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Before I could get too far, Oliver appeared next to me. By the ticking in his jaw, I could tell I wouldn’t be getting that alone time after all.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that, love. You almost drowned. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” His cheeky wink made me roll my eyes, and my still-weak legs kicked toward the boat.
“You’ll miss the rest of the dive.”
“Who the fuck cares? I’m not really in an adventurous mood, anyway.” He raked his fingers through his wet hair, looking for all intents and purposes like a model who happened to be extremely intelligent. “Besides, now we get to spend some time together.”
Good lord, that accent… I’d bet my cheeks were as pink as that cartoon starfish who lives under the sea.
“Okay, that’d be nice.” And maybe, with an audience, the internal scolding I had planned would be less eviscerating.
Back on deck, I let out a deep breath. It was as close to solid ground as I could get right now, so I would take it.
Jess immediately approached, looking way better than she had before I jumped into the water with Diego. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”
“There was a little deep-dive incident. She’s okay, but we’re done for the day,” Oliver answered.
“Incident? Ah, fuck. Hold on.” Jess waved a hand at a medic who grabbed his bag and rushed over. When she turned back to me, she laughed at my wide eyes and insistence that I was fine. “That may be, but legally, we have to get you checked out. Not to mention it’s built into your contracts and the last thing the producers want is to get sued. We’re doing this by the book.”
I began to protest, but Jess just looked at me with pleading eyes. Fuck, she was just like Es.
Oliver handed our gear back to a crew member, grabbed me a towel, and led me to the back of the boat where the medic gave me a once-over, asked me a bunch of questions, and declared I was fine.
I wrung out my hair, wrapped my towel around me, and settled onto the seat with a bottle of water. I’d definitely had enough fun for one day, so I was content to sit and watch the others for the rest of our time at sea. The last cameraman was filming the remaining snorkelers and I noticed a few stationary cameras on the boat deck. They swiveled when we walked by, tracking the movement earlier, and instead of worrying about them, I just ignored these ones too.
It was shocking how easy it was to do that when they were already in every corner of the villa.
“Hungry?” Oliver asked.
My gaze trailed over his tattooed arms and his naked chest, beads of water slowly descending over the planes and toward his nipples. One particularly cheeky droplet made it all the way to the waistband of his black board shorts. “Starved.”
“My eyes are up here, love,” he said. My eyes snapped up, finding amusement dancing across his face.
“Sorry. Distracted.”
“I can see that. Not that I mind at all. In fact, did you know the human brain does something called multi-channeling, where we can think about multiple things at once in great detail?”
“You mean multi-tasking?” I asked, grateful he wasn’t calling me on my blatant staring.
“Well, yes, sort of. But on a much higher scale. There was a brilliant study published recently on the statistics and abilities, and it’s far more intricate than we thought.”
I lost Oliver to his musings and was content to listen as my body relaxed after the earlier ordeal. Honestly, he could probably read a grocery list with that accent and I’d be just as riveted.
One of the crew members approached, bringing a little basket and interrupting Oliver’s explanation. “Food?”
“Yes, please,” I answered, making grabby hands at the basket. That much time in the water had made me ravenous.
Oliver took the basket and pulled the tea towel off the top. There were a variety of breadsticks, cheeses, olives, and charcuterie in little containers for us.
“So, what made you attempt to conquer death today?” Oliver asked after a few minutes.
“Technically, Ididconquer death today.” I laughed, motioning to my still alive body wrapped in the beach towel. “Though it wasn’t part of my plan, I’m glad I got to impress you with my death-defying skills.”
Oliver chuckled and waved a breadstick at me. “Don’t avoid the question. What happened?”
“I got it in my head that I needed to touch the bottom. It looked closer.”
“It’s the water. There’s this phenomenon, especially when looking at it from above, that magnifies everything, making it seem closer than it is.”
