Kitabı oku: «Slippery When Wet», sayfa 3

And dove into the water.

3

THE SALTWATER CLOSED AROUND her body and slid against her skin, warm as an embrace. Like a sea creature, she arrowed through the water, feeling a rush of illicit arousal at the brush of liquid against her bare nipples, her bare behind. She burst up through the surface laughing at her own audacity.

And blinked. The dock was empty in the moonlight. Taylor gave a quick glance around, raking her fingers through her wet hair. He was here somewhere, she knew. A man like Dev Carson didn’t walk away from a challenge. She felt the thrill of expectation.

Then the water next to her exploded and she jumped and whirled to see him rearing out of the water.

She put a hand to her chest, suddenly intensely aware of her bare breasts above the waterline. “You just took ten years off my life, you know.”

“Did you think I was a sea monster?”

Actually, with the water streaming from his shoulders and his hair soaked and disheveled, she thought he looked more like some kind of a sea god. A surge of anticipation ran through her as he moved nearer. “You can never tell what’s swimming around,” she said, then blinked as he disappeared. Seconds ticked by, then she jumped at the feeling of a slippery hand sliding down her back.

He surfaced a few feet away. “Well, you know, you’re taking your chances, swimming at night. You never know what’s going to decide to take a bite out of you.” He stepped closer and a little shiver of anticipation ran through her.

“I know. Something just fondled me,” she said.

“Those damned fish are getting more forward all the time.”

“Maybe it wasn’t a fish. Maybe it was some other kind of critter.”

“All the more reason you should stay close so I can protect you. I’ll keep an eye out for the bad guys.”

“You must have good night vision.” She swayed lightly in the soft pressure of a swell.

“I eat lots of carrots.”

“Planning ahead?”

“It never hurts to be prepared.”

“Were you a Boy Scout?”

He laughed, a low, rough sound in the dark. “No, I hung with a more disreputable crowd.”

It had her pulse thumping. “Maybe I should go in, then. A young lady’s known by the company she keeps.”

His teeth gleamed in the dim lighting. “Did you learn that from your mama?”

“From cotillion, thank you very much.”

“Somehow you don’t seem like the type to get too caught up in rules. After all, the signs say no skinny dipping.”

“I wanted to go swimming,” she said with dignity.

“Without a suit?”

“I’m impatient.” Somehow, she was breathless, even though she hadn’t moved.

“So am I.” His eyes were shadowed. The moonlight had leached the color out so that they just seemed to glow silver.

“What are you impatient for?”

He skimmed a hand across the water between them and stepped a bit closer. “You.”

Taylor stared at him, watched him come near. Then she whipped out of the way, swimming past him so that she brushed his legs. His fingers started to close around her ankle, but she whisked past. When she felt him stroking after her, she abruptly reversed direction in a flip turn and surfaced, breathing hard.

Dev came out of the water a few feet away from her. “Playing cat and mouse?”

“Or shark and angelfish.”

“Are you calling me an angel?” His eyes laughed at her, then he shook his head so that drops of water scattered around them.

“Somehow, you remind me more of a devil.” This time when she ducked under the water, she brushed a hand down his ass, just to feel if it was as marble hard as the rest of him before she flicked away. Lightning fast, he turned and managed to stroke her leg as she flowed past and up to the surface.

“Careful when you go grabbing like that, darlin’,” he said when he’d followed her. “You might get hold of something I’ll need later.”

She laughed. “I don’t know, if I were you, I’d worry more about some hungry little fishy thinking it’s a big fat ol’ worm dangling there and taking himself a nibble.”

His teeth gleamed white in a smile that suddenly reminded her of the shark she’d mentioned. “It’s not dangling like a worm right now.”

Taylor ducked back under the water, this time stroking a hand over his belly—oh, those rock-hard abs—as she passed. She was just one beat too slow, though. His hand slid down the length of her back, curving over the taut muscle of her ass. Swiftly it tightened around her ankle, pulling her back toward him.

When his hand slid up over her bare breast, Taylor jolted and reared her head up out of the water, gasping. It felt outrageous. It felt provocative.

It felt right.

Suddenly the mood of play was gone. She let her feet touch the bottom, swaying lightly in the water. Given that it had been years since she’d had sex with anyone but herself in the room, the idea of a man touching her was exciting and more than a little frightening.

The reality of it was simply exciting, period.

Dev’s face tightened and he stepped forward, pulling her against him.

Heat on heat, mouth on mouth, the stroke of hands sending sensation rocketing through her body. Taylor shuddered. God, it had been so long since it had been like this, maybe even never. Surely she’d have remembered this kind of kaleidoscopic physical rush sweeping her along into madness, she thought as Dev crushed her mouth under his. Rough stubble scraped against her skin. Tantalizing, it failed to satisfy but only made her want more.

She clutched at his shoulders. Buoyed by the water, she wrapped her legs around his waist. The smooth, hard heat of his belly tormented her. She wanted him in her, hard and against her. This had nothing to do with tequila or vacation, it had to do with a wanting that went deep into her bones.

Waves slapped softly at the pilings of the dive dock. The palapa fronds rustled in the wind. The brush of hand on skin was slick and silent, the shudders silent and swift.

Dev groaned at the feel of Taylor’s breasts filling his hands, her sleek, soft legs holding him in a slippery grip. He was so hard that he was brushing up against the cleft between her buttocks, the slick touch keeping him on the edge of coming. Not yet, though, he thought. There were places he wanted to take her, things he wanted her to feel before that.

He slid his hands around her back and pulled her toward him, running his tongue tip along the impossibly soft skin of her jawline, down her throat. He’d wondered how she’d tasted. He’d thought about it all day, as they’d sat at dinner, as they’d walked down the beach in the darkness. The combination of smooth softness and sleek strength enthralled him. To have her now, filling his arms, pressed up against him, robbed him of breath, rendered him rock hard with need. He wanted to make her blind with pleasure, immersed in heat, to send her flying over the edge.

“Tell me you want this,” he muttered, running a hand down the flat of her belly.

Taylor gasped and arched against him. “I want you,” she whispered.

He filled his hands with her breasts again, feeling the soft give and the hard tips against his palms. Unable to hold back, he lowered his head to take her nipple into his mouth. The feel of the rough nub against his tongue sent sudden, sharp arousal jolting through him. His fingers slid lower, passing curls of hair to find her wet in a way that had nothing to do with water. Knowing she was right there, accessible, threatened his control, but didn’t break it. Though he ached to drive his cock into her, he held back. Instead he found the hard, tight bud of her clit.

Taylor jolted in shock at the hands of another on that most sensitive of spots. The slight calluses on the ends of his fingers teased a thousand nerve endings with slippery friction. She strained against him with a moan, as the tension coiled in her. His fingers tormented, then teased, then stroked rhythmically, leaving her helpless to do anything but feel.

Pumping her hips to accentuate his touch, she moved against the maddening strokes. His hand tightened on her breast, squeezing the nipple and she climaxed in a rush of sensation that exploded through every cell, crying out and gasping with the intensity, her body bucking helplessly against him.

Taylor clung to him as the shudders ebbed slowly away. Then her eyes met his, and the desire flared up again, hot and immediate. She pulled his head down to hers for a fierce, fast kiss, running her hands down the taut, corrugated muscles of his belly, feeling them raise up against her fingertips. “I think we need to do something to equalize things.” She slid off of him to stand on legs that were still trembling. Reaching out, she wrapped her fingers around his erection, but he stilled her hand.

“I’ve got a better idea. Let’s go back to my room.”

She nipped his lips. “For a bed?”

He wrapped his hand around her neck and pulled her close for a hard kiss. “For a condom.”

THE DOOR SLAMMED BEHIND THEM and Dev pressed Taylor against the wall, feeling the soft spring of her muscles against him.

“You’re wearing too many clothes,” he muttered distractedly. “I want you naked and I want to be in you.”

“Mmm.” She kissed him, and reached down for the hem of her dress. “Then maybe we’d better stop wasting time.” She pulled it over her head and dropped it in a pool of pink silk on the tile floor.

Dev slid his hands down the smooth curves of her waist, brushing over her backside for a heady instant before he moved his hands up into her hair and kissed her hard, feeling the soft strands spilling over his fingers. Then he pressed her back to the wall, holding her in place as he knelt down and tormented her with his mouth and tongue.

She writhed against him until he could feel how wet she was, taste how close she was to the edge. And he stopped, wanting, needing to see her face this time in the light, to watch her flush as her orgasm moved through her.

When he stood, it was her hands that tugged feverishly at the drawstring on his pants. When he pushed the cloth down, it was her hands that searched him out where he was heavy and hard, jerking just a little with the force of his arousal. And when he stepped forward, it was her hands that guided him inside, her moans that filled the room when his own voice failed and all he could do was gasp at the tight, hot miracle of her body clenched around him.

RED-GOLD LIGHT STAINED Dev’s eyelids. He moved to roll away from it, to burrow back down into sleep, but he couldn’t move. His arm was numb, held down by a solid weight.

A weight of warm, soft female flesh.

He gathered the bundle against him even as he rose into consciousness, a consciousness laced with sensory snapshots—the maddening moments before they’d reached his room…the yielding heat of her naked body against his…the hot, slick rush as he slid himself into her…the molten explosion of his orgasm into her still shuddering body. And all the times they repeated it in the hours that followed.

Dev pressed a kiss on the tousle of blond hair and Taylor grumbled once in slumber.

“Shhh,” he whispered. “You can go back to sleep, just let me get my arm out.” It felt more like a chunk of wood than an arm, but he moved it nonetheless. Enduring its wake-up promised to be excruciating.

Taylor rolled away from him and burrowed back into the pillow, the sheet falling away from her to reveal an enticingly angular back. Dev looked at it speculatively, but then tingling in his fingertips warned him that the fun was just beginning. Minutes ticked by while he suffered through pins and needles, focusing on the curves of her body in an effort to distract himself.

He shifted onto his side to stare at Taylor in the dim light of the room and stroked a hand down her back, savoring the way it sloped down and then rose in a tight curve.

She rolled onto her stomach and turned her face to him, squinting at him through her mop of hair. “It can’t possibly be morning. What time is it?”

“You’re in Neverland, darlin’, there are no clocks. Close your eyes and go back to sleep.”

Tempting though the prospect was, it wasn’t nearly that easy. She was in the bed of a person she hardly knew after a one-night stand. A memorable one-night stand, but a one-night stand nevertheless. It had been a long time, but as she recalled, the drill was to wake up and leave as soon as possible. Groaning, she pushed herself up to sit on the edge of the bed, feeling the unaccustomed soreness between her thighs. They’d used each other hard and relentlessly, she remembered, stretching in a pleasurable satisfaction.

She yawned. “Give me just a minute and I’ll get out of your hair.” The next second she was squawking as Dev pulled her back to tumble against him in a welter of sheets and pillows.

“Who said I wanted you to?” He scooped her in to spoon against him, his chest warm against her back, his thighs strong and solid underneath hers.

“Well, I just figured this was…” Her voice trailed off as she felt his tongue trace the line of her shoulder.

“This was what?” Dev murmured in her ear. His hand slid over to one of her breasts, brushing the fragile skin and squeezing the nipple.

“A one-night stand,” she managed. “A fling.”

He bit her earlobe lightly. “A fling, certainly. But I never recall any discussion of a time limit.” His other hand slid down between her thighs to find where she was already slippery. “We’ve got the whole rest of the week. I was hoping to talk you into something a little more leisurely. I’ve definitely got no interest in letting you walk away this morning.”

She could feel him hardening against her bottom. “I just don’t…” His fingers moved against her, forcing a moan from her.

“You don’t think you could walk out of here this morning without coming at least once? Smart girl,” he said approvingly.

Clever and slick, his fingers slid against her clit. The bolts of sensation had her moving her hips helplessly. Reaching back, Taylor pulled his face toward hers. His mouth. She wanted his mouth, then his cock, as deep as he could go. “I need you in me,” she whispered against his lips.

“Always happy to oblige a lady,” he returned, shifting so that she was beneath him.

“CAN YOU JUST CARRY ME to the beach?” Dev groaned.

“You were the one who had the big idea about round two,” Taylor said, rolling over to prop her arms on his chest.

“I’ve always been the kind of guy who sticks with what works.”

Taylor fought to keep a straight face. “And in this case?”

“Well, round one worked, and round two worked. I think we ought to stretch it out a little more.” He stroked her back and she purred like a cat.

“What did you have in mind?” she asked, pressing little kisses on his jaw.

“We’re both here the rest of the week.” He held up her left hand and inspected it. “No tan lines. Good. You appear to be footloose and fancy free and God knows I am. I got blood tests for the wedding, so I’m healthy and clean. How about you?”

“I give blood monthly.”

“So we’re set there. What do you say?”

“About?”

“About making a week of it.”

“Sleeping together, you mean?”

He nodded. “Unless you were faking it and really didn’t have a good time. It’s perfect. No ties, no commitments, just whatever we want, whenever we want.”

“And nothing when we get home.” She didn’t phrase it as a question.

He shook his head. “Nothing when we get home. You can do anything and everything your heart desires and know you’ll never have to face me again.”

“If you agree to it, you’ve got to mean it,” Taylor warned. “No looking me up after we get home.”

He leaned in and bit her shoulder. “Not that you aren’t completely delectable, but after what I went through a couple of weeks ago, darlin’, I’m not exactly leaping out of my skin to get involved in another relationship.”

Taylor looked at him consideringly. “How’s your stamina? I’ve gone without for quite a while. Whenever I want might be pretty often. I’d hate to choose you over some of the other guys around here and find out that I’ve worn you out.”

He silenced her with his mouth. “Well, you can stop your search right here. I’m all the man you’re going to need.”

“Oh, yeah?”

He curved his hand over her breast. “I’m up to the task.”

“Oh, yeah?” she asked, her hand straying down to find that he was, indeed, up. “Oh,” she said softly, “yeah.”

“I take my vitamins,” he murmured.

“Good thing,” she whispered against his mouth. “You’re going to need them.”

4

“I LIKE YOUR ROOM BETTER than mine,” Dev said, lying back watching Taylor change out of her clothes from the night before. The ceiling fan turned slowly, the woven bamboo paddles lazily stirring the air.

“It’s no different than yours.”

“Oh, yes, it is. You’re standing in it. That makes all the difference.” He rolled up onto one elbow and watched with interest as she worked her way into her bikini. “Let me know if you want some help with that,” he added.

She shot him a look. “Oh, no, we’re not going down that path again. I came down here to lie on the beach, not to stay in a room all day.”

Dev rolled off the bed and onto his feet. “I don’t know, it’s a nice room,” he said, looking around at the golden stucco walls dotted with mock Mayan artifacts. The coverlet and the couch held the vivid primary colors of a serape; the terrazzo floor was cool under his feet. “Besides, I can make it worth your while.” He stepped up behind her and began un-hooking her bikini top.

“Stop that,” she laughed, swatting at him.

“What’s this?” he asked, picking up a disposable camera sitting on the counter.

“What does it look like?” Taylor gave him an amused glance, then slipped on a tank top.

“You’ve only been here a day and you’ve already filled up a 36 exposure roll?”

She zipped up her shorts. “I’ve been taking photos of the resorts. I put them in a book back at the agency to show to customers when they ask.”

“You’ve got one more shot on here, you know.”

“Yeah.” She headed to the bathroom to get more sunblock. “Toss it into my beach bag,” she called. “I’ll finish it up when we get down to the beach.”

He watched her come back out into the room, slim and luscious, already with a faint golden glow to her skin. Desire tugged at him but he pushed it down. He wanted to see her out among other people. He wanted to see her smile at another and be able to look at her and know that she was his for the taking.

They left the room, threading their way along the winding walkway out to the lush jungle path that headed toward the beach. Dev caught at Taylor’s elbow to stop her. “Up ahead,” he said softly. Near the flagstone path stood a trio of exotic black birds with rolls of glossy black feathers that furled back from the tops of their heads. “They look like they got into a packet of Jheri Curl.”

“Do you think we scared them?” she whispered, admiring their long sweeps of ebony tail feathers.

“Who knows? Maybe they get paid to stand around and look intriguing for the guests.”

As though they’d heard his remark, the birds looked at them disdainfully, then turned and began stalking away deeper into the jungle.

“So much for the wildlife,” she said.

Dev caught her around the waist. “I’ll show you some wildlife.”

“I bet you will, you—”

“Hola, amigos,” said a voice behind them. Taylor turned to see Dev’s crony from the restaurant the night before walking down the trail toward them. He was dressed this time in the royal-blue polo shirt and shorts of the Nova Friends, the resort’s entertainment and recreation crew.

“Hola, Raoul,” Dev said. “I don’t think you two met properly last night. This is Taylor. Taylor, this is Raoul. He’s a Nova Friend.”

“But I thought you were working in the restaurant last night,” she said in puzzlement.

He nodded. “Sometimes, when I am doing a favor, I will do that.”

She looked at them suspiciously, wondering exactly who he’d been doing the favor for.

As though reading her mind, Dev smiled easily. “Raoul and I have done a little fishing and sailing while I’ve been here.”

“Si, we are amigos. But you, señorita, are much prettier company than I am. I am afraid I will not see so much of Señor Dev before he leaves.”

“Don’t talk about leaving yet,” Taylor protested. “I just got here. I don’t ever want to go.”

“But once you spend time in Mexico, you carry always a little piece of him with you. You can look at the pictures and return.”

“Speaking of which, here’s that camera,” Dev said, pulling it out of his pocket and handing it to her. “Don’t forget to finish it off.”

“Ah, a camera.” Raoul’s eyes lit up and he reached out his hand. “If you will allow me, I will take a photo of you.”

“Well, I don’t think…” Taylor began.

Raoul took the camera neatly from her hands and stepped back. “Ah, now, in such a romantic place, my friends, you must be romantic also.”

She felt Dev’s arms go around her from behind. “We don’t need this,” she said.

“Ah, you must be romantic,” Dev murmured. “Say ‘wild sex,’” he added, making her giggle just as Raoul snapped the shutter.

“It will be a beautiful picture,” Raoul said, handing Dev the camera. “Do you go now to the beach? That is where I go, too. I will be starting a game of horseshoes, if you wish to join.”

“It sounds fun, but I have a date with a book and a sun couch,” Taylor said.

“Ah, you break my heart, señorita. Perhaps I will see you tonight at the show, though. We are having a dating game show. You could enter, maybe, if you are not already preoccupied.” He grinned, his teeth very white against his skin. “Enjoy your day.”

TAYLOR LAY ON HER LOUNGER, reading a novel.

“Hey baby,” said a lounge lizard voice, “can I buy you a drink?”

She glanced up to see Dev standing by the sun couch, holding two plastic glasses. He leaned down to give her a quick, hard kiss that stretched into long minutes. Then an icy drop of condensation from one of the glasses dripped onto her bare breast and she gasped and jumped.

“Chilly?” he asked, reaching out with a fingertip to wipe the cool water away from where it trembled on her skin, just above her aureole.

She caught a breath at the brush of his finger. That was all it took, she marveled. Even after making love all night and all morning, it took just the merest touch to send her pulse thumping. She made a stab at a reproving look and reached for her glass. “No groping me on the beach, you.”

“I bring you offerings of boat drinks and you scold me?” Dev stretched out on the lounger next to her and gave her a long, leisurely look. “I thought the rule was no rules.”

“Not for us, but there might be Iberonova rules,” she said, nodding toward the guard standing twenty yards away in his blue trousers and white tunic.

“You’re cute.” He leaned over to kiss her shoulder. “Trust me, Jorge is more interested in looking good for Marisa than in harassing an innocent guest brushing water off his lover.”

She glanced over to where the guard brushed at his gold braid and preened for the barmaid. “You may have a point. In that case…” She moved her glass and let a bit more water drip on her breasts and shrugged enough to send a drop rolling toward her nipple.

“Now you’re being cruel,” he said, running the tip of his tongue across his lips.

“What do you mean?” she asked innocently, brushing the water away, watching his eyes darken.

“You’re so bad,” he said, shaking his head.

She took a sip of her margarita and settled back. “I’m just sitting here reading my book.”

“Whatcha reading?”

“Find out for yourself,” she suggested, handing over her book of erotic short stories. She watched as he read, his brows rising. After a few minutes, he handed it back to her and gave her a speculative glance. “Your mama know you read stuff like this?”

Taylor pushed her sunglasses down her nose and gave him a wink. “I read at least two books off the New York Times notable books list each year. I chat with my mother about those and she’s satisfied I’m looking after my intellect. The rest of the time I read to please me.”

“Makes my Robert Parker look a whole lot less interesting.” He paged back a little more. “No wonder you just wanted to lie on the beach and read.”

“I always have my reasons for everything,” she purred.

“So I see. Don’t suppose I could get you to read me a bedtime story one of these nights, could I?”

“Only if you’re really good.”

“That sounds like a challenge to me,” he said, stroking a hand up her leg.

A horn sounded as the dive boat came in to dock. With a hollow clanging, a pair of assistants from the dive shop trundled a small cart full of air tanks out to meet it. A straggling line of guests in wet suits, clutching masks and regulators followed.

Dev stared at the boat speculatively as it settled in at the dock to exchange old passengers for new, then turned to Taylor. “You sure I can’t lure you out for a snorkeling trip?”

She adjusted her sunglasses. “Tanks and wet suits make me claustrophobic.”

He reached out to encircle her ankle with his thumb and forefinger. “You don’t need that for snorkeling. All you need is fins and a mask. And a bikini top, of course.”

“I just want to lie here and relax.”

“Look, it’s only a half-day trip. You’ll love it, I promise you.”

“I don’t know about this.” She pushed her sunglasses down her nose to look at him, laughter in her eyes. “What if I do it and I don’t like it? What do I get?”

Dev stroked her calf. “The trip will be my treat.”

“Not good enough. You’re asking me to give up a half day out of my vacation.”

He nodded to her book. “I’ll read you page 132, in glorious Sensaround.”

“Promise?”

“Sure, if the Iberonova has a trapeze.”

THE DIVE BOAT BOBBED in the blue water off the coast of the island, near the Columbia Shallows. It didn’t bother Taylor to be in open water. The waves were gentle, and she was an experienced swimmer. She swished her fins experimentally and was gratified when she shot forward. She slid the mask down over her eyes.

“Okay, are you ready?” Dev asked from where he treaded water next to her.

“You guaranteed me this wasn’t work,” she reminded him, adjusting her mask.

“It hardly is when you’ve got fins on. Anyway, there’s enough of a current that you only have to float and let the water take you. I can get you a life ring if you want,” he said, with an impudent look.

“I can swim for myself, thanks.”

“And look mighty good doing it,” he added, ducking his head under the water to survey her. “I don’t think I’ve seen this bikini before. I definitely haven’t taken it off you.”

“Well don’t get any big ideas out here. We might lose it and some barracuda would be flouncing around in my suit.”

“It probably wouldn’t look nearly as sexy as you do,” he offered, but she swatted his hand away.

“We’re out here to see the reefs, remember? Now where are they?”

“Just look down.”

Taylor blinked in surprise, then put her head down into the water. If she hadn’t had a snorkel in her mouth, she’d have gasped. Below her spread a fairy land of unimaginable variety. Red-orange coral towers rose next to whitish tubes with pink centers. Fronds of kelp waved gracefully in the ocean currents. Sea sponges fanned out next to the solid, crenelated spheres of brain coral.

She ducked under the water and swam closer. A small school of mottled peach parrot fish wove along the edge of the reef, skimming over an octopus swirling gracefully along to its lair. Behind all of it was the intense, immense blue of the sea.

Taylor ran out of air and rose to the surface, blowing the water out of her snorkel as she did. She yanked her mask down to her neck and whooped.

Dev surfaced next to her. “What do you think?”

“It’s amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Put your mask back on. You’re just getting started.”

Below her, the reef rose in a solid mass, separated in places into serene white towers. A school of tiny silver fish made its way along the edge of a reef and then with no apparent provocation made an abrupt shift to the right before swimming forward again.

Time stretched out, paced by the measured sound of her breath in the snorkel, by the infinite peace that stretched below her. In the cool blue twilight of the sea was a world of color and mystery.

Dev swam up to her, pointing downward and then to his chest. Understanding, she took a trio of deep breaths to charge her lungs and then they were swimming down, hand in hand. A puffer fish floated by, looking like a large, spiny sphere. She felt her ears pop as the reef rose alongside her, and she felt more a part of the ocean than ever. Dev gestured toward the reef, and she saw it. At a dark hollow in the coral, the glittering eyes of a moray eel stared back at her. She looked up, and somehow it was the surface and the air above that looked like another world, and the sea around her that seemed like home.

Then her lungs began to burn and she swam for the surface. She broke through to the air, trying to absorb the wonder. Dev rose next to her. “There’s so much to see, I can’t stay down there long enough,” she said shaking her head.

“We’ve got more time. Take a deep breath and we’ll go back down.” His mouth curved. “Unless it’s too much work for you.”

She splashed him and dove under.

THE ENGINE OF THE BOAT vibrated and rumbled, taking them back to the resort. Taylor sat on the padded boat seat. “That coral that was like fairy fans, it was so gorgeous. And did you see the school of those fish with the yellow edging?” She was too wired to relax as she pulled on her tank top.

“Angelfish,” he said, watching in bemusement at her bright-eyed pleasure. He hadn’t quite understood the impulse that had led him to cajole and persuade until he’d talked her into going out to the reefs. He’d only known he’d wanted her to experience it. The underwater universe had been a revelation to him. When he found that she’d never been, he’d suddenly found himself consumed with helping her discover it. “Now you see why I wanted to bring you out here?”