Deep Down

When aspiring sushi-chef is fired from her father's restaurant for daring to help a struggling coworker during dinner service, Eve Ono is left homeless and broke. She finds last minute employment on sea urchin fisherman Sam Lamont's boat, despite her grave fear of the ocean and the PTSD from losing her grandparents, and almost her own life, to a tsunami. Sam reluctantly hires Eve at the urging of his former captain and his spunky landlord, both who took a chance on him years ago. He needs to make money fast to pay off a sketchy loan that has come due, or risk losing his boat and livelihood. Sam is mostly reluctant because of his instant attraction to the beautiful Eve, but tries to keep it professional as she says she has a boyfriend and she is his employee. Sam and Eve learn to trust each other on the boat, and roll with their feelings, a shark attack, and dangerous criminals, but also find they cannot stay away from each other or their feelings. This was super duper fun, just what I needed when I was looking for "sexy boat romances." Sam is an easy-going Dom (Dom-lite, sometimes a switch), and has a huge d*ck so big he and Eve struggle with it he he he. Eve is very inexperienced and naive, but is super keen to learn, and does have the help of her exotic dancer roommate (who I kind of hope has her own story, but I don't think she does??). The overall plot is overwrought, and I was a bit meh on Eve, a biracial Japanese woman, having green eyes (this is from 2008), but the banging is absolutely delightful and so sexy. CW: PTSD, panic attacks (on page), scary action/danger/violence (on page), shark attack (on page, described), hospital scenes, death of a secondary character