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I had no earthly idea what he was talking about. I picked my jaw up out of my lap, pretending like I hadn’t just taken a million and three mental pictures of his magazine-cover-worthy body and nodded my head.
Luckily, one of the dolphins swam closer than ever, giving me something besides man-candy to focus on. I stretched dangerously far over the water, hoping the sensation of cool, blubbery flesh beneath my fingertips would balance my equilibrium.
A moment later, the boat rocked horribly and there was a massive splash. I looked back just as the canoe dumped me into the water, but Kai was nowhere to be seen.
Salt water.
Bubbles.
Flailing—so much flailing.
I kicked my legs like a frog, just like my cousin once told me to do in her kiddie pool. But instead of rising to the surface like Kermit, I sank like a lead-bottomed toad.
This was the end.
I opened my eyes, hoping to catch one last glimpse of sunlight before going belly up, but something big blocked my view. My sight was blurry—no doubt from holding my breath for so long—but it looked like whatever was blocking the light was coming right at me.
Dolphin? No.
My heart leaped into my throat. Shark? Maybe.
I shut my eyes and braced for impact. But instead of razor-sharp teeth, I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me. Either the world’s buffest mermaid was doing her good deed for the day, or Kai had come to my rescue just like he’d promised.
I opened my eyes, and latched onto his neck, holding on for dear life. If he was serious about not letting me drown, he needed to hurry because I’d never been closer to blacking out in my life.
A moment later, Kai had me at the surface. I coughed and spewed salty water, squeezing him so hard it was a wonder hecould even breathe.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I broke into another fit of coughing.
“You were supposed to brace the boat when I dove in for the outrigger. What happened?”
“I could ask you the same question,” I sputtered. “What took you so long, Mr. Lifeguard?”
“Umm, you were in the water for like, five seconds.”
“No way! I almost drowned.”
His chest heaved with laughter. “Whatever you say.” Kai’s smirk was so much sexier when he was dripping wet and holding me close. So sexy, in fact, I didn’t care that he was laughing about my brush with Davy Jones. “You told me you were a little neurotic, but you never said anything about being a drama queen.”
“I’m not being dramatic.” Okay, maybe I was being dramatic—but only a tad. It’s possible I hadn’t been moments away from passing on to the great donut shop in the sky, but it was true that I couldn’t swim. And people who couldn’t swim didn’t appreciate being dumped in the drink… ever!
The laughter in his eyes morphed into something hungry. “That’s a shame. I’ve always had a thing for drama queens.”
My breath hiccupped in my lungs. I held on to him a little tighter, not because I was scared anymore, but because I couldn’t imagine ever letting him go.
Our gazes locked and my hand slid down to his chest—his oh-so-solid chest. It rose and fell as quickly as mine. His eyes flicked down to my lips, and I leaned in to him, erasing the practically non-existent distance between us.
His arms flexed and I melted into his rock-hard body. My heart pounded as I anticipated what it would feel like to have him press his lips against mine.
A shiver ran through me.
“You cold?” His husky words were hot against my cheek.
“Not really.” I swallowed hard. “I’m actually kinda hot.”
“Yeah, me too.” He blinked a few times, extinguishing the ring of fire burning in his brown eyes. “I guess I’d better go get the boat.”
