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He rocks his head from side to side. “Maybe.”
Grayson is looking extra handsome today, and more relaxed than I’ve seen him in a while, wearing a white T-shirt and navy-blue swim trunks. Maybe it’s because Vik and the team are working on the hotel issue on the app, so there’s not much else we can do until we find another problem, which hopefully won’t happen. The hotel one is frustrating because it worked for Grayson, but it didn’t for me, which means it’s not an easy bug to figure out.
“I don’t know,” Grayson says. “This is feeling like a vacation right now.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t really feel like work, does it?” I echo.
What does sort of feel like a job right now is trying to work through my discomfort with this swimsuit that’s currently embedded in my butt. There’s a reason I pick full-coverage underwear. It’s because I could never get used to the feeling of thongs. And I’ve tried many times. It just never worked for me.
I came up with a plan to keep my rear covered by leaving on my dress/cover-up while we snorkel, but then I realized I need to wear it tonight to the luau, so plan B is to always keep my front toward Grayson and never let him see me from the back. I should totally be able to do that, right?
It should be noted that I’m aware many women confidently wear suits like this, and they rock them. However, those women likely aren’t on a business trip with their boss, and I don’t quite feel at ease showcasing my assets (pun intended) to Grayson. I intentionally packed tankinis and one-pieces with more coverage for this trip. Unfortunately, since they haven’t made it here, this is my only option.
It takes about fifteen minutes for the boat to arrive near Turtle Canyon, and once we get there, the anchor is deployed. We were given our snorkel gear not long after leaving harbor, and I plan on waiting until the very last minute to put mine on, because putting it on means having to take my cover-up off and unleash my backside.
Once the boat is settled into the spot it will stay in while we snorkel, Grayson puts his gear on. He takes off his T-shirt, and I can now confirm to Nadia that the BILK has a six-pack. And, wow … it’s a nice one. Not that the absence of one would deter me from my ever-growing crush on this man. I don’t even know if it’s the boss thing anymore. Since we’ve been here, I’ve seen him as less of a boss and more of a friend. And even with that distinction, I still feel things for him.
I tell Grayson I’ll meet him at the back of the boat, where people are either jumping off the platform or using ladders to enter the water. I hastily remove my dress and set it with Grayson’s clothes and the towels we brought, don my life jacket, and put my mask and snorkel on, keeping it up on my forehead. I hold my flippers in my hands since we were repeatedly advised against walking around the boat in them due to the risk of tripping. Yet, there are plenty of people walking around this boat with their flippers on. And yes … I’ve already seen two people trip.
I work my way down to the back of the boat where Grayson is waiting for me.
“You ready?” he asks when he sees me.
“Yep,” I say, a smile on my face, standing squarely in front of him. I couldn’t care less about the people behind me and the view they’re getting, and that’s because I don’t work with any of them and will never see them again.
“You can go first,” he says, gesturing with his hand toward the back of the boat, always the gentleman.
“That’s okay,” I say a little too quickly. “You go ahead. I’ll be right behind you.”
Grayson furrows his brow at me but heads over to the platform and puts on his flippers before jumping in. I’m going to have to do the same, since turning around to go down the ladder and thereby showing everyone my backside is not in my best interest right now.
I walk over to the platform and put on my flippers, and then it’s into the water I go. It’s slightly chilly at first, but it takes hardly any time for my body to adjust.
Grayson is there waiting for me, his mask over his eyes and his snorkel hanging by his mouth.
“I saw a turtle already,” he says to me, a big smile on his face.
“Really?” I say, putting on my mask.
“I’ll show you.”
He puts the mouthpiece of the snorkel in his mouth, and I follow suit. We dip our heads under the water and swim side by side.
We immediately see a bunch of tropical fish. A whole school of gray ones are basically swimming around us. There are also some smaller colorful ones—an orange fish with white stripes, and a yellow-and-black striped one.
Grayson points toward something and then grabs my hand and we swim a few feet farther until right below us is a big, beautiful turtle. We watch as it sits on the bottom and little cleaner fish do their job eating up parasites, dead skin, and debris from its shell.
He points over to something else, possibly another turtle, and grabs my hand as we swim over to it. I’m not sure we need to keep holding on to each other as we swim, but I’m not going to put a stop to it.
The hour in the water goes by so fast. We spend it finding more turtles and seeing other kinds of sea life. All in all, it’s probably the best experience I’ve had snorkeling. And it’s not just because of all the sea creatures, but also the company. Getting to spend time with Grayson like this, to just have fun with him, might be my favorite part of it all.
When the tour company we’re with calls us back to the boat, Grayson and I are the last ones to make it to the ladders. I grab onto it first and start to lift myself up before remembering my booty situation, and quickly fall back into the water.
“What’s wrong?” Grayson asks, his mask still on his face.
“You go first,” I tell him.
“What? Why?”
