Excerpt: 'Rebound' by Noelle August

Noelle August (the writing duo of Veronica Rossi and Lorin Oberweger) shares a favorite scene from new release Rebound, book two in the Boomerang series.

Noelle August: Twenty-three-year-old Adam Blackwood has it all. He's handsome, wealthy, and at the top of his game in the business world. Life is good, until a scandal from his past resurfaces and threatens to knock the tech wunderkind down and throw his company, Boomerang—a dating site for millennials—into chaos.

After nearly flunking out in her senior year of college, 22–year-old Alison Quick has one chance to redeem herself by proving she deserves a place in her father's corporate empire. That means spearheading his plan to sink big money into Adam's company and launch it into the stratosphere—provided Adam has no skeletons in his closet.

When Alison and Adam meet, their sizzling chemistry makes it tough to keep things strictly professional. In this scene, a simple excursion on the Quick family yacht grows complicated when the two take to the water together, becoming dangerously drawn to each other in the process.

EXCERPT

Alison:

When Catherine and I used to dive as kids, I couldn't wait to glide away from her in the water, to move off to my own undersea kingdom, where I could be Ariel from The Little Mermaid. I'd pretend to be born to this world of shifting light and shadow, of pulsing life that invited me to secret places. The world above seemed so noisy to me—so full of chattering conversation and rules I didn't like. But here, I could spend hours watching schools of manta rays spread like dark kites near the surface above me. I could trail my fingers through the kelp, stare off at the far-off corona of sunshine and tell myself that if I stayed down here long enough, I'd grow a tail the way Ariel grew legs on land.

Now, as Adam and I swim around one another, I feel that same pull. Only it's different now. It's not about escaping to some world of my own. It's about having a world to share, someplace away from my parents and the family business. A bubble where just the two of us exist, two bodies circling one another. Contained and secret, like the backseat of the Murano on Halloween night. Only with fish.

We move together, and I'm conscious of the power of his muscled thighs encased in Neoprene, of his strong arms, pulling him along like the water offers no resistance at all. He smiles from around his regulator and points behind me. I do a lazy turn and come face-to-face with a sea turtle.

Drawing back to give it space, I bump against Adam. He steadies me, and even with the layers between our skin, his touch galvanizes me. We follow the turtle for a while, watching as it passes over undulating anemone and crabs scurrying along the ocean floor. At one point we're on either side of the creature, close enough to count the spots on its reptilian face, and Adam gives me a look that's so excited, so alive, that my breath catches in my chest, and I wonder if I've run out of oxygen.

Finally, we let the turtle move on without us. Adam points up toward the surface and, reluctantly, I nod.

We climb toward the sunlight, bodies close, and break through. We take off our masks and regulators and grin at each other. A few yards away, the Ali Cat bobs on the water, which is calm now.

"That was great," Adam says. His wet hair looks shades darker now, creating a deeper contrast with his glistening tan skin. A bead of moisture rests on the indentation above his lip, and I want to touch my tongue to it. I want to touch him, period, so I paddle back a few inches to give us both space.

"Now I'm starving," he adds.

I laugh. I'm hungry too. For so many things. But among the available choices, lunch seems safest.

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