AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I sighed. The lazy waves of the water beckoned to me. “We don’t need her in the water with us, do we? I’m afraid her swimsuit will just melt away the second it gets wet.”
He laughed. “I’ll tell her we prefer diving suits. And she can just point us to a good spot, we like to explore on our own.”
“Really?” I couldn’t keep the skepticism out of my voice. I didn’t see those words going over too well.
“Abs, this vacation is for us.”
The look in his eyes implored me to relent and go back to the boat with him.
I sighed to myself. Did I really want to let some outsider ruin our vacation?
Myvacation?
I could barely remember the last time Lucas and I had spent more than a few hours together.
I followed him up the dock. Dominique stood on the boat. Evidently, she’d been watching for Lucas’ return. I was sure she wasn’t thrilled to see me come back with him. She’d likely been planning on her afternoon with the two of them alone. I could just picture her asking for him to rub some suntan lotion on her, an activity that with the level of skin she was showing would take quite a while.
“Welcome back...you weren’t feeling well?”
She actually looked concerned for a moment. I wondered what quick excuse Lucas had made to cover for my quick retreat.
“I’m fine, thanks. Just thought I’d forgotten my sunscreen, didn’t want to burn.”
Lucas nodded. “And I’d stuffed it in her tote bag before we got out of the Jeep, so all good. Just point us to a spot where the fish are.”
“You’re a photographer?” she asked, looking at me intently.
“She is,” he said before I had a chance to reply. “Amazing photographer.”
“Now that you’re both back and onboard, I’ll tell the captain we’re set to go.”
I sighed, heading to the bench off to the side against the shiny white wall of the boat, where I slipped my shirt off over my head and tossed it on the seat beside me, my tote bag resting at my feet. I looked around—the sun was reflecting gorgeously out on the water, and the boat was starting to move. I smiled to myself as we began to head out into the open water. Maybe I could deal with Dominique for one more afternoon if I had to.
Once we were in the water, we’d be free of her. Maybe I’d just stay in the water all day, I didn’t care if I turned into a human prune.
Lucas put his bag down beside me, watching me carefully for a moment. I glanced up at him as he picked up my shirt and tucked it into his bag. “I’m just gonna go talk to the captain, see how far out we’re going. You gonna be okay?”
“Fine.”
“All right, see you in a few. There’s drinks inside if you want anything,”
“I’m good right now. Thanks.” I watched him go and got comfortable on the bench, leaning back and tilting my head up to the sun, letting my eyes close behind my sunglasses.
I heard footsteps approach a little while later, and found Dominique walking over. She had a clipboard in her hand, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. She glanced at me as she set the clipboard down on the bench across from me and took a seat. She leaned forward and pulled a couple things forward from beneath the bench.
I fake-yawned and stretched.
Dominique sat on the bench across from me, taking out the pairs of snorkeling fins from the blue duffel bag that had been stored under the seats.
I glanced at Lucas deep in conversation with one of the guys from the boat about a dozen feet away. The guy smiled in our direction, and I turned my attention back to our guide.
“You two?” Dominique asked me with an easy smile that seemed both well-practiced and a tad artificial.
I had a feeling she was trying to scope out the situation even more. I wondered how obvious my feelings were, I mused, thinking back to my good friend Gerda. I still owed her a little something delivered to her hotel room for that little ice cream incident.
Maybe we confused Dominique.
Hell, we confused me sometimes. We held hands…but we almost always had and here it just seemed natural, an easy way to not lose each other in an unfamiliar space.
