"

She sniffled and wiped more tears away, but her smile gave him hope.

"Are you kidding?" Her arms went around him and she kissed him like she did every time she put her lips to his— like she meant it. Like he was the most important thing in the world. Like she loved him. "I'm wild about you."

"And what do you think? Of this place? Our headquarters."

"It's weird!" she said a little louder.

And that was when he knew for sure he had her. The rig thing was strange, but it was exactly the kind of strange she was into. His woman liked weird, off-the-wall new experiences. It's what made them perfect for each other.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Yes!" she yelled. "Hell, yes."

His phone chose that moment to ring, but he ignored it. He refused to let anything take away from this. He bent forward, put his lips to hers, and kissed her. It was the kind of long, slow kiss a guy didn't have time for when he was running for his life. The kind of kiss he'd keep giving her forever.

The phone chimed with a message, which he would have ignored, except that when he glanced at the screen, the number was weird. Was that a Russian prefix?

He called voicemail and waited for the message to come through, holding Zoe's hand.

"Eric. Need...help." Right away, every hair on his body stood up. Zoe must have heard it or felt it. She straightened and watched him closely. "...attacked...linked to the Chrono..."

The connection was so full of static that he could feel the distance from San Diego to Antarctica. Every mile was a crackle on the line. Frantic, he pushed the phone to his ear, hard.

"...my research... Headed to Volkov. You've got to find out..." When the talking stopped, Eric pulled the phone away, glanced at it, and shoved it back to his ear. It wasn't a problem with this end, dammit. It was with Ford's.

"...hear me? Shit. He can't hear me." Was he talking to someone else? "Volkov. Volkov! Call Volkov station! Tell them...less than..." Eric just about lost all hope when the static took over. But suddenly, Ford's voice came back on. "The Russians know it. We could use help. And, hey, could you figure...what...want...my fucking virus?" His brother yelled that bit before quieting. "Love you...whatever happens. Love you."

Eric waited a good ten seconds after the message ended before hitting Save and lowering his hand.

"Tell me."

He blinked at Zoe and shook his head. "My brother. He's in trouble." Here, Eric had been on his cloud with this woman, while down there, at the bottom of the world—

"Where'd he call from?"

"Antarctica." Eric frowned. "Someplace called Volkov, maybe?" He shook his head. "I'll have to listen again."

"Wait." Zoe's hand landed on his, solid and warm. "Call the number back."

Hope swelled as he called back, but quickly died when it went straight to some unintelligible message. Definitely Russian. He hit the number over and over without any luck.

"Why'd my brother use a Russian phone? He's on an American base."

"Volkov doesn't sound American to me."

He blinked. "You're right."

They listened to the message a second time, together. "Wait!" Zoe said. "He said Chronos."

Skeptically, Eric hit Replay.

"...attacked...linked to the Chrono..." Something skittered down his back.

"Hear it?" Zoe put out her hand. "Let's listen again."

He replayed it.

"See? The s is cut off, but it's there."

When he hung up the last time, Zoe watched him, her quiet, worried gaze the only thing keeping him from losing his shit.

"No idea what's going on?"

"None." He shook his head, unnerved at the thought that his brother was likely out there, alone, in Antarctica— the most inhospitable place on earth—and worried enough to call him. "But I'm gonna figure it out."

"We are," she said and grabbed his hand, hard. Like she meant it.

And damn if he didn't believe her.

THANK YOU lovelies for reading Zoe and Eric's story! As you can imagine, the series isn't over. If you want to know what's happening with Ford, grab the next book in the Survival Instincts series, WHITEOUT right now. It's available at all retailers: adrianaanders.com/whiteout

Eric and Zoe have a bonus scene! Grab it here: bit.ly/DeepBlueBonus or dl.bookfunnel.com/l49tl97zx8 - check comments for a working link.

And, if you enjoyed it, please consider voting! I can't tell you how wonderful it is to read all your comments. Your reactions to these books are THE BEST. Publishing my books on Wattpad has been such an amazing experience, thanks to you!!! Thank you! xoxo, Adriana

PS. and both on Wattpad right now and ready for you to Binge!!!!

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