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“I haven’t been ignoring you.” We both know it’s a lie. There’s something else in his eyes I can’t quite put my finger on. Worry? Regret? Whatever. I’m getting tired of his hot and then cold sexual games. I’m going to complete Liam’s list, with or without his help.
He’s loosened his grip, and I dive under the surface again, only to be hauled back up by hands so big they can practically span my waist. He holds me away from him at arm’s length so I’m facing him this time, but his grip is just as immobilizing and his face just as implacable. I struggle to get away, but it’s pretty pointless, and his lips twitch with repressed amusement as he watches me flail around.
“Let me go.” I splash him. He doesn’t even flinch, but his eyes narrow.
“You’d better watch it,” he warns.
“Or what? You’ll put me over your knee?”
His eyes darken. “Don’t tempt me.”
“Maybe I want to tempt you,” I say breathlessly.
“Is that so?” The corners of his lips definitely turn up this time, and my pulse is inexplicably thrumming again. I’m suddenly uncomfortably aware of the fact that his grip on me is unyielding. I’m not going anywhere unless he decides I am. “What else do you want?” His voice is lower now, intimate, and what I want is for him to kiss me again. But twice now he’s touched me sensuously, arousing me in ways I’ve never dreamed possible, and twice he’s turned me away. And he didn’t even give me a second glance when I practically did a striptease in front of him. It doesn’t seem like the right time to tell him I want all the kinky things he described in such vivid detail yesterday, so I go with the other truth.
“Your pecs are pretty impressive, but I want to do more than just sit on the boat admiring them. I’ve never swum in the Pacific before, or seen fish in every color of the rainbow. Look at this! It’s amazing.” I gesture toward an island not far from us, the dark cliff rising majestically out of the clear turquoise water. “Sailing the Philippines was on my brother’s bucket list for a reason. He wouldn’t have just spent all his time on the boat. He would have embraced every opportunity to do and see something new. He would have explored every inch and met the local people. He would have savored it and thrown himself into everything there is to experience here. I want to do the same. I have to. For Liam.”
He stares at me for a long time, and then, with a quiet “okay,” he swims back to the boat with the powerful, practiced strokes of an Olympic swimmer. Or a Navy SEAL. Why do swimmers have such hot bodies? I sigh. His body is undeniably gorgeous, but it’s him that I’m so wildly attracted to; it’s the essence of him and his take-charge, confident demeanor that sets my pulse racing.
But while I guess I have his approval to swim, he’s clearly not joining me. Fine. I certainly don’t need him to enjoy this paradise. I swim around lazily, enjoying the soul-cleansing cold of the salt water while keeping the boat in sight. I haven’t swum in the ocean since I was about ten and my parents took us to Florida, and I’ve never been out in the middle of the ocean like this. Back then, I wouldn’t go out very far, afraid of sharks after hearing my parents talking about a shark attack that had occurred earlier that summer. Of course, Liam had no such qualms. He dived fearlessly under the waves, bringing me handfuls of perfect sand dollars mixed with sand he’d scooped from the bottom.
Oh my God. Sharks! How did I not think about that before I jumped in? But I can’t go back to the boat now, not after the speech I just gave Noah.
I’m just starting to panic, certain a great white is swimming under me right now, circling, just waiting to attack, when I hear a splash. I scream. Damn Liam for getting me eaten by a shark! Noah surfaces next to me a minute later.
“Oh my God. You scared me to death! I thought you were a shark.”
He stares at me like I’m insane and then dives under the water. He doesn’t surface for at least two minutes, and I’m starting to worry when something bites my thigh. I scream again as he pops out of the water next to me, laughing. “Sharks aren’t what you should be worried about taking a bite out of you.” He holds up a snorkel mask and flippers. “Want to snorkel?”
“Really?” I can’t hide my grin.
His smile fades as his thumbs press against the corners of my mouth. “I could get used to making you smile.” He’s staring at my lips as if he’s going to kiss me, and my heart is racing at the thought. But instead he gently puts the face mask on and adjusts it for me.
“Ready?”
I nod.
He’s brought a mask for himself, as well, and we spend the next few hours exploring the crystal blue waters. Before long, I’ve forgotten all about sharks. There are so many beautifully colored fish—the kind of fish I’ve only seen behind the impersonal but sophisticated glass walls at the aquarium. Here, swimming in the wild blue ocean, their colors are even more stunning. Noah is the perfect guide, staying close enough that I feel safe but letting me explore at my leisure, often pointing out something I might have missed otherwise—a big fat sea turtle, a clownfish darting in and out of an anemone, a stingray gliding silently just beneath us. At one point, he grabs my hand and pulls me down to the sandy bottom, and I watch as he uncovers one of the biggest clams I’ve ever seen. We grin at each other like idiots.
“Had enough?” he finally asks as we both stop to rest on the swimming platform at the back of his boat.
“I guess.” I’m that exhilarated tired you get from swimming in the sun, but I’m loathe to stop. It’s been fun being with him when he’s unguarded like this, and not trying so hard not to touch me.
He’s looking at me with an indecipherable look in his eyes.
“I have an idea. Come on.”
“Where are we going?” I ask as I follow him onto the boat. He walks over to where a bright green kayak is tied to the deck and starts untying it. “Go put something on over your swimsuit. We’re going to the mainland.”
